Yankee4Life

Kris Davis homers. It is now 9 - 7 Seattle. Davis' home run was a no-doubter.

Mark Canha of Oakland gets into one. Seattle still leads in the game.

Reds turn a double play to get out of a bases loaded no out jam to prevent the Cardinals from scoring.

Aaron Hicks hit a two run inside-the-park home run in Detroit. As you can see the ball bounds away after hitting the wall. HIcks slides home safely.

See what the Yankees have done? This poor guy from Portugal just wants to watch baseball and these ***holes ruin it for him. I hate this team.

Not bad. Anyone who beats Washington is ok by me.

Should have said Alex Cora. No big deal though. One Cora is the same as the other one. They both sucked. DJ who?

But this is how those people are. Boston loves to play the victim in everything. They've never done anything wrong at any time to anyone. They are always picked on.

Thank you Tyler Austin! Thoughts on last night's Yankee - Red Sox game. Brock Holt did what he could and was successful in starting a fight with Tyler Austin, who was just sliding into second base. What was that? Stanton and Sanchez getting hits in the same game? Come on. Do the Red Sox really want to start a beanball war with the Yankees? Are they forgetting they have Adrolis Chapman in the bullpen? It's not like years ago when Pedro Martinez would hit all the Yankees he wanted to and Joe Torre wouldn't retaliate once. Get Chapman in there so he can fire a few 100 mph fastballs at Mookie Betts' head. Maybe that will wipe the smile off of his face once and for all. You sucked as a player and you suck as a manager Joey Cora. The Yankees will have more suspensions and fines than the Red Sox will get because that is how these things go. 3:59 to play this game.

Manual Margot gets hit by a pitch. Padres win 5 - 2.

This week in this thread we go all the way back to Mvp Baseball 2004 to thank two modders whose work that they did in that game deserves recognition. One is a uniform modder who mostly made throwback uniforms and a X-box modder who updated quite a number of stadiums for console version of Mvp '04. Carter Carter, (or Cartersyard) was mostly a throwback uniform modder for Mvp Baseball 2004 and he only made his uniforms for Mvp '04 because when '05 came out there were so many people putting out full MLB sets and with Sandman and Fizzjob making many throwback ones, he felt there was not a need for him to continue. Based on the work that he did in '04 as evident in the provided screen shot of the Seattle Pilots home uniform he made we could have used another talented uniform creator for the next edition of Mvp Baseball. Houston Colt 45's - Home Uniforms (for Mvp 2004) 1965 Washington Senators Home Uniform (for Mvp 2004) San Diego Padres - Camouflage (for Mvp 2004) 1944 Brooklyn Dodgers Alternate Uniform (for Mvp 2004) 1969 Seattle Pilots - Home Uniform (for Mvp 2004) If anyone is interested in using any of these made-for-2004 uniforms in Mvp 2005 you are in luck. I checked with Jim825, a guy who knows more about uniforms than I ever will, and he confirmed that uniforms that were made for Mvp 2004 can be used in Mvp 2005. At the same time uniforms made for Mvp '05 can not be used in Mvp '04. The_Super The_Super was another modder that basically has gone unnoticed because of the platform in where he did his work in and when he did it. While he did contribute five stadiums to the 2005 version of the Xbox, the majority of his mods were for the game's 2004 version on the Microsoft console. Again I must confess that I have never used any of his mods and that was because my Xbox was not modded. However the people around back then who were able to take advantage of the complete set of stadium mods he made for the game were very happy with them. And that is what this thread is all about. Providing recognition and thanks to modders who made a difference in this community. Xbox - Metrodome (for Mvp 2004) Xbox - Jacobs Field Update (for Mvp 2004) Xbox - Edison Field Update (for Mvp 2004) Xbox - Turner Field Update (for Mvp 2004) Coors Field Xbox 2005 - Conversion of Pirate's PC Stadium (for Mvp 2005)

Here is a nice sight. Giancarlo Stanton at the plate in the Bronx. FYI: These images I upload in this thread can be seen in its full size if you click on it.

Mark Belanger The most electrifying defensive shortstop of his generation, Mark Belanger set the standard by anchoring a great Baltimore Orioles infield for most of 14 seasons. During this stretch, Baltimore won 90 or more games 11 times with six postseason appearances capped by the 1970 world championship. Belanger and Ozzie Smith are the only shortstops to retire with fielding averages over .975 while averaging more than five fielding chances per game. Belanger used two tiny black gloves per season and broke them in with spit and coffee. He got upset if anybody touched them. Watching him have a catch with a teammate on the sidelines was striking. He never seemed to actually catch a ball; rather he redirected them into his throwing hand. Sports Illustrated once wrote: “Belanger would glide effortlessly after a grounder and welcome it into loving arms; scooping the ball up with a single easy motion, and bringing it to his chest for a moment’s caress before making his throw.” Belanger’s fielding prowess was due to the start-and-stop speed of an All-American high school basketball star, his lightning-quick hands, and what scouts called Belanger’s First Step. A student of pitch counts, locations, and batter tendencies, Belanger sprinted at odd angles for the big hop and is best appreciated in slow-motion video. His small glove transferred the ball to his right hand – the seams of the ball always aligned the same way – enabling him to uncoil a strong throw on his next left step. In 18 years, he never dove for a ball, insisting that an all-out sprint was faster and maintained the mechanics of the play. And he was supremely confident: He never wore a protective cup. Called “the greatest shortstop prospect in baseball history,” Belanger drew offers from many clubs but General Manager Harry Dalton was adamant: “I will never trade Belanger.” Playing behind Luis Aparicio, a seven-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove winner in his career thus far, Belanger showed uneven play in his rookie year of 1967. On April 30 he dropped Aparicio’s feed as a second baseman and allowed an unearned run to score to give Steve Barber a loss in what ended as a no-hit game. (Barber threw 8 2/3 no-hit innings and Stu Miller 1/3 in the loss.) The Orioles’ manager, Hank Bauer, still said Belanger “sparkled” and Bauer liked the fact that Belanger hit well when given consecutive starts. Aparicio had an off-year and Belanger became his late-inning replacement. In the same May 14 game in which Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run, Belanger hit one off Yankee Stadium’s left-field pole, victimizing the Yankees’ Mel Stottlemyre. In 1969 bullpen coach Charlie Lau approached Belanger to offer batting tips. Lau kept track of every pitch Belanger saw that year, sending him up to bat with instructions to take and swing on specific counts, and encouraging him to expect certain pitches in certain spots based on previous batter-pitcher matchups. Belanger responded with his best batting season ever, won his first of eight Gold Gloves, and earned the nickname Blade for his silhouette as Baltimore rolled to a team record 109 wins. He hit for a .287 average with 50 RBIs. Belanger became a respected member of the team, offering an articulate clubhouse interview and buffering Earl Weaver’s rants. Between the foul lines he was no-joke, all business, directing fielders to shade right or left and approaching rookies and new players with the abrupt “We don’t do it that way” – a line he even used on Jim Palmer in 1978. Backed by veterans Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson, Belanger became a leader on the team, replacing Davey Johnson as assistant player representative. Even in the loose clubhouse atmosphere after wins, Belanger elevated small talk into something relevant without being called a clubhouse lawyer. Late after games, Belanger was still in his canvas chair by his locker talking baseball through a haze of Marlboro cigarette smoke and sips of National Bohemian beer. When the team’s mock “Kangaroo Court” was in session, Belanger was often fined one dollar for ludicrous imperfections, to which he would exclaim: “I appeal!” In 1970 Charlie Lau signed with Oakland, and Belanger jammed his thumb in March. He was described as lost at the plate, batting “all-arm” without a clue. He developed “projection room eyes” from looking at so much film, but all he got for it was a .218 average and a mountain of broken bats. He did hit .333 in the American League Championship Series – in the opener against Minnesota, Belanger’s soft liner off pitcher Jim Perry’s glove was called the turning point, loading the bases for Mike Cuellar’s fourth-inning grand slam. Belanger hit just .105 in the World Series, but celebrated the Orioles’ victory anyway. The next year he rebounded to a more respectable .266 and captured his second Gold Glove. The tradeoff between Belanger’s lousy offense and great defense was usually one Weaver was willing to make, but he was not above trying to gain an edge. In September of 1975, Weaver often used Royle Stillman as the shortstop high in the starting lineup in road games, allowing rookie Stillman to bat in the first inning and Belanger to replace him in the bottom of the first. Stillman was an outfielder, and never played an inning of shortstop in his career, despite his six “starts” there in 1975. He hit 3-for-6 in these games. Belanger holds the American League career record for being pinch-hit for – 333 times. And if he wasn’t being pinch-hit for, he was sacrificing; his league-leading 23 sacrifices in 1975 were an Oriole record at least through 2009. In 1976, Belanger carried a .300 average into June and earned over a million votes in the All-Star balloting, making the team as a backup. When Peter Gammons wrote, “Belanger could be the first 140 lb. weakling to win the MVP award,” Belanger sought him out at Fenway Park and confronted him: “I’m 170 pounds, and I’m not a weakling.” The next year, writing for Sports Illustrated, Gammons called Belanger “the leader of the club.” One of the last players to represent himself and not use an agent, Belanger signed after 1976 for $60,000, a contract that was later extended through the end of the 1981 season.