[mikev]

Relief Help Is On The Way!

Closing out the month of June, the Crusaders have fallen to 6 games behind the LA Quakes in the MBBA Pacific division.

Evan Dotson started to complain about playing time and demanded a trade, causing turmoil in the clubhouse which probably led to dropping the first two games to Green Bay. They righted the ship and took 2 of 3 from Chicago (shoulda been a sweep, ****ing bullpen), lost 2 of 3 to New York, and then taking the first game of a series against Valencia. Overall 4-5 for the sim, and not the kind of baseball that's going to make this a playoff caliber team.

Speaking of the ****ing bullpen and it's 15th ranked 4.55 ERA, we finally went out and got ourselves a closer.

To Des Moines:

SP Antonio Solano
OF Evan Dotson
CAL 2008 Rd 4 pick
$2M cash

To California:
CL "Turk" Lopez

Lopez will take over closing duties, as he's already racked up 18 saves this season for the Manhattan Myst. He was traded to Des Moines but never threw a pitch for the Kernels. Lopez sports an impressive 0.89 WHIP on the season, with 22 strikeouts and only 2 walks in just over 24 innings. He's not really able to go more than one inning at a time, so the team is probably going to look for another arm to bridge the gap between the starters and Lopez. Pedro Cisneros, the teams closer for now, will likely move to a setup role.

And now, we will blantanly rip off some other TN formats and call them our own.

Hotter than FIYAH!!!

Enrique De Jesus, DH -- De Jesus was named the MBBA Rookie of the Month, posting a 361/.378/.500 line with 3 homers and 6 doubles for the month. So far on the season he's got an OPS of .886, 7 homers, 21 doubles, and a VORP of 32.1 We'll take that for a million bucks.

Jakob Forest, 1B -- Not to be outdone by De Jesus, all Forest did was throw out an absolutely ridiculous line of .382/.462/.716 line for June, grabbing himself Batter Of The Month honors. He was good for 8 homers, 10 doubles, and he both scored and drove in 24 runs. Currently Forest leads the league in AVG, OBP, OPS, VORP, RC, RC/27, Runs, and Hits. He's decent.

Joaquin Martinez, SP -- Martinez continues to defy scouting reports, and over 59 innings this season has a nice and tidy 2.90 ERA to go along with a 1.12 WHIP and a 13.7 VORP. His BABIP is an extremely low .249, so we're expecting some regression from him in the second half, but he'll be put back into the starting rotation because of a guy in the next segment.

Colder than ICE!!!

Evan Dotson, RF -- Dotson, aquired earlier in the season to fill in for injured outfielder Jose Avila, has been nothing short of disappointing since becoming a Crusader. His 33-for-159 performance with only 7 extra base hits coupled with his limited range and poor centerfield play (4 errors in 30 games WTF) led to his being benched in favor of Tony Reyes, and subsequently traded to Des Moines.

Jose Avila, CF -- Speaking of Avila, he's sucked balls this year. After last season's 35.8 VORP performance, injuries have slowed the start of Avila this season. We're willin to throw the first half away, because even with his sorry ass .574 OPS we've got one of the best offenses in the MBBA, but Nick Cox has a .909 OPS in limited at bats and is knocking on the door. Avila had better turn it up in a hurry or he could find himself on the bench replacing the spot left by Evan Dotson.

Masahiko Hayagawa, SP -- I don't get it. This dude is better than he's shown. He's got a damn nickname for chrissakes (ping: Knudlen). However, after essentially missing all of 2007 with a bicep injury, the Japanese righty has struggled to a 6-3, 5.95 mark in 2008. His strikeout numbers are good - 78 in 87 IP - but he's giving up a ****ton of homers (21) and is generally getting hit all over the place (1.44 WHIP, 104 hits allowed). He's earned himself a demotion to spot starting and long relief duty in the hope that not having the stress of starting every 5th day will help him out.

The Next Crusade

7/1 - v. Valencia

7/2 - v. Vancouver
7/3 - v. Vancouver

7/4 - v. Las Vegas
7/5 - v. Las Vegas
7/6 - v. Las Vegas

7/8 - v. Buffalo
7/9 - v. Buffalo
7/10 - v. Buffalo