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San Antonio Stallion - 2009 Fantasy Season Replay ...


CircleChange11

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I have NO idea why I did not think of this format before .... I call it "graphic novel" for obvious reasons. I still can't believe I never thought of this previously.

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I'll keep working on it and get the letter boxes "tighter", and work on some *dazzle* effects.

I plan to use this format for the rest of the dynasty. Who knows, maybe at the end of it I'll print out all the images and throw em in a binder. Why not?

Note: Gorkys Hernandez and Brian Bixler made their ML debuts in this game. Bixler (84 SPD) is pretty decent and will start at SS for a bit, Vasquez to 3B, LaRoche to 2B ... Jacobs moves behind the plate (position he was drafted at ... eh?), Doumit to DH. Salazar and McCuthen still out for 10 more games. Bixler will stay up after their return, Hernandez (86 SPD) will go back to AAA. Jose Tabata is another prospect that may see his debut this year ... although he's likely 1-2 seasons away from being "ML ready".

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Love the presentation - but my wife thinks of the same of my dynasty attempts - she says that it's stupid to put time into it, but I think it's stupid to make a quilt (haha). And I like the comic book idea...just don't go all Batman and add the ZOINK! and BLAMO! to it all haha...I like a little ZING! if it's a fastball strike out though ;)

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G10

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Note: I forgot to reduce Wood's ratings. His ratings are still heavily based off his outstanding AAA stats/equivalents, rather than his dismal ML stats/performance. I made the changes after the game, so Figgins should be starting in G11.

Same deal with Terry Evans ... monster AAA season in hitter-friendly PCL ... only 20 ML at bats over 2 stints (07 and 09). He's a 27yo, so he's not likely a very good ML prospect, so I'll likely drop each batting rating (CON & POW) by 10-15 points.

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I think I'm "obligated" to come up with a new 'comic-book-esque' look for the line score summary, y'know? Maybe a cover?

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Lose late in G9, win late in G10. That's hardball. Morton has been great so far. Delwyn Young's 1st hit of the season came at a good time. With 2-down in the 9th, it's "left stick or nothing" ... one swing for all the marbles ... this time it worked out. Hansen (SU) and Capps (CL) have been really good out of the pen .. I just gotta hold the lead till the 8th ... easier said than done.

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G11

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The Stallions were able to capitalize on 8 hits by scoring 8 runs, with the help of 7 Lackey walks. The often shaky San Antonio bullpen was able to hold the Halos to just 1 run over the last 3.1 innings.

I swear every inning the Angels made the 3rd out with 2 men on base. I was fortunate to get this one. Duke is not the pitcher he looked to be on opening day.

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Man, those Angels pumping out 16 hits a game.. as I said in a different dynasty thread, this looks oddly familiar.  The fact that you can even overcome that lineup is an acheivement in itself.

Great job with the dynasty CC, love the concept and presentation.   B)

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Kevin Hart's debut as a starter. Weaver looks to be another tough oppossing pitcher.

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Abreau is a beast. This Series, he was 7-for-11, 4 runs scored, triple, 3 home runs, 6 RBI.

Vlad = 4-for-9, double, triple, 2 home runs, 3 RBI, day off in game 1.

I can't get on the plane fast enough. Flying home to host Atlanta (the #1 rated hitting team in the league ... Fantastic.)

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Dammit.

I'm moving Moss to 3 and Jones to 4 for the lineup, so that Jones is up with a runner on and 2-out more times than Moss is. It's not going tobe realistic to have Moss hitting 30 HR's. But geez, whenever Moss is up and I push the stick up, he almost always gets a slider that moves low and in, and I don't miss it often.

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G18 - SAN ANTONIO INTRODUCES NEW UNIFORMS AND COLOR SCHEME.

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My original plan was to go with the Green, Red, and White color scheme, but decided for convenience to stay with PIT's basic colors with some more red brought in. I decided to go ahead and use my HS colors (Red & Green). My HS unis were basically the 1988-1990 A's unis with red replacing yellow. I'm all caught up with the updates and will post all 11 uniforms in a future post. Thanks to RedSox for his tutorial, especially the parts about using zig-zag and burn tools for more realistic scripts. The unfiroms are nice, the team is not. SA has now lost 6 of 7.

I will say I was stunned that I made a comeback down 8-1. Doumit had 3-run double earlier, and came to plate with the bases loaded, down 8-6, .... and struck out ... much like Jones did in the previous game. It all fell apart after that ... and fast.

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CLEVELAND INDIANS COME TO SAN ANTONIO FOR SERIES BETWEEN LAST PLACE TEAMS ... OH, THE EXCITEMENT.

G19

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Jones is just going crazy over the last 5 games. The approach is simple, Vasques (2nd batter) has his average up to .306, and Moss (3rd batter) is hitting .360-something, and when 2 guys get on I go for it with Jones ... and I've been getting low and in sliders and blasting them over the RF wall (I wait for slider). THe Earl Weaver "play for the 3-run homer" has been working well for Jones.

Note: I uped the "brightness" level of the images and it gives a crisper look the images.

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G20

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Since Matt LaPorta demolished me in Game 2 of the series, I DO NOT apologize for butchering his name TWICE in the update. Screw him, if yaknowhatimean.

DYNASTY UPDATE: San Antonio hires a new pitching coach, C.C. Ryan. Ryan offered the following quotes in a recent interview ...

CC Ryan: Right now the bullpen is bullsh!t. Guys better start hitting their spots ... or they'll be hitting the road.
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G21 - SERIES FINALE ...

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Another 3-run HR for Jones. Masterson throws 3/4's delivery, and he threw a 1-1 slider with 2 on (Vasquez and Moss again) and it moved right over the plate, and got deposited 421-ft in right-center. A thing of beauty.

After I gave up another HR to a weak hitter (Cabrera), which I've been doing a lot of lately, I turned the ball curson ON as I'm trying to figure out what the heck is going on with the location. Well, I got 2 pleasant surprises ... [1] Without the ball cursor, I've been pitching too much 'over the plate', not moving the location as far to the corner as I had imagined. [2] the result of having ball cursor ON, ironically did not make pitching "easier", but "harder" in the regard that I threw a lot more balls out of the zone. Duke had a PC of 102 through 7 innings, wheras in the past the PC would have been in the 60s or 70s. For the game my PC was 123, which is very realistic. I'm going to keep it like this for a bit and see if the realism continues. It was refreshing to have 2-2 and 3-1 counts, as well as, actually walk a couple of batters.

NOTE: Cool play in the 4th Inning that sort of illustrates the "little things" that make this game so intriguing ... with runners on 1st and 2nd and 2-out, Azdrubal Cabrera lines a grounder down the 3rd baseline. Vasquez dives for it, and has a great chance to make the play and beat the runner to the bag to thend the inning. BUT ... the ball hits the bag and bounces over a diving Vasquez for an RBI single to LF, tying the game 3-3.

NEXT UPDATE: Complete MLB standings by divisions, and "Miller Lite's 6-PAK of STARS", featuring the 6 best batters and pitchers of each league.

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Yeah, it's fun. I tried the modded NHL2004, and it did not overwhelm me at first blush, so I'm in no hurry to "get to hockey season." I did, however play a game of nfl 2k5 on XBOX the other day and WOW, just wow, that may be the single greatest sports title I have ever played. I'm digging for my action replay apparatus so I can get new rosters. That game is mah-va-lous.

I'm pretty baseball crazy all year round, and this dynasty gives me a creative and stress-relieving outlet. The updates are quick enough and there's always a developing story. I'm going to work with the stories and player presentations/documentaries a little more to giv the franchise some depth.

This'll keep going.

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This dynasty is played using a balanced schedule, with each team playing every other team either 5 or 6 games. So, a team's record does not reflect the strength or weakness of its division.

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The Braves are taking the East led by the stingiest pitching staff in the league, primarily due to young hurlers Jurrjens and Hanson.

The Royals jumped out to a huge lead in the Central with an 11-2 record, before dropping 6 straight. Likewise the Cardinals started out with an unimpressive 7-5 mark before winning 8 straight and vaulting to the head of the division. Strangely enough, no Cardinals players are featured in either the top 6 batters or pitchers (league leaders).

The West, as a whole, is underachieving. The Angels, Diamondbacks, and Dodgers *should* be good, but to this point ... are not.

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Thus far, the Mets are the best team in baseball, featuring a great offense and outstanding pitching. Through 19 games, they are +49 in run differential! The Mets 11-game Winning streak might be the highest I've seen (or at least noticed) in an MVP dynasty I've been involved with. There will likely be 3 teams from this division competing for the WC all year long.

The ChiSox are off to a hot start with a well-balanced team. Reliever Matt Thornton (3-0) has been a key out of the bullpen.

The West looks to be packed together, perhaps in mediocrity, and will likely remain so throughout the season. The Twins will likely fall back as Mauer was just injured for 57 days.

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1,000+ views ... thanks for following guys.

I have the 6-pak of pitchers ready to upload, as wellas, game 1 hosting the Cubs. I'll do that tonight. Been a busy, busy week.

I'm glad others are enjoying this dynasty ... I sure am.

As a note of change of style of play, instead of limiting myself to one "left stick" swing per batter in specific situations, I've decided to limit myself to one "left stick swing" (power swing) per inning, so I have to choose it carefully, as a means of limiting some homers and forcing myself to score more runs via the double. This also counters my switch to turning the pitching ball cursor to "fade" (instead of OFF), which is going to limit the opposition's home run totals as well. As it is, my team almost leads the league in runs scored, and easily allows the most runs. So, the game should be more "reasonable" in scoring.

I'm using the 30th rated pitching staff, so if I find that my pitcher do "too well" with the cursor on fade, I'll increase (slightly) the AI contact and power ratings as a balancing maneuver.

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