MLB.com At Bat 2009

Opening Day of the Major League Baseball 2009 season is just around the corner, and MLB.com At Bat 2009 (click opens iTunes) has been released. Beware -- this post contains bad baseball metaphors.

This year's app has all the tools. After you agree to a list of Terms and Conditions as lengthy as a major-league player contract, a list of all of the games currently in progress or scheduled for the day appears. Starting on April 6th, every game will have Gameday enabled, which lets you view stats and a pitch by pitch recap of what's happening. Tapping a player's name brings up a virtual baseball card, complete with career and season stats and a line score for the game in progress.

Also on April 6th, a new feature will touch all the bases -- live Gameday Audio from either the home or visiting team radio announcers streamed to your iPhone. As with last year's At Bat app, you'll be able to pull up video clips of games shortly after key plays occur.

Do you miss plays while buying a beer or standing in line for the men's room? No problem, since the app also has a live box score.

MLB.com At Bat 2009 hits a home run! You can get the entire season (including postseason play) for US$9.99. Note that you'd pay $14.99 for just the Gameday audio on MLB.com. There's also a rookie (lite) version available for free that doesn't include the streaming audio. Check out the gallery below.