Re: MLB 14 The Show: Road to the Show Thread
Sir Oliver Thornton. Keep em coming!!
So, as mentioned at the beginning of the week, a lot happened to the career of Oliver Thornton, Centre Fielder, of the International Region... As it turns out the extended weekend has led to three lengthy posts. Who'd have thought it? However, this will bring me up to date, at least for now.
Here are links to the previous posts:
Part 1: Give me my Sushi, of the International Region
Part 2: 74 walks in the hills of Comptacoma
Part 3: So hot right now
Part 4: Chris Dickinson, how's your average?
The habit here has become one in which Oliver Thornton examines his inner-self, his feelings on his situation and offers an overall insight into his mental well-being. Today though, there is no time for that.
Thornton leaves, his small rental apartment (all he can afford with his $80k salary and significant gambling debts owed from his road trip to Vegas last season) on the outskirts of Lawrenceville, Georgia and drives to South Atlanta, heading to the majors. He's nervous. For the first time in his career. Thornton thinks he is ready for this, but you hear so much about how much tougher it is in the majors. Plus the hazing and all the old school baseball attitudes when it comes to rookies. It's going to be a lot to deal with.
Now, you might be asking, why the haste? He's got a whole off-season to relocate and familiarize himself with his team-mates. A reasonable question. But with a faulty assumption. The Major League season is still going. To be more specific the MLB playoffs are just about to begin.
There is nothing like being thrown in at the deep end, and Oliver Thornton feels like he's been dropped into the Mariana Trench. As the AAA season ends and his teammates go home for a well earned rest. He is preparing to take on the NL Central Champs, the Chicago Cubs, in the first round of the playoffs.
Naturally, Thornton does not get a place in the starting lineup. However, he is a daily pinch hitter. The Braves go on to sweep the Cubs in three games. Thornton gets 0 hits in three ABs. Each time pinch hitting for BJ Upton.
Even sitting in the dugout is intimidating. Jason Heyward is a physical specimen like no other! He's also playing like a demi-God. He finished the season in third place in the NL MVP race finishing over .300 with 30 odd homer runs.
There is a lot of spitting. It's like the Ganges on the dugout floor. Peer pressure compels me to join in. It was a mistake. I spit. It's that thick, stringy stuff. If you've ever played swingball, you'll know what I mean when I say that you hit it and the ball extends the string to it's maximum tension. The power on the ball just dies and it falls back to the post. It's a sad time. Well my spit attempt was very similar. It left my mouth with velocity but hit a seemingly invisible wall, swung south and hit me on the chin. I looked like a pre-school child drooling all over myself. Freddie Freeman seemed amused.
I try to lighten the mood and go full American on my team-mates. I start using words like "yo" and "dawg", I know they are not words, but it seems to help. I buy a fake pistol. Start polishing it at my locker every day. Nobody seems to notice. Buy a fake rifle from a carny, people notice more. I decide to ramp it up a notch. Start espousing libertarian ideas while cleaning my rifle (which I named Meryl) "The man cannot take away my libertaaaay" I shout. For the most part nobody cares. Justin Upton says I remind him of Tim Thomas. I'm sure that's a compliment.
I'm Sat next to Freddie Freeman, his locker is next to mine, he seems like a nice bloke reminds me of that guy from Parks and Rec. The friendly one that plays in a band and is like a human Labrador. One of the starting pitchers wanders by. I decide to ingratiate myself further in the locker room banter. "Yo dawgggg it's my man from Iran Julio Tehran!!!" Offer my hand in greeting. He looks unhappy. Not really sure why. His ERA is below 2 for god's sake!
Turns out he's Colombian. Not Iranian. If I met a dude called Brian Bogota I'd think he might be Colombian. That's all I'm saying. Freddie freeman seemed amused though.
After the spituation in the dugout I couldn't wait to escape. Thankfully it was time for me to pinch hit. It's game 2 of the series with San Francisco (I went 0 for 1 in Game 1). We're on the road. It's a lovely stadium. I will always know it as Pac Bell, despite what it says in the out-field. It all happened so fast that I was still dripping saliva from my chin. I can only assume the pitcher took that as some sort of primordially motivated hunger to destroy not only his pitching but his life. Whatever the case it did the trick. HOME RUN! My first Major League long ball. Very happy. I went 1-2 in the subsequent games as the Braves win the series in four. I am going, believe it or not, to the WORLD FRICKIN SERIES.
The match-up is with the Tampa Bay Rays. Game 1 iis at Tropicana Field. It's a rubbish stadium #justsayin. I'm in the STARTING LINEUP in the WORLD SERIES. I'm playing DH. I believe I overheard the Rays Manager saying to my manager "My stadium, my rules or we all just go home". It seemed a bit childish but we had to play with "American" League rules in Tampa. Boooring.
David Price is sick. I can't hit lefties at the best of times but this is ridiculous. Faced him three times. Two strikeouts and a grouder into a double play. The Rays kill the Braves 7-2.
Game two, I'm feeling things should improve from here on out. I'm DH again. Matt Moore on the pitcher. "Let's take a look at the guys on the mound" Says the commentary. I nod knowingly, let's look indeed. Gutted. Matt Moore LHP. God-damn. 0 for 4. Matt Moore pitches a complete game. Giving up 1 earned run (and another he obviously did not deserve) The Rays win 3-2.
Two games in Tampa. Two left handed pitchers. We go back to Atlanta. Everyone there is right-handed. Of course, I can't DH in Atlanta. Our manager childishly forces the Rays to play by his rules at his house. It's like school all over again. I'm pinch hitting. Exciting.
Over the next two games I do ok. 2 for 2. One single. One double. The Braves lose both games, and the World Series in a 4-0 sweep by the World Champion Tampa Bay Rays.
Now the off season begins. I feel a bit in limbo. I'm not sure if the Braves moved me up temporarily, was there an injury? I guess we won't know until next year for sure.
Maybe now is a good time to have a look around the league over the past few seasons. Specifically in terms of awards:
The NL MVP in 2015 was Paul Goldschmidt. In 2014 it was Troy Tulowitzki of Colorado. The AL MVP has become the Miguel Cabrara award.
The Cy Young in the NL went to Clayton Kershaw in 2014 followed by Jordan Zimmerman in 2015. In the AL it went to Yu Darvish in 2014 and Chris Sale in 2015.
The offseason is far happier than previous ones. The Braves offer me a contract. 1 year. $500k!!! and more importantly... MLB Starter... what??? How?? This is the NL?? Does the GM think we're playing Tampa rules?
Then comes Spring training. I simmed it to be honest. Now, I have strict no simming policy in general. However, I don't mind with Spring training for two reasons. 1. I play all 168 games. Plus I just played two playoffs. Meaningless games don't interest me. 2. I can't bear playing in any more crap stadiums. I've moved to The Show. I want my early settling in period in the pros to be done while having the vibe of high gloss major league stadiums.
By the time the regular season rolls around my guy is 81 overall. His 83 power vs RHP is his biggest tool.
Game 1 vs Miami. 0 for 3. Game 2 vs Miami 1 for 4. Game 3 vs Miami. Ouch! What the ****!!!. Injured. 2 months. Fractured something or another. Great.
Miss two months. But I am immediately back in the starting lineup. Awesome. I start in Centre Field. Turns out the Braves were willing to move Heyward to LF, released BJ Upton and moved Justin Upton to RF.
It's now just passed the All star break. I have 9 Homer Runs, and am hitting around .255. I had one nice game where I hit back to back homers against the Mets. I also hit a nice three run homer of Tim Lincecum. Me and Freddie Freeman are becoming good pals. He's ridiculous. He leads the league in home runs. Jason Heyward is struggling so far with a .235 average and only 8 home runs (I have more with literally 50% of the games played). Justin Upton is one of the league leaders in Batting average. Simmons hits for decent power too from SS. The rest of the lineup consists of two others who I think are rookies at 2nd and 3rd (One is called something Beltran and the other Martinez). Gattis is catcher, although Bethancourt, whom I played with in Gwinett gets the odd game.
A few other things of note:
The Braves are awesome. They are 9.5 games clear in the East.
They hit for good power (3rd in the MLB) but are otherwise very average in offence.
Pitching however is crazy good. Julio Tehran is front runner for the Cy Young at halfway. He's just killing it. Not far behind him is Mike Minor. He pitched a no hitter in one game i played. Then there's Medlan who is actually top of the rotation. All three have ERAs below 3. The fourth guy Wood is good too. Beachy is fifth. He's not bad. They still have a ridiculous closer in Kimbral too.
Some random moves I noticed. CC Sabathia now plays for the Cubs. Chris Davis now smashes them out of the park in Philly (who lost Rollins, Howard and Utley to retirement). The San Francisco Giants love catchers. They have Brian McCann, Buster Posey and Joe Mauer. Granted, they use Mauer at first, but still.
That's all for now. Finally up to date... I'm going to work on relations with Julio Tehran. See you later.
Here are links to the previous posts:
Part 1: Give me my Sushi, of the International Region
Part 2: 74 walks in the hills of Comptacoma
Part 3: So hot right now
Part 4: Chris Dickinson, how's your average?
The habit here has become one in which Oliver Thornton examines his inner-self, his feelings on his situation and offers an overall insight into his mental well-being. Today though, there is no time for that.
Thornton leaves, his small rental apartment (all he can afford with his $80k salary and significant gambling debts owed from his road trip to Vegas last season) on the outskirts of Lawrenceville, Georgia and drives to South Atlanta, heading to the majors. He's nervous. For the first time in his career. Thornton thinks he is ready for this, but you hear so much about how much tougher it is in the majors. Plus the hazing and all the old school baseball attitudes when it comes to rookies. It's going to be a lot to deal with.
Now, you might be asking, why the haste? He's got a whole off-season to relocate and familiarize himself with his team-mates. A reasonable question. But with a faulty assumption. The Major League season is still going. To be more specific the MLB playoffs are just about to begin.
There is nothing like being thrown in at the deep end, and Oliver Thornton feels like he's been dropped into the Mariana Trench. As the AAA season ends and his teammates go home for a well earned rest. He is preparing to take on the NL Central Champs, the Chicago Cubs, in the first round of the playoffs.
Naturally, Thornton does not get a place in the starting lineup. However, he is a daily pinch hitter. The Braves go on to sweep the Cubs in three games. Thornton gets 0 hits in three ABs. Each time pinch hitting for BJ Upton.
Even sitting in the dugout is intimidating. Jason Heyward is a physical specimen like no other! He's also playing like a demi-God. He finished the season in third place in the NL MVP race finishing over .300 with 30 odd homer runs.
There is a lot of spitting. It's like the Ganges on the dugout floor. Peer pressure compels me to join in. It was a mistake. I spit. It's that thick, stringy stuff. If you've ever played swingball, you'll know what I mean when I say that you hit it and the ball extends the string to it's maximum tension. The power on the ball just dies and it falls back to the post. It's a sad time. Well my spit attempt was very similar. It left my mouth with velocity but hit a seemingly invisible wall, swung south and hit me on the chin. I looked like a pre-school child drooling all over myself. Freddie Freeman seemed amused.
I try to lighten the mood and go full American on my team-mates. I start using words like "yo" and "dawg", I know they are not words, but it seems to help. I buy a fake pistol. Start polishing it at my locker every day. Nobody seems to notice. Buy a fake rifle from a carny, people notice more. I decide to ramp it up a notch. Start espousing libertarian ideas while cleaning my rifle (which I named Meryl) "The man cannot take away my libertaaaay" I shout. For the most part nobody cares. Justin Upton says I remind him of Tim Thomas. I'm sure that's a compliment.
I'm Sat next to Freddie Freeman, his locker is next to mine, he seems like a nice bloke reminds me of that guy from Parks and Rec. The friendly one that plays in a band and is like a human Labrador. One of the starting pitchers wanders by. I decide to ingratiate myself further in the locker room banter. "Yo dawgggg it's my man from Iran Julio Tehran!!!" Offer my hand in greeting. He looks unhappy. Not really sure why. His ERA is below 2 for god's sake!
Turns out he's Colombian. Not Iranian. If I met a dude called Brian Bogota I'd think he might be Colombian. That's all I'm saying. Freddie freeman seemed amused though.
After the spituation in the dugout I couldn't wait to escape. Thankfully it was time for me to pinch hit. It's game 2 of the series with San Francisco (I went 0 for 1 in Game 1). We're on the road. It's a lovely stadium. I will always know it as Pac Bell, despite what it says in the out-field. It all happened so fast that I was still dripping saliva from my chin. I can only assume the pitcher took that as some sort of primordially motivated hunger to destroy not only his pitching but his life. Whatever the case it did the trick. HOME RUN! My first Major League long ball. Very happy. I went 1-2 in the subsequent games as the Braves win the series in four. I am going, believe it or not, to the WORLD FRICKIN SERIES.
The match-up is with the Tampa Bay Rays. Game 1 iis at Tropicana Field. It's a rubbish stadium #justsayin. I'm in the STARTING LINEUP in the WORLD SERIES. I'm playing DH. I believe I overheard the Rays Manager saying to my manager "My stadium, my rules or we all just go home". It seemed a bit childish but we had to play with "American" League rules in Tampa. Boooring.
David Price is sick. I can't hit lefties at the best of times but this is ridiculous. Faced him three times. Two strikeouts and a grouder into a double play. The Rays kill the Braves 7-2.
Game two, I'm feeling things should improve from here on out. I'm DH again. Matt Moore on the pitcher. "Let's take a look at the guys on the mound" Says the commentary. I nod knowingly, let's look indeed. Gutted. Matt Moore LHP. God-damn. 0 for 4. Matt Moore pitches a complete game. Giving up 1 earned run (and another he obviously did not deserve) The Rays win 3-2.
Two games in Tampa. Two left handed pitchers. We go back to Atlanta. Everyone there is right-handed. Of course, I can't DH in Atlanta. Our manager childishly forces the Rays to play by his rules at his house. It's like school all over again. I'm pinch hitting. Exciting.
Over the next two games I do ok. 2 for 2. One single. One double. The Braves lose both games, and the World Series in a 4-0 sweep by the World Champion Tampa Bay Rays.
Now the off season begins. I feel a bit in limbo. I'm not sure if the Braves moved me up temporarily, was there an injury? I guess we won't know until next year for sure.
Maybe now is a good time to have a look around the league over the past few seasons. Specifically in terms of awards:
The NL MVP in 2015 was Paul Goldschmidt. In 2014 it was Troy Tulowitzki of Colorado. The AL MVP has become the Miguel Cabrara award.
The Cy Young in the NL went to Clayton Kershaw in 2014 followed by Jordan Zimmerman in 2015. In the AL it went to Yu Darvish in 2014 and Chris Sale in 2015.
The offseason is far happier than previous ones. The Braves offer me a contract. 1 year. $500k!!! and more importantly... MLB Starter... what??? How?? This is the NL?? Does the GM think we're playing Tampa rules?
Then comes Spring training. I simmed it to be honest. Now, I have strict no simming policy in general. However, I don't mind with Spring training for two reasons. 1. I play all 168 games. Plus I just played two playoffs. Meaningless games don't interest me. 2. I can't bear playing in any more crap stadiums. I've moved to The Show. I want my early settling in period in the pros to be done while having the vibe of high gloss major league stadiums.
By the time the regular season rolls around my guy is 81 overall. His 83 power vs RHP is his biggest tool.
Game 1 vs Miami. 0 for 3. Game 2 vs Miami 1 for 4. Game 3 vs Miami. Ouch! What the ****!!!. Injured. 2 months. Fractured something or another. Great.
Miss two months. But I am immediately back in the starting lineup. Awesome. I start in Centre Field. Turns out the Braves were willing to move Heyward to LF, released BJ Upton and moved Justin Upton to RF.
It's now just passed the All star break. I have 9 Homer Runs, and am hitting around .255. I had one nice game where I hit back to back homers against the Mets. I also hit a nice three run homer of Tim Lincecum. Me and Freddie Freeman are becoming good pals. He's ridiculous. He leads the league in home runs. Jason Heyward is struggling so far with a .235 average and only 8 home runs (I have more with literally 50% of the games played). Justin Upton is one of the league leaders in Batting average. Simmons hits for decent power too from SS. The rest of the lineup consists of two others who I think are rookies at 2nd and 3rd (One is called something Beltran and the other Martinez). Gattis is catcher, although Bethancourt, whom I played with in Gwinett gets the odd game.
A few other things of note:
The Braves are awesome. They are 9.5 games clear in the East.
They hit for good power (3rd in the MLB) but are otherwise very average in offence.
Pitching however is crazy good. Julio Tehran is front runner for the Cy Young at halfway. He's just killing it. Not far behind him is Mike Minor. He pitched a no hitter in one game i played. Then there's Medlan who is actually top of the rotation. All three have ERAs below 3. The fourth guy Wood is good too. Beachy is fifth. He's not bad. They still have a ridiculous closer in Kimbral too.
Some random moves I noticed. CC Sabathia now plays for the Cubs. Chris Davis now smashes them out of the park in Philly (who lost Rollins, Howard and Utley to retirement). The San Francisco Giants love catchers. They have Brian McCann, Buster Posey and Joe Mauer. Granted, they use Mauer at first, but still.
That's all for now. Finally up to date... I'm going to work on relations with Julio Tehran. See you later.
Sir Oliver Thornton. Keep em coming!!
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