April is over; Bucs are .500

As I mentioned a few posts ago, if the Pirates won three out of five of the last games in April they would be .500. The succeeded (barely). With slightly above average pitching and horrid, horrid defense and hitting, the Pirates are somehow .500.

As I said in that previous post, that's no big deal. The Pirates were right around .500 four of the six months of last year's season. They have shown absolutely no improvement so far. What the Bucs need now is a very positive month. May is a good month for that because all 14 road games of the month are against NL Central opponents (yikes!). Now is the time.

At 5-2 with two games to go, we have secured a winning record for the current homestand. What we need now is a win in one of these two Cubs games to win the series.

Ah, the Cubs still suck. How beautiful.

Tragedy in the Family

Wow, I got back from Japan today (which hopefully explains the lack of posts, sorry) expecting to post about my experience at a Japanese baseball game, but that will have to wait after hearing of the death of Josh Hancock.

This is eerie. Too many reminders and memories of Darryl Kile dying...I was actually at the game at Wrigley the day before Kile died and it was so weird to hear the game was cancelled and then why. And again, it is the Cubs they are playing. Honestly, as much as I hate the Cubs as our rival, it somehow feels more appropriate and comforting that they are the opposing team again. Maybe there is just a lot of love in that hate...the rivalry brings a sort of kinship. I guess that what a rivalry is in some ways, you need each other in order to be true rivals. So a closeness forms, even if it is a closeness built on competitive "hatred" (which is really too strong a word, especially for us Christians...but that is another topic).

Anyway, this is sad. It was one kind of sadness to drop two in a row to your rival, another to lose a member of the team family. I can't say Hancock was a favorite or even around that long, but he was still a Cardinal. And a part of the only Championship team I remember. I was too young in '82 (although around, if that gives a clue to my age...if I haven't already said it--30), so this is the first Championship I have been able to celebrate. I still remember the black 57 for Kile on the uniforms...I am ashamed that I don't even know what number Hancock wore. I probably have only been able to see 2-3 games this year since I've been out of the state a lot, but I wish I had been able to see this last month of his.

Very sad times. Very sad.

Yep

And that, my friends, is why we call it Automatic Win Day.

Just Thinking...

How long till Cashman gets some arms for the bullpen? I'm not complaining, but I mean, we all know it's a matter of time before the Yankees make a move. Especially losing four in a row to their perenial punching bag, the Boston Red Sox. And, what 7 games in a row total? The one good thing is everyone's still alive, so I don't think anyone's selling right now. As a general rule, I reserve the right to hate any team that supplement's the Yankees bullpen in any way, shape or form. This includes, but is not limited too, the Columbus Clippers.

By the way, in excellent news, Jon Lester pitched earlier today for the Sox's Triple A affiliate, the Pawtucket Red Sox. He tossed 5 shut out innings, and I think he struke out 6. PLUS, doctors said he was cancer free at a checkup he had Thursday-ish. I guess this means Sunday is the last Automatic Win Day we'll have for a while... Jon Lester should be in the rotation next time around.

Lastly, Diasuke is use to the six man rotation. I'm not saying you go to one, cause you don't. I am saying that you might consider pushing him back one day this time around by inserting Lester into the rotation when Diasuke's scheduled to pitch next. Conviently enough, it would be Lester's fifth day anyway since he also pitched tonight...

Oh what a night

Well, I was very much afraid of a storm, but it was a great night for baseball in Pittsburgh!!

We sat in right-center field, in the fifth row, just to the right of the "Pirates"-shaped bushes. I LOVE these seats, sitting right behind Chris Duffy and Brad Eldred.

Ian Snell was not at his best but he still managed to throw seven scoreless innings. That's not a joke; he wasn't dominating. He just got outs at the right times. Marte had a great 8th inning and Torres, although it was one of the worst successful saves I've ever seen, had a successful save.

The Pirates are now 11-10, second place in the NL central. We've won 5 in a row. Let's win the series, boys!

Gorzelanny is our man tomorrow night. Can he keep up his dominating season and get the fourth win? I think, as the season progresses, our offense will begin to rally around good starting pitching and Gorzelanny and Snell and Duke/Maholm sometimes will be racking up wins.

The radio guy had some interesting things to say about Sanchez and LaNewGuy. I'll share my thoughts on their slow starts in the next couple days.

Go Bucs!

Attending tonight's game

I'll be in Pittsburgh tonight watching Ian Snell blank the Reds. It's fireworks night! I'm excited.

John, think about this: what if New York losing the series convinces them to give Roger anything he wants? In that way, it could be bad to win.

Go Bucs!!

You're probably getting sick of me posting...

But I just love baseball, and when no one's around to talk to about it, I turn to the blog and write.

So, Friday begins a three game series with the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium. Here are my thoughts the night before.

-The Yankees come in on a six game losing streak, and at 8-12 are in last place in the American League East. The Red Sox are 14-7, good enough for first place. If the Red Sox can avoid the sweep, even take just 1 of three, they'll be in a good position, 4.5 games above the Yankees. Obviously, I'd like to see the Sox win the series, maybe even sweep the Yankees again, but I don't know how likely that is. The pitching matchups are Diasuke vs. Pettitte, Wakefield vs. Karstens and Tavarez vs Wong. Game one is clearly the marque matchup. Game two favors Boston (Wakefield is a Yankee killer), and game three favors New York. Prediction: whoever wins game 1 takes 2 of three.

-Rumors are flying about Clemens returning to New York. I doubt he will, because the Yankees are gonna make him travel with the team and stuff, but think about this: he's gonna have to make a decision soon. If...and this is a HUGE IF, Boston can take 2 of 3 or *gasp* 3 of 3, I can imagine the conversation "You say you're five/seven games under .500, and last place in the American League East?Well, thanks for the offer Boss, but I think I'll stay home, I mean, it's not you, it's me, I'm just getting too old..." I'm not saying he comes to Boston, but I'm saying he doesn't go to New York if the Red Sox win this series. If, however, the Yankees win this series, their stock skyrockets. I can imagine Roger thinking "They're getting healthy, they're competing with the best of them, all they need is me to win..." and signing on the dotted line.

Grand Slam!

Wily Mo Pena, with the Sox down 2-1, makes it 5-2 with one swing of the bat. I was watching ESPN the other night, and they had the real "Major League" team. Pena was Pedro Cerrano, the guy who hits the fastball a mile and misses the curve by just as much.

To tell you the truth, Pena reminds me of David Ortiz in 2003. Ortiz use to swing at everything, and if it was a strike he hit it a mile. The Sox worked really hard on his discipline at the plate, and look where he is now. Biggest difference between him and Pena: Ortiz got consistant playing time. In the begining of '03, Ortiz shared time at first/DH with Millar and Hillenbrand. He was really the third option. Theo traded Hillenbrand away which made Ortiz a starter and the rest is history. Pena's platooned his whole time in Boston, but has been getting some consistant AB's with Coco Crisp hurt (who hasn't played in a week but still isn't on the DL...). Maybe Pena will turn it around ala Ortiz. Probably not, but a guy can dream. Imagine, 3-4-5-6 of Ortiz-Manny-J.D. Drew-Ortiz-like Pena. Not only does that rival the Yankees, it's also hard to manage against (Left-Right-Left-Right).

Beckett went 8 strong tonight and Papelbon came in for the save in the ninth. It's good to be riding a two game winning streak into New York.

Month by month

Here's how the Buccos did last season, month by month:

(key: terrible = about twice as many losses as wins. eh = just a couple games under .500. okay = right around .500)

April: terrible
May: eh
June: terrible
July: okay
August: eh
September: eh

So half of the season last year, the Pirates were really better than people thought; that is, they were particularly mediocre, getting two or three games further from .500 for each of the months of May, August and September.

Currently, the Pirates stand at 9-10 with five games remaining in April (one each against the Astros and Cubs and a series against the Reds).

It is critical that the Pirates take 3 out of 5 the rest of the month (or better) so that we can call them "okay" for the month of April. That way, they could already match last season's "okay month" count.

If the Pirates lose three or four of these last five games, they will end up 11-13 or 10-14, and will have had a textbook "eh" month. This would indicate to me that they are absolutely no better than last year.

The Pirates will hit better the rest of the season, but I doubt we will get these pitching gems almost every night like we are getting. So how the Pirates' complete April looks could be a great indicator of how good they actually are.

16 innings later

Hey, we won! Just before midnight! Torres blew a two run lead in the ninth. Everyone else in the bullpen made up for him with EIGHT scoreless innings.

We have won the series. The Pirates are now 5-0 against the Astros and 4-10 against everyone else. Tomorrow the brooms will be out in full "swing." The 9-game homestand is off to a great steart. With 7 games left and at 9-10, I expect the Pirates to be at .500 by the time we go back on the road! (Here's hoping.)

well it's about time!!

if you haven't noticed... the phillies have a 5-game winning streak. FIVE GAMES. they were at 4-11. now they're 9-11. and guess what? the yankees are 8-11. that makes me REALLY happy.

ps... chase went 5/5 tonight. he sure is something, isn't he? : )

Something's fishy...

The Boston Red Sox took game one from the Baltimore Orioles tonight, to bring their record to 13-7. Their winning percentage when Tavarez doesn't pitch is .706. When he does, the winning percentage is .333. Something's wrong when you have a losing record on automatic win day. I might have to find a new name until the team gets to at least .500 when he starts. Automatic Meltdown day, suggested by BirdsOnABat, is pretty high up there. "Wait till Lestor Day" is another possibility.

Also, the Sox are in the middle of a 13 game stretch all against American League East teams. However, none of the games come against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In fact, Tampa Bay doesn't face Boston until July 3rd. I guess I'm expecting to see alot of them the second half of the year...

99 pitches??!!

Here's me earlier today:

Tonight Maholm is on the mound. He hasn't been too great, so I don't know what to expect. I predict 5 innings, 4 runs allowed.

Just 99 pitches later, Maholm throws a three hit, one walk complete game shutout gem. This is the kind of prediction that I love to see proved wrong.

Seriously, 99 pitches?? That's barely over three pitches per batter!

Last week, Mark Buerhle threw the first no-hitter of the year, facing the minimum twenty-seven batters, and still threw 106 pitches. Maholm somehow managed to go seven less. Incredible.

La New Guy Update: LaNewGuy went 0-4 today. Starting every single game, he has a total of six hits. The Pirate starting pitchers? Also 6 hits. Except they have only had 34 at bats, while LaNewGuy has has 61 at-bats.

That's right: LaNewGuy should be hitting ninth, right after the pitchers. I say do what ever it takes to get him into gear.

6-34

6-61

Losing Streak stops tonight!

The Red Sox are on a one game losing streak. Fear not, New England. Tavarez returns to the hill and brings Automatic Win Day with him.

The Home Stand

The Pirates are actually 7-6 on the road this year. They are 0-4 at home, getting swept in their only home series.

Tonight begins the first homestand of the season, 9 games against three NL Central opponents.

If we can come out on the winning side of two out of three of these series, I will have hope for the rest of the season.

I'll actually be at the game Friday versus the Reds. I should get to see Snell pitch (Yay!).

Tonight Maholm is on the mound. He hasn't been too great, so I don't know what to expect. I predict 5 innings, 4 runs allowed.

LaNewGuy update: La New Guy is now hitting an impressive .105! That's a full 5 points over triple digits. He is currently 145 points away from being called by his name. Almost halfway there!!

Sweep!

I have full confidence in both Okajima and Donnelly. Both are acceptable set up men. I know it took a heck of a play tonight by Pedroia, and I know the two let an inherited runner score. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't have to look pretty against the Yankees. You just gotta get the job done.

It wasn't pretty. The Red Sox starting rotation was pretty bad. I mean, they ate up a lot of innings, but also gave up a lot of runs. But seriously, against the Yankees, it doesn't matter how good it looks. Both Beckett and Matsuzaka were lifted in the middle of late innings...I think both in the 8th. Beckett might've been in the 7th. Both had allowed 5 runs at the time (the inherited runner the Donnelly let score in relief of Okajima was also charged to Diasuke, giving him 6 earned...). But the Fenway Faithful soluted them with standing ovations. Diasuke tipped his hat just to be polite. Beckett looked pretty mad. You could tell both didn't think they deserved the ovation, and both didn't think they pitched well. But in Boston, which does have a bit of an inferiority complex, it doesn't matter how bad you are, as long as you're better than New York.

Offensively, the Sox hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back homeruns for the first time in team history. Manny Rameriz, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek. All of them came off the Yankees' rookie starter Chase Wright. The Yankee bullpen was so battered from the first two games they stuck with Wright who got Wily Mo Pena to strike out to end the inning.

Jeter tied the game at four with a homer, and the Yankees tacked on another on a double play that scored a run. Mike Lowell countered with another homer-this one scored three- to win the game.

In the eight, the Yankees threated to tie the game. They had already plated one and had first and third or something like that. Donnelly was in facing pinch hitter Josh Phelps. Phelps hit a line drive that was falling fast behind second base on the right field side. Dustin Pedroia came out of no where and made an awesome diving catch to preserve the lead.

So, good news- Red Sox take 3 of 3 from Yankees. Bad news- Yankees with Petite and two no named rookie starters more or less match Sox big three of Schilling, Beckett, and Matsuzaka. Good news- Sox bullpen was phenominal and Jason Varitek broke out of his year and a half long slump. Bad news-Yankees pitchers are coming back for next weeks series at Yankee Stadium...and Matsui might be back.

UPDATE: I wanted to put this earlier but forgot. Papelbon was dominate again, obviously. But anyway, before every pitch, went he steps on the rubber, he looks down at the ground. He slowly looks up, and gazes in at the hitter in an extremely intimidating manner. The look basically says "I'm kind of annoyed we have to go through this formality of me blowing you away when we both know its gonna happen anyway. You're kind of pissing me off right now, and I throw 97-99 mph. It's not a wise decision to annoy me." ESPN kept showing it up close, every time. During Abreu's at bat, I let out a laugh after seeing the look. It was an extremely evil laugh. A laugh that complimented the look nicely. I think Varitek should laugh in such an evil manner every time Papelbon does the look. Rivera is more established and when it's all said and done, maybe he'll have a better carreer than Papelbon. But he doesn't have the look.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

the philadelphia phillies won 2 games in a row.

watch out nl east.

haha.

two fun things:

1st... i went to a tigers/white sox game yesterday afternoon!!! great game... although the sox won in the 10th... 7-5. the first three sox batters were retired in order... and then the tigers loaded the bases on a double, single, and hit by pitch... and then brought them all in with a grand slam. that was really fun. : )

2nd... the phillies won last night!!!!! AND... hamels, who's on my fantasy team, pitched a complete game. that made me so happy. PLUS... they made a triple play. PLUS chase hit a homer.

AND... they're switching up their batting order. they put victorino first... followed by rowand, rollins, utley, and burrell. we'll see how that works! howard is coming back today, i think. we'll see where he hits.

my mom sent me an email the other day... and at the end she wrote: "P.S. We won't even think about the phillies. I can't even capitalize their name."

but we'll see... maybe things will turn around yet...

Grand slam in the bottom of the 10th

Wow, that was certainly depressing.

Crazy Pirate Ideas

Well, we have endured six months of the NBA preseason. It is finally time for the NBA regular season to begin. Congratulations to all fans of 16 teams who qualified for the four-month long NBA regular season.

Sometimes people in charge of terrible baseball teams can sound completely insane.

Bob Nutting, Pirates owner:

"We are operating the Pirates responsibly from a solid business and baseball foundation in order to consistently compete on the field and maintain the long-term viability of the franchise."

??? I don't even have a response to this quote; it is downright silly.

Also, Jim Tracy said he'd like to remedy the problems Tony Armas, Jr. is having as a starting pitcher by making sure he never misses a start. In two starts, Armas has pitched 6.2 innings and allowed 14 earned runs. We should be skipping his starts at every single opportunity.

Finally, MAN those games start late in L.A. Freakin' 10:40 pm eastern time. Things aren't looking to good for the Buccos at the moment.

I'd rather be lucky then good: Red Sox-Yankees Round 1 of 18*

The Red Sox wore Green today to honor Red Auerbauch, the man responsible for the 16-championships-in-28-years dynasty that was the Boston Celtics. That's cool. But it wasn't really Celtic green. It seemed lighter to me. Whatever. The real reason they wore the shirts were cause they knew this would be a nationally televised game and they want people around the country to go out and buy a green Red Sox jersey. More importantly, the Yankees are in town.

It wasn't pretty, and the Sox definately didn't deserve it, but they beat the Evil Empire Friday Night 7-6. I'm still not sure how the Yankees blew it. They were up 6-2 in the 8th and were in cruise control. Then the Sox scored to make it 6-3 and the Yankees went to Rivera. For various reasons, I had to leave the TV in the eight and was listening to it in a car radio. Some flood warning that kept coming up during every crutial part. Honestly, you'd hear "The pitch..." then the annoying beeping followed by static followed by the emergency broadcast system thingy followed by a flood warning for the Connecticut River." Then you'd hear "and it's a tie ball game! Can you believe it?" It was quite aggrivating, but every time they came back from it, the Red Sox had tacked on another run. The last time they did it, it took forever. They mentioned every single town in Connecticut that had a stupid flood watch till Saturday. Then it came back to a comerical. Then it was the top of the ninth and the Sox had a one run lead. Later, I found out Coco Crisp hit a triple to tie the game, and probably triple his average, and Alex Cora got a single to drive him in. Alex Cora of all people. He was only in cause the Sox pinch hit Wily Mo Pena for Dustin Pedroia and Wily Mo at second would probably be ugly.

The announcer started off by saying "Well, 7-6 Red Sox have the one run lead after a five run 8th" (YES!) "and Francona originally sent Synder back out to the mound to pitch" (WHAT?!??!?) "but he had second thoughts" (Thank God!) and now Hideki Okajima is just finishing up his warmup pitches." Huh? This didn't appear to be a good idea to me. I don't really know much about Okajima. He hadn't really pitched in an important situation yet, and this didn't seem like a good idea to me. I understand Papelbon worked alot the past two nights, but I mean, what about Donnelly? I'm almost reconsidering his worth as a setup man. I mean, why Okajima?

The flood warnings stopped so we heard all the ninth. Okajima got Jeter to ground out, then he walked Abreu. Earlier, my friends and I fought over whether or not to walk A-Rod to load the bases when Schilling was on the mound. Two of us said no, the other insisted on it. A-Rod deposited the ball into the Red Sox bullpen, so I guess he was right. But, do you walk A-Rod here to put the winning run on second? Especially if he's already hit two homers? And I mean, you can't really say A-Rod chokes. Firstly, the Red Sox have adopted Billy Bean's "Moneyball" theory. I realize Moneyball is a financial theory, but for lack of a better term I call their beliefs (clutch hitting doesn't exist, stolen base attempts=bad, bunts=bad) Moneyball. So they don't believe in choking. Secondly, A-Rod has had plenty of big hits this year.

Okajima pitches to him, and A-Rod pops up to the second baseman. This brings up Kevin Thompson, who pinch ran for Giambi with the Yankees up by 4 in the top of the eight. Okajima struck him out to obtain his first major league save. I didn't see the pitches, but I was impressed. He threw first pitch strikes to every batter he faced. Also, the announcers and the croud were pretty upset about a few of the "close calls" that went the Yankees' way, so I guess he was around the plate the whole time. Okajima is now tied with Donnelly for me reconsidering them as setup men. Okajima might be ahead. Anything you do against the Yankees counts exponentially more.

So, as I said, I watched a bit of the game before the eight, and the Yankees pretty much looked dominant. I'd hate to admit it, but top to bottom they have the superior lineup. Posada mysteriously left the game, no word was given as to why. But, if he's ok then how do you get anyone out? They're like the Indians from the late 90s. You have all stars everywhere. Damon, Jeter, Abreu, A-Rod, Giambi, Posada, Cano, Cabrera and then Mientkiewicz/Phelps I guess is the "easy out." Ridiculous.

So yeah, the Sox got lucky. Schilling was outpitched by Pettitte (I bet my family back home is pumped...I should have called). A-Rod exploded and had a monster game. Rivera was on the mound with a 3 run lead, and somehow, some way, the Red Sox won.

So I realize I've rambled for quite a while, but just one more thing. I heard alot of people saying the Red Sox have Rivera's number. I don't believe that for a second. It kills me to praise him or anyone on this team, but he is still the greatest closer of all time. I wouldn't be worried at all if I were a Yankee fan. I'd be plenty angry, but I wouldn't be worried. Unfortunately, Rivera still has a lot left in the tank and I'm not planning on getting use to seeing him walk off in defeat.

*-18 could be anywhere from 22-25...just saying.

Score some runs, please!

Now we have to rely on our pitchers not only to pitch well, but to provide all our runs too. Kip Wells was our only offense in our fourth straight loss. I hate coming back from a few days without internet to discover a losing streak...what's up with this streaky-ness anyway? 1-4, then 5-1, now 0-4 and counting...and worst is that Pujols is still hitting below .200. I remember sometime a year ago or something hearing that there is only one or two months in his career where he had hit below .300, which is pretty ridiculous, but it looks like another one is coming up fast here. Terrible.

I am starting to wonder if we will win 75 games, let alone be in any kind of contention (although in the back of my mind I know even 75 might put a team in contention in this division) and with no bats and a shaky (at best) rotation I fear that may be right. Albert, please start hitting.

Congratulations to Mark Buehrle on his no-hitter...I'm still sad he resigned with the Sox and not the Cards a couple years back.

Congratulations as well to A-Rod on his hot start...everyone may hate him, but at least maybe his own fans will get off his back.

Today's expectations are low.

So far, the Brewers and their extravagant $70 million dollar payroll (in a SMALLER, LESS LOYAL market than Pittsburgh) look like the team to beat in the NL Central.

Indeed, they will be a team to be reckoned with this year.

So I won't be disappointed if the Bucs lose this afternoon. My hope is that Zach Duke bounces back from his tough outing against SF last weekend.

you also know it's bad when...

your team moves its starting ace to the bullpen... in hopes of bullpen stability.

i understand why they did this... and don't think it's a bad idea. act of desperation though? obviously.

here are my solutions:

- get rid of burrell.
- get rid of manuel.
- trade for some relief pitching.
- shake up the line-up.
- bring back chris coste from the minors.
- if you can't trade burrell... permanently make bourn his pinch runner. if burrell gets a hit, he's done his job. take him out... let bourn run for him... and let his day be over.
- SPEND SOME MONEY... before no one comes to the games anymore and there isn't any money to spend.
- bring back the organist. the phillies had the best organist in baseball... until he died. the problem is that they've done nothing to replace him. every once and awhile they'll play some sort of little bitty thing... but it's not enough to bring energy to the crowd. no energy from the crowd... no hype... no sense of the fans being in it with the players. fans can cheer on their own, of course... but it's much more fun when the organist is helping to build up the emotion. now, they'll play the little trumpet charge thing one time. it does nothing. they used to play it three times... with a greater swell of emotion each time until it burst open on the 3rd. it was glorious. that felt like baseball. one stupid fake trumpet thing does not.

and now... howard's hurt, too. we'll see what happens with that... if it's dl-worthy or not. either way... it doesn't make too much of a difference since he's not hitting the ball... and has been making some big defensive errors. maybe a bit o' time on the dl would be good for him. get his mind back in the game and not focused on the tragedy that has been his spring thus far.

ps... apparently the pitching coach, dubee, was pleased with garcia's first outing... where he pitched 4 and something innings... giving up 3 runs. the phils went on to lose that one 8-1.

AND... rosario... the guy who gillick was willing to take a bet on... blew his first game by losing last night in the 11th to the NATIONALS... giving up a single and a double... and then a sacrifice that ended the game. so much for power pitching being the way to go. and now gillick is wishing he hadn't taken that chance on mr. inconsistent and instead spent some real cash to bring in someone with proven talent.

oh.... my poor phillies. yet i will be loyal still...

The Return of Automatic Win Day

Tavarez takes the mound tomorrow against Roy Halliday and the Toronto Blue Jays. I have to work, so I'll miss a vast majority of the game. No matter. I've already chaulked it up in the win column for the Bo-Sox.

Today's game was pretty good. Wakefield pitched extremely well before yielding to Brendan Donnelly. Donnelly also was effective in the 8th, setting things up for Papelbon in the ninth. If Donelly has another good outing next time, I'll reconsider my position on him as a set up man.

The Red Sox offense was dependant on the Long Ball Tonight. Doug Mirabelli went deep for the second time in his past two games, meaning he's hit two more homers than Varitek this year...in a fifth of the games. Mike Lowell and David Ortiz also contributed with round trippers.

So yeah...automatic win day tomorrow means Red Sox take two of three from Toronto. This Friday, the Yankees are coming. The Yankees are coming.

the phloundering phillies

when the opposing pitcher strikes out for the third out and the defense stays in the field...

when your team leaves 122 runners on base through the first 12 games...

when your manager breaks into a tirade against a radio personality after the 9th loss of the season...

when the previous year's league mvp can't hit a pitch to save his life...

... you know something's terribly, terribly wrong.

i can't stand it.

ps. it was time for charlie to go a looooooooooong time ago. mr. nice guy has worn out his welcome. i want a real manager who'll actually lead this team to some wins.

oh- and a side note about football. urlacher got a $100k fine for wearing the wrong hat to a press conference. seriously????????????????

What has to happen for the Bucs to go .500

The Pirates were just talked about for upwards of thirty seconds on Baseball Tonight. That calls for Bucco blog post of the night #2.

Crucky and the gang praised the Pirates' young starting pitching. They seem convinced. Gorzelanny isn't going to end the season at a 1.33 ERA or anything, but I'm convinced too.

And the fact is, the offense will get better because it can't get worse.

That said, we are sitting at .500 after twelve games. As a loyal studier of the Pirates, I can tell you they will play a bit better over the course of the season than they have so far.

So will this be the season we cross the .500 barrier?

If I had to guess right now, I would give a solid "NO" answer. I stand by my 77 win prediction. BUT, it can happen, and it requires just one thing:

The Buccos MUST bust out of losing streaks before things get out of hand. If the Pirates can avoid having more than a couple 6+ game losing streaks, we will go .500.

I know that sounds simple, but check it. Last season the Pirates started on a 6-game losing streak. The month of April then ended with a 7-game losing streak. Then, from May 6 to June 14, they were 17-17. This was followed by a THIRTEEN GAME losing streak. After this, they played mostly .500 ball, except for an 8-game losing streak at the end of the season. These losing streaks were not complimented by comparative winning streaks.

Of course, the Pirates earned every one of those losses. But ending those streaks at four or five games could have gone a long way at steering the ship in the right direction.

With consistent pitching (which seems to be developing) and just a little timely hitting (which has to appear magically out of nowhere), the Pirates can go .500.

Gorzelanny is blowing me away...

...so much so that I'll even bother to make sure to spell his name right from now on.

It just goes to show you how useless Spring Training can be. This March, Tom Gorzelanny was 0-2 with an ERA of 7.96 over 26 innings. In the regular season so far, he is 2-0 with a 1.33 ERA over 20.1 innings. It looks like the Pirates have among the best 1-2-3 top of the rotation in MLB. We have a good bullpen and our 4 and 5 men will get by. Gorzelanny, who looks like a bonafied ACE out there so far, should really be 3-0 right now. Unfortunately...

...we have among the worst, if not the worst hitting in the National League so far. We are not being helped very much by The New Guy, who hit a three-run homer today to raise his batting average to a dazzling .116. In forty-three at-bats, he has an impressively bad FIVE HITS. The worst part about this stat? There are only seven other Pirates who have bested him.

Now, a week ago I said that I wouldn't call The New Guy by his real name until he came up with a big hit. The three run homer to break the game open this afternoon qualifies, but the guy's hitting freaking .116. So I'm changing the rules and compromising. Until he is hitting at least .250, The New Guy will now be known as La New Guy.

Get it?

P86 singer a Pirates fan?

Andrew Schwab, lead singer of one of my favorite bands, Project 86, and a Steeler fan, had this to say in his journal on the band's website:

btw. I am about to hit that yearly depression that is also known as "baseball season." Anyone out there feel me on this?

All indications of that quote point to his being a Pirates fan as well. I feel ya, Schwab.

Happy Patriots Day!

Patriots Day is to the Boston Red Sox as Thanksgiving Day is to the Detroit Lions. Every year without fail, the Boston Red Sox host the annual Patriots Day game, which I believe is the only game in the Major Leagues that starts in the AM. They mentioned the all time record at the start of the Broadcast, and I believe the Sox are 60ish and 40ish all time, and apparently for a while they played doubleheaders. It's a pretty big deal. Even when the Red Sox stunk, the Patriots Day game sold out without fail.

This year, since the Boston Marathon was moved up an hour, they moved the start time up from 11 AM to 10 AM. I was up really late for various reasons last night, and rolled out of bed very tired and turned on the TV at 9:59 and heard the sweetest words ever: "This game was suppose to start at 10 this year, but the weather isn't cooperating, so the start time has been moved back to 12:05." Within seconds, the TV was off, the alarm was set to noon and I was sound asleep.

Things didn't start off so well. With one out in the first, old friend Orlando Cabrera came to the plate and deposited a Josh Beckett pitch over the Green Monster to put the Los Angelous Angels of Anaheim (Formerly the Anaheim Angels, California Angels, and Los Angelous Angels...) up 1-0. Vladamir Guerrero came up next, and Beckett hit him with a 96 mph fastball on the hands. Home plate umpire Rick Reed warned both sides, which is the first time I've ever heard of a starting pitcher (LAAA's Ervin Santana) being warned before he left the bullpen.

Beckett got out of the inning and the Sox batted around the order in the bottom half of the first and scored six runs. Ortiz went deep later on to make it 7-1. The Angels latter on scored a meaningless run in the 9th to make it 7-2.

Beckett was extremely impressive after hitting Guerrero. He scattered six hits over six innings, walked one and struck out five while only allowing the one run. He's been really good this year so far, 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA. Hopefully he doesn't have another second half melt down.

Coco Crisp didn't play, so he didn't wear 42. The Red Sox announced that this coming Sunday the team will have the planned festivities for Jackie Robinson Day, which will include Crisp, Ortiz and third base coach DeMarlo Hale wearing 42. P.S.- That game's against the Evil Empire.

By the way, Julian Tavarez hasn't pitched in forever because of the weather. Every time it rains, they push back his start. Fear not, after 12 days of waiting, automatic win day returns as Tavarez takes the mound Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Only on Sundays

After another 10 run output today it seems the Cardinals can only score runs on Sundays. They now have two 10 run outputs--their two sun. games. It is always great to get those games where everything seems to go well, but frankly I don't have much confidence in our lineup on a day-to-day basis. Especially when Albert is in a slump. These are the only two games he's homered and also the only two games they have scored more than 4 runs. Not good. Thankfully they have been pitching well, better than I thought, actually.
Maybe it is just because I see them every day and know the limitations of each player, but what do you think of this lineup...other than Albert is there anything even remotely scary or dangerous about it?...

1) SS David Eckstein
2) LF Chris Duncan (except against lhp)
3) 1B Pujols
4) 3B Scott Rolen
5) CF Jim Edmonds
6) RF Preston Wilson/Juan Encarnacion
7) C Yadier Molina
8) 2B Adam Kennedy

Ok, when Rolen is healthy he can be pretty good, but it seems like awhile since we've seen that...same for Jimmy--I don't think that's coming back, his age caught him--too many walls and falls for Sportscenter. I guess part of it is I'm not convinced Duncan can hit for a whole season and know Preston and Juan are too streaky and undependable.

If we start hitting a little bit maybe my tune will change, but when Pujols isn't hitting I don't see much hope of scoring more than a couple runs. At least we got our first home win in 5 tries.

David Weathers terrifies me.

Kyle Lohse is dismantling the Cubs today, mowing them down, getting K after K after K. So what does Narron do in the bottom of the ninth, with the Reds clinging to a 1-0 lead? Takes out Lohse. After Mike Stanton gets the first batter, lefty Jacque Jones, out, Narron brings in Weathers, who proceeds to throw 6 straight balls, walking Derek Lee and giving Michael Barrett a 2-0 count. The next pitch he also puts right down the middle for his first strike. Next pitch, Barret hits about 375 feet down the line and 20 feet foul. If that had been fair, I would be burning my effigy of Weathers as we speak. Fortunately, he lucked out and got the save, so I will only be venting about David Weathers. How he is 5/5 on save opportunities is beyond me. It looks like he is throwing BP out there, and the batters are so surprised that all they can do is hit a lazy fly ball. Freakin' David Weathers!

Rain

Just a few things.

First, welcome to Ken. I look forward to reading about the defending world champions on a regular basis. I have no ill will towards the Cardinals, or the City of St. Louis for that matter. I love that place. The Rams lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI and the Cardinals are the only team in the past 88 years or so that have lost to the Red Sox in a World Series.

Secondly, Rain cancelled a lot of games, especially in the Northeast today, including the Red Sox- Angels. Coco Crisp was gonna wear 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson. I wonder if he'll do it tomorrow instead. I hope so. Boston has a rap for being a racist sports town...even the Celtics- who were the first professional team to have an all black starting lineup and the first professional team to have a black coach. Tomorrow's game is the traditional Patriots Day Game, a holiday we get in Massachusetts but no one else gets cause we're more Patriotic than the rest of the country or something. Game starts at 10:05 AM, that way when you get out, the Boston Marathon is passing by Kenmore Square and it takes two hours to walk two blocks to the Green Line. Good times.

Starting Pitching

I haven't seen the last two Red Sox games, but they're 2-0 and have out scored the Angels by a combined score of 18-1. The pitching has been awesome and Mirabelli hit a homer. Maybe I shouldn't watch the games anymore...

turn this thing around

welcome jon and ken!! and thanks, chicago guys, for allowing my friend to join. even though he's a cards fan [we're all fallible in some way]... his adoration of the sport sort of compensates for that.

let's discuss something. when your team is getting off to a very poor start... and you notice that your relief pitching looks like that of the little leagues... your first thought is... we need to get some accomplished, proven relievers. right? not so in philadelphia.

take the new guy, rosario. apparently... he doesn't have a great track record, according to pat gillick, the general manager. but, gillick said that since he throws 94-97 mph that they're willing to take a risk on him... with the assumption that if he can get consistent, that he'll be pretty good. PAT. not having a good track record = not consistent. two idiot pats on the team. gillick can't make wise team-building moves [although... i'll give him the letting go of thome to keep howard and the trading of abreu... those were good moves]... burrell can't run.

i'd like to get rid of both of them.

another thing. the phils have a serious problem. besides their bullpen, i mean. somehow... they're racking up hits... but can't get runs in. they've had multiple games with 10+ runners left stranded. i wonder if the line up needs to be shaken up some. with howard not hitting in the #3 or #4 position... that really creates some problems. on the one hand, you don't wanna move him out of there b/c you wanna mess with his confidence anymore than he's already doing. plus, he's gotta come back alive sometime soon. on the other hand... have you seen the standings? it's embarrassing.

i'd like to have positive things to write about my team... but at the moment... there's just not too much happening. although... my boyfriend, uhhh... i mean... chase utley... has had a good year so far... as has j-roll. ps... i got to see the in-the-park home run the other day by jimmy with my whole family. we cheered so loud. it was really exciting! and, i have ot admit, burrell's been doing his part offensively at the plate at least. once he gets on base he's pretty worthless... but he's hitting well. [i used to be a big fan of his, ps... until i saw him after a game at camden yards a few years ago... and he pushed away the little kids who wanted his autograph. from there it went downhill as he became seriously egotistical... and then started to suck.]

oh phillies. i'll be loyal to you until the end of time. but please get better.

New on the Scene

After being alerted to this blog by Mrs. Chase Utley, I am humbled and thankful that you are allowing me to participate in a most-worthy blog of a most-worthy sport. For any who were not aware of this and find me an intrusion...well, you are probably more right than you know. But, it is good to be on the scene.

I have read a few of the posts so far, but not too many, so I don't know if there is any sort of preferred topic or method to this--it seems that it is a good place to vent about/exult in your team and occasionally other things pertaining to the pasttime. Perhaps it is clear from my name, but I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan. This certainly does not bring any warm feelings to Ms. Shunta, as I already know, and maybe more of you. If you are like me there are certainly times I start disliking or having negative reactions to the team that recently won or seems to win too often--usually because the media likes to go on incessantly about how great this or that champion was (like Dick Vitale with Duke basketball anyone?)---this is precisely why I had more of a sour taste in my mouth a couple months after the Red Sox win in '04 (sorry John) than I did during their drubbing of my Cards. They were the one team I was ok losing to since I had wanted them to get one after so long...but then the media fell in love with talking about them and hasn't stopped, really. Not the Sox' fault, but we get it, it was amazing.

Ok, maybe not a good start here (There is no remaining ill will toward Boston, to be clear). And I doubt many even think much about last year's Series outside St. Louis and Detroit so it is not too likely for the over-attention of the media thing to happen. Where was I? Confessing to being a Cards fan and hoping not to be shunned for it. At least I'm not a Yankees fan...

Like some of you I was lamenting the start of my team, after 1-4, and not feeling too sure about our pitching even with Carpenter healthy. But now after 4 in a row I am back to feeling like we are a team capable of the playoffs...of course being in the central and seeing 83 (?!) wins enough last year makes that easier. Seriously, though, how fickle can I be? We get swept one series and I fear the team tanking the whole season, then we win a few and I am back to feeling like we should be able to do that all the time. I noticed this the last couple years, too. My confidence in the team often rides on the current streak. Did last year teach me nothing?

I may feel the same way as thempirates if the history of losing teams was so long, I suppose, but let's give it some time. Who knows...I remember last year after Milwaukee and Detroit started hot, one columnist said, "calm down Brewers/Tigers fans, this won't last". Well, for one it didn't but after five more months of those statements the other held on all the way to the Series. Of course, there is a big difference between starting at the front and starting at the back. And of exceeding low expectations and living up (or down?) to them. If the young Pirate pitching matures the way Detroit's did, they may have a chance to pile up errors in the WS in a couple years or so.

Well, glad to be here talking about the greatest game in the world. A true pleasure.

Players win, not good attitudes.

It's a good thing we swept the Astros, because since then the Pirates have been ugly: 1-5 and sitting under .500 for the season, at 4-5.

The Pirates, of course, are not able to compete, talent-wise, with the rest of the league. (Not because of money, but because of stupidity.) So the manager and players have this annual ritual to stir up optimism in which they emphasize how the "culture" in the clubhouse has changed, and everyone is more "confident." They go into games "believing they will win." Everyone is "on the same page this year."

They couldn't just say "we've really upped our talent level this year" because they never do. (And The New Guy hasn't exactly put up Albert Pujols numbers at 1B. Heck, he hasn't put up Daryl freaking Ward numbers yet.) So instead we hear about how we "know how to win" this year, and how "we're building off of last season."

It usually doesn't take long for everyone to forget about all this optimism. This season, it has taken nine games, a respectable run. But now it's all over. It is suddenly obvious to every Pirate fan and player and coach that we are a below average MLB team. This is not going to subconsciously make us play worse, and maybe we'll still get to 77 wins as I predicted, but it's still the facts!

This brings me to another point: managers don't matter very much. Period. Last season I was jealous that the Tigers hired Leyland (our former skipper), believing that if we had Leyland and the Tigers had Jim Tracy, we'd be the competitive team and the Tigers would still be near the cellar. But, I thought, we should at least improve because Tracy is a better manager than Lloyd McClendon.

This is, of course, absolutely silly. The Tigers got better because their players got better. Not because of Leyland. And Jim Tracy does not make the Pirates play better than Lloyd McClendon.

Lloyd was universally thought to "suck" by all Pirate fans, but you know what? Lloyd could have gotten just as many wins as Tracy will get this year, and he could have been way more entertaining doing it. Firing McClendon was just the front office's attempt to pass the blame.

Lloyd was fine. Not great, but if he were managing the Yankees, he'd give them a chance every year. Managers don't make great teams, and either does a culture of winning or a good attitude. Players win ballgames, period.

I'll be gone all weekend, at a Jars of Clay concert and at a conference in Indy. So my next post should be Monday.

Almost No Hit

Welcome to Jon the Greater! I can't wait to read about Bronson Arroyo every five days.

Diasuke was on the mound again tonight. The big deal was that he was gonna face Ichiro as his first hitter ever at Fenway. The first game Hideo Nomo, then a Red Sox, pitched against Ichiro in America, he drilled him in the back. Matsuzaka had better luck in the Ichiro battle, getting hime to ground out and fly out...and I think he struck him out too. But he lost the war as the Red Sox were almost no hit by Felix Hernandez and lost 3-0. J.D. Drew led off the eight with a single. I almost wish he didn't. If your gonna get shut out, might as well be no hit.

Diasuke was ok. He wasn't $100 million dollar good. But if it was any other number three starter, I'd be happy with the start. With him and all the hype around him and all the drama about if he'd sign or not, I have really high hopes for him. Not winning 20 games would be a dissapointment. It's early yet though. Pennants aren't won in the first half of the season... but still. 4-4 after eight games without seeing a real team yet. This is kind of scary.

The Reds finally win a game in Arizona!!

After watching 2 painful games of baseball, the Red's finally defeated those pesky D'Backs. I feel like David Weathers tried to take a page out of Bob Wickman's book and make every save opportunity as eventful as possible, and as a fan, it drives me nuts. People tell me that bacon will take years off of my life. They should try watching Weathers come into a game in the bottom of the ninth with a 2 run lead. No wonder Carl Lindner sold the Reds, he knew watching Weathers save a game was bad for his heart, and at 80+ years, he shouldn't be taking chances.

On a more serious note, Josh Hamilton looks like a heck of a player for the Reds. If he has indeed cleaned up his life, this is quite a pickup. The former #1 draft pick has hit a home run in the last 2 games.

Offensive team names

Keith Law has a great article at ESPN's Page 2 imploring baseball to really honor Jackie Robinson by making the Indians and Braves change their names. I have always been a proponent of this. Native American people and culture are regularly abused and stereotyped and generalized. If this was done with ANY other ethnic group, there would be RIOTS. And no, it is NOT honoring them.

I'm only writing this because I'm too depressed to think about the Pirate's loss tonight. That is all.

The Pirates are bad at hitting.

Hopefully this tiny flaw won't stop us from achieving a winning record this season.

Tonight's lineup!
CF Duffy
SS Wilson
2B Sanchez
LF Bay
RF Nady
1B The New Guy
C Paulino
3B Bautista
P Gorzalanny

Gorzalanny was great in his first start against the Astros. I don't believe he will be anywhere near consistent this season, so I'm not expecting him to last long tonight.

The New Guy has been moved from fourth to seventh in the order because he's been so pathetic at the plate so far. Unfortunately, he's not the only guy hitting badly. He's just the guy for whom the bad hitting is surprising.

I'll be listening to tonight's game on MLB.com radio. A quick review of my MLB media history this season:

Before the season opener, I bought a month of MLB.tv with a free five-day trial. Of course this comes with MLB radio as well. It turned out that I can't watch Pirates games on MLB.tv because of blackout restrictions, even though I am not in a Pittsburgh or Houston TV area. So I sent an e-mail to cancel MLB.tv before the five days were up. The MLB radio is still working, well after the five days are up. I am not sure what the deal with this is. I suppose they will eventually charge me or stop giving me radio broadcasts.

Go Bucs!

UPDATE: In the bottom of the first, The New Guy was at the plate with the bases loaded. Result? Fly out to center field. That's why he's The New Guy. Following the typical Pirates way, we will collect three hits for the rest of the night.

Opening Day at America's Most Beloved Ball Park

That's what they call Fenway anyway... I personally think its overated, but maybe I'm just spoiled. I wouldn't mind a new ball park with roomy seats and without obstructed view. I'd also like a bigger capacity so they didn't rob you with ticket prices, but that's just me. The Red Sox could easily fill a 40,000-50,000 seat place every night. They're at 35,000 and in order to stay competitive they charge you $100 to sit in Left Field seats that anywhere else would be $7-$10. Yeah, I know its the Green Monster. But still, that means the seats are even further away than the $7 ones elsewhere. But, enough complaining for now...

As a result of the 2PM start and my 2:30 class, I missed the first five innings of the game. When I walked in, it was 13-1 and Beckett was on the mound in the sixth. He was blowing guys away too. All in all, he went 7 innings allowing one run and most importantly, I don't think he walked anyone. He also had a stretch where he retired 15 batters in a row or something. I'm pretty sure that streak ended only cause he came out. All in all an excellent start. It was pointed out that the Mariners are rusty cause they haven't played in about 6 days due to snow and stuff in Cleveland, but whatever. A win is a win, and the fact Beckett didn't walk anyone is extremely encouraging.

Oh yeah...Donnally got ejected. Basically, he and Jose Guillen had a verba confrontation after Donnelly struck Guillen out in the 8th. The benches and the bullpens cleared, but at first only Guillen was tossed...until the Donnelly drilled the next guy in the butt with a fastball. Red Sox Hall of Famer (which is different than MLB Hall of Famer-the Red Sox have their own Hall of Fame) Jerry Remy, a former second baseman and the current color commentater, said that the two must have a history of other incidents cause nothing happened to spark the incident. Announcer Don Orsillo then replied "According to records, that's the first time the two have faced each other in a major league baseball game, but they were teammates in Anaheim." It was pretty funny. One of my friends pointed out that was when Guillen got suspended for the postseason for saying and/or doing something stupid by the team...we couldn't remember what. Brilliant move, cause Guillen was awesome that year and the Red Sox ended up sweeping Anahiem on their way to a World Series Title. I wonder if Donnelly's still mad about that?

Bah!!!!

At least Chase hit a home run.

Red Sox on Easter

Well, Schilling looked pretty good today. We also had a family gathering, and just about everyone in my family hates Schilling. They say he talks too much. Yet for some reason they all loved Pedro, who hasn't shut up since the 1997 season. They don't admit it, but they all hate Schilling because he publicly supported George W. Bush in the last election. They loved him during the 2004 season before the Bush statement. Both before and after, he was calling up radio talk shows, posting on blogs and writing on a Red Sox fan web ring called "The Sons of Sam Horn." For some reason, it didn't bother anyone before. Anyway, the tradition is to root for Schilling to give up seven runs in the first, be pulled after 2/3 of an inning and then have the team come back and win. All cause he's a Republican. As if he's the only one in the bunch of multi-millionaires that are the Boston Red Sox... Honestly, who cares about something as irrelevant as politics when it comes to baseball?

Anyway, Ortiz broke out of his slump, hitting a homer in the first. Then the Rangers got the run back in the bottom half of the inning and my living room erupted with applause. Every fly ball the Rangers hit you heard a yell "GET OUT!!" It's kind of despicable. I tried to reason with them. Schilling gave up his body for this team in 2004. He could have shut it down and we'd all be moaning about 89 years or whatever now. The general response was "If you think that was actually blood, you're stupid." Whatever. Schilling was strong through seven innings, and Ortiz added another homer, this one a two run blast, to make it 3-1.

Pineiro came out in the eight inning and decided to suck. He got no one out and left the bases loaded before giving way to Javier Lopez. Lopez got the guy he faced to line out to first, but Youkilis dropped the ball. He recovered in time to pick it up and throw to second to record one out. One run scored. Then Tito stopped messing around and brought in Papelbon. Jonathan was dominant. He blew Michael Young away and got Teixeira to pop out to Lowell. Then in the ninth he got Sammy to pop out before blowing away both Blalock and Wilkerson.

Another plot is developing quickly in Boston. The Sox have no one to bridge the gap between the starter and Papelbon. When Lestor comes back to the rotation will Tavarez be that guy? Probably not. Maybe Manny DelCarmen and/or Craig Hanson will come up from AAA Pawtucket and provide the Fenway Faithful with the setup man the team need. Maybe. Right now, the best bet is Mike Timlin when he comes off the 15 day DL. Granted, he's old. Hopefully he has enough gas left in the tank for this year. Otherwise, it'll be a long summer.

Pirates on Easter

Well, the family gathering was fun today. Most of us guys sat around and watched the Pirates/Masters. Only about four of us are actual informed baseball fans, but everyone had some comments to make.

The Pirates salvaged a win out of the series to finish up a 4-2 road trip. I would have been elated with 2-4. Freddy Sanchez returned triumphantly, going 2-4. We had our best possible hitting line up today (although it's a terrible fielding line up). Duffy was out of CF, Nady got moved to CF, and Eldred started in RF. Neither man is fit to be playing those positions. But they both had a couple hits, so what the heck.

Tomorrow is opening day at PNC Park! The Cards looked pretty good today so it should be a tough test. Although the pitching matchup (Looper vs. Snell) favors us, and so will the home crowd. Too bad Albert Pujols doesn't favor us. Neither does The New Guy, who went 0-5 today.

Sammy! Sammy!

John, I don't know how you expected to win that game, going up against the unstoppable force that is SLAMMIN Sammy Sosa. You should have marked up the loss beforehand and not even bothered paying attention.

I used to despise Sammy Sosa, as a Cub, but now he's okay.

--Joe

Once through the rotation...

On this very blog, I said the Red Sox rotation was the big question mark. So far, not that good. Schilling looked like a man who sold his body for a ring. Beckett got a win but struggled big time with control. Diasuke did pretty well. Wakefield pitched a Pedro Martinez-like gem and lost. He was hung out to dry by his offense. And on automatic win day, Tavarez did his best Jon Lestor impersonation. It was looking pretty good, as he got out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam in the second without surrendering a run. In the third, the Rangers again loaded the bases after scoring two runs on a J.D. Drew Error. This time, Texas capitalized on the opportunity, plating two more, making the score 4-2 Texas, and they never looked back. All and all, this scares me.

The other concern I had was the catchers offensive spot. So far, Boston Backstops are 2-18 at the plate. Sucks.

Ortiz is also off to a slow start, and Coco Crisp still sucks and doesn't have an injury excuse anymore. The one good thing is it's early yet. Other good things include Dustin Pedroia and J.D. Drew. Both have been really good at the plate so far.

I'll reevaluate where we are once again next time through the rotation.

Tim Wakefield is a former Pirate...

...and our starter today, Tony Armas, Jr., is the son of a former Red Sox player.

I think attending a really cold baseball game would be fun.

Well, the Pirates are no longer on pace to win 162 games, with their loss to the Reds last night. Maholm wasn't too good. Meanwhile, I'm listening to today's game right now and although we had a good first hitting inning with Duffy leading off with a double and then scoring off The New Guy's double, and then The New Guy eventually reaching home, the reds made it a new game with a quick two-run homer by their second batter.

The Pirate's main problem is leadoff. If Duffy can come through and have a good OBP, we can be okay. Our second biggest problem is DEPTH. We have none. If everyone is healthy, and fresh, here is our lineup:

CF Chris Duffy
SS Jack Wilson
2B Freddy Sanchez
1B The New Guy
LF Jason Bay
C Ronny Paulino
RF Xavier Nady
3B Jose Bautista

You may have never heard of almost anyone on that list, but let me assure you that that's a pretty good lineup, especially in combination with our young but talented pitching staff.

Now, right now Sanchez is hurting. Hopefully he'll be back tomorrow. So for the first four games, underachiever Jose Castillo started in his place, hitting something like 1 for 12 with a couple errors. The Pirates have lost patience with Castillo, who will probably be back with AAA Indy tomorrow. So starting today instead we have Don Kelly, who will be making his second career Major League at-bat.

But of course everybody else has played four straight days, and not everybody plays 140 games a year. So instead of Paulino catching, we have the amazing Humberto Cota. Yes, that means we have DON KELLY HITTING SEVENTH. This is not good. After Nady at #5, we have no realy hope for the last for spots in the lineup (and that's counting on Nady to have a career year). Besides Brad Eldred, who doesn't really play anything in the field (marginal first base skills?) our best backup is Nate McClouth. Yeah. We REALLY need Freddy to come back tomorrow.

Ok, the first inning just ended and we are down 3-2. Armas Jr. allowed four runs and a walk. Blech. Hopefully Armas can give us SOMETHING this year in the five spot.

I'll end this post when Superstar Don Kelly's at-bat is over, leading off the second... Groundout for SuperStar Don Kelly in his second ML at-bat. Hoo boy, it's going to be a long day.

First Post From Boston

So I'm back in Boston right now. It's pretty much the greatest city in history.

Anyway, first, about Diasuke. I saw the top of the first and two Royal batters in the bottom of the first. I was not impressed. He looked extremely shaky. He allowed a lead off base hit and got a fielders choice before really slowing down the pace and taking forever between pitches. He looked a bit out of place. However, after my class I raced back to my room, turned on the TV and it was 2-1 Sox with Diasuke pitching in the 6th. And he was going strong too. He was making Kansas City hitters look foolish. I believe the line was 7 innings, 10 K's, 1 earned run, a win, and the right to have John stop writing Dice-K and start writing Diasuke (which pronounced Dice-K in case you were wondering...). Plus, in the post game show, former two time Red Sox pitcher and current Hall Of Famer Dennis Eckersly was gushing over him. I'm pretty sure the Eck is in love. He went on and on about Diasuke's command, his breaking ball, his setting up the fast ball with the breaking ball, his average fastball looking stupendous as a result of the breaking ball, the seven or so different types pitches he threw during the game, the 15 or so different types of pitches he hasn't thrown yet. So, the fact he impressed the Eck says something.

So anyway, Diasuke passes the first test. I'm still not 100% sold. Let's see him do it against the Yankees before we get carried away.

I didn't catch today's game at all, which again started at 2Pm. This is ridiculous. Friday games should start at 7 PM East Coast Time. However, I hear the Sox blew a pretty good Wakefield outing. Tim, the only person on the current team left from the '95 squad that finished ahead of the Yankees in the regular season, pitched 6 innings, let up 3 hits and only surrendered 1 run, and lost. With a line up that consists of Manny Rameriz, David Ortiz, and J.D. Drew (a combined 2-11 on the day...). Robinson Tejada went seven shut out innings for the Rangers. It's kind of dispicable.

However, there is hope!

JULIAN TAVAREZ STARTS SATURDAY against Kevin Millwood. I'm predicting Tavarez goes six, lets up three runs and gets the victory.

I'm also gonna start referring to days Tavarez starts as "automatic win day." This is probably the most serious line I've ever put in this blog as well as the most serious line I ever plan to put.

Also, I'd like to point out that if the Red Sox continue with the season as they have, they'll win the next two games and take the series. Then if they keep it up, they'll go 104-58. That's 10 games better than I predicted.

life around the left field foul pole...

random quotes heard throughout thursday's 'game' in 40 degree weather, with 40 mph winds, with an incompetent left fielder, a lousy starting pitcher, and an inability to drive in runners in scoring position:

"hey guys!! what time's kickoff?" [get it? cuz it was so cold.]

"yo burrell! leave your wallet in the dugout next time so you can run faster!"

"is jogging the only speed you've got, burrell??"

"learn how to run, you lug!!!!!!!!!" [that was me. to burrell, of course.]

"E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!!!!!!!!" [this is a common practice in philly. when the phillies stink, the eagles fight song can be heard multiple times during a game... like on thursday. and vice versa... when the eagles stink... people cheer for the phillies.]

"GO FLYERS!!!!" [now that's just an insult.]

and of course....

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..." [incredibly common in philly. we boo everyone from each of the opposing players being announced at the start of the game to pitchers throwing to first to ryan howard striking out... again... to santa claus to mike schmidt to donovan mcnabb when he got picked instead of ricky williams. i love this town. :) ]

i will say... i've never been to a baseball game in 40 degree weather with 40 mph winds... and SNOW before. i've never been to the 3rd game of the season before either. it was quite an adventure. the stadium sold out of hot chocolate and gloves. i had on 4 top layers, 2 jackets, and 2 blankets. plus long underwear pants and 2 pairs of socks. and i was STILL cold. we stayed through the entire game, though... hoping that maybe the phils could pull off the win... but hoping even more that the game wouldn't go into extra innings. [one game we went to had 16 innings and lasted until 1:30 am... and then concluded with fireworks!!!]

as for the game itself...

the phillies blew it. first of all... the braves had 8 runs on 9 hits. the phils had 4 runs on 12 hits... and two of those runs came in because the atlanta pitchers loaded the bases on walks and walked two players in. there's a disconnect. howard's having a TERRIBLE spring. he went 0/4... with runners on base every time he was up... i think. utley had a great game... with 3 hits including a double. burrell even hit a few.

okay... but about burrell. the man can't run to save his life. first inning... howard overthrew a ball to utley in the 2nd, allowing 2 men to stay on base. next batter hit what should have been a pop up to left field [whether or not it would have been a sac is debatable]... which burrell couldn't get to... allowing those 2 guys to score. 2-0 braves. oh man... did we let burrell have it. in my aunt's words, "he's a liability." i have no idea what on earth he's doing in the starting line up. you can't trust him in the outfield... and he can't run the bases very well. TWO TIMES he was on 2nd and should have been able to get home when someone behind him had a hit... and both times he had to stop at 3rd. it's absolutely abhorrent. he gets some good hits sometimes... but the only hits that are really safe for him are homers cuz he only has to jog around the bases. the management should at the very least have stuck a pinch runner in for him. it's just terrible. the phils have been trying to get rid of him... but no one'll take him b/c he gets paid too much and isn't worth the cost. so we're stuck with him. maybe the management thinks that they'd be wasting money if he sat on the bench. personally, i think they're wasting more money by having him play when other people can run faster and read the ball more accurately in the field. my aunt thinks that he and manuel have something going.

speaking of ole' charlie... it's time for charlie to go. larry bowa was too much of a hot-head... but manuel is too much of the opposite extreme. they need a solid coach who'll tear into them when they need it... but not throw temper tantrums... and not coddle them or treat them like little leaguers. they're pros... and they should be playing like it.

ps... the relief pitchers weren't the ones who blew the game this time. that was nice.

those boys've gotta pull it together.

OH! and get this... they picked up a relief pitcher for cash from toronto. apparently he doesn't have a great track record... but throws between 94-97 mph. charlie's hoping that if he can be consistent, that he could be a powerful force. um... hey charlie? usually not having a good track record means not very consistent.

God help us in philadelphia.

Red Sox Pregame Report

So today, Dice-K pitches. And yes, I type out Dice-K cause I can never remember how to actually spell his name. I'll wait till he wins a game before I bother with that.

Anyway, the game starts at 2:10 local time. I have class from 2:30-3:45, meaning I'll miss a good chunk of the game. I plan on watching the first ten minutes or so, which will probably be the Red Sox hitting, miss Dice-K's first few innings, then hopefully catch the last 4 or 5 innings.

Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until next time around the rotation to get an indepth scouting report about him. I'll give you what I see, provided I see something. I'm hoping for at least an inning or two.

I hate how Baseball always does this in April. They have early afternoon start times for games on week days. They do it in the Divisional Round of the playoff too. It drove me nuts when I was in grammar school and high school, and now it's driving me nuts in college. How are you gonna make a good deal of the population miss Dice-K's first start? Games should start at 7:00 PM on the East Coast on all week days. Unless it's Patriots Day. Then the Red Sox should play the traditional 11:15 AM game. That way, when the game gets out you get stuck in the Boston Marathon traffic and it takes an hour or two to walk three blocks to Kenmore Station. Good times.

Since 2004

I'm sure everyone wants to caution Pirates fans not to get too excited. Fair enough, but pay attention:

This is the first time the Pirates have been three games over .500 at any point in a season since early 2004.

TWO THOUSAND FOUR.

So just let us rant and enjoy our good opening series and just smile and nod when we talk about hope.

Duke, Snell, Gorzalanny and Maholm are all 25 or younger. They're bound to have plenty of rough starts this season. But oh man, do they have some exciting talent.

Now if only The New Guy could help us out.

(I think I will refer to LaRoche as The New Guy until he hits a really important home run.)

The Pirates are off Thursday after a hard-fought sweep. I'll post again Friday night.

State of the Nation

I'd go with the red howard shirt.

The Red Sox got their first win of the season today against the lowely Kansas City Royals, 7-1. It wasn't all positive. Beckett struggled with control, walking 4 in five innings. He also twice fell behind Royals hitters 3-0 in the count and then both swung at the 3-0 pitch and popped out. It wasn't pretty, but it doesn't have to be.

Tomorrow Dice-K pitches. After tomorrow, I'll know exactly where the Red Sox stand, just based on him. Expect a full update tomorrow.

i can't stand it.

2 games. 2 overtime losses. 2 great starting pitchers. 2 nights of inadequate relief pitching and an inability to score runners on base.

i can't stand it.

if this is what the entire season is gonna be like... well... i guess it won't be too unfamiliar. but still... frustrating and heartbreaking all the same.

"Hope springs eternal, unless you're a Phillies fan. Then it lasts for about three hours." ~ Martin Frank, The Wilmington News Journal.

seriously.

i know they looked for some relief pitchers during the offseason and were willing to pay a decent bit of cash to get some quality arms. that hope faded away though... and we're stuck with suckers who don't seem to be able to realize that their starting pitchers just threw close to perfect innings. relief pitchers are supposed to maintain the opponent's current score... not add to it. but alas... in philadelphia... it just doesn't happen that way.

let's review:

"But nobody will know how much it hurts until the end of the season. The Phillies, of course, shrugged this off as just one game out of 162, and nobody ever won a pennant on April 2. At the same time, they missed the playoffs last year by just three games and the year before by just one game. Do the math and they're played 324 games over the last two seasons. Just four of them were enough to keep them out of the postseason." ~ Kevin Noonan, The Wilmington News Journal.

and again... from martin frank...

"Manager Charlie Manuel spent much of spring training preaching about the importance of a good start this season, especially after the last two seasons, when they went 10-14 in each of the past two Aprils and missed a playoff spot by a combined four games."

oh well, right? get up tomorrow and win.

especially since i'll be at the game!!!! yup... that's right. my first phillies game of the season. we'll be out by the left foul pole... and it's supposed to be pretty cold outside... but... it's a baseball game!! besides... most seats are good seats for the most part in the new stadium. it's not like the vet... where the outfield was really out there. miles away it seemed. i miss the vet. ahhh... childhood memories. ps... i watched a bit of baseball on tv today and it warmed my soul. especially when i heard harry kalas' voice [phils' announcer for the past 30-some years].

so anyway... the game tomorrow. i just can't decide... should i wear my pink chase utley shirt? or my red ryan howard shirt??!?!

What happens when you leave early

It was an interesting opening day.

First, my condolences to my fellow bloggers. Rough starts for your teams.

Second, MLB.TV sucks hardcore. Apparently, New Concord, Ohio is in the Pittsburgh market and I cannot watch Pirates games on MLB.TV from here because of local black outs. Now, don't miss this: The Pirates game was not in any way available to me on TV. Whether there's some secret TV package I can obtain to watch it I do not know. But all I have is college cable. We get Indians and Reds and Cubs games. So MLB just hates me I guess. That's okay, because they won't be getting my money any more.

Oh well. I listened to the game on MLB Audio. At the middle of the eighth, I had to leave to pick up a friend who was stranded at Olive Garden. Zach Duke had given up 2 runs in 7 innings to the improved Astros. Very impressive, Zach!!!

Anyhow, I had resigned to the loss. This is fine. The Pirates do not have the offensive talent to put up runs against aces like Roy Oswalt (especially with Sanchez on the DL). I thought they played well.

So then, I get back and find out that with 2 outs in the 9th, Xavier Nady, who missed much of Spring Training with a stomach problem, hit a tying home run! Then, in the tenth, Bay hits the go-ahead home run and Torres earns his first save with a perfect half inning! Hooray! What a great start!

The only thing that concerns me is that we hit 3 home runs and got a total of 4 runs. This is the typical Pirates way, although hopefully when Freddy is back next week, we can end that kind of nonsense.

Phillies Prediction

I realized I forgot my Phillies prediction. They're currently tied 3-3 in the ninth with the Braves, whom I also can't stand. Any team that thinks they're too good for Boston is by definition evil.

Anyway, I'm predicting the Phillies finish in 2nd place in the NL East. I'm not sure about the win total. Keep in mind, for my previous predictions to be right, the Mets, Padres and Dodgers all have to have better records than the Phillies. Hmm. I'm going with the Mets winning 95ish. I guess I'm going with Dodgers and Padres tying with somewhere between 88-90 wins and the Dodgers having the tie breaker of head to head record. I'll say Phillies win 85 games and barely miss the playoffs again.

When Jon Scholl joins, I'll give you my Reds prediction. And then when Andy joins, you'll get the Tigers prediction.

Rumor has it...

...Jon Scholl may have given in to joining this blog.

"i think barry bonds should retire. like i wrote on my other blog this afternoon... 'don't steal what you can't earn honestly.'" - Laura

I'll explain my ideas fully on here some day, but for now I'll say I don't care about steroids anymore. I blame MLB more than the players. Let McGwire in the hall of fame. Be happy that we get to see Bonds break the record. Do you really think Barry Bonds is never going to get into the hall of fame? That's laughable. If he doesn't someone will have to start a new committee because the old one has gone whack-o. Yet I bet Bud Selig will be in there. Who's more to blame? When I was eight years old, I knew players were on steroids, but Bud Selig was oblivious or helpless? Please. There have been hundreds of pro basebal players on steroids, but only one saved baseball and only one has over 700 home runs. Those players are McGwire and Bonds.

Happy opening day everyone. I'm gonna buy a month's worth of MLB.TV to watch the first month of the season here on my iBook.

no love for the phils from either of you. i think they'll surprise you!!!! and i think they'll end up winning the nl east this year.

tonight's game was difficult... as i loathe both mets and cards. but tomorrow... glorious of all glorious days... the braves come into town to play the phillies. ps... i loathe the braves even more.

i made two trades in my fantasy league, btw. i got rid of sexson and picked up adrian gonzalez... and dropped jose valverde and replaced him with hector carrasco. we'll see how that goes.

as for predictions...

al east: red sox
al central: TIGERS
al west: angels
al wild card: indians [it's a stretch... but they seem to have pulled together a decent team]
nl east: PHILLIES
nl central: cubs
nl west: padres
nl wild card: mets

as for who'll win what... i have no idea. although... the al seems to have mastered the nl... [in both baseball and football... which is unfortunate]... so my bet is that they win both the all-star game... again... and the world series.

but who knows. we might be in for an interesting year!

i think barry bonds should retire. like i wrote on my other blog this afternoon... "don't steal what you can't earn honestly."

How 'bout them Mets?

The 2007 Season is shaping out exactly as I expected. The Mets are in first in the NL East and the NL Central has yet to win a game.

Bucco Stats this year

Yesterday or so I predicted the Pirates will go 77-85. Here's why:

(These first eight players are the expected regular starters in projected batting order.)

CF Chris Duffy: Duffy is a good center fielder but I don't think he will be a consistent leadoff hitter in the near future. This is our biggest weakness as a hitting club. Eventually, we'll try someone else at the leadoff spot, without much success. 7 HR, .260 average. His speed is all that allows him to get even that high an average.

SS Jack Wilson: Jack will rebound defensively to deserve the Gold Glove (of course he won't actually get it). He will surprise some with his relative competance at the plate. 8 HR, .280.

2B Freddy Sanchez: Sanchez will start slow coming back from the DL, but will pick it up and will do OK, although of course he won't get near that .344 he got last season. He will be a great 2nd basemen (he's moving over from third because Jose Castillo is lazy). 12 HR, .310.

1B Adam LaRoche: Alright, this is the tricky one. The new guy will continue to improve on his numbers as he has every year. The ballpark is on his side. .290, 40 HR.

LF Jason Bay: Steady, dependable. .280, 38 HR.

C Ronny Paulino: I really like this young catcher. I don't know if he's any good, but I like the guy. .295, 13 HR.

RF Xavier Nady: This guy improved when he came to Pittsburgh last year. (How often does THAT happen?) We actually got the much better end of this deal when we gave the Mets Oliver Perez. .290, 16 HR.

3B Jose Bautista: Earned his job in Spring Training. He'll split a lot of time with Castillo. 15 HR, .240.

Starting pitchers (I will not predict wins, as it is pretty much all luck for a Pirates player to get a win, considering our bad run scoring):

Zach Duke: Will be solid and steady. 3.25 ERA.
Ian Snell: Breakout star. 2.75 ERA.
Paul Maholm: Will hit some rough spots. 4.75 ERA.
Tom Gorzelanny: Eeeeh. Will have some good starts, but will not be a competant major league starter. He'll be replaced at some point. 6.00 ERA.
Tony Armas: Whatever. 4.75 ERA.

Bullpen will be fine. Torres will be a good closer. I like Torres.

McCutchen will be in the Major League by the end of the year.

Once again, 77-85 is the prediction. Although I'd love to see us do better. Really, with these stats, and decent help off the bench, we could reach 81 wins for the first time since 1992. But that would mean that everyone outside of Chris Duffy and a couple pitchers would have to have at least a good season, and LaRoche would need a career season (although I'm fully expecting this anyway).

All the pitchers are gonna get roughed up once and a while. They are very young.

But we'll still finish ahead of the Cubs.