MLB 09 The Show: Girardi takes over for Torre

[johnstone1987]

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

It wouldn't be realistic without the Mariners having a ****ty record and losing to the Bombers

[MBMavs20]

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

It wouldn't be realistic without the Mariners having a ****ty record and losing to the Bombers

You are spot on in your thread. The Mariners really do need to find an identity. The last couple of years have been wheeling and dealing but without much success.

At least the Mets took the Cano contract off your hands.. LOL

[johnstone1987]

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

LOL yeah Cano's Contract was ridiculous. You're right though Seattle would have a good team if sorry *** Jerry Dipoto wasn't trading away everybody.

[MBMavs20]

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

July 3rd, 2008 Blue Jays 0 Yankees 4

The Yankees kicked off their 3 game weekend series against the Blue Jays with a 4-0 shutout. Darrell Rasner continues his incredible season, pitching 8 IP's and allowing only 5 hits, 2 BB's and 1 K. He improves to 5-1 on the season with a 2.49 ERA.

The calendar may read July, but that hasn't cooled down Johnny Damon. He went 3-4, hitting his 9th HR, a solo shot, against Jays starter A.J. Burnett (6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 4 K's) Burnett pitched well but the Jays couldn't get their offense going.

With the Yankees up 2-0 in the 6th inning, Jorge Posada hit his 14th HR of the season, a 2-Run shot, off of Jays reliever Scott Downs in the 6th inning. At age 36, Posada is having a season to remember.

Game 2 will be Dustin McGowan (8-4, 4.04) vs Andy Pettitte (9-5, 3.86)

[MBMavs20]

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

July 4th, 2008 Blue Jays 5 Yankees 4

America's Birthday saw the Yankees drop a very tough loss to the Blue Jays at the Stadium tonight.

Andy Pettitte (6.0, 9 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K's) did not have his best stuff early and gave up 4 runs in the 2nd inning. The Yankees (shorthanded because we rested starters A-Rod, Damon, Giambi, and Posada) finally got on the board in the 5th inning thanks to a 3-Run Homer by Melky Cabrera.

Jose Veras pitched a perfect 7th inning, so Girardi left him in for the 8th. Veras got the first 2 outs, but then gave up an opposite field double to Frank Thomas. With 2 strikes on Scott Rolen, Veras tried to get him to chase a fastball in the dirt. I missed my mark and Rolen dribbled a grounder right over the bag down the 3rd base line for a double.

Bottom of the 8th, Betemit singled up the middle and beat the throw to first. Hideki Matsui then missed a HR to right when he hit the top of the wall and had to settle for a triple. Betemit scored to make it 5-4. Robinson Cano then struck out chasing a 1-2 Slider. Jorge Posada pinch hit for Jose Molina, but flied out to LF. B.J. Ryan pitched a 1-2-3 9th for his 21st save.

Starters for game 3 will be Jesse Litsch (6-6, 3.48) vs Phil Hughes (11-3, 2.33)

[MBMavs20]

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

July 5th, 2008 Blue Jays 1 Yankees 2

The Yankees bounced back nicely from their tough defeat yesterday and beat the Blue Jays 2-1.

Phil Hughes was the story today for the Yankees today, winning his MLB leading 12th game of the year. He also lowered his A.L. leading ERA to 2.26 with the victory. Hughes also took a perfect game into the 7th inning before Alex Rios broke it up with a single to CF. Derek Jeter had 2 hits, one of them his 5th HR of the season. Mariano Rivera picked up his 21st save.

The Yankees are a season high 16 games over .500. They trail the Red Sox in the A.L. East by 3.5 games, but hold a 2 game lead against the White Sox for the A.L. Wildcard.

The last game of their 4 game series with the Blue Jays will be Shaun Marcum (7-2, 3.04) against Ian Kennedy (10-2, 2.54)

[MBMavs20]

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

July 6th, 2008 Blue Jays 11 Yankees 4

The Yankees closed out their 7 game home stand and 4 game series against the Blue Jays with a 11-4 defeat. Ian Kennedy (3.0 IP, 7 H, 5 ER) had his worst and shortest start of the season. The Blue Jays were led by Vernon Wells, who went 3-5, 2 HR's, and 6 RBI's. Frank Thomas also hit a solo HR in the victory.

Johnny Damon continues to pile up the hits, going 7-14 in the 4 game series. Posada and Melky Cabrera each homered in the loss.

The Yankees start a 6 game road trip that will take them to Minnesota and then Los Angeles leading up to the All-Star break next week.

Game 1 in Minnesota will be Mike Mussina vs Glen Perkins.

[MBMavs20]

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

July 7th, 2008 Yankees 1 Twins 0

The Yankees started their 3 game series against the Twins with a masterful performance from 39 year old Mike Mussina. Moose kept the Twins bats off balanced all night, going 7.1 inning and only allowing 5 hits. Kyle Farnsworth closed out the 8th for Moose, and Mariano Rivera finished the shutout with his 22nd save of the year.

Joe Girardi said after the game, "Moose only picked up his 2nd win of the season tonight, but he showed why he is a valuable veteran to this very young pitching staff."

Johnny Damon picked up 2 more hits tonight, and is now 2nd in the A.L. with a .344 batting average. He trails Magglio Ordonez, who is hitting .351.

Game 2 will see Darrell Rasner (5-1, 2.49) vs Livan Hernandez (4-6, 3.97).

[MBMavs20]

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

July 8th, 2008 Yankees 2 Twins 3

The Yankees gave one away tonight against the Twins thanks to some blunders and bad base running. Johnny Damon led the game off against Livan Hernandez getting thrown out at 2nd trying to stretch a single into a double. Brett Gardner hit a double and was tagged out at 2nd when he made too wide a turn. Finally, LaTroy Hawkins gave up the winning run in the 7th inning because of a wild pitch.

The Yankees made a roster move before the game calling up SP Luke Stout and sending down Dan Giese. Manager Joe Girardi wanted to give his starters an extra day off and did not want to deplete his bullpen.

Stout pitched well in his MLB debut, going 6 IP, allowing 7 hits, he walked 1 batter and struck out 9. Stout should stick with the team as a spot starter at least until the All-Star.

Girardi was also toying with the idea of sending down Brett Gardner. Brett is struggling, only appearing in 25 games so far this season and he is hitting .146. "If we send him down, he can get more playing time and work on his hitting," said Girardi.

On Thursday, the Yankees will have a get away game at 1:05pm before they head to California for a 3 game series with the Angels.

Game 3 will be Darrell Rasner (5-1, 2.49) vs Scott Baker (6-7, 5.23)

[MBMavs20]

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

July 9th, 2008 Yankees 3 Twins 0

The Yankees finished their 3 game series with the Twins with a victory this afternoon. Darrell Rasner went 8 innings of shut out ball and only allowed 5 hits before giving way to Mariano Rivera, who picked up his 23rd Save of the year.

Darrell Rasner has now pitched 8 innings in 4 consecutive starts. In those 32 innings, he has allowed 19 hits, 1 ER, walked 2, and struck out 14. For the Season, Rasner is 6-1 with a 2.23 ERA.

Manager Joe Girardi never could have expected this kind of dominance from Rasner, a player they picked up off waivers from the Nationals in 2006. But when you throw strikes and don't walk batters, good things happen.

Jason Giambi hit a 2-Run HR off loser Scott Baker (6.0, 7 H, 2 ER) in the 1st inning to get the Yankees on the board. Robinson Cano added his 9th HR of the year in the 9th inning.

The Yankees now fly out to play the Angels in a 3 game weekend series before heading back to New York for the All-Star Break.

Game 1 will see Andy Pettitte (9-6, 3.97) vs John Lackey (7-6, 4.19)

[MBMavs20]

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

July 10th, 2008 Yankees 1 Angels 9

The Yankees may have flown to Los Angeles for a 3 game series but they never showed up Friday night. Andy Pettitte never got going and lasted only 5 innings, allowing 7 hits and 6 runs. John Lackey on the other hand baffled the Yankee bats all night, going 6 innings and allowing only 3 hits and 1 ER.

Derek Jeter had 2 hits and is now batting .293. Johnny Damon was 1-4 and is 4 points behind A.L. leader Magglio Ordonez.

Game 2 will see Phil Hughes (12-3, 2.26) vs Ervin Santana (10-3, 3.62)

[MBMavs20]

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

Now that the All-Star Break is almost upon us, I decided to make a little adjustment to the Slider set I am using.

I have been using Psychobulk's perfect slider set so far. However, I am not getting enough walks or giving up a lot. I think I have walked under 75 batters all year and the next closest team is in the 200's.

So, I lowered the User Pitcher Control slider from 6 to 1. And I lowered the CPU Control Slider to 0. I kept Pitcher Consistency at 4 for both, and Strike Frequency at 2.

Which leads me to...

[MBMavs20]

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

July 11th, 2008 Yankees 4 Angels 1

Coming into today's game, the Yankees were 1-4 on the season against the Angels. Using the changes I stated in the previous post, I was encouraged by the results.

Phil Hughes was his usual self, pitching 7 IP and giving up 7 hits, 1 ER, 4 BB's (season high) and 2 K's. Mariano Rivera picked up his 24th save of the season.

The first time the Yankees faced Ervin Santana, (7.0, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.) they lost. This time around, the changes in the sliders definitely helped.

I was able to work the count a little bit more, and I definitely made Santana work harder as well. Santana only went 5 innings this outing, gave up 4 Hits, 3 ER's, 2 BB's, and 5 K's. He threw 90 pitches and was pulled after the 5th inning down 3-1. Even with the Control Slider at 0, Santana still threw 72% of his pitches for strikes, but I was able to work 2 walks and probably could have had a couple more if I didn't swing at pitches out of the strike zone. But it definitely felt more natural. He wasn't painting the corners with half of his pitches.

The Yankees will send Ian Kennedy to the mound for the finale of this 3 game set. Then it's on to the All-Star Break. How many All-Star's will the Yankees have? We will find out soon enough.

[MBMavs20]

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

July 12th, 2008 Yankees 4 Angels 5

It was a VERY quiet plane ride back to New York for the Yankees on Sunday night. They were mostly still in disbelief that they lost the finale of their 3 game series with the Angels.

Ian Kennedy was his usual brilliant self, pitching 6.2 innings, allowing 3 hits and 1 ER. LaTroy Hawkins gave up 1 run in relief in the 8th, before Mariano Rivera came out to pitch the 9th inning.

Garrett Anderson doubled to lead off the 9th inning. Rivera got the next 2 outs, then gave up a single to Casey Kotchman, he hit Chone Figgins to load the bases, then Howie Kendrick hit one over Hideki Matsui's head for a 3-Run double and the Yankees lost 5-4.

Rivera blew his 4th save of the year and fell to 1-3 on the season.

On a side note, couldn't draw a walk to save my life, but Jered Weaver does have a good BB/9 rating (76). I walked 3 batters so lowering the user slider for pitcher control is definitely making a difference.

The Yankees will get some much needed rest over the All-Star break.

After the All-Star break, the Yankees will welcome the Detroit Tigers to the Stadium. The Tigers currently have the best record in the Majors at 61-27.

On to the All-Star Game.

[MBMavs20]

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

Welcome to the 2008 All-Star Game.

American League 1 National League 2

The 79th MLB All-Star Game took place tonight in Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. Charlie Manuel of the National League and Joe Maddon of the American League led their respective teams into battle it what can only be described as a total pitcher's duel.

The game was scoreless until the 5th inning. PH Nate McLouth hit a solo HR off Ian Kennedy of the Yankees. The score stayed that way until the 8th inning when Mike Napoli hit a solo HR for the American League to tie the game 1-1. Jason Bay singled home a run in the botton of the 8th inning which proved to be the game winner.

(I had the CPU play the CPU for this game and I fell asleep.)

Here were the rosters for the game:

American League:

SP Phil Hughes 13-3, 2.20
SP Shaun Marcum 9-2, 3.18
SP Ian Kennedy 10-3, 2.80
SP Darrell Rasner 6-1, 2.23
SP Mark Buehrle 10-7, 2.85

CP Bobby Jenks 1-1, 2.20 27 SV
CP George Sherrill 1-0, 1.96 21 SV
RP Manny Delcarmen 7-1, 1.40
CP Huston Street 2-0, 2.03 26 SV
CP Joakim Soria 0-2, 3.09 22 SV
CP Mariano Rivera 1-3, 3.58 24 SV
CP Joe Nathan 0-0, 1.64 20 SV

LF Carl Crawford 17-52-.304
CF Grady Sizemore 20-74-.331
RF Magglio Ordonez 25-72-.347
1B David Ortiz 24-65-.300
2B Dustin Pedroia 9-47-.276
SS Ian Kinsler 12-43-.306
3B Mile Lowell 17-62-.338
C Ramon Hernandez 12-47-.296

SS Edgar Renteria 12-45-.297
C Mike Napoli 16-42-.262
C Joe Mauer 7-27-.294
1B Richie Sexson 19-54-.258
2B Mark Grudzielanek 3-19-.292
3B Evan Longoria 17-61-.309
SS Michael Young 8-38-.288
1B Kevin Youkilis 14-55-.304
RF Ichiro Suzuki 11-52-.318
LF Manny Ramirez 24-72-.294
CF Jacob Ellsbury 6-41-.311
LF Carlos Quentin 25-55-.303

National League:

SP Todd Wellemeyer 11-2, 2.21
SP Johan Santana 8-9, 2.67
SP Brandon Webb 9-4, 2.22
SP Jake Peavy 9-4, 2.34
SP Chris Young 7-6, 2.48

RP Manuel Corpas 6-2, 2.15
CP Ryan Franklin 0-2, 2.42 26 SV
CP Billy Wagner 0-0, 1.48 24 SV
CP Trevor Hoffman 0-1, 0.40 23 SV
CP Jose Valverde 0-1, 2.33 25 SV
CP Kerry Wood 0-0, 0.28 33 SV
CP Brad Lidge 0-2, 2.51 27 SV

3B David Wright 12-43-.278
2B Chase Utley 16-62-.320
1B Lance Berkman 34-83-.289
LF Adam Dunn 29-82-.314
RF Ryan Ludwick 23-79-.316
C Brian McCann 13-54-.311
CF Jason Bay 21-55-.330
SS Jimmy Rollins 9-35-.277

CF Nate McLouth 14-38-.287
C Russell Martin 7-34-.282
C Bengie Molina 8-50-.286
1B Prince Fielder 24-68-.304
2B Dan Uggla 22-63-.288
3B Ryan Zimmerman 12-47-.310
SS Hanley Ramirez 18-56-.299
1B Albert Pujols 23-57-.311
1B Ryan Howard 24-74-.315
LF Carlos Lee 22-62-.285
LF Juan Pierre 5-41-.318
LF Pat Burrell 24-68-.255

As you can see, the Yankees put 4 pitchers on the All-Star team. The Red Sox fans really stuffed the ballot box, putting 7 players on the team.

The Yankees did not have any position players on the team. The biggest snub was LF Johnny Damon, who is 3rd in the A.L. hitting .336. I am sure it will serve as motivation heading into the 2nd half of the season.