The WHYGAVS 2006 Review: July-September

July
The full report on Van Slyke, Leyland, and co. and their return to Pittsburgh.

I made my first foray into podcasting by making a guest appearance on Red Hot Mama's show.

Nothing special about this recap, but the first sentence there is just more evidence you shouldn't ever listen to me.

I also finally finished Clemente.

Kip Wells and the Mets combine for a rather bizarre game.

I went to the All-Star FanFest and wasn't terribly impressed.

I tried to crash the Home Run Derby party with a YWML sign, but failed and went to the bar instead.

There was this game in Pittsburgh where all of the stars got together and played. The ovation for Freddy Sanchez gave me goosebumps.

July brought a painful anniversary.

In one of my personal favorite posts of the year, I compared Craig Wilson to a paperclip. I would rather have a paperclip than Chacon.

Ryan Shealy rumors started taking off. Ryan Shealy was Adam LaRoche before being Adam LaRoche was cool.

Watching Dave Littlefield perform at the deadline apparently made me think more about prision than anything.

Tom Gorzellany started to impress.

The trade deadline came and I sat in front of ESPN all day to see Sean Casey, Oliver Perez, Kip Wells, and Craig Wilson traded for Shawn Chacon, Xavier Nady, and some relievers. I wasn't too impressed that night and I'm still not.

August
Still talking about the deadline...

Snell doesn't do that debuts.

The Pirates lost a game by doing something impressively bad.

I went on vacation for a week and the inmates took over the asylum; Gavin, Rory, Steve, apk, Mark, and Jeremy more than ably took over most the recapping duties for the week. The Pirates did very little winning, but I don't blame you guys.

The Pirates pulled off a very rare feat at PNC Park against the future world champs.

Still talking about the deadline.

I did my best to defend Jason Bay against the charge of "not being clutch."

Young pitcher, stiff elbow. Shocking.

Gavin reported on Andrew McCutchen and co. at Altoona.

JR House resurfaced in the Major Leagues.

I decided that signing a Korean slugger would be a way for DL to impress me. Still waiting.

Ding dong, Jose K got traded!

Mike Gonzalez got kind of dominant for a while. Wonder why people are so interested in him.

In the most decisive move in years, the Pirates fired Me First and the Gimme Gimmes after one much maligned Skyblast performance.

Oliver Perez resurfaced in New York. Little did we know he'd be starting Game 7 of the NLCS in like a month and a half.

Shortly after his dominance, Gonzo went on the DL.

Dog night at PNC prompts some scoreboard shenanigans. And not the fun and cheeky kind.

People (meaning me) started to notice how well the Pirates were playing since the break.

September
I missed the recaps back in August, but man, remember that bizarro Pirates/Cubs series?

Albert Pujols owned Ian Snell for an afternoon.

The 2006 Pittsburgh Pirates pulled out of last place for the first time all season.

Sadly, September call-ups are something you look forward too when you root for a team like the Pirates.

Jeff Manto, raving lunatic.

Ahh, Deadspin Pittsburgh Night.

We swept the Mets? Shortly after this the talk about the Bucs' great second half started to get out of control.

Some other Pirates writers and I tried to find perspective on that hot second half.

The only good Pirate GM of my lifetime died. Yeah, I'm that young. But the again, damn.

Joe Randa ruined a no-hitter by a former Pirate prospect. Pirate fans were pissed.

Trevor Hoffman broke a record against us and I didn't even mention it. Always vigilant.

A long discussion about the ownership. Except that it can't really be a discussion since I was the only person talking.

I went to a very long baseball game, watched Aubrey Huff get heckled, made friends with Astros fans, lost my voice, and of course, watched the Pirates lose.