New York, NY – November 11, 2008 – 2K Sports, the sports publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today that National League Cy Young Award winner, Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants, will be featured as the cover athlete and spokesman for next year's highly anticipated baseball video game, Major League Baseball® 2K9. Lincecum led Major League Baseball with 265 strikeouts during the 2008 season and set a new team record in the process. He has quickly become a fan favorite and established himself as one of the most thrilling young pitchers to watch in baseball today.

"Winning the Cy Young Award is truly an amazing honor, and now having the opportunity to be on the cover of Major League Baseball 2K9 is another dream come true and an absolutely surreal experience," said Tim Lincecum, MLB All-Star pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. "Whenever I’m hanging out at home or traveling on the road, you can find me playing video games, and I’m definitely the best gamer in the clubhouse by far. I’m incredibly stoked that 2K Sports picked me to represent Major League Baseball 2K9, and I look forward to lending my baseball knowledge to the development process."

...

"Tim is a special player and has the best stuff in baseball. We couldn’t have selected a more naturally talented and exciting player to represent Major League Baseball 2K9 next season, and given that he’s an avid gamer, it will be a lot of fun working together," said Greg Thomas, senior vice president of sports development for 2K. "Visual Concepts has taken over the development of our Major League Baseball title, and we look forward to continuing to provide fans with the most authentic and high quality gameplay experience that we bring to all of our sports titles."

MLB 2K8 came with a Jose Reyes bobblehead for those who pre-ordered, so I'm hoping they'll release a Lincecum bobblehead for 2K9.

Announcement: http://www.2ksports.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2081014

The covers they listed were probably preliminary mock-ups, don't look too great yet, but heres what they had.

via c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com

This is Jose Reyes cover from 2K8:

via subwaychatter.com

and the bobblehead it came with:

via i.walmart.com

Aaron Rowand = Gamerish? Discuss.

via assets.espn.go.com

........75 words? 75 freaking words? 75 words stretching my intellectual capacity? 75 words, eh? eh?........75 words? 75 freaking words? 75 words stretching my intellectual capacity? [/start subliminal messaging][Justin Smoak for Giants '08][/end subliminal messaging] 75 words, eh? eh?........75 words? 75 freaking words? 75 words stretching my intellectual capacity? 75 words, eh? eh?........75 words? 75 freaking words? 75 words stretching my intellectual capacity? 75 words, eh? eh?

Madison Bumgarner, the Giants 1st pick in last years draft(10th overall selection) will make his pro debut tonight, starting for the Augusta Greenjackets against the Grasshoppers of Greensboro. Nice opportunity to listen to Bumgarner's first start as well as youngsters Nick Noonan, and Charlie Culberson. Still no word on whether or not Angel Villalona will start or even play/dress tonight.

Listen to the game LIVE and for free at:

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/multimedia/audio.jsp

Augusta's roster has villalona at 6'3", 240 pounds

Scary part is, hes still only 17,I would not be surprised to see him in the high 200's by his 20th birthday, man..the kid is getting really big, way too fast.

He will start the season along with madison bumgarner, nick noonan and charlie culberson in augusta, should be quite exciting to follow

http://www.greenjacketsbaseball.com/team/roster/index.html?player_id=62