[Nero]

Wholeheartedly dove in to the "next phase", okay...even I'm calling B.S. on that one....I'd decided before to send Joe Morgan off, and find a different path, but I kept looking at Joe on the reserve roster, and looking for ways, and reasons to bring him back up. I listed him on the AH, went to run some errands and take care of some work, and I came back a couple of hours later, with every intention of pulling him down, and putting him in the lineup again. To my dismay, he'd already been bought, and to whom ever got him...enjoy. Loved his production, hated his glove, but you'll have a hell of a player, use him well!

I laugh a bit because I have created that rivalry with Exeter, after he knocked me out of the playoff's last year, and this year we find ourselves as division mates. Hell, he doesn't know who I am, and his roster is a hell of a lot deeper and better. That said, I opened up the first week with some struggles, and my defense has been even worse than anticipated. We started putting it together, and ending the evening we had a 3 game series against Exeter, and I took 2 of 3, with Roy Halladay outpitching Waite Hoyt. (Justifying my hope yesterday that I like Halladay in the 5th spot, and that he's a great investment so I can invest in other spots. Ask me again in a few weeks, lol, that's subject to change) When things closed up for the night, I had a 2.5 game lead in the division, but I'm not sure that will last. We got there with hot hitting, and we needed it, because errors and D-inefficiency is rough. Still hoping to find either the perfect Mays or the '54 version that had the high D rating. I missed a couple last week, and figured I would eventually find one, but that led me to platooning Vada Pinson and Roberto Clemente for last year, and those two guys are still out there for me this season in RF. No complaints, but it always seems to be the case that once I decide on who I want, (and there are a ton of choices while I'm looking) that guy disappears from the AH. Who knows? Still debating in a few other places trading off some offense for improved D.

Iron level team is playing well, and I'm slowly trying to assemble old Cubs, and some of my favorites from when I was growing up. Randy Hundley has had a hot start, and looks like an all-star behind the plate, Kerry Wood has turned into Kerry Wood, he's had flashes of brilliance (two games with 15+ K's) and a couple of games with 8 BB. It does remind me of his early years. I suspect this team will settle in the Gold League eventually, I don't think I want any Diamond Players. and I'd like to keep things in the Late 60's to early 90's.

Completed the Negro League mission last night, and immediately called up Buck O'Neill because I love his glove at 1B. The fun part was the two diamond packs that came with, and pulled a 95 Tris Speaker, which I'd love to use, but another subpar defender is too much, so will probably move him. The second pack gave me a Roy Halladay, which would have been great a week ago, when I had bought Halladay...hopefully can earn that back.

The wife passed her good news (yeah...she is a baseball fan, and our first date so many years ago was to a Cubs game). She has toyed on and off with OOTP, largely because she liked doing some 80's replay seasons, she saw me playing PT, and decided to give it a shot. I do believe she is sliver or gold right now? She's off and running, and and is in first place in her division....we will see how the week plays out!