It's Tribe Time | A Cleveland Indians Franchise

[Vinsane]

The Game: MLB The Show 09 (PS2)
Difficulty: HOF
Sliders: Custom

Introduction:

Thanks for showing interest enough to click on this chise. This will not be my first project on VSN, I attempted way back when to do a Kings association that only made it about 10-20 games and died. After my interest was dropped from playing NBA 2k9 I was heavily involved in the Online Dynasty section as a member of many OD's, most notably Heisman Fever and being the commish of my own OD, Project 48.

I'm looking to right the ship as all of these projects failed in my attempt to give you AT LEAST ONE solid year of baseball gaming courtousey of the boys of Cleveland. I'm a Cleveland Indians fan and in my past baseball gaming experience I've completed multiple seasons with MVP 05 on Xbox. This will be the first time that I'll present a baseball chise online.

I hope to gain followers over the next couple of weeks as well as scope the talent of the chises here already on VSN and the ones that I expect to come up over the next few weeks as the baseball season inches closer.

I look forward to presenting "It's Tribe Time" to you over the course of my in-game season. This will be started most likely later today once I sim spring-training, present the roster, and then dive into the first season series against the Texas Rangers.

[mfbmike]

Following Vinnie Sane. I dig your writing. This should be dope.

[chazmaniandevil]

folllowing

[Vinsane]

Season Preview:

2008:
81-81
3rd Place A.L. Central
.267 team avg.
4.28 ERA

AP - The Indians wrapped up their spring training today and look forward to the start of the 2009 season. Manager Eric Wedge was able to be reached before the Indians left their summer home of Goodyear, Arizona. The Indians manager was quite opinionated about the pre-season showing from his Indians.

"It's exciting." said the manager of his ball club. "We wrapped up a solid Spring outing, came away from it healthy and focused. Ready to get to work in Arlington to start the season." When asked about the out look of his ball clubs division and chances and of making the playoffs, Wedge had this to say. "We were a solid club last season, injuries got us off track and we never found our footing after that. If we avoid the injury bug and stay focused I see no reason why we can't win the AL Central, or at the very least win the wildcard."

2009 Line-Up:

1. Grady Sizemore - CF
2. Asdrubal "AC" Cabrera - 2B
3. Victork "K-Mart" Martinez - C
4. Travis "Pronk" Hafner - DH/1B
5. Ryan Garko - 1B
6. Jhonny Peralta - SS
7. Mark DeRosa - 3B
8. Shin-Soo Choo - RF
9. Ben Francisco - LF

Bench:

Kelly Shoppach - C
Josh Barfield - 2B
Jamey Carroll - SS
David Dellucci - LF

Pitching Rotation:

1. Cliff Lee
2. Fausto Carmona
3. Aaron Laffey
4. Anthony Reyes
5. Carl Pavano

Bullpen:

Jonathan Meloan - LRP
R. Betancourt - MRP
M. Kobayashi - MRP
Rafael Perez - MRP
Joe Smith - MRP
Jensen Lewis - SU
Kerry Wood - CP

[Vinsane]

Series Preview:

(0-0) @ (0-0)

Game 1:

Lee (0-0) | Millwood (0-0)

Game 2:

Carmona (0-0) | Padilla (0-0)

Game 3:

Laffey (0-0) | McCarthy (0-0)


Key Bank's "Keys To Success"

1.) Avoid the longball - The Stadium at Arlington is notorious for home runs, keep the ball in the park when facing the powerful Texas line-up.

2.) Bullpen - In late innings the bullpen needs to be succesful. The Bullpen brought the Indians down last year, they'll need to prove themselves to be a strong assest early this season.

3.) Remember, your on the road. - The Indians had a terrible outing on the road last season, this needs to improve. If they don't get the Rangers in game one remember that escaping with one or two wins can still be a victory heading back to Cleveland on Friday to meet the Bluejays.

[.RoCkEtS1]

Looks good so far. I'll follow.

[Vinsane]

A Game and A Half!


DeRosa's 13th Inning home run gives the Indians first win of season.

AP - Arlington, TX - If it was baseball you wanted, it was baseball you got in Arlington, thirteen innings to be exact. It was a very offensive game from the start when Ranger's first baseman Davis blasted a home run off of Cliff Lee to give the Rangers an early 3-0 lead. The Rangers picked up their fourth run in the home half of the second to go up 4-0. Cliff Lee was pounded giving up 8 hits in four innings of work. Eric Wedge pulled Lee from the game early to avoid his total collapse as Lee would walk away with a season opening 11.25 ERA.

The Indians responded to the Rangers in the fifth getting 4 runs as they base-hit the Rangers to a tie. It didn't take long for the Rangers to respond though as they picked up two runs of their own to lead 6-4 heading into the second half of the game. Or what some thought was going to be the second half. In the seventh the Indians pulled within one on a base hit that scored a runner from second to pull within 1. In the ninth inning it was Ben Francisco that got on base on an Omar Vizquel error. Vizquel let the ball get out of his glove and bobble around before he made a forced throw that was seconds late. That set up the heroics for Indians slugger and Center Fielder Grady Sizemore who blasted a homer 383ft for the 7-6 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Jenson Lewis gave up the first hit of the ninth to put a man on board, the Indians used a mound visit to prolong the warming of Kerry Wood. Jensen was given the green light and gave up a base hit that was able to advance the runner to third. With runners on the corners the Indians called in closer Kerry Wood. With an out and a runner on first the Indians' closer got the ground ball he needed. The relay throw however was late and the Rangers were able to get the game tying run across the plate and force extra innings.

Joe Smith came on for the Indians and pitched his way to his first win ofthe season going three innings and only giving up two of the Ranger's 18 hits on the day. It was Mark DeRosa that hit an even 400 footer to left center to give the Indians the lead in the top of the 13th inning. Smith would go 1-2-3 to end the game and give the Indians their first win. Eric Wedge was reached after the game and had this to say about his team's performance. "We came down here and knew that it would be a good game, but a game and a half? You can't predict those things, you can't get ready for those things. Even though we got the win our Bullpen wasn't able to shut the door when we needed them to, that's the thing that concerns me most. We won't be winning as many games that we could if this keeps up. I'm just glad that the guys got a day off tommorow before we resume this series!"

Indians Lineup:

CF Sizemore 1-6 | 1K
2B Cabrera 1-6 |
C Martinez 2-6 | 3K
DH Hafner 0-6 | 2K
1B Garko 0-6 | 1K
SS Peralta 2-6 | 2K
3B DeRosa 4-6 |
RF Choo 1-5 | 2K
LF Francisco 4-6 | 1K

Batting:

2B: V. Martinez (1), M. DeRosa (1), S. Choo (1), B. Francisco (1)
HR: G. Sizemore (1), M. DeRosa (1)
RBI: G. Sizemore (3), A. Cabrera (1), M. Derosa (1), S. Choo (1), B. Francisco (2).
SAC: S. Choo
GIDP: G. Sizemore

Rangers Lineup:

2B Kinser 1-1 |
PR-2B Catalanotto 2-6 |
CF Byrd 4-6 | 2K
RF Hamilton 1-5 | 1K
1B Davis 3-6 |
DH Blalock 2-6 |
3B Young 2-6 |
PH Saltalamacchia 1-1 |
LF Jones 0-1 |
C Teagarden 1-6 |
SS Vizquel 0-6 | 3K

Batting:

2B: H. Blalock (1), C. Davis (1), Saltalamacchia (1), M. Byrd (1)
HR: C. Davis (1)
RBI: H. Blalock (2), C. Davis (5)
GIDP: N. Cruz, A. Jones, T. Teagarden

Fielding:

E: O. Vizquel (1)
PB: T. Teagarden (1)

Indians Pitching:

Lee 4IP | 8H | 5R | 5ER | 1BB | 2SO | 11.25 ERA |
Meloan 3IP | 5H | 1R | 1ER | 3SO | 3.00 ERA |
Lewis 1.1IP | 2H | 1R | 1ER | 6.75 ERA |
Wood (BS, 1) 1.2IP | 1H | 1SO |
Smith (W, 1-0) 3.0IP | 2H |

Rangers Pitching:

Millwood 6.1IP | 9H | 5R | 5ER | 6SO | 7.11 ERA |
Guardado (H, 1) 1.0IP | 1SO |
Turnbow (H, 1) 0.2IP | 1SO |
Francisco (BS, 1) 1.0IP | 2H | 2R | 2ER | 1SO | 18.00ERA |
Gabbard (L, 0-1) 4.0IP | 4H | 1R | 1ER | 3SO | 2.25 ERA |

Player of the Game:


Mark DeRosa

4 for 6 - HR (GW), Double

EDIT:

Injury Update:

Ian Kinsler will be out 1-6 days with a bruised arm suffered on a throw to first base on a pitch-out play. Victor Martinez hit his arm with the ball in their season-opener meeting. Kinsler has been designated to the bench for the time being.

[LC AAU]

DeRosa! Do good shit with him, one of my favorite cubbies last year. Nice job opening the season with a W

[Vinsane]

Indians fall 4-2 to the Rangers

Josh Hamilton gets it going for the Rangers in the first with this solo shot.

AP - Arlington, TX - After the explosive first game of the season, the Indians and Rangers met again two days later to continue their season opening series. The Rangers would best the Indians 4-2 in regulation. Led by the middle of the line-up the Rangers were able to pelt the ball on Fautso Carmona, the story of the game was the Rangers' ability to get the extra base hits while the Indians were unable to score with runners in scoring posistion. In the eighth inning the Indians were only able to pick up a single run, they loaded the bases after that and were unable to push across anymore as Texas evened this series 1-1, with the conclusion to come tomorrow.

Eric Wedge was seen after the game and commented on his club's performance. "Today was a different day, we went from an offensive team to a defensive team. We stood toe-to-toe with them for seven solid innings and couldn't get the runs that we needed. We're going to sleep on it tonight and pick up this series tomorrow."

Indians Lineup:

CF Sizemore 2-5 | 3K
2B Cabrera 1-4 | 1K
C Martinez 1-4 | 1K
DH Hafner 1-4 | 1K
1B Garko 0-4 | 1K
SS Peralta 1-3 |
3B DeRosa 1-4 | 2K
RF Choo 4-4 |
LF Francisco 0-1|
LF Dellucci 1-2 |

Batting:

RBI: G. Sizemore (4), A. Cabrera (2)
HBP: J. Peralta
SAC: D. Dellucci
GIDP: M. DeRosa, B. Francisco

Fielding:

E: J. Peralta (1)

Base Running:

CS: G. Sizemore (1)

Rangers Lineup:

CF Byrd 0-4 | 2K
3B Young 2-4 |
RF Hamilton 2-3 |
1B Davis 1-4 | 2K
DH Blalock 1-4 |
LF Murphy 1-4 | 1K
C Teagarden 0-3 | 1K
2B Catalanotto 0-3 |
SS Vizquel 0-3 |

Batting:

2B: M. Young (1), J. Hamilton (1), H. Blalock (2), C. Davis (2)
3B: M. Young (1), D. Murphy (1)
HR: J. Hamilton (1)
RBI: M. Young (1), J. Hamilton 2 (2), D. Murphy (1)

Indians Pitching:

Carmona (L, 0-1) 6.0IP | 6H | 3R | 3ER | 1BB | 5SO | 4.50 ERA |
Kobayashi 2.0IP| 1H | 1R | 1SO |

Rangers Pitching:

Padilla (W, 1-0) 7.0IP| 8H | 2R | 2ER | 6SO | 2.57 ERA |
Wilson (H, 1) 1.0IP | 2H | 3SO |
Francisco (S, 1) 1.0IP | 2H | 1SO | 9.00 ERA |

Player of the Game:

Josh Hamilton

2 for 3 - HR, Double

[Vinsane]

good job with hamilton

I'm not sure how to take this, me playing AS the Indians.

[Vinsane]

Indians go down swinging.


McCarthy fans 11 to give Rangers win, 8-3.

AP - Arlington, TX - Just like in game two of this series, the Rangers' bats woke up early and carried them to the victory. Aaron Laffey made the start for the Indians and looked good fanning the first two batters of the inning. Laffey then went against the middle of the Rangers' order to let Hamilton get on base, Davis would bring him home with a double. Hank Blalock would then bring the score 3-0 on a two run shot to right field and the Rangers never looked back.

By the sixth the Rangers were up 6-0, The Indians scored two that were matched in the bottom half of the inning. The Indians again struggled to get runs across the plate with runners in scoring position for the second straight time in this series and end up with their second straight loss heading back to Cleveland for a three game series with the Bluejays of Toronto (1-3). The Rangers will improve to 2-1 and take on the Detroit Tigers (3-1). Eric Wedge again was reached after the game to give insight on his teams play. "Disipline at the plate, we have none. We came here and we were able to steal game one, on the road that's good but our plate disipline is not good enough on any level to feel good about this series. Hopefully we get our disipline tomorrow when we open up 'The Jake' against the Bluejays."

Indians Lineup:

CF Sizemore 0-4 | 3K
2B Cabrera 1-4 | 1K
C Martinez 1-4 | 1K
DH Hafner 1-4 | 3K
1B Garko 2-4 | 1K
SS Peralta 2-4 | 1K
3B DeRosa 1-4 | 2K
RF Choo 3-4 | 1K
LF Francisco 0-4| 2K

Batting:

2B: V. Martinez (2), M. DeRosa (2), S. Choo 2 (3)
RBI: T. Hafner 2 (2), M. DeRosa (2)
GIDP: B. Francisco

Rangers Lineup:

LF Cruz 1-4 | 2K
CF Byrd 1-4 | 2K
RF Hamilton 1-4 |
1B Davis 1-4 | 1K
DH Blalock 3-4 |
3B Young 1-4 |
C Teagarden 2-4 |
2B Catalanotto 1-4 |
SS Vizquel 1-3 |

Batting:

2B: J. Hamilton (2), H. Blalock (3), O. Vizquel (1), T. Teagarden (1)
HR: H. Blalock (1), T. Teagarden (1)
RBI: N. Cruz (1), H. Blalock 2 (4), C. Davis (6), O Vizquel (1), T. Teagarden 3 (3)
SF: O. Vizquel

Indians Pitching:

Laffey (L, 0-1) 6.0IP | 10H | 8R | 8ER | 5SO | 12.00 ERA |
Perez 2.0IP| 2H |

Rangers Pitching:

McCarthy (W, 1-0) 6.0IP | 8H | 3R | 3ER | 11SO | 4.50 ERA |
Guardado (S, 1) 3.0IP | 3H | 4SO |


Player of the Game:


Hank Blalock

3 for 4 - HR, Double

[Vinsane]

[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Series Preview:

(1-3) @ (1-2)

Game 1:

Richmond (0-0, 0.0 ERA) | Reyes (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Game 2:

Halladay (1-0, 0.00 ERA) | Pavano (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Game 3:

McGowan (0-0, 1.50 ERA) | Lee (0-0, 11.25 ERA)


Key Bank's "Keys to Succes"

1.) Protect Home - It's key to win at home, the Indians need to at least pull off a 2-1 series win to consider this series a victory.

2.) Disipline - With the hurler Roy Halladay coming up in game 2 it's imperative that the Indians get better plate disipline than they had in Texas. It will be key to not only getting runners on the bases but runs on the board as well.

3.) Don't play small ball - The Jake (currently Progressive Field) is a defenders paradise, big wall in left field makes it difficult to pull the home run. With a breeze running left to right off of Lake Erie the Indians need to look center/right-center and wake up their bats for this series to come out on top.

[Vinsane]

tough series wit da rangers

Texas got ahead early, I was swinging for the fences trying to stay on pace. I was getting base hits, but leave runners stranded.

wow you had big trouble with laffey

Laffey was good early on, even after the homer. If things do go south though, Westbrook is waiting in the minors.

[mfbmike]

Good luck against the J's.

They swept me in the season opening series in Toronto. haha. Here's to hoping you do better.

[Vinsane]

Good luck against the J's.

They swept me in the season opening series in Toronto. haha. Here's to hoping you do better.

Game 1, coming up. I'll complete the series today, look at completing the next series against KC too.