Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

[redsrulenc]

Hi all. Please enjoy what you're about to read. There is some solid background information that you'll want to know before continuing. This thread picks up with 11 games left in the regular season. I've played every pitch, every inning, every game of the whole franchise with the Louisville Bats and the season is winding down. Information on what's been happening can be found below, under the Personal Background section. NOTICE : This is a trial version for me, as far as updates go. With only 11 regular season games to report back on, this will give me a good feel for whether I want to start a fresh thread for the next season. I'll finally be able to test whether or not reporting a franchise online, to the public, is for me.


Personal background - I'm an avid, diehard, hardcore, to the death, from birth..fan of the Cincinnati Reds. I'm in college in North Carolina, offered a baseball scholarship to play college ball, but a dislocated knee plus surgery on that knee in high school ruined that chance. The way I look at it, more time for THE SHOW and more importantly, work and school. I've had a long career of sports video gaming. This is my first time ever going public with a dynasty thread. For years and years I've always kept my close friends and family in on updates on what happens in my franchises on MLB: The Show, as well as Madden, and NCAA basketball 10. I host a texting group amungst my friends, where before and after every game of the show I send a mass text to anyone interested letting them in on the latest updates from THE SHOW, so I am very passionate and driven by what is happening in my franchise with THE SHOW. I play THE SHOW for extreme realism. If the Reds call up Billy Hamilton in the middle of July, I lose him on my team too. Same with trades. When the Reds in real life make trades involving prospects, it kills my team. But part of managing a minor league team is dealing with that stuff.

Louisville Bats current season background- First off, this has been an excellent season. We started off very HOT 9-0 to start the season, and lead the division for the whole first half, up to the all star break. We did so with fantastic starting pitching and great defense, which has been our winning formula all year. However, we couldn't lead the division all year. Ever since the 2nd game back from the all star break, our now-hated division rival, the Columbus Clippers, have lead the division and we haven't been able to catch them. Now, with only 11 games left in the season, we find ourselves 5 games out in the division, but leading the wild card over Buffalo by 2 games.
After putting so much time in to this franchise, we better not collapse, otherwise I'll be VERY ticked. All I want is playoffs. I realize that our "big brothers" in Columbus have our number, and we probably won't win the division, but as long as we can make playoffs I'll be satisfied.

A developing story is that I'm in the final year of my contract with Louisville. At the end of this season I'll have the option of moving up to manage the Reds, or return to Louisville. I'm basing that decision off of what happens the remainder of the season. If we miss playoffs, I'll feel as if I didn't earn a promotion and force myself to stay in AAA. If we make playoffs and lose, the decision will be up in the air. If my squad somehow got lucky and God forbid win the AAA championship, I'd nearly feel obligated to accept a promotion to the MLB level.

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Updates will come as games are played. I typically play one game a day. I'll try to keep this thing updated as much as possible for as long as I am able to.

Season one games end on page 9. Season two games start on page 21, but please, enjoy the off-season posts in the pages previous to that.

[redsrulenc]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

Sorry for the long first post, but there's some important reading in there if you're one who will be following this franchise as it develops.

Next game

Game 2 of a 2 game set against 1st place Columbus. They beat us 4-0 in the first game of the set. Here's a light recap of what went down in Louisville last night.

.."VERY frustrated.
In my AAA Louisville Bats dynasty we hosted the division leader Columbus Clippers. Carlos Carrasco, who has a ERA of 6.78. He pitches a 2 hit, complete game shutout. To add salt to the womb, my bullpen implodes in the 9th, after we were already down 2-0 with no chance of cracking the case on "Mr. Walter Johnson" on the mound, and we end up losing 4-0 at home. Only 11 games left in the season, leading the wild card by 3 games and 2nd place in the division to Columbus by 5."

Today we send RHP Armando Galarraga to the mound with this lineup card, brought to you by State Farm Insurance :

CF Billy Hamilton
SS Emmanuel Burriss (Playing short to give Cesar Izturis a day off)
C Miguel Olivo
1B Neftali Soto
3B Jack Hannahan - Hot Streak
LF Cody Puckett
2B PJ Phillips (Starting tonight on a Hot Streak after Emmanuel is moved to Short because of Cesar's day off)
RF Felix Perez - Hot Streak
DH Donald Lutz - Hot Streak


- Hoping for a big day from the bottom of my lineup as you can tell by those hot streaks. I'll have an update after today's game.

[kc2135]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

following, man

[redsrulenc]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

Thanks a lot, fellow Reds fan. I wanna make sure I get some interest on this thing if I'mma put any time in to it at all.

If anyone checks this thread out, post something so I know you're interested!!

*BTW, Just got game two of a two game set done against arch-rival Columbus. It was an exciting game, to say the least. Quite surprising too. More to come later tonight, when I have a full game write up posted. 10 games left in the regular season and we're trying to at least win the wild card!

[jmik58]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

I'll be following. I'm a proponent of the "like" thumbs-up at the bottom right of the post to let you know I'm checking in. Most times I don't have a lot worthwhile to say, but at least you know "jmik58 wuz here".

[redsrulenc]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

I'll be following. I'm a proponent of the "like" thumbs-up at the bottom right of the post to let you know I'm checking in. Most times I don't have a lot worthwhile to say, but at least you know "jmik58 wuz here".

Thanks for the reply. Feel free to throw in any thoughts you may ever have!

[NightHawkTH]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

nice you decided to do it! i'll be following.

[Travisssx17]

Following man! Thinking of doing something like this when osfm drops but probably going to do all three teams! Nice work!

[redsrulenc]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

nice you decided to do it! i'll be following.

Yeah, I'm going to test it out and make sure I can be connected with it. If I can do it for the remainder of the remaining season for me, I would feel more comfortable doing an entire season later.

[redsrulenc]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

Comeback Outburst!

The 77-56 Louisville Bats hosted the division leaders for a two game series, with only 12 games left. To begin the series, we found ourselves back in the division by 4 games. After losing game one, we needed a bounce back game to at least split the series and hopefully never have to see Columbus again, as they've been so tough to contain. We sent Armondo Galarraga to the mound to try and stop their hot bats. Let's just say, he didn't stop ANYTHING.

Armando-Galarraga.jpg
Pictured: Armondo Galarraga in Spring Training 2013

Game recap- Armondo got drilled. That's really all there is to say. After giving up two runs in the first, one in the 2nd, and one in the 3rd, his day was done. 3 innings is the shortest pitching performance I've had my entire season! Columbus crushed four doubles in this span, and collected 11 hits through just five innings! Meanwhile, Louisville hadn't even gotten one hit until the 4th inning. Down 4-0 to our arch-rival, I was already frustrated to the max. However, leading off the fourth inning, Emmanuel Burris claimed the first Bats hit of the night with a double. Next batter, Miguel Olivo, double and RBI. Bats down, 4-1. Not too bad. That is all we could muster until the 6th inning. Let's just say the 6th inning was very kind to us. We, the Louisville Bats who have scored the fewest runs out of ALL AAA squads this whole season put up a huge 5 spot, which gave us a 6-4 lead going in to the 7th. In the 7th, 3B Jack Hannahan hit a 364 foot bomb to right, plating in another two runs to make it 8-4. We have hit the fewest home runs in the league, so one there was a pleasant surprise. CF Billy Hamilton added an RBI on a double in the 8th, and in the 9th, Carlos Fisher gave up an RBI single for us, which made the final score 9-5.

Player of the Game
3B Jack Hannahan * 2-4,1 HR, 4 RBI

Other notables
LHP Manny Parra provided life out of the pen as he pitched in relief of the dreadful Galarraga to the tune of 4 innings of 5 hit, one run ball. His ERA now stands at 1.59.

Final Game Notes
Columbus had a whopping 16 hits, but left 13 runners on base
Time of the ballgame: 3 hrs and 38 minutes

What it means to the team
2 game final season series split with nemesis Columbus
3 game lead over Buffalo in the wild card race
4 games back in the division
Overall record : 78-56

[NightHawkTH]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

Comeback Outburst!

The 77-56 Louisville Bats hosted the division leaders for a two game series, with only 12 games left. To begin the series, we found ourselves back in the division by 4 games. After losing game one, we needed a bounce back game to at least split the series and hopefully never have to see Columbus again, as they've been so tough to contain. We sent Armondo Galarraga to the mound to try and stop their hot bats. Let's just say, he didn't stop ANYTHING.

[ATTACH]57532[/ATTACH]
Pictured: Armondo Galarraga in Spring Training 2013

Game recap- Armondo got drilled. That's really all there is to say. After giving up two runs in the first, one in the 2nd, and one in the 3rd, his day was done. 3 innings is the shortest pitching performance I've had my entire season! Columbus crushed four doubles in this span, and collected 11 hits through just five innings! Meanwhile, Louisville hadn't even gotten one hit until the 4th inning. Down 4-0 to our arch-rival, I was already frustrated to the max. However, leading off the fourth inning, Emmanuel Burris claimed the first Bats hit of the night with a double. Next batter, Miguel Olivo, double and RBI. Bats down, 4-1. Not too bad. That is all we could muster until the 6th inning. Let's just say the 6th inning was very kind to us. We, the Louisville Bats who have scored the fewest runs out of ALL AAA squads this whole season put up a huge 5 spot, which gave us a 6-4 lead going in to the 7th. In the 7th, 3B Jack Hannahan hit a 364 foot bomb to right, plating in another two runs to make it 8-4. We have hit the fewest home runs in the league, so one there was a pleasant surprise. CF Billy Hamilton added an RBI on a double in the 8th, and in the 9th, Carlos Fisher gave up an RBI single for us, which made the final score 9-5.

Player of the Game
3B Jack Hannahan * 2-4,1 HR, 4 RBI

Other notables
LHP Manny Parra provided life out of the pen as he pitched in relief of the dreadful Galarraga to the tune of 4 innings of 5 hit, one run ball. His ERA now stands at 1.59.

Final Game Notes
Columbus had a whopping 16 hits, but left 13 runners on base
Time of the ballgame: 3 hrs and 38 minutes

What it means to the team
2 game final season series split with nemesis Columbus
3 game lead over Buffalo in the wild card race
4 games back in the division
Overall record : 78-56

Good win! Confused as to why Hannahan is down in AAA. How do you manage the roster moves?

[redsrulenc]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

He's in AAA until he officially makes the team in Cincinnati. As a newcomer in spring training, he's still not officially on the club until he makes it. Once it becomes official, I'll lose him on my roster. I do call ups and send downs as they happen in real life. Once the Reds have made ALL of their cuts and the official opening day roster is announced, then all the proper changes will be made. With no official roster to base things off of in real life, I've had a little wiggle room to work with, but that'll change soon.

[NightHawkTH]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

He's in AAA until he officially makes the team in Cincinnati. As a newcomer in spring training, he's still not officially on the club until he makes it. Once it becomes official, I'll lose him on my roster. I do call ups and send downs as they happen in real life. Once the Reds have made ALL of their cuts and the official opening day roster is announced, then all the proper changes will be made. With no official roster to base things off of in real life, I've had a little wiggle room to work with, but that'll change soon.

I see. that makes sense. thanks for clearing that up.

[redsrulenc]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

No problem at all.

Folks, first pitch of today's Bats game is scheduled for 3:30. I'll have the full game report coming later. I hope to begin to add some pictures in at some point and maybe get in to videos. I might test some of that stuff out since I know it can get boring reading long write ups.

Also, for next season, I'm considering creating a facebook page for all of my updates. You all will know if that becomes a reality later on.

[redsrulenc]

Re: Run For The Playoffs - A Louisville Bats AAA dynasty

Manager Massey 3/26 pre game interview

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LOUISVILLE, KY.

WDRB.com - "We've caught up with coach Massey just minutes before the Bats take the field in today's Tuesday day game. Just going to ask a couple quick questions to get some of the inside information our subscribers to our website will want to know".

Massey- "Sure, glad to speak with you."

WDRB.com- "Not going to keep you long, we know you're just minutes away from turning in your lineup card. Only ten games left, and 4 games behind Columbus. Is the focus more on catching them, or trying to just lock up a wild card spot?"

Massey- "The end goal, regardless of how we get there, is playoffs. Columbus has obviously been very tough this season, and so have we. Will we catch them in time to win the division? It all starts with a win today. All we can do is keep winning and let whoever is going to lose, lose."

WDRB.com- "Everyone wants to know- any update on your future?"

Massey- "None at all. I won't be making any decisions until this season is over. My focus has been, and will continue to be, in Louisville."

WDRB.com- "Thanks coach, good luck today."

Massey- "My pleasure."