Djwlfpack's MLB 09 (PS2) New York Mets Franchise

[DJ]

Figured I'd jump on board and hold myself accountable to actually sticking with a Franchise for more than a week, lol.

I had debated back and forth about whether to use the Mets or not and that was leading to me running with teams that I wasn't 100% invested in, and thus, I'd quit if things weren't going my way. The reason I resisted using the Mets was because I thought it'd make things too easy. But, then I realized I'm not very good at this game, lol, and that when it came down to it, the Mets would be a team I could see myself using for multiple seasons and enjoying myself.

I'm playing on Veteran Difficulty and using Bahnzo's sliders.

Rosters are from back in early May so the Mets still have Delgado, Reyes, Beltran and Sheffield on the roster. I did swap Church for Francouer and brought John Maine and Oliver Perez back into the starting rotation.

My lineup looks like this:

1. Reyes, SS
2. Castillo, 2B
3. Wright, 3B
4. Delgado, 1B
5. Beltran, CF
6. Francouer, LF
7. Sheffield, RF
8. Schneider, C
9. Santana, P

Pitching rotation
1. Santana, LHP
2. Pelfrey, RHP
3. Maine, RHP
4. Perez, LHP
5. Hernandez, RHP

Closer: F. Rodriguez

[DJ]

Santana's gem highlights opening day for victorious Mets

CINCINNATI -- Johan Santana pitched 7.2 innings of no-hit ball and finished with a complete game three-hitter as the New York Mets opened the 2009 season with a convincing 7-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

Santana was masterful on the mound, mixing his speeds and locations to constantly keep the Reds off balance. Santana, who struck out 14, had his no-hitter and shutout bid ended with two outs in the bottom of the eighth when Jerry Hairston sent an opposite-field home run over the right field fence.

Offensively, the Mets took advantage of the hitters' park that is the Great American Ball Park, belting 5 home runs. Gary Sheffield started the long ball barrage with a towering solo shot in the third inning. Carols Delgado and Carols Beltran went back-to-back an inning later, and Beltran slugged a second homer in the sixth to put the Mets up 5-0. David Wright also went deep for New York and finished with three hits.

New York 001 301 110 7 11 0
Cincinnati 000 000 010 1 3 1

[DJ]

Mets maul Reds, 13-0

CINCINNATI -- The New York Mets continued their dominace of the Cincinnati Reds, jumping out to an 8-0 lead after three innings and went on to pick up a 13-0 win.

Mike Pelfrey threw the second straight complete game for New York, which improved to 2-0 on the season. Pelfrey allowed just three hits and struck out 8.

Offensively, the Mets jumped on Cincinnati starter Aaron Harang early, scoring four runs on five hits in the first inning. They tacked on four more in the third, forcing Harang from the game. New York finished with 20 hits.

Jose Reyes belted a 3-run home run, drove in five runs and stole his first base of the season. David Wright hit his second homer of the year and Jeff Francoeur was 3-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

New York 404 000 320 13 20 0
Cincinnati 000 000 000 0 3 1

[DJ]

New York completes sweep of Cincinnati

CINCINNATI -- Carols Delgado and Jeff Francoeur each hit two home runs as the New York Mets completed their three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, 11-4.

Delgado belted a 3-run shot in New York's 5-run thrid inning and added another 3-run homer in the sixth. Francouer hit a pair of 2-run homers and finished with four runs batted in.

John Maine picked up the win, going 7 innings and allowing 4 runs on 8 hits. He walked none and struck out 5.

New York 025 103 000 11 15 1
Cincinnati 012 001 000 4 9 1

[DJ]

After playing these first 3 regular season games and a good-number of Exhibition games, I went ahead and made the following slider changes:

HUM Power -1 to 7
CPU Contact +1 to 4.

[DJ]

Marlins deal Mets first loss of season

MIAMI -- The Florida Marlins did something the Cincinnati Reds couldn't; shut down the New York Mets' lineup.

The Mets managed just four hits and dropped their first game of the season, 5-0.

New York fell behind 3-0 after six innings and had its best chance to get back in the game in the top of the seventh, but pinch-hitter Fernando Tatis struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning. The Marlins tacked on a run in both the seventh and eighth innings to put the game out of reach.

Oliver Perez took the loss for New York. He went 6 innings, allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, walked a batter and struck out 4.

Brian Schneider was the only New York player to have more than one hit, finishing 2-for-3.

New York 000 000 000 0 4 0
Florida 110 001 11x 5 10 2

[DJ]

Mets back on winning track

MIAMI -- Brian Schneider hit three doubles and drove in a pair of runs to help guide the New York Mets to a 7-1 victory over the Florida Marlins.

Livan Hernandez was solid on the mound, tossing six innings of 1-run ball. He allowed 7 hits and struck out 4, while walking just one.

Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran each went 3-for-5 with a double and drove in a run apiece in New York's four-run sixth inning that broke open a 1-1 tie.

New York 100 004 002 7 18 0
Florida 100 000 000 1 10 0

[DJ]

OK, it's becoming more and more apparent that Veteran might be a bit too easy for me. I'm averaging around 15 hits a game and scoring 7-plus runs a game with relative ease. The CPU, meanwhile, barely manages to push across a run unless I throw a meatball over the middle of the plate. I think 99% of the runs I've given up on Veteran have been solo home runs.

So, I'm making the move to All-Star. The sliders I'm using will stay pretty much the same, although I'm going to drop CPU power -1 to 6 and up HUM Control +1 to 7. Let's see if a move up in difficulty will produce some closer games.