The NALB has completed its first month of games in the 2007 season. Last season’s league champions, the Brooklyn Knights and the Stade Maples, struggled at times. By the end of the month, however, the Maples had clawed their way into second-place and the Knights were tied for first. The Dayton Grizzlies and the Quebeck Sky Chiefs have been early surprises. It will be interesting to see if they can maintain this high level of play.

April 2007 awards:

League 1
Batter of the Month: Hooks Goetz (Brooklyn Knights)
Pitcher of the Month: Justin Seymour (Las Vegas Luck)
Rookie of the Month: John Edwards (Cornfield Axemen)

League 2
Batter of the Month: Travis Araoz (Stade Maples)
Pitcher of the Month: Simon Sanchez (St. James Crusaders)
Rookie of the Month: William Rioux (Key West Corals)

The Brooklyn Knights tore up Spring Training. They went an astounding 22-2. Everything went well: hitting, pitching, and fielding. Here is a look at the Spring Training team records:

The NALB is currently between seasons. There were some interesting developments at the winter meetings and during the 2007 preseason.

Some key signings:

• Catcher Jake Lemon signed a four year extension with the Key West Corals for $39,230,000.
• Starting pitcher John Watkins signed a four year extension with the Cornfield Axemen for $36,440,000.
• The St. Rock Mudcats signed free agent starter for three years at $6.72 million per year.
• Center Fielder Brian Hamburg extended his stay with the Richmond Slam for two years at $7.14 million per year.
• The Dayton Grizzlies signed free agent center fielder Jeff Larkin for $12,960,000 over two years.
• The biggest signing of the preseason was the free agent acquisition of superstar shortstop Steamboat Schultz. The former Vancouver Wild agreed to a record three year, $51,660,000 deal. His $17.22 million salary makes him the highest paid player in the league.

Some key trades:

• The Brooklyn Knights traded 28-year old second-baseman Sterling Little to the Dayton Grizzlies for reliever Rip Sukeforth and 19-year old first-baseman Costodio Brandi.
• The Phoenix Rattlers swapped 37-year old shortstop Zach Kearns for the Stade Maples' 28-year old reliever Cy Harper.
• The Brooklyn Knights sent 30-year old left fielder Tim Aase, 35-year old reliever Sam Faust, 22-year old minor league catcher César Rodríguez, and 24-year old minor league center fielder Filiberto Trasvina to the Quebeck Sky Chiefs for 23-year old left fielder Michael Duhon and 19-year old minor league starting pitcher Henley Roberts.

I finished the last of the Galactic Battlegrounds campaigns tonight. The Wookie campaign ended with a bonus scenario, "The Liberation of Kessel." I completed the game in about a month. With so many summer activities taking time away from computer gaming, it took me a bit longer than I originally expected.

I thoroughly enjoyed Galactic Battlegrounds as I knew I would. Now I wish I had Clone Campaigns, the expansion pack. Ensemble knows how to make a great RTS game. Along with Age of Empires II and Age of Mythology, these are some of the best RTS titles of all time. I look forward to buying and playing Age of Empires III some day to continue that fine series.

I am a big fan of Rake in Grass, an independent game developer. I own Jets'n'Guns and Jets'n'Guns Gold, both of which were great titles. They released a new horror action game earlier this year called Larva Mortus. It looked pretty cool and I put it on my games wish list as a future title to buy. I finally purchased it because it was featured on this weekend's MacUpdate Promo. For a discounted price of $9.99, how could I go wrong?