MLB 09 The Show: Girardi takes over for Torre

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2008 New York Yankees Stats - Hitting
NAME	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG
Johnny Damon	389	63	129	24	2	14	52	17	80	8	5	.332	.370	.512
Alex Rodriguez	364	65	116	18	0	18	64	23	84	0	0	.319	.375	.516
Wilson Betemit	260	27	77	11	0	6	32	7	63	0	0	.296	.327	.408
Derek Jeter	418	63	117	17	2	6	27	14	98	1	3	.280	.311	.373
Bobby Abreu	390	53	107	26	1	10	50	22	88	2	0	.274	.325	.423
Jorge Posada	324	37	86	14	0	18	49	10	56	0	0	.265	.292	.475
Cody Ransom	67	11	17	3	0	1	6	5	21	0	0	.254	.301	.343
Robinson Cano	354	48	88	14	0	12	47	17	66	0	0	.249	.286	.390
Jason Giambi	342	41	80	18	0	21	72	11	97	0	0	.234	.275	.471
Jose Molina	72	4	16	1	0	0	3	2	17	0	0	.222	.253	.236
Melky Cabrera	284	31	61	8	1	8	33	9	66	0	0	.215	.252	.335
Hideki Matsui	244	25	49	8	1	5	22	8	64	0	0	.201	.238	.303
Brett Gardner	90	7	13	2	0	0	5	2	23	1	1	.144	.161	.167

2008 New York Yankees Stats - Pitching
NAME	GP	GS	W	L	SV	QS	HLD	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	ERA
Phil Hughes	21	21	15	4	0	17	0	138.2	116	37	14	23	97	1.00	2.40
Ian Kennedy	21	21	10	5	0	16	0	128.0	116	41	13	16	71	1.03	2.88
Andy Pettitte	20	20	10	8	0	11	0	137.1	140	64	24	13	107	1.11	4.19
Mike Mussina	16	16	4	8	0	6	0	100.1	115	59	24	7	52	1.22	5.29
Darrell Rasner	14	14	8	1	0	10	0	95.1	86	24	8	12	51	1.03	2.27
Luke Stout	4	1	2	0	0	1	1	13.2	12	2	1	1	13	0.95	1.32
Mariano Rivera	35	0	1	3	29	0	0	33.1	31	12	5	2	22	0.99	3.24
Joba Chamberlain	34	0	0	3	1	0	10	40.2	50	21	8	3	38	1.30	4.65
Kyle Farnsworth	27	0	2	2	4	0	6	34.2	33	8	2	2	30	1.01	2.08
LaTroy Hawkins	27	0	4	1	1	0	8	43.2	56	18	4	4	27	1.37	3.71
Jose Veras	26	0	0	1	0	0	9	42.0	49	20	7	6	37	1.31	4.29
Edwar Ramirez	11	0	0	0	1	0	1	16.2	17	8	4	5	10	1.32	4.32

As the Yankees enter August, they are right in the mix for the A.L. East Title as well as the A.L. Wildcard.

As you can see, all of the division leaders have a pretty comfortable lead. The Angels and Detroit even own double digit leads heading into August.

The Yankees only picked up 1/2 a game on the Red Sox, as the Yankees went 15-11 in the month of July while the Red Sox went 14-11. The Rays vaulted back into the Wildcard race by posting a 17-4 record for July, best in the Majors.

The Yankees will get their chance to catch the Red Sox in August, as they face them 7 times in the month. Johnny Damon stayed hot in July, hitting .323 in July. He is 1 point behind Mike Lowell and Magglio Ordonez for the A.L. Batting lead.

The Yankees starting pitchers were the real heroes in July. Phil Hughes went 4-1 with a 2.62 ERA. Mike Mussina went 3-1 with a 2.78 ERA. But the pitcher of the month for the Yankees was rookie Darrell Rasner, who went 4-0 with a 1.30 ERA.

Around the League:

-Mark Teixeira went crazy in the month of July, hitting .424 with 8 HR's and 26 RBI's.

-The 1st place Houston Astros had some hot players in July:

-Lance Berkman hit .340 with 10 HR's and 21 RBI's. He is currently leading the Majors with 38 HR's and 92 RBI's.

-Mark Loretta hit .373 for the month of July for the Astros.

-However, Ty Wigginton was perhaps the hottest hitter, bashing 13 HR's in July for the Astros.

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August 1st, 2008 Yankees 5 White Sox 7

The Yankees started off August on the wrong foot as they lost their Saturday night game against the White Sox.

Andy Pettitte was hit hard early and often, allowing 8 hits and 6 ER's. Down 6-1 against Javier Vazquez (7.0, 9 H. 5 ER), the Yankees finally broke through and scored 3 runs in the 6th and 1 in the 7th but it wasn't enough. Bobby Jenks pitched the 9th for his A.L. leading 33rd Save of the season.

The Yankees were led by Johnny Damon, who went 3-5 with 1 RBI, and Bobby Abreu, who was 2-4 with 3 RBI's and his 11th HR of the season.

Game 4 of the series will be Darrell Rasner vs Mark Buehrle.

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August 2nd, 2008 Yankees 7 White Sox 3

The Yankees beat the White Sox this afternoon in the finale of their 4 game series. With the win, the Yankees stay 1 game ahead of the White Sox for the A.L. Wildcard lead.

Darrell Rasner (9-1, 2.19) continues his amazing season for the Yankees as he has now won 7 straights starts.

With the Yankees holding a slim 2-1 lead heading into the 8th inning, Jason Giambi hit a 2-Run HR of the RF Foul Pole to put the Yankees ahead for good. Melky Cabrera followed later in the inning with a 2-Run Triple.



Mark Buehrle (6.0, 7 H, 2 ER) took the loss to fall to 10-10 on the season.

The Yankees will get a day off on Monday before heading to Toronto for a quick 2 game series before heading home for a 4 game weekend showdown with the 1st place Boston Redsox.

Game 1 against Toronto will see Phil Hughes (15-4, 2.40) vs A.J. Burnett (9-7, 3.88)

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August 4th, 2008 Yankees 4 Blue Jays 3

The Yankees started their 2 game series in Toronto with a hard fought, come from behind victory.

Yankee ace Phil Hughes did not have his best stuff tonight, (6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB's, 4 K's). Frank Thomas took Hughes deep in the 1st, a solo HR his 18th on the season. The Yankees bounced back in the top of the second, when A-Rod and Jason Giambi hit back to back HR's off A.J. Burnett.

The Blue Jays took back the lead in the 3rd inning when Frank Thomas drove in 2 runs with a double.

The Yankees tied the game at 3-3 in the 6th inning when Melky Cabrera singled and Johnny Damon doubled him home. The game stayed tied until the top of the 9th.

Derek Jeter led of the 9th with a single. Bobby Abreu singled as well to put runners at 1st and 2nd. However, A-Rod grounded into a DP. That left Jeter at 3rd with 2 outs, but Mr. Clutch Jason Giambi singled Jeter home for the winning run.

Mariano Rivera pitched the 9th for his 30th Save of the season.

Game 2 will see Ian Kennedy (10-5, 2.88) vs Dustin McGowan (10-6, 4.84)

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August 5th, 2008 Yankees 5 Blue Jays 2

The Yankees swept the 2 game series against the Blue Jays in Toronto last night with another come from behind victory.

Ian Kennedy (5.1 IP, 7 H, 2 ER) got his 11th win of the season, his 1st victory since June 25th. The bullpen (3.2 IP, 2 H) did the rest, with Mariano Rivera picking up his 31st save of the season.

Down 2-0 in the 6th, the Yankees pushed across 3 runs to take the lead and tacked on 2 more in the 9th inning. Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi each had 2 hits and an RBI.

Next up could be the biggest series of the season for the Yankees as they welcome the 1st place Boston Red Sox to the Stadium for a 4 game weekend series.

Game 1 will be Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-4, 5.35) vs Mike Mussina (4-8, 5.29)

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August 6th, 2008 Red Sox 2 Yankees 8

The Yankees opened up their 4 game series with the Red Sox in dramatic fashion. And it only took 1 inning to do so.

The Yankees entered the bottom of the 4th inning trailing 2-0. Derek Jeter flied out to open the inning. Abreu and A-Rod both singled before Giambi struck out. Jorge Posada then strolled to the plate and took a low, inside fastball from Daisuke Matsuzaka and hit it over the RF wall for a 3-R HR. Yankees take the lead 3-2.

The next batter was Hideki Matsui, who singled to RF. Then Robinson Cano took a hanging Slurve from Matsuzaka and hit one out to RF to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead.

The next batter was Melky Cabrera, who was hit by a pitch from Matsuzaka. The Yankees were not to happy with this and Cabrera had a few choice words for Daisuke. Johnny Damon doubled home Cabrera to extend the lead to 6-2. Jeter followed with a double of his own before Bobby Abreu finally made the last out. When the smoked cleared, Matsuzaka was out and the Yankees were up 7-2.

Mike Mussina picked up his 5th win of the season, hi 3rd win in a row.

The Yankees are now 2.5 games behind the Red Sox in the A.L. East. They also picked up a game on the White Sox in the A.L. Wildcard and now have a 3 game lead against the White Sox.

Game 2 will be Josh Beckett vs Andy Pettitte.

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August 7th, 2008 Red Sox 8 Yankees 0

The Yankees were no match for Josh Beckett tonight. Beckett went 6.1 innings of shutout ball and only allowed 4 hits in securing the victory. Josh is now 12-1 on the season with a 2.47 ERA.

Andy Pettitte was again the victim of some bad luck and spotty defense. Pettitte lasted 4.2 innings, allowing 8 runs, but only 3 of them earned thanks to 2 Derek Jeter errors in the field. Julio Lugo went 3-4 for the Sox.

Game 3 will be Tim Wakefield vs Darrell Rasner

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August 8th, 2008 Red Sox 4 Yankees 3

The Yankees lost another tough one to the Red Sox tonight at the Stadium. Darrell Rasner, the Yankees ace in the month of July, pitched ok but had one bad inning which decided the game.

After taking a 1-0, Rasner gave up 3 runs in the 2nd inning and 1 run in the 3rd inning and that was all the offense the Red Sox needed behind Tim Wakefield (7.0, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K's)

After falling behind 4-1, the Yankees got solo HR's from Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano in the 4th and 5th inning but that was it for the offense.

The Yankees will try and salvage a tie in this 4 game series tomorrow as they send Ian Kennedy to the hill against Clay Buchholz.

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August 9th, 2008 Red Sox 8 Yankees 7 in 12 innings

This was one of those games that makes you want to pull your hair out, throw your controller, and toss your PS3 out the window. I almost hit reset 3 times, but I want to finish the season no matter how unrealistic it is turning out to be.

I have heard the arguments for the "CPU comeback code." Some believe it's true, so don't. But I think this game would support the comeback code.

The Yankees got a quality start from Ian Kennedy (6.2, 4 H, 2 ER) and entered the top of the 9th with Mariano Rivera (31 Saves, 3.06 ERA, 35.1 innings, 32 hits) on the mound and a 5-2 lead. Here is how the 9th inning started:

Manny Ramirez - single
David Ortiz - single
Kevin Youkilis - double
Mike Lowell - single
PH Sean Casey - single
Julio Lugo - flyout on warning track
PH Joey Cora - Single

What in the actual F#$*!!!!

No matter what I did, no matter what pitch I threw, it just felt like I had no chance. The Red Sox were going to get a hit whether I liked it or not.

Rivera pitched 0.2 innings, allowed 7 hits and 4 ER. Might be the first time is his career that happened.

So, I enter the bottom of the 9th inning down 6-5. The Red Sox, because they sent up 2 PH's in the top of the inning, have Sean Casey playing RF, not his secondary position, and Coco Crisp playing 3B, not his secondary position.

Derek Jeter singled home a run to tie the game and we went into extra innings. The Red Sox scored a run in the top of the 11th inning to take a 7-6 lead, but the Yankees tied the game at 7 on a Bobby Abreu base hit.

Top of the 12th, David Ortiz hits a solo HR down the RF line and I lost 8-7.

Only good news is that I drew 6 walks.

I want to continue and finish the season but it's getting tough. Season statistics are not very realistic, the out of the box ratings are too high and they favor offense.

The CPU throws 70% strikes every game I play, even with the CPU control set at 0. I have about 150 BB for the year, and I am over 100 BB's behind the next team, and I try and work the count every at-bats to try and get realistic results. Pitchers continue to paint the corners no matter who is pitching and the CPU hardly even chases pitches. Case in point, Ian Kennedy did not strike out a single batter this game.

I am currently 7 games behind the Red Sox in the loss column but I still have a 1 game lead on the White Sox for the A.L. Wild Card.

I am currently trying to find a last gen MLB title that I can get more realistic results. I have a MLB 12 franchise going that I just started and I am currently editing a MLB 11 base roster to use for a franchise as well. I am using RBU utility for the ratings so I am hoping this will give me more realistic stats during my franchises.

The Yankees now head to Toronto for a 3 game series with another 3 game set with the Red Sox next week at Fenway. We shall see what happens.

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August 10, 2008 Blue Jays 5 Yankees 6

The Yankees shook off the weekend series with the Red Sox and came back strong tonight to defeat the Blue Jays.

Phil Hughes (6.0, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) pitched well but did not figure in the decision.

With the game tied 2-2 in the top of the 7th, LaTroy Hawkins came in and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits. However, the Yankees didn't lose hope.

With 2 out in the bottom of the 7th, Jeter drew a walk. Bobby Abreu singled him to second. Giambi got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Wilson Betemit then worked the count to 3-2 before singling up the middle to drive in 2 and tied the game at 4-4. Cano then lined a single to score Giambi to make it 5-4. Cody Ransom then singled to center to score Betemit and make it 6-4.

The Yankees sent 9 batters to the plate that inning. They also gave A-Rod, Posada, and Damon the night off so it was great to see the bench step in and not miss a step.

Kyle Farnsworth started the 8th inning, but after giving up 2 hits to start the inning Joba Chamberlain came in and closed the door. Joba came out for the 9th inning in order to give Mariano Rivera the night off after his debacle the night before.

After getting 2 outs, Joba gave up back to back doubles to Adam Lind and Scott Rolen before getting John McDonald to chase a 3-2 fastball for the final out. Joba got his 2nd save of the year. Hawkins pitched bad but got the win and is 5-1 on the season.

The Yankees will try and build on the win tomorrow night as they send Mike Mussina (5-8, 5.16) to the mound to face Dustin McGowan (10-7, 4.85)

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August 11, 2008 Blue Jays 3 Yankees 4

The Yankees played their longest game of the year Tuesday night, a 16 inning thriller with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto took a early 3-0 lead, but the Yankees got 2 runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning and 1 in the 3rd inning to tie the game at 3-3.

Both teams traded zero's until the bottom of the 16th, when A-Rod hit a A-Bomb right down the RF line for a Walk-off HR.

Rookie Luke Stout saved the game by throwing 6 shut out innings out of the bullpen. Jose Veras pitched the 16th inning for his 1st win of the season.

The Yankees go for the sweep tomorrow at the Stadium.

Game 3 will be Andy Pettitte vs Shaun Marcum.

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August 12th, 2008 Blue Jays 2 Yankees 4

The Yankees finished off their division rival Blue Jays with a win and a sweep of the 3 game series.

Andy Pettitte (7.0, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K's) and Shaun Maecum (7.0, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K's) pitched great for their teams and the Blue Jays headed into the bottom of the 8th inning with a 2-1 lead.

Brett Gardner walked and was doubled home by Johnny Damon to tie the game at 2-2. Two batters later, that man A-Rod would play the hero again, singling home Damon with the go-ahead run. Hideki Matsui followed with a base hit to score A-Rod. Matsui also added a solo HR, his 6th of the season.

LaTroy Hawkins got the win in relief and is now 6-1 on the season.

The Yankees now start a 7 game West Coast trip, 4 games in Seattle and 3 in Oakland before heading back to the East Coast for a 3 game series with the 1st place Boston Red Sox. The Yankees are 4 games back of the Sox and hold a 2 game lead over the White Sox for the A.L. Wild Card.

Game 1 will be Darrell Rasner (9-2, 2.41) vs Miguel Batista (5-6, 4.77)

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August 13th, 2008 Yankees 4 Mariners 5

The Yankees did not start off their 7 game West Coast swing they way they hoped with a loss to the Mariners.

Darrell Rasner had a rough start and never got going. He pitched 5.0 innings, giving up 8 hits and 5 ER's. He falls to 9-3 on the season. This was Rasner's second straight loss and the rookie maybe hitting a wall after his call-up in May.

The Yankees got solo HR's from Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui but it was not enough.

For the Mariners, Ichiro went deep for his 17th HR (He hit 6 HR in real life in 2008) and Richie Sexton added HR number 23.

Game 2 will feature Ian Kennedy vs Felix Hernandez.

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August 14th, 2008 Yankees 2 Mariners 3

The Yankees were on the wrong end of another 1 run loss on Friday Night. The Yankees jumped ahead in the 2nd inning against Felix Hernandez and took a 2-0 lead. However, that was it for the Yankees offense. Hernandez pitched great the rest of the game, (7.0, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K's)

Ian Kennedy pitched great for the Yankees (7.0, 8 H, 2 ER) and left with the game tied at 2-2. Kyle Farnsworth came in to pitch the 8th and gave up a run to take the loss.

Ichiro had his second straight 3 hit game to lead the Mariners.

Game 3 will be Phil Hughes against Erik Bedard.

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August 15th, 2008 Yankees 5 Mariners 3

In desperate need of a win Saturday night, the Yankees turned to their best pitcher this year, Phil Hughes, and he did not disappoint.

Hughes, in his 2nd season, is turning into the Ace the Yankees always hoped he would be. Hughes entered Saturday with a 15-4 record and 2.51 ERA. He is also the frontrunner in the A.L. CY Young voting.

Hughes was brilliant, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing 5 hits, 0 ER, no BB's, and 7 K's.

Jose Veras pitched a clean 8th inning, so Joe Girardi allowed him to go back out for the 9th inning, which was a big mistake. Veras allowed 4 hits and 3 ER's. Mariano Rivera came in and gave up 2 straight hits (Comeback code again?) before getting the final out for Save #32.

The Yankees used the long ball for their victory tonight, getting HR's from Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, and Robinson Cano. Johnny Damon had 2 hits and is 1 point ahead of Mike Lowell for the A.L. Batting Title.

The Yankees will finish the 4 game series with Mike Mussina vs Jarrod Washburn.

The Yankees are 5.5 games behind the Red Sox in the A.L. East but they have a 1.5 game lead over the White Sox for the A.L. Wildcard and only a 2 game lead over the Tampa Rays, who are riding a 6 game winning streak.