MLB 09 The Show: Girardi takes over for Torre

[MBMavs20]

Re: MLB 09 The Show: Girardi takes over for Torre

Game 6 of the 2008 World Series: Yankees 3 Mets 1

The New York Yankees raised the World Series trophy for the 27th time Saturday Night as they defeated their cross-town rival New York Mets in Game 6 of the 2008 World Series.

The Yankees scored 1 run in the top of the first inning thanks to an RBI single by Alex Rodriguez. Oliver Perez (6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 13 K's) would settle down and trade zeros with Phil Hughes (8.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 K's) until the top of the 8th inning.

Pedro Feliciano started the 8th inning for the Mets but ran into some trouble. After getting Johnny Damon out to start the inning, Pedro gave up hits to Jeter and Abreu. With A-Rod due up, the Mets went to the bullpen for righty Duaner Sanchez. A-Rod hit a shallow fly ball to right where Ryan Church tried to make a diving catch. He came up short and the ball got past him for a 2-run triple.

With a 3-0 lead headed into the bottom of the 9th inning, Joe Girardi let Phil Hughes try and finish what he started. Phil Hughes got the first out of the inning but Moises Alou then took a hanging Knuckle-Curve over the wall in leftfield to cut the lead to 3-1. Joba Chamberlain relieved Hughes and got the last 2 outs for the victory.

The game recognized Robinson Cano as the World Series MVP, probably because he hit .333 but he only had 1 RBI. I think the true MVP was Jason Giambi, who only hit .167 but both his HR's in the series were grand slams and he did have 10 RBI's.

[MBMavs20]

Re: MLB 09 The Show: Girardi takes over for Torre

Now that my 2008 replay is finally over after 7 years, I wanted to give a quick review.

I did have fun replaying the year, and it was the first season I played every game and won the World Series since playing Tony LaRussa baseball on my computer back in the early 1990's.

The batter/pitcher match-up has come a long way since MLB 2009. Far too many times I felt it was impossible to draw walks since the computer would pound the strike zone, even with the control and strike frequency sliders adjusted. It was hard to work the counts and get realistic walk totals.

On the flip side, it was too easy to throw strikes, even with the control sliders adjusted. There were also plenty of at-bats where I felt no matter what pitch I threw, the computer was going to get a hit. Rarely would the computer chase a pitch, and the only chance I had to get a strikeout was to blow the pitch by the hitter. It just felt like the computer could foul off pitches until I make a mistake and missed my spot.

No sure if I will continue this franchise. I began the off season and Derek Jeter retired even though he was only 34 years old. Jason Giambi retired as well so I have a couple of holes to fill headed into the 2009 season.