Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke?

Actually, the second half has already started, but everyone likes to call all the games after the All-Star break the second half, so let's just go with that. Are the Pirates a second half team? Can they get to .500? Can they compete in the second half? Let's try and answer those questions. The Pirates finished the first half at 40-48. That puts them on pace for 73-74 wins. I can't find the exact post in which I said this, but my pre-season guess was 73 wins. So that means that in order for me to think they're going to play better than that, I have to have seen something from the Pirates in the first that I didn't expect to see that makes me believe that they're going to be better in the second half. I'm not going to lie. I haven't seen that. For every player that's had an encouraging first half (Snell, Gorzelanny, Nady), there's at least one that's had a disappointing first half (Duke, Bay, LaRoche, Paulino). Maybe the under performers will s...

Here it is, the end of the mid-season rundown. It's the pitchers. Ian Snell- Ian Snell is the straw that stirs the drink on the Pirates. I haven't seen a Pirate that hates losing like Snell does since, I dunno, ever. He gets fired up for every start like it's game seven of the World Series. He drove himself to become one of the best starters in the league this year just because no one thought he could do it. I know it's only a couple years into his Pirate career, but Snell has a chance to be my favorite Pirate since Van Slyke. Not kidding. Tom Gorzelanny- I had high expectations for Gorzo this year, but he's blown them all away. He's not quite been better than Snell and I think he might be out-pitching his peripherals a bit, but screw it. He's only 24 and he's getting better. I'm a bit worried about some high pitch-counts he's rung up and I think it's something to keep an eye on, but I'm not overly concerned. Yet. Paul Maholm- He got o...

I kinda slacked on these yesterday, but here's the rest of the hitters and the pitchers will follow sometime later today. Jack Wilson - Sadly, Wilson's .259/.317/.364 line this year gives him the second best OPS+ of his career to date, one of 80. The worst part about Wilson's performance this year is that he spaced out for like a week, playing awful defense and seeming to not care about anything on the field. That lead to his actual benching in favor of Jose Castillo, who gave the team a shot in the arm with his play. Think about that statement. There's no use left for Wilson on the team here in Pittsburgh and it would be nice to find a team that wants a defense first shortstop for a pennant run (Red Sox?), but Wilson's contract makes him pretty much worthless to anyone. So, he talks too much, slacks off, and on top of everything, sucks. He's pretty much my least favorite Pirate right now. Freddy Sanchez- It has become very clear that if Freddy's not hittin...

Taking my good old time over the All-Star Break to review the first half of 2007. This will have a few parts. Like, at least three and maybe more. Jason Bay: If Jason Bay's clutchness wasn't such a touchy and hotly debated topic 'round these parts, I'd probably refer to Jason as "Jason May" all the time. For the second straight year he had a gigantic month of May, going .336/.403/.536 for the month, picking up a player of the week award along the way. Since then he's been frigid and getting colder all the time, bringing him to his current .766 OPS at the break. He's got to hit better than this, plain and simple. His slugging percentage is lower than Adam LaRoche's at the moment. Think about that. Right now he's the fourth best hitter on the team behind Nady, Doumit, and LaRoche. Unacceptable. Careerwise, his numbers have been better in the second half than the first, so I'm sure the numbers will even out over time, but this has been painful...