Yankees destined for greatness?

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posts lately, i can tell you i've been swamped with work, but i'll try to get posting alot more within the next few days.

Anyway... i thought i would share with everyone a little interesting story... if you'd call it that.

As most of you know... or don't know, i purchased MLB 2k9 March 3rd when it was released, i've been playing it since, i thought it would be a cool idea to simulate the 09 season and see how it turned out, with injuries on.

To be fair to the rest of the league, i had Cody Ransom play all of April and switched A-Rod in for May. The season started out slow the Yankees were hovering around 500. for the first 3 weeks. Then they went on a tear winning 8 games in a row... A-Rod joined the team in the midst of this streak.

Joba Chamberlain came down with a shoulder injury in mid June, but was back a few weeks later. C.C. Sabathia started out very poorly, but settled down in mid April and began to dominate. A.J. was amazing basically for the entire season, no injuries, no blowout losses, he finished with a line of 19-6 and an ERA of 2.87, pitching 226 innings.

CC's numbers by the end of the season were not as great as you'd want, he was 16-10 with a 3.85 ERA. Wang was solid going 17-5 with a 3.63 ERA and Joba went 13-3 with a 2.46 ERA. I had Phil Hughes start while Joba was out, he was solid, he won 3 out of his 4 starts in that time period.

Mark Teixeira started out really well, he had 13 homeruns in April, but then slowed down hitting only 3 in May. Robinson Cano was O.K, his final line was 313. with 15 HR and 75 RBI, i had him projected for higher, but this is just a video game. A-Rod despite missing all of April had 33 HR and 113 RBIs.

The Yankees made it to the playoffs with a final record of 97-65 winning their division. They beat the Twins in the first round 3-1, then the Rays in the second round 4-3.

They then played the Cubs in the world series... sweeping them in 4 games. Well, i thought that was pretty cool, so i simulated another season, just for fun without following the stats or injuries... the Yankees made it to the world series again playing the Cubs, beating them again, except this time 4 games to 3.

I'm not one to be jumping to conclusions, but that outcome sounds just fine to me. A.J Burnett also won the Cy Young, which i found interesting, hopefully this all comes true.

If you're curious as to how Andy Pettitte faired... not so great...

Here's a clip from Role Models... which is a hilarious movie... watch it...

Yankees vs. Blue Jays

Yankees are rollin right now, pitching has been great, hitting has been solid, players who have been recovering from injuries have been doing well, and i just jynxed it...sorry...

Here's the lineup for tonight...

Posada C
Damon LF
Swisher 1B
Matsui DH
Nady RF
Ransom 3B
Cabrera CF
Berroa 2B
Pena SS

...and pitching is A.J. Burnett followed by Mariano Rivera, Edwar Ramirez and Dan Giese.

...back in a bit with updates from the game...

Update 7:27: well i missed the top of the first, but looks like A.J. got through it unscathed.

Update 8:02: Ramiro Pena rips a double to left scoring Angel Berroa. Posada spanks a double to dead center scoring Pena, 2-1 Yankees.

Update 8:13: and nick swisher just doubled home posada. 3-1 Yankees

Update 8:35: Well, i stepped out for a bit, looks like the Yankees scored another run, it's not 4-1 in the top of the 4th with A.J. still pitching.

Update 9:10: It's 5-3 now.. Bruney let in a few, it's bottom 5 Yankees up.

Update 9:28: this game never had my interest... so that's it from me for tonight, 7-3 Yankees top 7, Edwar Ramirez is on.

Odds and ends

Just a few notes about the Yankees and the WBC this past week...

-Did anyone else find the WBC boring until the Puerto Rico game? That game had the feeling and intenstiy of a playoff game to me, I can't wait till the US plays Cuba, Japan, or Korea.

-Derek Jeter has looked pretty bad defensively so far in the WBC, missing two diving plays against Puerto Rico. Hopefully this is just a preseason problem and he settles in as we get closer to opening day.

- The fact that Youkilis and Pedroia could miss extended amounts of time due to injury only adds to the awesomeness of the WBC. Maybe this will balance the Arod injury a little.

- There was a really cool article in the Post earlier this week here its nice to see that chemistry in the club house already.

- Matsui, Posada, and Mo all look really good so far. Hopefully they can put up numbers similar to what they were before they got injured. Matsui had the best batting average in the American league at one point last year.

- My thoughts and prayers go out to Aaron Boone who announced he will be undergoing heart surgery later this week.

Anyway I'm out, March Madness starts tommorow good luck with your brackets everyone!

Yankees vs. Pirates

Tonights game is on YES... and CC is pitching!! here's the lineup...

Posada C
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Matsui DH
Nady RF
Cabrera CF
Ransom 3B
Pena 2B
Nunez SS

...and pitching... CC Sabathia, Mariano Rivera, Alfredo Aceves, Edwar Ramirez.

I'm very excited to see CC in action, aswell as Mariano... and i'm kind of curious to see Jorge Posada... lead off?

Back in a bit with updates from the game...

Update 7:16: i can't believe i'm saying this, but those pants look a little big on CC...nonetheless, he strikes out Nyjer Morgan, nice start.

Update 7:28: John Flaherty says Mark Teixeira looks comfortable at the plate, i say he doesn't, he may have a great average so far this spring, but he has really stunk it up lately as he strikes out again... but Matsui ripped a double down the line in right, 2-0 Yankees.

Update 7:34: Flahrety just said Melky Cabrera was having a decent spring... really? 259. is decent? damn, news to me.... and that 259. just went down as he swung at the first pitch and flied to left.

Update 7:38: CC... if you strike out Jose Tabata, you'll be my best friend...

Update 7:39: Damn...

Update 7:39: That was awesome...

Update 7:43: Damn you Jose Tabata...i know what you're trying to do... trying to make Jorge Posada's arm fall off, i know... 2-1 Yankees

Update 7:50: There goes John Flaherty talking about how 258 is respectable for spring training again... OH WAIT, i forgot... it's John Flaherty, lifetime 252. hitter (higher than i thought).

Update 7:57: CC Sabathia is naaaaaaasty tonight, and he's pitching O.K. too, 6 Ks in 3 innings.

Update 8:03: Yea.. i was only kidding when i said Mark Teixeira wasn't looking good at the plate... he just ripped a double down the right field line, Hideki Matsui then followed with a HR to deep right, 4-1 Yankees.

Update 8:05: Well, i just saw the Pirates starting rotation and... woooooof.... i feel bad for their fans... 5-1 Yankees after a Melky Cabrera double scored Nady.

Team USA Update 8:11: Team USA is beating Puerto Rico 3-1 in the bottom of the 3rd.

Update 8:16: Here's Ramiro Pena hitting a "respectable" 250. and respectably just drove in Melky Cabrera from 2nd, 6-1 Yankees... now here's Eduardo Nunez hitting a miserable 474.

Update 8:22: This is going to be a long game...

Update 8:25: I just had a flashback to the 2003 ALCS game 7 with that last bloop single to center by Jorge Posada... ahhh good times... 8-1 Yankees.

Update 8:33: So... yea... this is a long inning... going on 36 minutes right now, and it's not over yet.

Update 8:49: that's probably it for CC Sabathia tonight, he did really well, 4 innings, 1 hit 1 run, 1 walk, 7 Ks... and the last out was a really nice play by Mark Teixeira.

Update 9:02: Mariano Rivera just pitched the 5th inning, 2 Ks, solid.

Update 9:47: ok, this game got boring fast, i'm out. 8-1 Yankees... top 8.

A-Rod = Bernard Madoff?

I saw an interesting article about how you can tell someone's personality by their face... oddly enough, A-Rod was similar to Bernard Madoff...

here's what this woman had to say about A-Rod...

"His face is the archetype of a lover's. The tops of his ears are pointed, showing emotional volatility. His upper lip is bigger than his lower lip, showing he tends to create drama in a relationship. He's not an easy-going guy."

I didn't need to look at his face to know that...

I also felt the description of Bernard Madoff could be used for Alex...

"His face says, "I care about you - and your money." Yet his eyes are deepset and slant down, showing someone who tends to be pessimistic and give up, and maybe do the dishonest thing. When the going gets tough, rather than be honest, he'll keep secrets. His lips aren't even visible - that's a sign he doesn't care as much as you think."

"HA!"

This may very well be the biggest load of bull... i have ever read...but whatever, thought you guys would find that interesting... now here's a video....

I drew an interesting conclusion from this video: You steal your sister's dumplings... you die...

Busy

Hey everyone sorry for the lack of posts the past few days, me and alex have been busy and haven't had the chance to post. We should be back to posting every day tommorow. To keep you entertained in the mean time, here are best scenes from the comedy... err horror The Wickerman starring Nicholas Cage



They gave this man an oscar? really?




HOW'D IT GET BURNED!

Lost in translation...

Well, by now everyone knows the two indian born players Rinku and Dinesh who recently signed with the Pirates, but it seems the two have had some hilarious encounters recently...

Here's the story, as told by them...

"Yesterday locker room man coming to us from company Topps. He saying we sign contract. We telling him we not reading this english. we say he have talking JB sir. He saying he talking JB sir and JB sir say OK signing.

So we signing this thing and he give me and Dinesh $5.00. Then we finding out JB sir not knowing this. Man from company lying to us.

We never making same mistake like this again.

We giving JB sir the heart pains and we very sorry. We not signing nothing unless JB sir or Pirates asking us."

Turns out JB misunderstood the guys and they were actually supposed to meet with the representative from Topps... but here's what stood out to me... they only got $5.00? Sounds like someone's taking advantage of two confused foreigners...

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Mike aka Ace recently did a Q&A with Rinku and Dinesh, or Dernish as he likes to mispell names... here it is...

Ace- Have any of your inital opinions about America changed now that you have been here for a few months?

R&D-We liking America. very good place.

Ace- How is spring training going so far?

R&D- Very good sir. Many medias talking to us. We learnig more the pitching. Pirate City very very good.

Ace- Who is your favorite baseball player who you have gotten the chance to work out with so far?

R&D- We working out coach Bonila. he very good guy.


Ace- Do you feel any pressure being the first players to come over from India?

R&D- We want only be pitchers. Nothing more. nothing less. We from India, but here we pitcher only.

Ace- What do you miss most about home?

R&D- We missing family and friends but we going home after season for visit.

I also did a Q&A with them, check it out here, if you're interested...

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Here's a youtube video because i know you want one...


That woman needs more plastic surgery, seriously...