FRANCHISE PLAYERS: How Was YOUR April '09 Season?

[Rod_Carew29]

Like real baseball, sometimes The Show (when you get past the madness that affects this game sometimes), can really humble you. I started off so badly in my Mets franchise, that for a split second, I thought about stopping it, getting my rosters redone again and doing another one. But the prospoect of doing ALLLLLLLLL of that work again, was NOT gonna cut it.

so I went on and this was my April '09:

4 wins

17 losses

* I won Opening Day in Cincinnati with Johan 10-8

* Lost the next two games in Cincinnati

* Was SWEPT in the 3-game series in Florida

* Was SWEPT in my 3-game Opening Home Series against the Padres

* Was SWEPT in the 3 game series against the Brewers
(they KILLED me in the first two games: 13-4, 17-2)

* Was SWEPT in a 3-game series in St. Louis

* Lost the first two games to the Nats at Citi Field

(was riding an 11 game losing streak)

* Won the rubber game against the Nats, 2-1

* Lost the first two games against the Marlins at Citi Field

* Won the last game of the homestand against the Marlins, 3-0

However, for May, with two games left in the month, my Mets are:

16 wins

10 losses

In May, I swept the Braves at Citi Field

won 2 out of 3 in Los Angeles

won 2 out of 3 in Boston

and got revenge and SWEPT the Nats at Citi Field--including the getaway game, 3-0. Santana pitched a complete game, 3 hit shutout.

So.....

at 20-27 with 4 wins in a row, I am in 4th place 8 games behind the first place Braves...but only 1.5 games behind the third place Marlins who are next on the schedule.

The Nats fell into last place, 11.5 out and 3.5 behind me.

[SoxFan01605]

Well, I started one with my Sox, than after a month, decided to restart a 2P one as the Nats and Sox (the siren song was just too sweet...lol).

After April, the NL East shook out as follows:

Marlins 13-8
Braves 13-9
Phillies 11-10
Mets 10-11
Nats 6-16 (I really don't know what my division would do without me...lol)

I was pittiful. Pitching is near bottom, and my best pitcher has been Pedro (picked him up in FA...I HAVE to have him on my team every year) but he can't go long enough to decide games. He's currently 0-3 with a 3.17 ERA.

Cabrera has been a mess (0-4 with a 27.somethin-or-other) ERA and I won't go into the horror that is my bullpen (though Hanrahan, when I can actually get the game to him, has been pretty good).

Offensively, Dunn has 5 homers but is playing footsy with the mendoza line, Me (A CAP CF I added) I lead the team in AVG at .303, but nothing else worth bragging about. NOBODY after me and Zimmerman is batting above .250. It's pathetic.

I started things out on default HOF (since I was doing MUCH better in my original Sox franchise) and have apparently been punished for it...lol. I bumped back down to AS and won 4 of my last 8 to get to that stunning 6-16 record...lol.

It looks to be a humbling, painful year...lol. The funny thing is, I'm loving every minute of it.

[preztommy]

I'll check up exactly how it went earlier, but I was like 7 or eight games below .500 after April with the Rangers. I started the season 1-8 I think. But so far I'm in May and I'm at 21-22 or something like that, and that's without Ian Kinsler and Chris Davis, who both got hurt in April. Joaquin Arias is batting like .340 filling in since Kinsler went down, and Chris Davis is gonna be back in about a week. AL West crown, here we come!!

[N51_rob]

Man, April was rough. 8-13 which included a 7 game losing steak, the top of my lineup, Roberts, Jones and Markakis hitting under .200. Guthrie went 0-5 for the month, my starters won a total of 3 games the whole month. Huff hit 7 homeruns but only had 13 RBI since no one was getting on base. Other bright spots. Beat Mo Rivera and Papelbon in the 9th innning of games I was losing. Other than that April was a month to forget.

[mmorg]

Through April my Indians have 1 game left against the Red Sox and my record is 8-13(Pretty much spot on to real life). My bullpen has been horrible just like in real life, and apart from Cliff Lee and Carl Pavano I haven't had any consistency in my starting rotation.

Kerry Wood has been alright thus far with 4 saves and 1 Loss/BS.

My offense has been great though with Sizemore, Droobs, and Victor just hitting the crap out of the ball and producing a lot of runs from the 1-2-3 spots.

Hafner has been a solid #4 hitter but I dropped his durability down to a rating of 25 to reflect real life so I sit him once every third game but when he plays he has been knocking in runs whenever there is a runner in scoring position.

Shin-Soo Choo has been very mediocre and I will be benching him for the next series.

Ryan Garko is definitely competing for the starting LF spot right now too as he has been getting a lot of clutch hits in minimal play time. He has gotten a lot of playing time platooning in the DH/1B/LF spots but I want to start him in LF and move LaPorta to 1B for good though.

I am thinking about dealing DeRosa sometime in May or June for some arms in the bullpen. I really don't know who I would be looking for right now, but I can definitely use another shutdown arm in my bullpen to give Betancourt a rest when the game is on the line.

Season Review for my Cleveland Indians:

@ TEX: Went 2-1
Vs. TOR: Got Swept 0-3
@ KC: Went 1-2
@ NYY: Split series at 2-2
Vs. KC: Lost Series 1-2
Vs. MIN: Lost Series 1-2
Vs. BOS: Series tied at 1-1 right now.

Outlook from here on out:
If Carmona can start being more consistent after picking up his first W against Boston in a 5-4 victory I can definitely turn my season around and contend for a Division Title. The offense has been there thus far and I don't see it slowing down since I have so much depth at every position.

The key for me from here on out is getting solid work from my bullpen when the game is on the line. My bullpen has given up the majority of my runs this year and have lost most of my games. My defense also needs to get better as they haven't been helping the bullpen get out of tight situations at all. I really need to get one more solid arm that I can rely on and I think my relievers will be fine from here on out.

[chicubsfan20]

I'm 9 games in with my Cubs and I'm 7-2. I won my first three games, got beat up 2 straight againist the Brewers, then have one the last 4.

All my star players are, well, playing like stars and picking up the slack for everyone else. All my non-star starting players and role players aren't doing much. For example, Theriot is hitting under .100, Fontenot and Fukudome are both around .180.

My stars are exceeding on many levels, Aramis is batting over .450 with 5 HR's, Milton Bradley is batting over .450 with 4 HR's (3 in one game againist the Brewers), Derrek Lee is batting around .340 with 4 HR's, Soriano is batting about .310 with 4 HR's, and Soto is batting around .270 with 2 HR's.
Zambrano has a 2.93 ERA, Harden has a 18.00 ERA, Lilly has a 4.13 ERA, Dempster is a 3.82 ERA, and Marshall has a 3.60 ERA in one start and 2.2 innings of relief work.

[btown12]

Quote: Originally Posted by chicubsfan20

All my star players are, well, playing like stars and picking up the slack for everyone else.

I have to agree. I can't remember my exact stats or record (12-7 maybe?) since my PS3 is getting repaired but I know Utley, Howard, and Ibanez had monster Aprils while the likes of Ruiz, Feliz, and Victorino are all at or around .200 with little run production. I'm still tweaking some sliders but I think my team average was around .270 and I believe I was leading the league in HR's and walks. As for pitching stats I can't tell ya since I only hit in my Phils franchise otherwise I would never make it through a full season.

...Man I can't wait to get that stupid machine back!