Pirates 3 Cubs 2

Oh, mother of all unexpected victories! Rich Hill has been dominant this year. When the Cubs gave him a 2-0 lead in the second inning, I assumed this one was over. I shut the radio off and got out the old History of Science reader and tried to do some studying with the gamecast open on my computer. In a bizarre twist of things, the Pirates actually had other plans.

Ryan Doumit, the current Baseball HayZeus of Pittsburgh, got things rolling in the fourth with a ground rule double, then was singled in by the current Baseball Goat of Pittsburgh, Adam LaRoche. He's got his average solidly over .100 right now, which sounds like a joke but really isn't because he was hitting .098 just a week ago. Anyways, that cut the lead in half. The rest of the job was done by a Ronnie Paulino double with Jose Bautista on first. Two runs off of Rich Hill? That's like 100 on a mortal pitcher!

That set the stage for Jason Bay to come through with some late inning heroics for the second time this year. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Bay launched Michael Wuertz's pitch just over the corner of the Clemente fence in right center for his 100th career homer and his fourth of the year. We took a ride on the Salomon Torres experience in the ninth and with Derrick Lee at the plate as the go-ahead run I flashed back to Jose Mesa in 2005 giving up a bomb to Lee in the ninth at PNC. Sully managed to avoid that by getting Lee to fly out to Chris Duffy in center on a play that gave Greg Brown an aneurysm and had me thinking it was the sweetest catch ever, but really was just a routine running catch. The Bucs are 12-12.

Here come the Cubs

The Cubs roll into town to close out this nine game homestand tonight. We're 4-2 on it so far, but if we lose this series and finish it up at 5-4 it's still going to feel like a disappointing homestand. If we get swept, well, that would suck. The Cubs are 10-13 but have played much better than their record indicates. We're 11-12 but haven't played as well as that subpar record indicates. I've got a bad feeling about this series.

Tonight Rich Hill and Zach Duke face off. Rich Hill has been practically unhittable thus far this year. Given how bad our offense is, Lou Piniella should be disappointed if Hill doesn't throw a no-no tonight. Duke was pretty good in his last start, but he's still got to concentrate on keeping the hits to a minimum. I know that sounds like common sense, but mostly what I'm saying is that I'd really like it if Zach struck some dudes out. Jim Tracy is keeping Ryan Doumit in the lineup tonight and putting him in right field, even with the lefty Hill on the mound.

This one's not on TV as far as I know, but I'll be around in the comments as long as it stays interesting.

My head just exploded

From Dejan's chat at the PG site today:

STricky_Kidean: Why is Don Kelly still on this team?

Dejan Kovacevic: I get the idea that the Pirates would like to groom a utilityman from within, and they feel that Kelly could be that guy for a long time. What might be the better question is why he is taking so many significant at-bats. You look at his ABs and place them against, Nate McLouth's, and they seem a little too close for comfort.

Holy freaking crap, this is insane. Why the hell are the Pirates worried about grooming a utilityman from within? Because of the severe Jose K blogger fallout last year? Utilityman is the one position that it's probably best to grab some old guy for $800K in March and toss at-bats too. We're grooming utilitymen now? I don't know what to say.

And so the question is why he was in Lynchburg at all

Steven Pearce promoted to Altoona after hitting 11 homers in 13 games with A+ Lynchburg. As Dejan asks in the Q&A today, why would Pearce even start in Lynchburgh this year? He fared pretty well there at the end of last year. Better late than never, I suppose.

Game 23: Reds 9 Pirates 5

Here's what I took out of today's game: Paul Maholm may be able to lose a three run lead faster than any person in history.

I turned the game on in time to see Doumit's RBI double to make it 4-1 and thought, "Awesome, we're getting to Harang and Maholm must still be cruising like he was last start." Then he gave up a single and Doumit allowed a passed ball that should've become a caught stealing when Freddy couldn't hold on to his throw. That quickly became irrelevant when Maholm walked the next two batters.

"This is bad," I thought to myself.

"You ain't seen nothin'," Paul Maholm responded to me in thought-speak. And by that I mean he gave up a triple into the notch, an RBI single by Aaron Harang, and an RBI double to Brandon Phillips. Total time elapsed from when I turned the TV on: approximately 22 seconds.

Other than that, I suppose all I can say is that Dave Littlefield is a freaking genius for sending Ryan Doumit to AAA to rediscover his swing. Because we definitely couldn't have used a left-handed power bat to this point in the season at all or anything.

Bounceback Day

Paul Maholm will try to make up for ugliness of last night against Reds ace Aaron Harang today at 1:35. I will try to study for finals while this is on so that I can graduate college (aka sorry for the lack of posting recently).

Game 22: Reds 8 Pirates 1

Talk about a nightmare inning. In the fifth inning last night, Ronny Paulino elected to throw a sacrifice bunt attempt to second to allow a run to score, then Freddy Sanchez threw a ground ball to second to third base to try and get the lead runner, leaving everyone safe (or at least that's what it sounded like on the radio). The lack of fundamentals resulted in four Reds' runs and ended the game for all intents and purposes. That and the dominant performance of Matt Belisle (don't get excited, Matt, it was our offense, not you, trust me) ended the losing streak at five. Ugh, I'm glad that one wasn't on TV.

Can they keep it up?

Guess who's got the longest winning streak in the NL at the moment. Yep, you're right, it's the Pittsburgh Pirates. They take that five game winning streak to PNC Park tonight against the Reds for the second of the three game series. The pitching match-up tonight is certainly favorable. We send out Tom Gorzelanny to face off with Matt Belisle. Gorzo's been almost as lights out as Snell to this point in the year and he's been luckier, getting three wins in his four starts. Belisle's been pretty good to this point, but he's still a converted converted reliever with middling stuff. Of course, that doesn't mean anything against the Pirates offense. Can Gorzo hold the Reds to the required two runs or less? I guess we'll find out tonight.

Game 21: Pirates 3 Reds 1

Sooooo... this Ian Snell guy. Not too bad, eh? He made it five straight starts without giving up more than a run by tossing seven shutout innings last night while scattering six hits. The pen actually managed to hold the lead he left with, giving him his second win of the year.

Snell was, once again, pretty much the only high point of the night. The offense started by knocking Eric Milton around for three runs in the first inning, then not scoring again the rest of the night. The positives? A hit for LaRoche and two hits for Eldred. They're now hitting .300 combined. Bay continued his hot hitting of late with a two-run double in the first. Marte pitched a scoreless 8th and Torres pitched a roller coaster ninth, but to his credit he actually did manage to hold down the lead and only give up one run.

Somehow the Pirates are 11-10.

Snell and Milton

The Pirates come in on a four game winning streak and you've gotta like their chances in this one tonight. They'll play the Reds, who are starting Eric Milton, a guy that the Pirates have owned as much as anyone the past couple years. The Pirates are starting Ian Snell, who's been dominant to this point of 2007. Today's insult of Ian, from my own personal experience:

Hey, Ian. Delaware is NOT my favorite state!

Big Country?

There's something that's been bothering me for a while. I let it slide and kind of forgot about it until I read a similar remark in the comments yesterday. The problem is this: Brad Eldred's nickname, "Big Country," is probably the stupidest and most unimaginative nickname I've ever heard. I mean yeah, the dude is big and yeah, the dude is from the south, but come on. He's like 6'5" 275 pounds. We can do better. Suggestions?

Pirates 5 Astros 3

Seriously, can nothing be easy for the Pittsburgh Pirates? We're 10-10 after 20 games and, hey, I'm a Pirate fan and I'll take that. But it just as easily feels like we could be 5-15 or 15-5. Closer to 5-15, honestly, but with the complete lack of offense who knows what to make of these guys?

Anyways, let's start at the top. Anytime you can win when Tony Armas Jr. starts, I think that's a sign that it's a good day, no matter how terrifying the win turns out to be. I want to say Armas wasn't bad today, but we all know that the truth is that the Astros offense sucks. Still, he did get us five innings in which our depleted bullpen didn't have to pitch and we were still in the game when he left. Most teams don't ask for more of their fifth starters, so I suppose we shouldn't either.

Unfortunately, it took our "offense" more than five innings to break through against freaking Wandy Rodriguez. That shouldn't happen. Bay singled in two runs in the sixth to give the Pirates a lead they wouldn't relinquish, no matter how hard they tried. We piled on a couple more in the eighth with Xavier Nady's bruised hamstring taking a pitch for the team with the bases loaded, then Ryan Doumit picking up his second hit of the game and first two RBIs with the big club this year by singling two more runs in. Since I refuse to bury LaRoche yet, I won't say, "Why the hell was this guy in AAA" after one game, but why the hell was this guy in AAA?

Anyways, I thought Tracy made the right move bringing Torres out for the ninth with a 5-1 lead. It's not a save situation and the Astros offense has been pretty awful, so it's a good chance for Sully to rebuild some confidence, right? Wrong. After getting Jason Lane to ground out, Torres gave up two walks, a single, and a sac fly to pull the Astros to within 3 runs. For the second night in a row, Jim Tracy went straight to John Grabow, who promptly served up an RBI single and caused most Pirate fans paying attention to this one to soil themselves. THEN he walked Morgan Ensberg and I think I could heard the discontent at the stadium out my window. Finally, he got Adam Everett to bounce into a force play and end this one. I'm all about letting players hit their strides and ignoring the small sample size of April, but I do know this: a team that is having as much trouble scoring as the Pirates cannot afford a pitcher that is pitching like Salomon Torres is in the closer role. It's just not a viable way to win games.

Matt Capps for closer.

Playing again already?

Tony Armas Jr. and Wandy Rodriguez take the mound at 12:35 today and their goal is probably to go six innings no matter how many runs they give up after last night's marathon game. Given that it's Armas and Wandy, that seems unlikely. Then again, given that it's the Pirates and Astros offense, nothing seems impossible. This one's not on TV (I'm sure of it this time), so fire up your radios and feel free to use the thread here to discuss. I'm not looking for 120+ comments again, but who knows. These two teams seem to have an affinity for playing extra long baseball games.

UPDATE: For those curious, Cota's been placed on the DL and Doumit's up to replace him. I can't find that news anywhere other than in the PG's live game blog. Armas has only given up one run so far through four. I consider that a minor victory.

Maybe he's got more value than everyone thought

The answer to the question you all had in your head around the 15th inning last night is Adam LaRoche. No, not the answer to "Who's going to get the game winning hit?" but rather the answer to "Who the hell is going to pitch if somehow this is still a tie game when Wayback runs out of gas?" And so, it will probably be LaRoche who will relieve Tony Armas in the second inning later today.

Pirates 4 Astros 3 in 16

Tell me if you ever thought a Pirate win would result on a night when all of the following things happened in one game:

• BP Chacon and Wayback Wasdin pitched six innings out of the bullpen
• Pirates get outhit 16-10
• Zach Duke records one strikeout in seven innings of work
• Sully blows another save
• The three through six hitters go 3-for-24
• Come on, four runs in sixteen innings?

Still, they found a way to pull it out. Chacon got into his share of jams over the four innings of work (two hits and three walks) but worked his way out of them. Wasdin was actually quite effective in his one. Of course they only had to take the field because Torres blew his third save of the season. I know the last two technically haven't been his fault, but he certainly hasn't been helping things out either. Sure there was an error, but someone is letting the other guys on base. Grabow did a nice job getting out of Sully's jam in the ninth. Throw in Duke's seven innings of smoke and mirrors and I'll be honest, I have no real idea how the Astros only scored three runs in this one tonight.

Of course the thing everyone will be talking about from this one is Adam LaRoche. He was off to his usual bad start, 0-for-4 with a sac fly, but managed to single in the winning run in the sixteenth. I saw his post game interview, I think the best word to describe it is "relieved." Maybe he'll stop pressing so much. At least I hope he will.

What else? Somewhere in there Brad Eldred mashed a homer, Chris Duffy had three hits and almost made up the winning run on his own in the sixteenth except for the maddening choice to have him run on contact with one out, and... I dunno. Things run together after sixteen innings. But the Bucs are 9-10 now, and I like that.

Zach Duke has gotta step it up

A year ago it would've been unfathomable to think that Zach Duke would be trailing behind Ian Snell, Paul Maholm, and Tom Gorzelanny in anything. Right now, he's really gotta get his act together and start to be the pitcher we all think he can, or people are going to stop thinking that.

He faces off against Matt Albers and an Astros' team that probably isn't too happy after being reamed out by their manager after being shut-out by Paul Maholm last night. Duke has better stuff than Maholm, so one would think he could give the Astros similar fits. Let's hope so.

I have been waiting for this for a long time

Holy crap, the Dejan clutch article made Fire Joe Morgan (and thanks to everyone that pointed it out in the comments)! I had actually considered sending to them myself but never got around to it today. Again, I'm not linking to it to incite some kind of flame war about clutch-ness in the comments, I'm doing it because #1- FJM is one of my favorite baseball sites, and #2- they rip Jim Tracy, Jack Wilson, and Ronny Paulino new assholes for being idiots. Based on their comments in the article, we can all agree upon.

Game 18: Pirates 3 Astros 0

Now that was pleasant. Paul Maholm dominated the Astros tonight, throwing a complete game shutout on only 99 pitches. He allowed only four baserunners all night (three hits and a walk) and one was eliminated by a double play while one was eliminated on a caught stealing. Jack Wilson doubled twice, Jason Bay knocked him in twice, and Ronny Paulino homered to round things out.

There's really not much to say about this one besides to talk about Maholm. He struggled a bit with the strike zone in his first two starts and got hit pretty hard in all three. That wasn't much of a problem tonight. He struck out four guys and only walked one and got 64 of 99 pitches across the plate. He got 14 groundballs and 8 flyballs, which is a good ratio, but not particularly better than his last two starts. All in all, the numbers look about the same as his last two starts except that the Astros simply didn't hit off of him tonight. Whether he was unlucky in his first three starts or lucky tonight, I guess we'll have to wait and see. Still, gotta enjoy a pitching performance like this while we can because whatever the reason, it happened and it certainly was a gem.

Let the homestand begin

This big nine-gamer against Central foes kicks off at 7:05 tonight with Paul Maholm and Woody Williams. The weather today bears no resemblance to the weather last time the Bucs were in PNC, in fact, I think that 67 and sunny is just about as good as baseball weather gets.

We roughed up Williams pretty good last time we saw him and besides the fact that we're the Pirates, I don't see any reason why that shouldn't continue, meaning that I don't think Woody's got much left in the tank. Paul Maholm has been roughed up pretty good in each of his three starts, I'd love to see him get out there and throw six or seven innings without too much trouble tonight, but then again I'd love that from every starter every night. The Astros team that's coming into town has been pretty hot since dropping five of their first six to us and the Cardinals; they're now up to 9-9 and right in the thick of things in the NL Central. Of course everyone is currently right in the thick of things in the NL Central because it's only April 24th.

Dejan on the "C" word

Yep, the "C" word. Clutch. Dejan's got a long article in the PG today on clutch. I've talked about clutch and it's existence and stuff at length before, so you can search the archives if you really want that because I don't feel like going into it today. Charlie has also done a great post about the article which I think you should read. There's one part that he talks about in his post that I especially want to emphasize here. It's mostly reiteration at this point, but bear with me. From Dejan's article:

When his team wins, Jim Tracy invariably points to "big" hits that were delivered. When the team loses, he points to the lack of same. Even after the Pirates were blanked on three measly hits in their home opener April 9, Tracy lamented, "We had chances."

Tracy's view is reflected in how he forms his lineup, bucking the modern thinking that the highest on-base percentage players should be stacked at the top. Instead, he favors the more traditional approach of getting the runner on, moving him along and getting a "big" hit.

"Isn't that what makes teams good?" Tracy said when asked about his value of clutch. "It's what separates you from the pack, your ability to take the big at-bat. You don't expect somebody to hit 1.000 with runners in scoring position, but you have to get your share of hits in those situations. Look at the upper echelon of clubs, and that's what you look for. And if we can get to that point, we've got a chance to become a pretty decent team."

Ugh. Let's go back to the home opener. We had six base runners total and three hits in the game. Four of the runners reached second base and not one of them made it to third or scored. Despite that, in Tracy's mind we "had our chances." The Cardinals, who scored three runs, had eight hits and ten base runners. The problem in the game wasn't our lack of big hit, it was our lack of hitting, period.

Look at the first sentence in the last paragraph, "Isn't [clutch hitting] what makes teams good?" NO! IT'S NOT! My god, that comment is almost as bad as Dusty Baker's infamous "On-base percentage is great if you can score runs and do something with that on-base percentage. Clogging up the bases isn't that great to me," quote. What makes teams good is their ability to get people on base and to hit the ball enough to score them. You can do that by batting .100 points higher as a team with runners in scoring position, or you could just put a lot more people on base and get more hits. Let's play a fun game. Here's one set of numbers:

.321/.401, .322/.400, .327/.397

And here's a second:

.360/.472, .322/.425, .337/.431

What are they? The Pirates team OBP/SLG from 2004-2006 compared with the World Series champs from the same era (Red Sox, White Sox, and Cardinals, in order). Ten points of OPS or 25 points of SLG may not seem huge, but it is over 6,000 plate appearances. But yeah, clutch hitting. That's the difference.

Stats Geek: The next nine are huge

Did you forget? It's Tuesday in baseball season which means that it must be Stat Geek day! His column today touches a bit on what I tried to say yesterday, that at 7-10 things can still go either way for these Buccos. His point is that this nine game homestand is going to be ginormous for the Pirates and I think he's right. I especially like this line:

The team doesn't need miracles, just a return to competence.

Of course he's referring to some of the ugly lines (Paulino, LaRoche, Duke, Maholm, Armas) from the first seventeen games, though the cynic in me would say we're battling against fourteen years of incompetence.

Grabow's back!

I didn't think this would ever happen, but John Grabow is back and I am happy to see him back. Juan Perez, who's been sent down to AAA, and Damaso Marte have been incredibly ineffective as LOOGY's to this point in the seasons. In fact, I shudder whenever they come into the game (or, like yesterday, just turn the game off). I would've liked to see John Wasdin sent down to AAA, but Littlefield apparently wanted to keep "someone that could throw longer" on the team. Which explains why he's pitched more than one inning once in six appearances this year. Oh wait, no, it does the opposite of that. Come on, Josh Sharpless!

7-10... so what?

The Pirates are 7-10 after 17 games. That is unequivocally mediocre. It's actually not bad, though it certainly is not good. I can't believe I'm writing this, but there are reasons to believe this team can be better than this. Of course there are also reasons to believe they can be worse. Let's break this down.

Reasons to have hope
Adam LaRoche is hitting .150/.261/.281. It is not possible that he can be this bad all year. If he hits .150/.261/.281 for the full season, I will eat my hat. You can write that down. Here are his April splits from the past three seasons: .200/.294/.453, .206/.324/.365 and .214/.254/.339. Not as bad as this year, but certainly not good. He will get better. Stop asking for Mike Gonzalez back. He's walked six batters and only struck out four in 6 and 1/3 innings.

Jason Bay is hitting .262/.360/.477. That's right on pace with every other April in his career. April is the only month he's got a career OPS under .900. He's going to start hitting like he always does.

Chris Duffy learned him some plate patience. Seriously, watch him at the plate. Maybe this is an April only thing, but he's a different hitter, and I mean that in a good way.

Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny play for us. This is much better than having them play for anyone else.

Reasons to despair
Sometimes I wonder if this team knows as much about baseball as your standard T-ball team. They tend to run the bases like morons, miss cutoff guys, and play awful, awful defense. Not the sign of a great team.

Snell and Gorzelanny can't keep this up... can they?

While LaRoche will certainly get better, this is his worst April by far (to this point). While he may bounce back, he may not bounce back to the level we want to see him at.

Jack Wilson looks decent at the plate, but not great. He actually looked great at the plate last April. He sucked the rest of the year. Since his career OPS is anchored at 75, I'm expecting a dropoff.

We all thought Ronnie Paulino was due for a drop-off. He looks absolutely sick at the plate right now, and he can't catch the ball to boot. Despite that, there's almost no chance Ryan Doumit will get another shot behind the plate. Paulino was actually below average at the plate last year (OPS+ of 94), it seems pretty insane to me to think he's suddenly going to regain his Bradenton form this year.

Zach Duke still appears completely unable to adjust to hitters after they adjust to him.

Jim Tracy has replaced Jose K in his heart with Wayback Wasdin. This is incredibly damaging to the team.

Thoughts?

Game 17: Pirates 7 Dodgers 5

Nothing's easy for this squad, is it? I managed to avoid my own advice and after an afternoon of meandering around Pittsburgh on foot, was back in my apartment by game time. For the second straight night, Chris Duffy got on to lead off the game and managed to scare the bejesus out of every Dodger on the field so that he could kind of just skip around the base paths and score. He went 3-for-5 today and scored three runs. I continued to be impressed with his play.

The rest of this one was like a roller coaster, get a three run lead, blow it, get a four run lead, try as hard as possible to blow it, squeak out a win. BP Chacon was ineffective for the second straight day after I said I would feel comfortable with him in the bullpen. Damaso Marte is so terrifying that I literally walked out of my room and went to Subway when he came into the game because I couldn't physically watch our pen blow another game. Salomon Torres? I don't know if I'll ever trust him in a game ever again after the past two weeks.

Still, I suppose we should talk about positives in this one as well, since we won and all. Tom Gorzelanny is very good. When you think about it, it's practically miraculous that he's 3-0 right now (and would be 4-0 if not for Torres' first meltdown against the Cards) with our offense. Speaking of which, hey, they stepped up today and scored seven runs. Bay doubled in what turned out to be two big runs, LaRoche homered and got his average over .100, and Duffy had a big game, as mentioned. Somehow, we're still 7-10 at this point. I think I'll write more about that tomorrow.

I'm going outside

Tom Gorzelanny and Brett Tomko at 4:40. It's freaking beautiful out in Pittsburgh. Go outside. Don't watch this shit.

Game 16: Dodgers 7 Pirates 3

Actual conversation had during the bottom of the 10th inning last night:

Me: I kinda like Tracy playing five infielders here with the game on the line. This makes a lot of sense.

Friend: Yeah, but there's some big games in the outfield.

BP Chacon throws ball one.

Me: I guess it won't matter when BP walks the winning run in.

Friend: Yeah, or gives up a grand slam.

Russel Martin: Obliterates a grand slam

Me and Friend: Same old Pirates. click.

Seriously, how do you lose a game in which you entered the bottom of the 9th with a 3-2 lead and didn't give up a hit in the bottom of the ninth? Oh yeah, leadoff walk, wild pitch (questionable, more like passed ball), throwing error, passed ball. Guess who's pissed off as hell today? Ian freaking Snell. Snell went seven strong last night and held the Dodgers to two runs, but still is stuck on one win for the season thanks to Ronny Paulino's shenanigans behind the plate. I mean, criminy, the title of the position is CATCHER for crying out loud. He's only got one responsibility, and he's pretty freaking crappy at it.

Also: this just in, the offense sucks. Last night Brad Penny walked four and only struck out three, but we only managed to touch him up for 2 earned runs and an unearned run over six innings. This team is hard to watch.

This is cutting it close

As a blogger, I assume I have two responsibilities. Make crazy statements with no factual basis and insult the hell out of Ian Snell before he pitches every time. I had to run home for my mom's birthday and practically sped back into the city so that I could get this post up before the first pitch. Tonight we're going to Bob Dylan for the insult:

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth,
Blowing down the backroads headin' south.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You're an idiot, Ian.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

Snell and Brad Penny face off tonight. My forecast? About a million strikeouts.

When in doubt, accuse the other guy of lying

That's the Bob Nutting philosophy! For the second straight year, the Forbes valuation of Major League franchises showed a huge profit for the Bucco owners ($25.3 million) and for the second straight year, the Pirates are denying the report.

"The information reported in Forbes is simply inaccurate," principal owner Bob Nutting said yesterday.

Neither Nutting nor CEO Kevin McClatchy has divulged how much profit the team made while spending $43.4 million on player payroll last season -- third lowest in Major League Baseball -- but they have said it was not excessive.

...

The Forbes report, released yesterday, ranked the Pirates' 2006 operating income as MLB's third highest, behind the Florida Marlins' $43.3 million and the Los Angeles Dodgers' $27.5 million.

The Marlins are also denying the report, though Forbes is standing by their numbers, of course.

So who do you believe? The lying liars that run the team, or a report that accumulates its numbers with virtually no access to the Pirates' books? Sadly, I think I would believe a report written under the Easter Bunny's byline before I believe anything that comes from the front office of this team.

Game 15: Dodgers 10 Pirates 2

You may need to be familiar with the geography on Pittsburgh's South Side to understand this, but by the time I left a friend's house on 12th street, walked to 15th street where my ride had parked, drove back to Duquesne, and got into my apartment building, Tony Armas Jr. had turned a 2-1 game into an 8-1 game and I decided I had better things to do than watch the spectacle. Armas got shelled on 100 days rest and let's just say that I'd rather see just about anyone in that five slot right now, BP Chacon included. I don't have much else on that subject.

I hate bitching about strikeouts because it's how stupid teams justify poor treatment of useful players (see: Adam Dunn in Cincy, Craig Wilson in Pittsburgh, etc.). What the Pirates are currently doing is different. No one on this team can draw a walk. On this three game losing streak we've struck out 36 times and walked 7. And this is against Claudio Vargas, Jeff Suppan and a host of Brewer relievers, and Randy Wolf. I think "unacceptable" is probably a good word.

Who plays baseball games this late?

The Pirates and Dodgers kick off at 10:40 tonight. That is ridiculously late for a baseball game. Randy Wolf and Tony Armas get to play vampire on the mound tonight. Armas hasn't made a start since, oh, 1996 I think. Seriously, this layoff would hurt a good pitcher, I kind of shudder to think what Armas is going to look like tonight.

Anyways, Charlie has a suggestion with what to do about the late start (assuming the rain lets this one happen at all): go out, get drunk, and come back, watch the end of the game, and leave funny comments. Sounds like a plan.

What's wrong with Zach Duke?

This seems like a question that we're always asking ourselves, unfortunately. Last year he had a rough first half and the general problem was that he walked too many people. He did get stronger in the second half, however, and ended up with a just about average season (his ERA+ was 100 on the nose, meaning he was actually the definition of average last year) despite giving up more hits than any other pitcher in the league, in part due to the Pirates poor defense and his very high BABIP.

So what's the deal this year? He made two strong starts and immediately followed them up with two very poor starts. The culprit this time around, however, isn't the walks because he's walking less than 2 batters per 9 innings. He's just getting rocked. He's given up 32(!) hits in 19 innings, leading to 19 runs in that span. Again, his BABIP is ridiculous (it's at .358 at the moment) and that's going to have to come down some because when it's that high, not even the defense can be blamed. But part of the problem is also simply the number of balls put in play. While he's only walked four batters in 19 innings, which is good, he's only struck out five over the same span, and that's bad. No one is asking him to strike out 8 guys every 9 innings, but he's going to have to get back at least to the level he was at last year (almost 5 per 9) or above to be an effective pitcher this year.

Can he do it? It should be interesting. Ian Snell has vaulted past him towards the top spot in the pitching staff because he's learned how to adjust and make himself a better pitcher. Duke, for all of his talents, hasn't seemed to do much of that since his awesome end of the 2005 season. He turned 24 yesterday, it's time for him to start growing up as a pitcher as well.

The Orange and Maroon Effect

I got an e-mail from the administration here at Duquesne yesterday as well as an e-mail from my higher-ups at the Fanhouse. Both said the essentially same thing and both explain the look for WHYGAVS today:

Virginia Tech and its alumni have officially proclaimed tomorrow, Friday, April 20 "Orange and Maroon Effect" Day. Everyone is invited to be a part of the Virginia Tech Family and wear orange and maroon to support the families of those who were lost, the community, and the school.

It doesn't matter where you went to school, today we're all Hokies. If you're a Duke or a Panther or Nittany Lion or a Mountaineer, forget that for a day. You're a Hokie today. Put on a maroon cap. Wear an orange tie. Wear maroon boxers with orange stripes. If you can't do anything else, put up a maroon and orange away message. Whether you know someone at Virginia Tech or know someone who knows someone there, take a second out of your day to pray or to reflect or to do whatever seems appropriate to honor those whose lives were terribly affected by this tragedy, because the truth is that a nightmare like this affects everyone on one level or another.

Again, thoughts and prayers go out to the Virginia Tech family.

Bucs and Brewers

Must read Dejan's take on it here if you haven't already. That resonates along with a statement from his Tuesday Q&A:

The sole difference: The investment in the product here in St. Louis came first, and the fans followed.

Nowhere in professional sports has it worked in the reverse.

Amen.

Game 14: Brewers 7 Pirates 5

Umm... what to say about this one? Zach Duke has been extremely hittable in his last two starts, and that's bad. The hitters strike out a shit-ton and that's bad too. Our manager brought up two guys who's averages are barely even .300 combined to pinch hit when they represented the tying run while Brad Eldred was on the bench and that's bad too. Do three bads make a good? No, they make a bad. As in a bad baseball team.

Duke and Soup

Afternoon game today, and no TV on this one either. I have some stuff to get done so the gamethread has to go up pretty early.

After making Claudio Vargas look like Roger Clemens last night, there's a fairly good chance the Pirates will make Jeff Suppan look like a pitcher worth the ridiculous sum of money that the Brewers are paying him, then casual Pirate fans all over will moan about us not signing Suppan in the off-season. Zach Duke will attempt to counter effect and make up for his hideous last start when this one kicks off at 1:05.

Game 13: Brewers 7 Pirates 3

DISCLAIMER: I'm going to treat this like the close game that it was before Wayback Wasdin screwed everything up in the seventh inning. He shouldn't be on the team, but that goes without being said.

Holy crap. I thought the "bases loaded, no out, three straight strikeouts" thing was kind of once in a lifetime. Or at least once in a decade. I was wrong. It's a once a year thing. At least. So yeah, I'm kinda bummed about that. Or something.

As for the rest of the game, I'll admit I was kind of distracted after the whole bases loaded thing. Just hard to watch and feel like a team is going to win a game when they do something like that. Bay finally looks like he might be getting untracked (and about on schedule, he's not an April hitter at all) with three hits tonight including his third homer. Duffy also created a run by singling, moving to second on a bad pickoff throw to first, then scoring from second on a bad pickoff throw to second and a bad throw back in from center. This is why him drawing walks and getting on base is important, but you knew that already.

That was about it for the offense, though. Bay and Duff combined for 5 of the Bucs seven hits. That doesn't lend itself to a ton of runs. Bay and Duffy also combined for some ugly outfield play when Duffy called Bay off, then Bay backed off too late and the ball dropped between them. Lucky for them, Jose Bautista played some Brooks Robinson at third and speared a hot shot down the line and completed the double play to first.

Seriously though, I don't care if a team is 6-6 or 2-10 or 12-0, not scoring with the bases loaded and no outs is ridiculous. And striking out three times... how does that happen (against Claudio Freaking Vargas!) It probably cost us the game tonight, and it's been costing us a while, because this is exactly what the Stats Geek was talking about earlier this week. We just need more hits.

This road trip must suck

This bizarre, meandering trip moves on to Milwaukee for a two days stop. Tonight Paul Maholm and Claudio Vargas will face off. At the moment the Pirates are only a half game behind the Brewers and a full game behind the Reds in the clusterf*ck that is the National League Central. The Pirates are rolling quite the road tour with a 6-2 record on the road thus far in 2007. I'm not sure they won 6 games on the road at all last year. As much as people keep saying "But it's cold for everyone" they do seem to hate cold weather with all six of their losses coming in freezing weather in Cincy and Pittsburgh. I know. Sample size. But Milwaukee has a roof, so we can't use that as an excuse tonight.

The game's at eight but gamethread has to go up early because I have this torturous thing called "History of Science" on Wednesday nights and I won't be back until nine-ish. Last class of the semester though, so I've got that going for me. Which is nice.

The most surprising thing...

So the Pirates are 6-6. They're actually probably like 5-0 in games where the gametime temperature is above, say, 50 degrees (I've done no research on that topic). So yeah, despite all of my bitching and moaning to this point in the year, they've done pretty much all anybody has wanted them to do this year, which is hover around .500 and make things interesting. I am not particularly optimistic about their chances of keeping it up, but that's not what this is about.

So what's been positive to this part of the season? Ian Snell, certainly. I thought he'd be better this year, but he's been lights out to this point in the year. Tom Gorzelanny, too. I was certainly concerned by his rocky spring (maybe not as much as some people, I was more worried about injury than anything), but clearly there was nothing to worry about because he's been almost as good as Snell to this point. But most surprising thus far? Chris Duffy's patience at the plate. In 2005 he drew 7 walks in 136 PAs. In 2006 he drew 19 in 348. This year? He's already walked six times in 53 PAs. I know it's a small sample size, but everything's gotta start somewhere. Now, Duff, about that .239 batting average...

Game 12: Pirates 6 Cardinals 1

Now there was a fun win. If I could write up a recipe for a Pirate win, this would be just about how I want all of them to happen. Get a lead in the first, get a solid start, build on the lead, make some plays in the field, and win. The Bucs actually capitalized on another team's error on the first inning in this one when Preston Wilson let Jack Wilson's single slide under his glove, allowing Chris Duffy to score from first. Wilson later scored on Weapon X's RBI single. There was a bit of a scare in the bottom of the first when Albert Pujols ripped a screaming liner up the middle after Tom Gorzelanny walked So Taguchi, but Jose Castillo made an awesome diving grab of the line drive and doubled a shocked Taguchi off of first base. It was really one of the nicest plays I've seen by a second baseman in a long time.

From there, Jack Wilson and Jason Bay hit back to back one out singles in the top of the third, leading to commenter apk to make possibly the most infamous comment in the history of WHYGAVS:

oh, and if LaRoche hits a HR right now (3d), i'll quit my job.
apk | 04.17.07 - 1:51 pm | #

It couldn't have been thirty seconds later that LaRoche lined a homer right down the right field line to give the Bucs a 5-0 lead. Yes, apk, I do need an intern, but I'm afraid your job with me would probably be like the "Kramerica Industries" episode of Seinfeld. Especially the unpaid part.

Anyways, Gorzelanny took over from there, holding the Cards to four hits over 8 and 1/3 innings, only leaving in the 9th after a So Taguchi double and an Albert Pujols walk started to brew some trouble. Gorzy probably wasn't quite as dominating as the final hit total and run total from today indicate (he actually walked three batters and only struck out two), but he's been very impressive in his three starts, especially given his very rough spring. Matt Capps slammed the door shut after taking over in the ninth with strikeouts of Rolen and Preston Wilson to complete the two game sweep.

This win was a much more encouraging one than last night. They actually hit the ball a bit off of Wainwright, who I think people will start to realize is a better pitcher than Reyes pretty soon here, and I didn't have to hold my breath for two innings while waiting for it.

Afternoon game

Damn, these afternoon games take me off guard, especially when they're on a freaking Tuesday. Gorzo and Adam Wainwright face off in this battle of promising young starters off to good starts this year. If the Pirates win today, Greg Brown will undoubtedly be singing the praises of two early season road sweeps in St. Louis and Houston.

This one's on TV for those lucky enough to not have anything to do this afternoon. If not, toss it on the radio at work or wherever you are and enjoy the gamethread below. And by "enjoy" I mean hope the Pirates don't do anything that will cause you to scream obscenities in your place of work and get you fired. Because it's certainly a possibility.

Moment of silence for VA Tech

I don't know what to say. I don't know if there are any readers out there that go (or went to) Virginia Tech, but thoughts and prayers go out to the Virginia Tech students and family tonight and over the coming days and weeks. What a nightmare.

Game 11: Pirates 3 Cardinals 2

Sweet merciful crap this team makes everything difficult. Reyes had nothing on the ball tonight and we managed to touch him up for three runs in the first inning and then attempt to coast on Snell's arm. How bad has the offense been this year? Greg Brown and John Wehner repeatedly referred to that three run first as a "big inning." We scored three runs. That's not a big inning, especially not when you had bases loaded, one out, and a run in already at one point in the inning. It's a decent inning. It's a could've been better inning. But I digress.

What in the hell has gotten into Ian Snell? He cruised through six and through three starts... I don't even want to say. He's like the only thing we've got going for us this year. I don't want to jinx it. Anyways, he cruised through six, allowing only a hit and two walks, before hitting a huge rough spot in the seventh. I'll be honest, I have no idea how Tracy kept him in the game with bases loaded, one out, and a two run lead, and I don't frankly care that Snell got out of the inning without any of those runs scoring. That was insanely stupid. Still, Snell did get out of it and what the hell, Tracy would've likely used Wayback Wasdin anyways.

Having managed to escape that inning, I hoped the heart attacks were over for the night. WRONG. In the eighth, Tracy decided to play "lefty-lefty matchup" with Jim Edmonds for the second time this year. This time, Tony LaRussa let Edmonds hit against Damaso Marte (remember in the opener LaRussa countered Juan Perez with Preston Wilson, who hit a two run double) and Edmonds singled in a run, making it a one run game and setting the stage for the 9th.

Oh, the 9th. We remember Mike Williams and how unfun he was as closer, right? And we remember Jose Mesa and how well that worked out for everyone, right? I remember, because Salomon Torres is giving me similar cold sweats so far this year. I mean, sure, Adam LaRoche's error put one runner on, but Torres also gave up a single and hit David Eckstein, loading the bases up with only one out. That was the point that I was certain things were over, but somehow Sully managed to get two pop-ups from Chris Duncan and Albert Pujols (!) to preserve the win for a very deserving Ian Snell, and helping at least 2,000 Pirate fans down off the ledge.

It was ugly, but it sure is nice to win once in a while.

Snell vs. Pujols again

Check out the weather in St. Louis! That's right folks, if you missed half-assed base running, missed pop-ups, and overthrown cut-off men this weekend, the Pittsburgh Pirates are back in action in St. Louis tonight!

Anyways, the Pirates' first game since being ravaged by Barry Bonds on Friday is in St. Louis tonight at 8:05. Anthony Reyes will take the mound against our one and only Ian Snell, so you know what that means... IT'S IAN SNELL INSULT TIME!!!! This insult is brought to us by the one and only Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. It was originally directed at Jon Bon Jovi, but it works just fine here for Ian:

So you're acting now, you're in a vampire movie, yes? That's good. Finally, a role that requires you to suck.

You all know the history between Snell and Pujols. Pitch around Albert? Snell doesn't do that. He got away with it at the home opener (which incidentally was his last start), but Pujols appears to be getting untracked now. That worries me. Because the guy more or less owns us. As if you didn't know that.

Fun with small minor league samples

Currently playing for the Indianapolis Indians:

Ryan Doumit: .450/.542/.750, three doubles and a homer in 23 PAs
Brian Bixler: .444/.500/.519 in 30 PAs
Sean Burnett and Brian Bullington: combined 5 ERs in 22 combined innings (2 starts each)

Just sayin'.

One link for Jackie

So, because of the rainout I made it the whole day without mentioning the Jackie Robinson tributes today. I touched on it a bit at the Fanhouse a while back, but I really think Bud Selig made the right move by approving Griffey's request and I think it's a fitting tribute to change the numbers for a day, whether it was a full team thing like the Dodgers, or just a representative or two from other teams.

Anyways, the guys at The Dugout have noted the striking similarity between Jackie Robinson's number and the all important answer to the question of the life, the universe, and everything. And I know there are more than a couple of you guys out there that will appreciate the significance of that.

I am starting to worry

Sorry for the lack of posting today. With the double header rained out, there was no need for gamethreads or Ian Snell insults or recaps or anything of the sort and there wasn't much news that particularly inspired me.

Anyways, this link to Jeff Manto talking about the lack of team hitting that I saw at the Bucs Dugout caught my eye. Here's the relevant quote:

"I have to say that we are having pretty good at-bats and we're just running into some pitching right now that's been good pitching," he said. "I don't think we felt overmatched, but we've left some runners out there quite a bit. On the whole, we feel good about ourselves and are looking forward to each and every night."

I'm not going to go into the stupidity of the quote. Charlie's got a good write up on it and I agree with everything he says. Instead, I'd rather focus on the general theme of Manto's quote, which I think is the general theme of the organization, and is probably the biggest problem right now. What Manto is saying, in effect, is "Hey, lay off the hitters. We're close to being good and it's going to happen soon." It's a load of shit and everyone knows it, but it's the general theme of the management of the team and that has me worried.

Last year during the 37-35 finish, I told my dad on the phone that the biggest mistake the Pirates could make in the off-season was to pretend like the 37-35 Pirates were the real team and they only needed minor tweaking to be a contender (I probably wrote something similar here, though I don't feel like combing the archives for it). That was, of course, exactly what the team did. Rather than focusing on the fact that they got virtually no offense from shortstop, second base, center field, and didn't simultaneously field good hitters at two of the more offense oriented positions on the field (first base and right field) for the better part of the year, they went out and traded too much to get Adam LaRoche on the assumption that adding a left-handed power hitter would turn them from a sub-700 run team into an 800+ run team that could compete. I'm not suggesting that LaRoche wasn't a good addition because I do think that he was, I'm saying that he's not by any means a cure-all and the front office certainly liked to tout him about in the press like he was.

So why am I worried? Because here's the deal: Bob Nutting is out of scapegoats at the moment and Dave Littlefield knows it. They've already moved retiring Paul Waner's #11 off the backburner that it's been on since, oh, 1996. They've already planned a team-wide celebration of Jackie Robinson and I can only assume the city's Negro League heritage that I'm sure will be moved to a later date because of the rain out today. But if this team comes into the All-Star break at anything even close to resembling 30-60, Dave Littlefield has to be fired. He's made his moves between the trading deadline and the off-season and he's gotten his guys. He's out of excuses and that means he's the next to go. That's just how these things work. Once he becomes a PR liability, he has to be fired.

While I'm all for DL being fired, I'm terrified of what he's going to do to keep it from happening. If he truly believes that this team is just a player or two away from winning, what's going to stop him from pulling the trigger on some stupid deal that sends out a few of the decent young players that we do have for some overpaid veteran because we've got some room in the budget and because it'll swing public favor back in our his favor? As noted in the PG last week, this team has a narrow window, but the window is undeniably still there (not for this year, but for a couple down the road). I don't think DL is the GM that can open it, but he is the one that can caulk it shut for the foreseeable future.

Is this stuff to depressing to think about at 4-6?

I don't know when these games are going to happen

So we're rained out tonight and snow is (maybe) coming tomorrow. Perhaps the baseball gods are trying to spare us the indignity of a three-game sweep at the hands of the Giants.

Game 10: Giants 8 Pirates 2 Pirates 5

Let's see... the red uniforms are brutal. I mean those things are bad in person. The red is so dark that the names and numbers on the uniforms are pretty much invisible from the stands. I would say that the team on the field was unrecognizable as the Pirates last night, but, umm...

Russ freaking Ortiz. You've got to be kidding me. Yes, that's right, the first thing that come to mind from last night's game is Russ Ortiz. I don't even know what to say about a game in which Russ Ortiz came out for the ninth inning only having given up 2 runs. He struck out seven batters. Seven! I don't even know what else to say. Ortiz is washed up and will probably finish the season with an ERA in the 6.00 region, and yet he almost threw a complete game at us last night. Something has to get this offense started, but if it's not Braden Looper, Randy Keisler, or Russ Ortiz I don't know what it's going to be.

Also can't talk about the game last night without talking about Bonds. Actually, everything pretty much went down like I said it would in my Fanhouse post. The fans booed loudly, Bonds came out and waved and touched the bill of his cap, then raked Pirate pitching for three hits, two homers, and four RBIs in his three and a half innings of work, the took off for the night, preventing the crowd from seeing something really special. He crushed the ball last night. I don't know how else to put it, both his homers were screaming liners that couldn't get out of the park fast enough. Watching the replays, they seem to be pretty much all upper body because his legs are mostly useless at this point in his career. I feel the same way about Bonds as 99% of all other Pirate fans, but damn, last night was impressive.

Don't have much else to say about the game. Duke struggled early and that's why we lost. BP Chacon and Marte were both impressive out of the pen, but they did it well after the game was over. The one thing that still boggles my mind was the decision to walk Randy Winn with two outs in the first and runners on second and third. Winn was punchless last year and has been worse this year. If you give Duke a chance to get him out, he's out of the first inning at only 3-0 and Ortiz leads off the second before the top of the order comes up again. Instead, we walked Winn and Duke served up a double to Ortiz and it was 5-0. Sure, it was still only the first inning, but a five run deficit seems like a million with this offense. Then again, maybe I'm just nitpicking and maybe Duke wouldn't have gotten anyone out last night.

Barry's back

As disenchanted as I've been with the Pirates of late, I'm still heading down to the park tonight. The main reason is that this is probably the last chance I'll ever have to see Barry Bonds play and despite my own personal feelings on the guy, his place in baseball history is certainly assured of and people like him do not come around all that often. This is the only night this weekend I can make it to the park, and so this is the night I'm going.

We're going to learn a lot about the Pirates in the next three days. The Giants are awful. The Pirates are reeling after an ugly sweep at the hands of the Cardinals. Duke will start tonight and he's been very good this year. Russ Ortiz is starting for the Giants tonight. He is not very good. If our offense doesn't get jump started against him, I am going to begin to think that it's not happening.

So... this Bonds guy...

I hate doing taking a whole post here to point to something I wrote for AOL, but I wrote a post about the relationship between Barry Bonds and Pittsburgh and what may be his last appearence here this weekend for the Fanhouse. You can feel free to comment on it here or there.

Pirates give Humberto Cota the middle finger

How can you tell when the baseball team you play for has absolutely no respect for you? When they decide to retire the number of a player that hasn't suited up for them in 67 years, despite the fact that you're currently wearing the number.

Welcome to Humberto Cota's world. The Pirates are going to announce tonight that they're going to retire Paul Waner's #11. Tonight happens to be the all-important 81st anniversary of Waner's debut with the Pirates. I'm not debating the worthiness of retiring Waner's number (I suspect if I did, Bob Smizik would hunt me down and kill me in cold blood), it just seems kind of strange that they're doing it right now with a player already wearing #11 on the roster. And it's not a rookie who's just been given the number, it's a guy that's been here for some time. I mean I know Cota sucks and he's just the backup catcher, but would it kill the team to wait until he's not around, say, next year? They've waited this long, why not wait one more year? It's like the PR department is going, "Oh, shit! This season is going down the tubes quick! Spin! The whole team will wear #42 to honor Jackie Robinson! Spin! We're retiring Paul Waner's number! Spin! Spin! SPIN!"

WayBack Wasdin is enthusiastic about sucking

I don't even know what half the stuff in this article means. Look at this paragraph used by Rob Biertempfel to describe John Wasdin's, er, umm, resurgence with the Pirates this year.

Wasdin's right arm isn't tensed-up anymore, so he generates more arm speed. His wrist isn't tight, so the ball has more late movement.

More late movement. As in, after the ball rockets off the bat? And why do we take time to talk about Wasdin's stellar Grapefruit League numbers when THOSE GAMES DON'T COUNT.

Where have you gone, Josh Sharpless is more like it. John Grabow is starting his rehab, but I dunno if he'll replace Wasdin or Juan Perez on the big league roster. Either one is fine with me, really.

Thanks to Gavin for the heads up in the comments and the title of this post.

New Poll

The last poll has been up about a week, and we've got more responses than any poll in WHYGAVS history with nearly 400 responses. The question that I asked is no longer particularly relevant, it essentially dealt with what point you would be convinced that the Pirates were actually a good team. The biggest vote getter was "when the season is over", though things were pretty evenly dispersed from about June onwards.

New poll is up on the right. Feel free to discuss in the comments.

So what is it that's been so disappointing?

After reading the comments on my last post below, I kind of got the thought that I hadn't been exactly clear on what it was that I found so ugly about the way the Pirates have been losing and that could leave it up to misinterpretation.

It's not Salomon Torres that has me pissed off. In order for the loss to be a closer's fault, you've got to assume the team did everything they could to win up to the point the closer came into the game and that the runs given up are in fact the closer's fault. Has Torres sucked the past two days? Sure he has. Am I incredibly worried or pissed about that fact? No, no I'm not.

So what am I pissed about? I could do a giant rant of things in no particular order, but I'll be more organized than that. To begin with: 4 runs in 3 games against the pitchers the Cardinals trotted out against us is a shame. It is brutal. It is unacceptable. Both Braden Looper and Randy Keisler struggled with the strike zone in their starts; they only walked four batters between them in their 13 innings. Our plate patience has sucked in the past, but if I have to watch someone swing at the first pitch with two outs and runners in scoring position again, I will scream.

It kills me when Don Kelly comes up as a pinch hitter in a key situation while Ryan Doumit is down at AAA.

It drives me nuts to see Jim Tracy trying to bunt Jack Wilson with a Brad Eldred on second as the go ahead run with no outs. You can read your copy of BP 2007 and it'll tell you that Tracy was one of the better sabermetric managers in the league last year and maybe that's true, but I would take Nate McLouth pinch running for Eldred and three shots at singling him home from second every single time if I had to choose between that and bunting Jack Wilson to try and move Eldred to third.

But mostly, it just makes me sad to see a major league team that has worse fundamentals than a high school team. I don't care if you want to blame Jason Bay or Jack Wilson for the ill-fated Pujols sac fly on Tuesday night (I think both deserve some blame), but the fact remains that it shouldn't happen to a major league team. Ever. Who lets Wilson line up down the third base line for the cut off? That's on every single person in the infield that watched it happen and didn't scream at the top of their lungs to fix it. How did any person on that field think that Eckstein was the most important runner? Why do I feel like every single spring the Pittsburgh Pirates have to re-learn basic baseball? Why can Ronny Paulino, the CATCHER (chosen for his superior defensive abilities, no less), not physically catch an outside slider or a throw from the outfield with his glove? Why can no one in the infield catch a pop-up? Why does no one from the outfield call them off? Why do I get the feeling that Adam LaRoche has never seen an off-speed pitch before? How is it possible that the coaching staff failed to notice any of these problems in the spring?

This is what pisses me off about the Pirates. Not that the players are bad, just that they don't seem to learn.

Game 9: Cards 3 Pirates 2

I don't really have much to say about this one. It is entirely possible that no team has played worse than the Cardinals did this week and still emerge with a series sweep. The Cards had no offense for three straight games and they won all of them, despite starting two converted relievers and a career minor leaguer. We left thirteen guys on base today. That's no good. Umm. I dunno what else to say. I'm very disheartened. It's not the losing that's disheartening. It's the way we lose. It sucks.

Paul Maholm and... who cares?

Hard to care much about today's game. Last night's game sucked too much. It's Paul Maholm and Adam Wainwright as the Bucs try to avoid what certainly seems like an inevitable sweep. Tracy is benching LaRoche today, and Eldred and Cota are getting starts. This one's not on TV. We're probably all lucky.

Game 8: Cards 3 Pirates 2 in 12

So... this one makes me pretty angry. Oh, wait, that's the understatement of the night. I think I need to use bullet points to break the anger up.

• Randy freaking Keisler. You've got to be kidding me. The dude had no handle on the strike zone for most of the night and we drew one walk. One.
• Wasted a great start from Gorzy tonight. He looked really good.
  
• It was like 9:10 when the top of the ninth started. We were thinking game over by 9:20, back to Duquesne and out of the cold by 10:00. No.
  
• Runners on first and second, no out, deep fly ball to Jason Bay on the left field warning track. I instinctively look to second to watch the throw. Instead I see Chris Duncan going in unimpeded. How does Bay not know to throw to second? How does Jack Wilson not know to direct the throw to second? How long have these guys been playing baseball? What kills me is that Bay and Wilson are two of the more instinctive guys on the team. They never screw stuff up like that. How did that happen? Not 2 minutes before I watched them signal LaRoche away from holding Eckstein on first when he was the only runner on. How does something like that happen? It was brain dead.
• Also brain dead: calling for a Jack Wilson bunt with runners on first and second and no outs. We'll leave win expectancy alone (win expectancy with runners on first and second with no outs in extra innings of a tie game: .848... win expectancy with runners on second and third and one out in extra innings of a tie game: .829, yeah, a successful bunt actually makes us slightly less likely to win), with the infield seriously shifted to play for a bunt, why not just have Jack Wilson try to poke one through? If the runner is in scoring position already (even if it is Brad Eldred), why attempt to bunt the runners over and give Thompson the ability to pitch around Sanchez or Bay if necessary? Why give up an out? Even if it's Jack Wilson at the plate, why take one less shot at getting the necessary single? I don't get it.
  
• Still, Sanchez and Bay both K after the botched bunt? Ugh.
  
• Jason Bay actually makes a good throw from the outfield, Ronny Paulino drops it. Come on.
  
• I've tried to say this before, but Jim Tracy wasn't listening. Let's try again. JOHN WASDIN IS NOT A GOOD RELIEF PITCHER BY ANY MEANS. IF THE GAME IS ON THE LINE, HE SHOULD NOT EVER, EVER, EVER BE IN THE GAME, EVER. Here's what I don't get, why bring Bayliss out in the 9th of a mostly decided game yesterday, leaving him unavailable for today's game? When I saw Bayliss trot out of the pen on Monday, all I thought was "Why bring him out now?" I'm still asking myself that.

Ugh. That was the type of game that bad teams find a way to lose. After Eckstein got on to lead off the ninth, there was just kind of a foreboding feeling. After the Cards tied it up, it felt like the game was over. Just a matter of time.

Fireworks were sweet though.

Another shot for Gorzo

Tom Gorzelanny gets another chance to prove to us that the spring was nothing to worry about tonight against career minor leaguer Randy Keisler, the Cards fill-in for Chris Carpenter tonight. I know it's early, but this is an important game for the Pirates and here's why: good teams don't lose lots of games in a row. If we lose tonight, it'll be four out of five. That morphs into, say 21 of 25 or 60 of 90 before you know what happened. Perhaps I'm being dramatic, but one of the things I hate the most about the pathetic Pirates of recent years is the loooong stretches of bad baseball, the sweeps by the Royals, the 13 game losing streaks, the 30-60 first halves, the 21 losses in 25 games. It's just plain depressing and even if we aren't a good team this year, it'd be great if we could cut down on the depressing baseball.

Anyways, yes, I'm crazy and I'll be back out in the cold tonight to watch a pitching match-up that could make for a looong evening, but as usual feel free to discuss in the comments.

This is not Pirate related but...

Damn, how crazy is it that the Indians have to play a series in Milwaukee due to weather? And how pissed would you be if you had tickets for that series? And how stupid is Major League Baseball for scheduling the Angels and Mariners only trips to Cleveland in April?

Links to ease the pain... or something like that

Chico Harlan kept a rather entertaining liveblog of the home opener from the press box for the PG today.

Good news for everyone planning on freezing their asses off tomorrow night, bad news for Cardinal fans: Chris Carpenter is going on the disabled list.

This is actually from last week, but DJ Gallo's day-by-day MLB calendar is awesome. Start with April and make your way through. It'll take you a while, but it'll be worth it.

Cory was at the opener today, he and I definitely watched the same game.

The Carbolic Smoke Ball has figured out how the Pirates are in first place this far into the season.

Game 7: Cardinals 3 Pirates 0

I was prepared for lots of things on a 35 degree day at PNC Park. Just about everything, I thought. One thing I was not prepared for today: seven shutout innings by Braden Looper, then Ryan Franklin and Jason Isringhausen completing the shutout. I mean, Braden Looper? Seriously?

OK, moving along, Snell didn't really seem to have his best stuff today, but he still shut down the Cardinals over 7 innings. He only struck out one three (one through six, then two in the seventh), but it seemed from center field that only Pujols hit the ball hard off of him all afternoon. He did a good job saving himself in the cold, only cranking it up to 94 or 95 when he really needed. I suppose what I'm saying is that he really pitched a good game, as opposed to just trying to throw the ball by people, which he's been prone to do in the past (see: that huge homer total from last year).

Still, Snell could've given up no runs today and it would've been too many. Chris Duffy was the only Pirate that got any kind of wood on the ball the whole game today. I know it was cold out, but three hits against Looper, Franklin, and Isringhausen is pretty bad (though admittedly, Isringhausen looked better than last year). I don't even know what to say, really? LaRoche looks clueless at the plate in person, kind of like he's never seen a baseball before. It's too early to start piling on guys, but I'm a little more concerned now.

Two other things of note: Jason Bay batted fifth today. That is a bad idea. I don't like to harp on the lineup, but Bay shouldn't be fifth and Bautista shouldn't be eighth. Also, John Wasdin is not an eighth inning guy in a one run game. Ever. He didn't fool anyone today and quickly turned what was a manageable deficit into game over (Damaso Marte helped a lot by allowing Preston Wilson to double in the two runners Wasdin put on base). Seriously, just pretend like he's Ryan Vogelsong and move on.

Another encouraging home opener in Pittsburgh. Blech.

The Home Opener!

So, it's 40 degrees out. Who cares? Baseball finally returns to PNC Park after a 6 month absence today and I don't think I'm the only one that's excited. Duquesne claims that the reason we don't have school today is something called "Easter Monday" but I think we all know better because today really is Home Opener Monday, certainly one of my favorite days of the year. This may be the last home opener I can enjoy in person for quite some time, so you damn well better believe I'm going to be there enjoying it.

Anyways Ian Snell and Braden Looper face off as the first place Pirates host the fifth place Cards (I love saying that, even if it is after only six games) this afternoon. That's an encouraging pitching match-up right there. Snell was dominant in his first start and Braden Looper is, well, Braden Looper. Snell being on the mound can only mean one thing, it's Ian Snell Insult time! Today we're going to go with one from Woody Allen. I have no idea who it's about, but it's a doozy and it should get Ian plenty riled up.

I'd call him a sadistic, hippophilic necrophile, but that would be beating a dead horse.

And I'd be remiss without given Dejan a big thank you for the mention in his Q&A today.

Game 6: Pirates 6 Reds 3

The pregame storyline was Freddy Sanchez coming back from his knee injury and while Freddy played well, this one was all Zach Duke during the game. His linescore from this one doesn't look particularly great (3 earned runs in 6+ innings), but for 6 innings he completely dominated the Reds, allowing only two hits and striking out five. In fact, Duke only faced one batter over the minimum through six innings as one of the hits he allowed was a single to Ryan Freel that was immediately erased by Ronny Paulino with a caught stealing. Duke ran into some trouble in the seventh and failed to get an out, but his first six innings were downright impressive.

Freddy didn't miss a beat at the plate today, going 2-for-4, driving in a run, and scoring a run. Brad Eldred got his first start of the season and made the most of it by driving in a run with a double and adding a nice insurance homer in the seventh. In fact, the worst defensive outfield (Bay, Nady, Eldred, left to right) in history acquitted itself quite nicely at the plate with Nady, Eldred, and Bay all accounting for two hits and Bay adding a late homer that helped seal the game with Eldred's after the Reds closed the gap to 4-3 with their rally in the 7th.

The win ensures pretty much an opposite feeling at PNC Park for the home opener tomorrow from the feeling in 2006. Last year it was sunny and warm and the Pirates were 1-6 and already in last place. This year it's going to be cold, possibly snowy, and the Pirates are 4-2 and in a tie for first place. Should be interesting to see the atmosphere at the park tomorrow. I'm going to guess "positive."

Duke needs to play stopper

Looks like the weather in Cincy today will be just like it was yesterday, cold with some flurries. That also means there will be baseball today, so Zach Duke and Eric Milton better warm up. This is actually kind of an important game for the Buccos even though it's very early in the season. A sweep in Cincinnati would be as disappointing as the sweep in Houston was encouraging. If the Bucs don't score runs this afternoon, against Milton in the cold on a day when he was just activated from the DL, I don't know when they're going to score runs. It will also be interesting to see what kind of outing Duke has when the defense is much less likely to be as good as it was in his first start on a warm spring night in Houston.

I know lots of comments aren't likely on Easter Sunday, but the gamethread goes up nonetheless. And happy Easter to everyone out there that's celebrating it.

UPDATE: Check out this lineup: Sanchez, Wilson, Bay, LaRoche, Paulino, Nady (CF!), Eldred (RF), Bautista, Duke. I won't comment on the insanity of batting the only guy on the team that's hit at all this year eighth or keeping Paulino fifth or playing the guy that volleyed a flyball into a homer in center today but... oops, I just did. But seriously, nice to see Eldred get a shot against a lefty. I don't know if this is going to be a common lefty lineup or if this is just the "Eric Milton" lineup.

I am going to claw my eyes out

So... file this one under the "logic" department: Freddy Sanchez is rejoining the Pirates for tomorrow's game and Ryan Doumit (yes, Ryan Doumit) is being optioned to AAA Indianapolis. Let's walk through this one step by step.

• Sanchez's knee hurt too badly to start the season with the Pirates, so they sent him to AAA Indy for some rehab work.
• Indy had two games snowed/colded after their opener. Everyone saw this coming.
• It's hard to rehab a knee in cold weather as opposed to, say, keeping Sanchez in Florida for the week.
  
• It's freaking freezing in Cincinnati.
• The Pirates have decided that from the whopping sample size of 15 plate appearences, they MUST have Freddy Sanchez in the lineup against Eric Milton tomorrow, despite the fact that Sanchez has done very little rehab on his knee and that it's going to be freaking freezing again in Cincy tomorrow.
  
• We sent Ryan Doumit down. This team has two sources of left-handed power. Ryan Doumit was one of them. We're now carrying two utility infielders, a backup outfielder, a DH, and Humberto Cota (assuming Bautista stays the starter over Castillo, which is the only thing that makes sense give the first week of games). Of these five players, Don Kelly and Nate McLouth are left-handed. Am I crazy or does that not make sense? Don Kelly is going to be getting plenty more at-bats with the game on the line if the team remains configured in this manner for long.
  

Ugh. I don't know what to say.

Game 5: Reds 7 Pirates 5

Ahh, there it is. Same old Pirates. Some fun snapshots from today:

• 9 walks by the pitching staff. Tony Armas Jr. was terrible.
  
• Xavier Nady misplayed a flyout into a home run. Greg Brown made his most logical point ever by wondering how if the ball landed on the warning track, it would be an error, yet since it went over the fence it was a homer.
  
• Humberto Cota had two hits, yet the rest of the team only managed seven.
  
• For the second straight day we took a lead in the top of the first and gave it right back in the bottom.
  

Now, I'm willing to give Armas at least a little bit of slack because of the weather and the goofy play by Nady that cost him two runs, but still, 5 walks against 2 Ks is not good stuff, nor is only 48 of 89 pitches for strikes. I don't even know what to say about the Nady play. I only heard about it on the radio, but I'm not exactly sure I want to see it.

On the bright side of things, Adam LaRoche finally started to come out of his funk with an RBI double in the first and his first homer of the year in the three run fourth that briefly put us ahead 5-4.

The whole first place thing is over now, the Reds now have sole possession of first after the Cubs defeat of the Brewers earlier today.

The long awaited debut of Tony Armas Jr.

Looks like the Pirates and Reds are gonna try and play this one at 1:05, though there's a "freeze warning" for Cincy at the moment and they're still calling for flurries all afternoon. Aaron Harang and Tony Armas Jr. are scheduled to take the mound and pitch until they can no longer feel their fingertips, which would be about 5 innings I would think.

Freddy Sanchez will not get the start in this one as previously stated, probably because of the extreme cold weather. Instead Pittsburgh's own native son of Pittsburgh you know that guy from Pittsburgh he's really from Pittsburgh, guys Don Kelly will start at second base bat 7th while trade bait (?) Humberto Cota will catch and bat eighth.

Anyways, I'll put this gamethread up even though I'm not expecting many comments due to the fact that this game got moved to 1 about 12 hours ago and it's not on TV as far as I can tell (not even Fox Sports Ohio as previously promised by the Reds lying website... well that or I don't get FSN Ohio at home anymore).

Game 4: Reds 4 Reds 6 Pirates 1

Well, it was cold in Cincy tonight, but they did manage to get a game in. I saw very little of this one but from what I've heard, Paul Maholm had trouble keeping the ball down in the zone and it caught up to him. The weather doesn't make it easy on a pitcher, but giving up two home run on a night where the game time temperature was 36 degrees is not something that's easy to do.

Let's see... what else... Ronny Paulino had the only RBI, without seeing the game I don't feel right commenting on the unearned runs given up by the pen. Not much to say about a night that Matt Belisle, Todd Coffey, Mike Stanton, and Kirk Saarloos held us to four hits, except that I don't really care how cold it is, that should probably never happen.

And here's a big FYI: tomorrow's gametime is moved up to 1:05 in the afternoon, presumably for weather considerations. If you're lucky enough to live somewhere that gets Fox Sports Ohio (that would be this guy at the moment since I'm at home for Easter), you can catch the game with Reds announcers. Otherwise, I don't think FSP is picking the game up even though the early gametime removes the conflict with the Pens so if you're counting on that your SOL.

Maholm's debut... maybe

The Pirates and Reds are scheduled to play tonight at Great American Ballpark but the weather doesn't look so good. If this one does go down it'll be Paul Maholm and Matt Belisle on the mound and it'll be cold. Real cold. That means short outings by starters and difficulty hitting the ball because hitting will hurt like hell tonight. I am interested in watching Maholm pitch because of how underwraps the Bucs kept him this spring. He looked good in the few outings he did made, so I'm certainly interested to see what happens tonight. I won't be around much tonight, but as usual feel free to keep talking about this one in the thread below.

As a sidenote, I rigged up a feed to my Fanhouse posts over on the right so that the five move recent will show up and added a button to link over there from here, which I think is a little more effective than the text links I had before.

Freddy back Saturday?

After a good debut in Indy, Freddy Sanchez is targeting tomorrow as his return date to Pittsburgh. That is, of course, very good news for the Pirates. It also leaves open a host of questions.

Actually, it shouldn't leave open a host of questions. It should get Don Kelly demoted to AAA, and that should probably be that. That, however, doesn't seem likely. From PG Sports Editor Jerry Micco's chat Wednesday:

PirateApologist: Who gets sent down when Sanchez gets back? Dejan mentioned a possible Cota trade earlier in the week as well.

Jerry Micco: I'm not sure who gets shipped out. Maybe Cota is made available by trade to get this done. I thought it might be Castillo, but it'd sure be tough to see him go down after how you see him playing in the field. He's still struggling at the plate, but he looks better overall than he did last year. I understand local guy Don Kelly is going to stay no matter what. So maybe they do try to make a trade for Cota. I'll leave that burning question to our experts, Dejan and Paul Meyer.

A Cota trade? For what? Shoe polish? He was one of the worst hitters in the majors last year and he hasn't actually done anything to prove otherwise this year given that it's three games into the season and he's ZERO FOR ZERO!

But who to send down? Well, Cota is a logical candidate given his overall worthlessness to the team given the presence of a backup catcher that can hit in Ryan Doumit, but the team is so worried about Doumit's hamstrings of glass that that move seems kind of unlikely, and I do at least understand that. But Castillo, save the pop-up adventures of Jose Castillo, has been great with the glove this week and Bautista has ripped the crap out of the ball and also played well with the glove at third. Between Bautista, Castillo, and Sanchez they can cover all the infield positions that Kelly can as a utility guy. They're all better hitters and at least two are probably his equals in the field. There's just no place for Kelly on the team. Sure he's a lefty, but what does that matter when you can't hit? I hope that Micco is just a little misinformed here, but I don't get the gut feeling that that's the case.

New Poll

You guys make my job easy sometimes. Sparked by their 3-0 start and longtime reader Rory's question in the comments, the new poll deals with how long the Pirates have to play well to convince you (not me) that they're for real. The answer for me? Probably the All-Star break. If they're still playing well then, I'll believe it.

The results to the last poll, which were mostly rendered moot by the team's irrational love of Don Kelly and Freddy Sanchez's injury, can be found here.

News links

Charlie has a good post up about the whole Brad Lincoln situation.

Zach Duke will have his next start moved back a day because of a cracked nail. I don't know how a cracked nail can become an exploded elbow, but I'm nervous.

The Pirates say I shouldn't be nervous.

Wilbur Miller previews the Pirates minor league system at OBN with previews of Hickory, Lynchburg, Altoona, and Indianapolis.

Sean Burnett and Freddy Sanchez both played well in Indy's opener today (via Bucs Dugout).

Game 3: Pirates 5 Astros 4

For almost the first four innings it was "same old Pirates." The dropped ball in right field, leaving the bases loaded, just all around sloppy play. And Tom Gorzelanny sat with the bases loaded, laboring through 80+ pitches and still in the fourth inning and you couldn't help but think, "Well, it was nice while it lasted." When Gorzo beaned Chris Burke to bring in the Astros third run and put the Bucs down 3-1, you could hear the desperation in Bob Walk's voice on the radio, "How can you DO that?" Same old Pirates.

But Gorzo bore down and got out of the inning without too much damage, and the Pirates fought back. Jose Bautista fired the latest volley in the "I want to keep playing when Freddy Sanchez comes back" sweepstakes, Shawn Chacon pitched two perfect innings out of the pen, and somehow the Pittsburgh Pirates swept the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. That's simply unheard of. Does it mean those same old Pirates are gone? I don't think so. It's still only three games. But I'd damn sure rather be 3-0 than 0-3 after three games. Breathe in those standings for now guys, we're alone on top of the Central. I'm not counting on it lasting, but I couldn't have written the script for a better start to the season.

Gorzo tries to prove himself

Only one way to make up for a bad spring and that's to kick ass during the season. That's what Tom Gorzelanny is going to try and do tonight as the rest of the Bucs will try to break out their brooms and do the unthinkable- sweep the Astros in Houston. Gorzo's mound opponent will be Woody Williams. Williams is 40 now and though he pitched pretty well last year, he did it within the friendly confines of Petco Park in San Diego. Minute Maid is not so friendly and I think Williams' career may be headed quickly over the hill. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

Gamethread has to go up early because I have a freaking night class that will cause me to miss a bunch of the game. Not sure how much I'll be around in the comments tonight, but that doesn't mean you guys can't use 'em. What I'd like to see tonight is us just beating the Astros into submission. As nice as it is to open up the season with two wins, the Astros have given us a lot of slack and we've managed to strangle them with it. I want to see us grab one by the balls and take it ourselves.

I'm pretty sure this is how it works

The Pittsburgh Pirate Drafting Philosophy. A (Probably Fictional) Play

The Scene: It is 1999. Mickey White and Cam Bonifay are in the Pittsburgh Pirate War Room discussing strategy. A heated argument breaks out.

Bonifay: I think sticking a needle in my eye is a good idea.

White: I want to eat ice cream.

Bonifay: Ice cream will make me fat. I could have a heart attack and die.

White: Yeah but sticking a needle in your eye will hurt like hell.

Bonifay: Sticks a needle in his eye.

White: That's it. I'm finishing the draft.

It is now 2000. The setting and characters are the same

White: Cam, didn't sticking that needle in your eye hurt like crazy?

Bonifay: Why yes it did, Mickey. Thanks for asking.

White: So why not try the ice cream this year?

Bonifay: That sounds like a good idea. I think I'll...sticks a needle in his eye.

White: F%$&! I'm finishing the draft again. I hate you.

It's now 2001. Bonifay is gone but White remains.

White: Finally, I can do what I want with this draft. What did Cam ever see in this stupid needle anyways? As White picks up the needle, the ghost of Cam Bonifay appears and jams it in his eye. Kevin McClatchy enters

McClatchy: Mickey, are you f%$&ing retarded? You've got Cam's needle in your eye after I fired him for sticking it in his eye. You're fired.

It's now 2002. Ed Creech and Dave Littlefield have taken over and are studying Mickey White's long lost journal.

Littlefield: Hey, Ed. Mickey has some New York strip steak on the top of his list here. Wanna try some?

Creech: Well, I pretty much only know about sticking needles in my eye. I did it in Montreal, St. Louis, and LA and I still got hired here, so it must be a good strategy.

Littlefield: Doesn't that hurt? Strip steak sounds so good.

Creech: Yeah, but I know it hurts. I've never had strip steak before. Anything could happen if I try it. I'd rather stick with what I know.

Littlefield: Oddly, that seems perfectly logical to me. Sticks a needle in his eye.

It's 2003. Littlefield is slightly wary of Creech.

Littlefield: Ed, sticking that needle in my eye hurt like a mother.

Creech: Yeah. I know. I told you it would.

Littlefield: OK, well how 'bout a hamburger this year. It sure looks good.

Creech: DAVE! NO! THAT HAMBURGER IS SEVERELY UNDERCOOKED! YOU COULD DIE! Sticks a needle in DL's eye. Barely misses.

It's 2004 now. Creech and Littlefield are again talking

Littlefield: Ed, I hate you. You almost poked my eye out last year. I am having pierogies this year and there's nothing you can do about it.

Creech: PIEROGIES! There could be anything in a pierogi! Cheese! Potatoes! Anything!

Littlefield: Actually, that's about it- cheese or potatoes. And you can't stop me. Littlefield eats his pierogie while Creech screams in terror.

It's 2005 now. Creech and Littlefield are still in the War Room.

Littlefield: Damn, those pierogies sure were good. I'm thinking about trying some filet mignon this year.

Creech: Dave. You can't be serious. You do know that's a cow, right? Who eats cows?

Littlefield: Me. Gets out his steak-knife and eats his filet while Creech breaks down in tears.

It's 2006 now. Creech and Littlefield are both illogically still employed.

Creech: Dave, those pierogies were dangerously out of position and we may have to convert them to ravioli soon. That filet had so much damn plate patience that you nearly choked on it. I don't know what kind of crazy thing you're thinking of trying this year, but I've already got the needle out and it's ready to go into your eye. Just say the word.

Littlefield: Dammit, Ed. Why do you have to make so much sense. Give me the needle. Sticks the needle into his eye.

Creech: How do we still have jobs?

Littlefield: I don't know, man, we're the luckiest needle-eyed sons of bitches around.

FIN.

Game 2: Pirates 3 Astros 2

First things first. Fanhouse recap here. Fanhouse post about Kip Wells here. I won't recap every Pirate game for the Fanhouse, but since this was a division game and the Astros pen melted down again, I couldn't really ignore it. I will, however, recap every Pirate game here, whether I do a Fanhouse recap or not.

I think we can say that the Ian Snell Insult Game was a rousing success for tonight. Big ups to Humbucker for being the only person secure enough in his nerdiness to not only recognize that tonight's insult was a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy quote, but that it came from Wowbagger the Inifintely Prolonged. Mach Snell (if you're unaware, that's Azibuck's brilliant fantasy baseball team name this year) was flat out dominant tonight, whiffing 11 clueless Astro batters over six innings while only allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and only one (intentional) walk. He threw his fastball from 93-95 all night on the FSP gun and showing pretty good control on his off-speed stuff. He got beaten on a Jason Lane homer and on a 2 strike pitch to Carlos Lee that he tried to bust Lee in on the hands with but just didn't get far enough inside. Hard to complain about anything from this start, though.

At the plate, the star was Weapon X once again. I don't know if it's his adamantium bones or what, but after his monstrous blast in the second inning today, he's hit only one fewer home run than he hit in his entire August and September stretch with the Buccos last year. The man is locked in right now. Still, Jason Jennings was almost (but not quite) as good as Ian Snell and shut the Bucs down through six innings. I was shocked to see Garner bring out Chad Qualls in the seventh and Dan Wheeler in the eighth, because it meant that he was probably going to use Lidge for the ninth. He never got the chance as Wheeler gave up a bunt single to Wilson and walked Bay to set the table for one of the most frustrating, then rewarding at bats for Ronnie Paulino after Adam LaRoche made an out. Paulino stared at both strike one and strike two that were both on silver platters. Instead he chose a letter high hanging slider to bang out over Adam Everett's head for a game tying single. The unstoppable Nady came up next and blooped a single to bring Bay home and put the Bucs ahead for good. It wasn't a pretty rally, but we'll take it.

Also- I want to chastise everyone who told me to not bitch about keeping Don Kelly and John Wasdin on the roster and that it didn't matter because they would never see the light of day in a close game. As Douglas Adams once said, "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." After the Kelly incident yesterday, Tracy brought Wasdin into the game in the 7th with the Pirates down by 1 run. Wasdin tried to screw things up, but Tracy pulled his head out of his ass pretty quickly. Of course then he brought Juan Perez in and that didn't help things at all. Jonah Bayliss cleaned up the mess though and disaster was avoided. Matt Capps then did his strike throwing, out getting thing and Torres finished things up to stay on pace for 162 saves.

A series win in Houston to open the season. Talk about unexpected.