The Evil Empire Strikes Back: New York Yankees (MLB 11 The Show Dynasty)

[theaub]

I like the layout...nice job so far (although the team you're using doesn't link with the avatar lol)

[jconpoet]

[jconpoet]

04/06/2011 - Tampa, Florida - Andy Pettitte put on his gray New York Yankees jersey and took to the practice field mound to see if he still has it. From the looks of things he could've stayed in New York and started the game tonight against the Minnesota Twins, but the Yankees are being careful not to trot him out there too soon, and instead will rely on Phil Hughes this evening. Preliminary plans call for Pettitte to pitch at both Double and Triple A once he completes extended Spring Training here in Tampa.

[jconpoet]

Quote: Originally Posted by theaub

I like the layout...nice job so far (although the team you're using doesn't link with the avatar lol)

thanks... I've read your previews for your upcoming Blue Jays one and I can't wait to dive into that...definitely has me contemplating going back and redoing my Mets Franchise since I'm not posting too much until I finish playing all the spring training games... I hear you on the avatar, I always do my first two franchises with the Mets and Yankees but have to show my bias opinion of who I think the better team in NY is

[jconpoet]

After bailing out the starting rotation for most of the beginning of this season, the bullpen finally imploded as the Minnesota Twins picked up their first win of the season by defeating the New York Yankees 9-1...in 10 innings.

Yes these two teams do have a flair for the dramatic, and you never see the same game twice with them either.

It started off as a pitchers duel between Twins ace Francisco Liriano and Phil Hughes, who was looking to erase the poor display in his first start of the season.

Hughes faced the minimum through 7 innings, leaving the game after striking out Justin Morneau (looking) and Joe Mauer (swinging) to end his night. He only allowed a Tolbert single in the third. Tolbert was thrown out at 2nd by Andruw Jones while trying to stretch it into a double. The Yankee defense behind Hughes came up big time after time, but the Twins defense was up to the task as well not wanting to let their ace down.

The biggest of which was Delmon Young robbing Robinson Cano of a home run in the fourth, which allowed Liriano to remain perfect through 6 innings. Derek Jeter would break up the perfect game/no hit bid leading off the bottom of the 7th with a single to center. Cano would sacrifice Jeter to 2nd and you had to think that all it would take was one run and whichever team scored it would win the game. The Yankees would get that run following an Alex Rodriguez fly out on Jorge Posada's single to left which plated Jeter.

Pedro Feliciano would replace Hughes on the mound in the 8th, but turned the game over to Rafael Soriano after allowing a one out single to Jason Kubel. He would proceed to strike out Delmon Young but surrendered a triple to Michael Cuddyer which plated Kubel with the game tying run. Cuddyer would be stranded on 3rd however as Soriano took care of pinch hitter Ben Revere striking him out to end the ending.

Liriano was still going strong in the 8th as he put the Yanks down in order and with relative ease. Damaso Marte would also have no issues with the Twins batters in the top of the 9th leading to the very bizarre ending to this ball game.

Jeter hit a one out single off Liriano to get things started for the Yankees. Cano was instructed to sacrifice Jeter to 2nd again unless he saw a pitch he liked, and oh boy did he like this one, lining a fastball from Pat Neshek into the rightfield corner. The Yankees fans thought for sure that "The Captain" would score and send everyone home happy. Cano would be vindicated after getting robbed of the home run that would've for all intents and purposes meant that there was no need for the Yanks to even bat in the ninth. But that's not what happened. Kubel got a very friendly caram, one that Brett Gardner wished he could've got on Cuddyer's triple back in the 8th. The Yankees still had a very got chance at ending this game though, I mean Alex Rodriguez was coming to the plate.

Now if you know anything about baseball I'm pretty sure you know Neshek intentionally walked him to load the bases, in hopes of getting a double play to send the game into extras right? Right??? Cause that's exactly what happened. Now it was up to Jorge Posada again who came through with the winning hit the night before. Unfortunately for him Neshek would send him down swinging, bringing Andruw Jones to the plate, back in the spotlight of the Bronx...this time at New Yankee Stadium, and yeah it was April instead of October but still.

This time however Jones couldn't keep up with a Neshek slider and went down swinging breathing new life into a Twins team that was scratching and clawing to get their first win of the season.

Mauer would get things started with a leadoff single off Marte. Jim Thome would follow suit with a single of his own putting runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. Following a wild pitch Kubel was intentionally walked to load the bases. It was now time for Mariano Rivera to make his appearance, and the defensive hero Young was coming to the plate in hopes that he'd also be the hero on offense.

Rivera got Young to fly out to shallow left field. ONE OUT. Then it happened.

Cuddyer caught the Yankees defense sleeping as Mauer charged down the third base line, dropping a perfect bunt that the Yanks had no choice but to hope that it would somehow roll foul, and when it didn't Minnesota had a 2-1 lead. But that was only the beginning.

Rivera walked Revere on a 3-2 pitch forcing home Alexi Casilla who pinch ran for Thome. 3-1 TWINS. Mike Tolbert lined a single to right scoring Kubel. 4-1 TWINS. Cano inexplicably threw home instead of going to second to start a double play and the throw took Cervelli off the plate as Cuddyer slid under to make it 5-1 TWINS on Denard Span's grounder. Morneau ripped a single to left plating Revere. 6-1 TWINS. Boone Logan was then brought in to mop up, but it still was far from over, as Mauer hit a soft grounder that A-Rod was forced to charge but it got stuck in his glove for a bit, however instead of firing home to nail Tolbert, Rodriguez turned and threw the ball to second, everybody's safe and it is now TWINS leading 7-1. Casilla would then actually come up to hit and what looked to be a sure fire double play ball only resulted in an out at second when Cano was unable to relay Rodriguez's throw to first, again with the ball getting stuck in the glove. 8-1 TWINS as Span slides into home.Kubel would line a single to right plating Morneau for the eventual 9-1 margin, with Logan striking Young out looking to mercifully end the inning.

Neshek easily handled the Yankees in an anticlimatic bottom of the 10th for the victory.

Let's hope things go well with Andy Pettitte's attempt at a comeback, because this pitching staff (rotation and bullpen) could use some tweeking. A.J. Burnett will look to solidify his spot in the rotation in the series finale opposite former Yankee Carl Pavano.

MIN at NYY - Yankee Stadium
Apr 6, 2011	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Minnesota Twins (0-5)	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	8	9	9	0
New York Yankees (4-1)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	0
W: Pat Neshek (1-0) L: Damaso Marte (0-1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			MIN	NYY
	7	Posada singled to left. Jeter scored.	0	1
	8	Cuddyer tripled to left. Kubel scored.	1	1
	10	Cuddyer squeezed bunt to third. Mauer scored.	2	1
	10	Revere walked on 3-2 pitch. Casilla scored.	3	1
	10	Tolbert singled to right. Kubel scored.	4	1
	10	Span reached on fielders choice. Cuddyer scored.	5	1
	10	Morneau singled to left. Revere scored.	6	1
	10	Mauer reached on fielders choice. Tolbert scored.	7	1
	10	Casilla reached on fielders choice. Span scored.	8	1
	10	Kubel singled to right. Morneau scored.	9	1

Minnesota Twins
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Span CF	5	1	0	1	0	2	0	.276
Morneau 1B	5	1	1	1	0	2	0	.172
Mauer C	5	1	1	1	0	1	0	.370
Thome DH	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.333
Casilla PR-DH	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	.235
Kubel RF	4	2	2	1	1	0	0	.280
Young LF	5	0	0	0	0	2	0	.111
Cuddyer 3B	4	1	2	2	0	0	0	.357
Plouffe SS	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.105
Revere PH-SS	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	.000
Tolbert 2B	4	1	2	1	0	1	0	.400
TEAM TOTALS	40	9	9	9	2	10	0
BATTING: 3B: M. Cuddyer (1) RBI: D. Span (3), A. Casilla (2), J. Mauer (2), J. Morneau (4), M. Cuddyer 2 (3), J. Kubel (2), M. Tolbert (1), B. Revere (1)

New York Yankees
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Jeter SS	4	1	2	0	0	1	0	.179
Cano 2B	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	.214
Rodriguez 3B	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	.259
Posada DH	4	0	1	1	0	2	0	.320
Jones RF-LF	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Swisher 1B-RF	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.125
Martin C	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.105
Teixeira PH-1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.400
Gardner LF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.174
Cervelli C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Chavez PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Granderson CF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.238
TEAM TOTALS	33	1	4	1	1	6	0
BATTING: 2B: R. Cano (2) RBI: J. Posada (2) SAC: R. Cano

Minnesota Twins
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
F. Liriano	8.1	3	1	1	0	4	0	1.88
P. Neshek (W, 1-0)	1.2	1	0	0	1	2	0	0.00
TEAM TOTALS	10.0	4	1	1	1	6	0

New York Yankees
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
P. Hughes	7.0	1	0	0	0	5	0	5.23
P. Feliciano (H, 2)	0.1	1	1	1	0	0	0	5.40
R. Soriano (BS, 1)	0.2	1	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
D. Marte (L, 0-1)	1.0	2	3	3	1	2	0	13.50
M. Rivera	0.1	3	5	5	1	0	0	9.00
B. Logan	0.2	1	0	0	0	1	0	27.00
TEAM TOTALS	10.0	9	9	9	2	10	0
PITCHING: WP: D. Marte (1)

[jconpoet]

[jconpoet]

I wonder what it would take for Robinson Cano to change his name to Robinson Cayes? Coming into the 13th inning of yet another extra inning affair against the Minnesota Twins Cano was 0 for 4, but one swing of the bat changed all that when Matt Capps gave Robinson something he liked and he sent it towering into the rightfield seats. Just as A-Rod did earlier in the series, R-Can sent the Bombers faithful home happy and gave the Yankees their second straight series win on the season, defeating Minnesota 3-2.

After the first game of the series, the teams seemed to lack offensive punch, having hit 8 home runs in the first game and none until Cano's walk off. Pitching again dominated as Carl Pavano and A.J. Burnett both answered the call for their ballclubs.

The Yankees jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st when Jorge Posada singled home Derek Jeter, who led off the game with a single of his own and was sacrificed to second by Cano before Posada drove him in. The Twins would knot things up in their half of the 3rd when Delmon Young doubled home Denard Span with the Twins first run on the night.

Minnesota would then go ahead 2-1 following a Michael Cuddyer double that plated Joe Mauer who walked on 4 pitches to start the inning.

The 7th inning saw the Yankees tie the game thanks to the hustle of Andruw Jones. On an Eric Chavez grounder, Jones was called out at second base but not before busting up the double play attempt causing Trevor Plouffe to overthrow first and his throw sailed into the Yankees dugout allowing Nick Swisher to score tying the ballgame.

Each teams bullpen would come up huge the rest of the way until Robinson Cano got some payback.

Up next for the Yankees...can you say Green Monster?

MIN at NYY - Yankee Stadium
Apr 7, 2011	1	3	6	7	9	10	11	12	13	R	H	E
Minnesota Twins (1-5)	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	1
New York Yankees (4-2)	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	9	1
W: David Robertson (1-0) L: Matt Capps (0-1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			MIN	NYY
	1	Posada singled to left. Jeter scored.	0	1
	3	Young doubled to left. Span scored.	1	1
	6	Cuddyer doubled to left. Mauer scored.	2	1
	7	Swisher scored on Plouffe throwing error.	2	2
	13	Cano walk off solo home run to right.	2	3

Minnesota Twins
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Span CF	5	1	0	0	1	0	0	.235
Young LF	4	0	2	1	0	1	0	.161
Revere PR-LF	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Mauer C	4	1	0	0	1	0	0	.323
Thome DH	4	0	0	0	1	2	0	.273
Kubel RF	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	.233
Cuddyer 1B	4	0	2	1	1	1	0	.389
Valencia 3B	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.087
Morneau PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.167
Tolbert 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Plouffe SS	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	.083
Casilla 2B	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	.227
TEAM TOTALS	43	2	6	2	4	10	0
BATTING: 2B: A. Casilla (1), D. Young (1), M. Cuddyer (1) RBI: D. Young (4), M. Cuddyer (4) GIDP: J. Kubel, B. Revere
BASERUNNING: CS: B. Revere (1)
FIELDING: E: T. Plouffe (2)

New York Yankees
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Jeter SS	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	.176
Cano 2B	5	1	1	1	0	1	1	.212
Posada 1B	5	0	1	1	0	1	0	.300
Teixeira DH	5	0	0	0	0	3	0	.333
Granderson CF	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	.231
Swisher RF	5	1	2	0	0	1	0	.172
Gardner PR-LF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.174
Jones LF-RF	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	.083
Chavez 3B-1B	5	0	2	0	0	1	0	.444
Martin C	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.091
Rodriguez PH-3B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.241
TEAM TOTALS	46	3	9	2	0	9	1
BATTING: 2B: N. Swisher (2) HR: R. Cano (1) RBI: R. Cano (1), J. Posada (3) SAC: R. Cano
FIELDING: E: D. Jeter (1)

Minnesota Twins
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
C. Pavano	6.0	6	2	2	0	5	0	11.25
D. Hughes (BS, 2)	2.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
J. Mijares	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.70
J. Nathan	3.2	1	0	0	0	4	0	4.15
M. Capps (L, 0-1)	0.2	1	1	1	0	0	1	5.40
TEAM TOTALS	12.2	9	3	3	0	9	0

New York Yankees
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
A. Burnett	7.0	5	2	1	3	5	0	3.00
P. Feliciano	1.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.00
R. Soriano	1.2	1	0	0	1	3	0	0.00
B. Logan	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13.50
D. Robertson (W, 1-0)	2.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
TEAM TOTALS	13.0	6	2	1	4	10	0

[jconpoet]

First Base
Kendrick Panozzo
Age - 19 / Height - 5'11 / Weight - 206 lbs. / Throws - R / Bats - R / 60 - 7.1
-Solid hitter, but with little or no upside.
-His average will be quite average for a batting average.
-He'll knock out a few HRs, but don't expect many.
-Won't make enough playss, but has his moments with the leather.
-He's slow for the league.
-As close to being a sure thing as you can get.

DOWN ON THE FARM
Golson 2 for 4, Molina 1 for 3, Maxwell 1 for 4 in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 3-2 win over Lehigh Valley Ironpigs (Phillies AAA). Ivan Nova picked up the win going 7 innings allowing 1 earned run on 4 hits while striking out 8 and walking 3.

Trenton Thunder lost to New Hampshire Fishercats (Blue Jays AA) 4-2.