MLB 11 The Show "Franchise/Season" Progress Thread

[cardsleadtheway]

Game 5 is a rematch of Halladay versus Volquez. We got out to a one nothing lead right off the bat with some small ball tactics. In the second, Quentin belts a solo shot to go up 2-0. Halladay was just flat out dealing, pitching a perfect game through the first 3. In the fourth he gave up his first hit on a ball that skipped in the dirt right over top of the second baseman. The next batter worked a walk an three very questionable calls. Luis Rios, the Reds second baseman and a guy I scouted heavily a few drafts ago, takes a 3-2 cutter over the right field wall for his first hit of the series. In the bottom half, Quentin hits a two run double. In the top of the 5th, Jaramillo batting .050 in the playoffs, belts his first home run of the post season. Tied 4-4, Suzuki hits a two run shot in the bottom of the fifth. We had the bases loaded up in the 6th, but Henry Rodriguez came in and got them out of it and pitched a scoreless 7th. In the bottom of the eighth Quentin works a lead off walk and I sub in speedster Brandon Jones (What a great pickup he has been for us). Jones steals second. Carter grounds to first moving the runner. Suzuki hits a sac fly to go up 7-4. Top of the ninth, Bailey comes in and gives up a lead off hit. He manages to strike out the next two batters. Dickerson hits a triple that would have been caught had I replaced Dunn with Jones instead of Quentin earlier. Bailey gets Votto to ground to second for the final out. Now back to Cincy to try and win this thing.

Game 6 matchup is Anderson versus Matt Moore. Moore strikes out the side to start the game. I think Wally Hughes had money on the game because the strike zone was completely different for Anderson. After walking Dickerson, he gives up back to back hits being forced to come in with his pitches. He somehow escapes the inning with only a run scoring despite not striking out a single batter. Top of the second, Quentin belts a two run jack after Dunn works the walk. Moore wises up and uses his extra large strike zone to get three more. Two innings later, Rios hits another home run, luckily a mere solo shot, to tie the game at 2-2. After that, it seemed like Hughes forgot who he was betting on because the strike zone opened way up for us and shrunk for Moore. Still tied 2-2, I brought in Carter to pinch hit for Anderson, ending his night. Carter singles. He moves to second on a slow roller to first. Wright doubles but Carter has to stay at third. Pena strikes out swinging. Dunn ends up roping a single that drives in both runners. Cincy brings in HRod on a double switch. He gets two straight innings of scoreless ball. That kid is going to have a great career with the Reds. Bottom of the ninth, up 4-2, Bailey comes in to try to shut the door on the world series. He gives up a hit to SS that Tulo can't bring in in time to get the speedy Wilkin Castillo at first. Next batter hits a line drive to Tulo that hits his glove hard and then pops toward third. Wright goes to field the ball, but the wise Castillo keeps running to third that has no fielder. Brandon Snyder, who came in on the double switch, hits a double that drives in one run and puts runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Jaramillo is at the plate. I have to make the call to pitch to him or walk him and go for the base loaded scenario. Since he has been batting so poorly, I choose the former. On a 1-2 count, he reaches for one out of the zone and drives it right up the middle. Both runs come in to score on the walk off.

It looks like there will be a game 7 for this series. I have Gio that will most likely start, plus I have Halladay on two days rest, and three lefties in the pen in case I get into trouble. Also Anderson and everyone else can come in to pitch since this is the final game. I would say that I like my odds, but I also really liked my odds the last game as well.

[Joey]

You should give us live updates during Game 7.

Quote: Originally Posted by cardsleadtheway

It looks like there will be a game 7 for this series. I have Gio that will most likely start, plus I have Halladay on two days rest, and three lefties in the pen in case I get into trouble. Also Anderson and everyone else can come in to pitch since this is the final game. I would say that I like my odds, but I also really liked my odds the last game as well.

[ckarlic]

Quote: Originally Posted by thaSLAB

From my Tigers Franchise... Max Scherzer is dealing, thru 8 starts. Virtual Max: Real Life Max: The ERA is a bit lower, as are the walks (which are somewhat related) - other than that, its pretty close. I have a similar happening with Austin Jackson... struggled thru the first 25 games or so, and has been hot of late, finally batting over .200 Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

Wow..that is scary how close to real life Scherzer is doing in your game!!

[cardsfan2222]

Tough way to lose. Even if you had walked him, it would be tough to get out of a bases loaded no out jam in that situation. There's nothing like a game 7, winner take all for the series though.

After having a couple of trades for pitchers not work out, I went the free agent route and signed Jeff Karstens. He's cheap, so I'll give him a chance to pitch long relief, and maybe give him a shot at the 5th starter if Hochevar continues to struggle. I'm running out of guys to give a chance at starting, and there aren't too many viable guys on the trading block yet.

[cardsleadtheway]

Quote: Originally Posted by cardsfan2222

Tough way to lose. Even if you had walked him, it would be tough to get out of a bases loaded no out jam in that situation. There's nothing like a game 7, winner take all for the series though. After having a couple of trades for pitchers not work out, I went the free agent route and signed Jeff Karstens. He's cheap, so I'll give him a chance to pitch long relief, and maybe give him a shot at the 5th starter if Hochevar continues to struggle. I'm running out of guys to give a chance at starting, and there aren't too many viable guys on the trading block yet.

Yes indeed. I am kind of excited about the fact that it is winner takes all and that I don't have to leave anything in the tank. I can pitch until my guy(s) arm falls off, or I can use anyone in my rotation, pen, or bench. Because it will be played by NL rules, I can pinch hit every time the pitcher comes to the plate, or 5 times, whichever comes first. Other than the blown save by Bailey, the pen has been the real mvp of this series for us.

Too bad you haven't been able to get a solid reliever for your pen. Every time I have to face HRod, I get a twinge of regret for that deal. I really hope the pitching prospect I got for him pans out, otherwise I have lost a great and cheap reliever, on top of all the heartache this guy has caused my team this series.

What month are you in? Hopefully some viable options will start to show up as time goes on.

[cardsfan2222]

I'm in the middle of June now. Chad Durbin and Chris Perez are the best relievers on the block, but they're not interested in my prospects. Tyler Greene is surprisingly a B potential player, so he has some value, but not enough to only trade him. I may try to package Greene, Hochevar, and a pitching prospect in a deal later on.

[duke776]

After Baltimore swept me at home the Rangers came in and swept me also. That droped my A's record to 24-26.

I did just get a little payback against the Orioles though, in the first game at Camden Yards we put it to them 13-4. That was great, but we lost a big key to our team. Rick Ankiel was injured and has a bulging disk and will be out 6+ months He was hitting .272 with 6 HR's and 25 RBI's. He was great in the middle of my order but now a combination of Chris Duncan, Ben Francisco and Juan Pierre will have to fill in for him in left while Bill Hall moves to center.

I also sent Wil Ledezma outright to AAA and brought up my top pitching prospect Royce Arthur. He looks to be pretty good, so hopefully he can fill in decently at least until I (possibly) acquire a big time arm.

[ckarlic]

Almost had a no hitter in my Yankees franchise with Phil Hughes last nite. It was the closest i ever came to a no-no in a video game. I was playing the Royals and Phil Hughes was going up against Jeff Francis. The game was a pitchers duel the entire way. I only managed to get one hit off of Francis which was a HR by Arod in the bottom of the 5th. I don't know what it was but Francis was nasty. He doesn't overpower you with his fastball..he throws alot of slow sweeping curves. He pitched great for the Royals striking out 14 through 7 innings and only allowing a HR to Arod.

Anyway, back to Hughes. He had it going on. He had a no hitter going until 1 out in the 8th inning. His no hit bid was broken up by Kila Ka'aihue. Hit hit Hughes fastball right down the first base side past a diving Teixiera for a double. Hughes regrouped and got the next 2 batters to fly out. Hughes gave up another hit in the 9th but that was it. Hughes had a complete game shutout only allowing 2 hits.

I only managed to get 1 hit the entire game but surprisingly that was all Hughes needed. He needed a good outing since coming into the game Hughes was sporting a 5.30 ERA and a 2-3 record. Funny thing was, I was prompted by the pitching coach to spot start another pitcher in place of Hughes since he was struggling prior to the game. I wanted to work through his struggles so I decided to go with him and glad i did.

Next up is Boston at home. Im hoping i can get more than 1 hit when I play them next

Anyone have a hard time hitting Francis in this game?

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by ckarlic

Almost had a no hitter in my Yankees franchise with Phil Hughes last nite. It was the closest i ever came to a no-no in a video game. I was playing the Royals and Phil Hughes was going up against Jeff Francis. The game was a pitchers duel the entire way. I only managed to get one hit off of Francis which was a HR by Arod in the bottom of the 5th. I don't know what it was but Francis was nasty. He doesn't overpower you with his fastball..he throws alot of slow sweeping curves. He pitched great for the Royals striking out 14 through 7 innings and only allowing a HR to Arod. Anyway, back to Hughes. He had it going on. He had a no hitter going until 1 out in the 8th inning. His no hit bid was broken up by Kila Ka'aihue. Hit hit Hughes fastball right down the first base side past a diving Teixiera for a double. Hughes regrouped and got the next 2 batters to fly out. Hughes gave up another hit in the 9th but that was it. Hughes had a complete game shutout only allowing 2 hits. I only managed to get 1 hit the entire game but surprisingly that was all Hughes needed. He needed a good outing since coming into the game Hughes was sporting a 5.30 ERA and a 2-3 record. Funny thing was, I was prompted by the pitching coach to spot start another pitcher in place of Hughes since he was struggling prior to the game. I wanted to work through his struggles so I decided to go with him and glad i did. Next up is Boston at home. Im hoping i can get more than 1 hit when I play them next Anyone have a hard time hitting Francis in this game?

Man, that's a crazy game. One hit and you win? Gotta love that.

I had a similar game in my Mets franchise yesterday where R.A. Dickey won a 1-0 game against the Nationals, despite me only having 4 hits for the game.

I've been in a major slump offensively. It seems all I'm good for are a couple of doubles a game and an infield single or two. No home runs in quite a few games.

As for your question about Jeff Francis, I usually light that guy up. The lefty that kills me is Ted Lilly. There's something about his delivery that just throws me off and his change of speeds is always really good.

[cardsfan2222]

I simmed a 3-2 loss in the 2nd game of the Houston series, and the rubber game started out as another pitching duel. Hawksworth had a shutout until the 5th, when Sheffield hit a pinch hit home run to give them a 2-1 lead. I was surprised they took out Meche since he had only allowed one run, but it paid off. Karstens pitched 2 solid innings in relief, including working out of a 2 on no out jam in the 7th. He picked up the win as our offense exploded against the Astros bullpen, scoring 4 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th to turn a tie game into an 8-2 win. Houston only managed to score 6 runs the entire series.

After that it was back home to face the Twins. With Carp going, I thought we had a pretty good chance. He only last 2.1 innings though, as he got shelled for 6 runs. Hochevar came in to relieve, and he gave up 2 runs to make it 8-0 in the 4th. My offense was quiet until the 7th, when the first 2 batters reached with Kotsay coming up. He lined into a triple play to end the threat, as I started to realize it just wasn't my night. We did manage to score 4 in the 8th, but stranded a runner on 3rd. Another run scored in the 9th, bringing Brignac up as the tying run. He grounded out weakly to give the Twins game 1, 8-6.