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Waning InterestThankfully I didn't see the eighth last night, which I heard was atrocious. There are two levels of baseball fan in me. A level where you care so much that you write a blog about it, and a level where you check the box score every day, take girls to games on dates, and watch an occasional game if you aren't playing frisbee. Had I seen the eighth, I would have dropped down. I almost did on Sunday, but we pulled out that game. Wins at this point just may be delaying the inevitable unless we go on a nine game tear.Seems like Tike and Dirty are platooning with Mackowiak getting bounced in between every day. Don't like it. Pat's right, Macks and outfielder and should be playing thier everyday he plays, which despite last night, should not be everyday. I am a Mac supporter but his actions are becoming more and more indefensible. More on that later. The Mack position arguement may be moot though because Castillo's out today and he may be injured. I'm not sure though, didn't exactly see what happened yesterday. Honestly though, I rather have Tike in there then Matt Lawton, and I'm serious. He is absolutely killing us more then anyone else. You remove him and you flip flop our record in one run games. I don't care about his homeruns or on base percentage. He isn't clutch and gives up plenty of runs in the field and looses about as much on the basebaths: I was ecstatic he slid when he stole second yesterday. However, today we field a lineup that includes neither of them; I predict a win for that sole reason. posted by Rory at 11:04 AM | |
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Forget Pitching for a SecondYou know all those lefties we stack the lineup with against right-handers. Yeah, there about 3 for a BILLION! That's why we have been so terrible the last couple weeks. Oh wait, you know all those right handers we have not named Jason Bay, they all suck too. If Mackowiak comes back from this rain delay and doesn't line the 2-2 pitch into the gap I'll be officially clamoring for Bobby Hill, Ryan Doumit, Nate McLouth, Gerald Perry, and even Michael Restovich to be getting the start tomorrow.posted by Rory at 8:04 PM | |
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Praise Where It's DueI want to take the moment to acknowledge the efforts of John Grabow. After allowing what seemed like every inherited runner to score and giving up every lead he was sent in to protect last year, Grabow has turned it around. In limited opportunity he has put together an outstanding season punctuated by two game saving performances in Boston and St. Louis. Here's to you John.Also, Oliver Perez has gone to the DL with a broken toe after kicking a laundry cart after sucking in the game Sunday. Good for him I say. He won't be helping this team anyway until he learns to separate his emotions from the game; the same problem Aramis Ramirez had. Maybe he'll learn something by spending time on the DL for doing just that. posted by Rory at 3:39 PM | |
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Horrible, Horrible, HorribleThis top of the ninth inning saw the worst display of managing I have ever seen. First, let me say that if we got out of the jam in the eighth I had a feeling we would come back, which I feel like mentioning because I haven't had a good feeling about baseball over the last week.So after Bay homers (which had me hugging the TV) Ward walks on four pitches. For some unfounded reason we decide to sacrifice Ward, a man who runs like the train he claims to be, to second. The bunter is Mackowiak who was finally hitting the ball well again today, and he's facing a right hander. I'm now screaming at the TV at this travesty of baseball. Luckily Rob can't get the bunt down, but unfortunately he then has one shot the hit the ball and lines out to center. Then Cota comes up, he's done fairly well in the clutch, but not the best contact guy. Then again we exercise our baserunning expertise and put on the hit and run. Now Cota did not miss a sign as we may like to believe. Ward starts rolling like a square to second base; and Cota forgetting momentarily that there is a hit and run on checks his swing, then after the catcher catches the ball, remembers and offers after Molina had already gotten up to throw to second. Ward's dead as a Oliver Perez curve ball, and we're all set up to blow it in the bottom of the inning. posted by Rory at 4:54 PM | |
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Holy Shit!Kip Wells just got through the first inning throwing 8 pitches!posted by Rory at 8:53 PM | |
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Cards Are Handing It To UsGonzalez is on the DL with a strained MCL. No word on how serious this is, let's hope it's not very. This is probably a good thing, I was going to comment about how Mike had gone Jose Mesa style with his walks in clutch situations (pretty much costing us the game yesterday). I just really hope this isn't more serious then it could be because he's been trying to play through the nags.Greg Brown and Wehner were talking about how Tike Redman has gotten a bad rap for his defense and is at least average. For a second I almost started to believe them, until Tike botched the play in the sixth. I will say that I don't think he is any worse of an outfielder then Jason Bay, but Bay gets a few tokens because he has a better and more consistent bat (which is another knock on Redman because Bay's bat is anything but consistent). Since I declared him an everyday player, Rob Mackowiak is absolutely killing us in the middle of the lineup. He needs moved down in the order a little bit. I get the feeling Castillo is really going to heat back up this month, maybe they need to swap. I'm also going to credit the runs scored in the fifth to the ridiculous nine hour delay before the inning. Up until Castillo's homerun I was fearful that we would be ending our extra-base hit streak in a most ironic way. Although I'm also beginning to feel a little pathetic that I root for that like the playoffs are on the line. With a big lead I would kind of also like to see Vogelsong in there instead of Torres, just to get some work in a situation where he still has to try. I'm guessing we've totally given up on him as a component to success, but I don't think that's a dumb decision either. posted by Rory at 10:39 PM | |
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Why the Nationals' Announcers SuckWhoever the are, in increasing order:"Nice play fielded by Gonzalez up the middle" (was fielded by Castillo) "This isn't like San Francisco where you just sit out there and wait for a homerun. Only once has the ball gone into the river on the fly. That was on a towering shot Daryl Ward hit against the Astros last year" "Jason Bay was part of a Canadian team that suffered the worst defeat in Little League World Series history, a 20-1 defeat against Taiwan. Bay did his part going 2 for 5 with three runs scored and an RBI, but his team got shalacked." posted by Rory at 10:08 PM | |
Show Me CLASSIC LLOYD!And what a great play by Gonzalez, he backhanded that ball.posted by Rory at 9:53 PM | |
Along the Same LinesDamn Stat Geek stole my column. OK, not exactly, but for over a month I've been mulling over a post about the Pirate record in one run games, and what that means. Now out of necessity I must rush it. Here's the gist of what I had to say.Before the road trip the Pirates were playing great, and I could say that with complete confidence, no matter who's pitching and even if Tike Redman is in the lineup, we would have a chance to win. But just because we are playing good does not mean that we are good, and I think our record in one run games shows that, 6-14. So what does that mean. When you win 9-2 or loose 7-0 there isn't much that could have changed. As games get closer and closer mistakes or missed opportunities become more evident. A bad bounce, a bunt back to the pitcher, a blown call, a foul ball just missing the pole; these is the "luck" that Mr. O'Neill alludes to, and you can have lucky things that also work in your favor. But there are other things also: a key strikeout, a different third baseman, effective reliever use, a hit a run, suicide squeezes, double steals, properly positioned defense, the right pinch hitter, etc. Things that could have scored or saved you a run just by making the right decision. The manager has control over that. I don't like criticizing the moves managers make unless they are in the process of making them. Arguing over whether a choice was the right one or the wrong one after you know if it worked or not isn't fair. That is why I often stick up for players and managers who have made wrong decisions. But when you sum up those decisions and find that there are more game costing bad ones then what should be expected, then you have a bad manager on your hands. I'm copying this info from the Stat Geeks column: Year Overall One-RunJust like a player, manager's have to perform in the clutch. Comparing his record in one-run games using his teams overall record as a standard I think is a fair way of evaluating a managers clutch ability. '01 and '02 look amazing, '03 and '04 are alright, this year is terrible. Am I suggesting that Lloyd McClendon was a better manager his first two years? Yes, in a way, let me tell you a theory. When the Pirate's first hired McClendon I thought he would be a good manager for a bad team. We sucked that year, we sucked the next year too, but it was these years that we saw the base get ripped out of the ground and countless arguments about things we all knew were right. It was great to see him in action. Lloyd changed after that, he would talk about becoming more relaxed. It was a smart move, being a good bad baseball manager is not the way to have a career. The team got better too, but they still weren't good. I firmly believe that the things Lloyd now does would be very successful on a team like the Marlins or the Padres, but this team still needs crazy Tazmanian Lloyd. Don't believe me. Managers of good teams don't have to worry about giving rookies their shot, or playing a guy just so he can look good to possible suitors. They put the team on the field with the best chance of winning, they pace their guys to save up for the stretches in August and September. Sound Familiar? Think about it, what are the things we complain about the most. If the Pirates record doesn't get better and their record in one run games goes in the same direction. It means two things: this team is no good, and Lloyd isn't the best person to run it. posted by Rory at 5:21 PM | |
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More DPsI think we just managed to GIDP four times in the seventh inning, but due to some shabby infield defense by the Nationals we've managed to score three runs.posted by Rory at 9:11 PM | |
We're Not This BadSteve Blass has just taken the time to accuse Mark Redman of "elevating the ball." Steve Blass is wrong. I'm watching this game, and for the life of me I cannot figure out how he has given up 6 runs. By in large he's hitting his spots and keeping his work to the corners and out of the strikezone. The first inning I didn't even see Ross's glove move. I just can't figure it out, they are hitting everything, no matter where it is.The other thing that is killing me is these blasted DPs. I can understand Ross and even Mackowiak, but I can't figure out how Tike Redman grounds into such a ridiculous number of them. I think he's accounted for more outs then he has ABs. Everytime he gets out it's a groundout to second. If the dude could poke it the other way on the ground his average would go up fifty points! posted by Rory at 8:23 PM | |
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A Heck of a DayWhat a horrible horrible game. Kip Wells, pitching from the school of thought that if the first batter gets a hit it's OK to punt on the rest of the inning, gives up 7 runs and threw 72 pitches through 3+. Then he bludgeoned his glove in the dugout tunnel. We're all clamoring for Rob Mackowiak to get more playing time, meanwhile he's struck out NINE HUNDRED times in his last 28 ABs. We've also experimented with the have no one covering the bases defense, and countless other things. Oh yeah, we can't make contact either. Oi, I could have been playing frisbee.posted by Rory at 3:49 PM | |
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Knowing What's Going OnGreat game all around today, a little cruddy with RISP, and Mesa got smacked pretty well considering he didn't give up a hit. After the error in the ninth I was about to proclaim the fates against us, but we pulled it through.I want to mention something sort of off topic, but relevant to me as a baseball fan. A lot has been made about fans and going for balls especially after Steve Bartman in the 2003 NLCS. Every baseball announcer or analyst was on this guys defense, saying it's the heat of the game, any other fan would do the same. By now it's not anything people blink an eye at. Even last night, Red Sox fans were getting in the way of a Freddy Sanchez pop up that Trot Nixon could have been caught. Freddy would go on to single and almost drive in a run. Personally, I think that these fans need to get their head in the game. There's no excuse for costing your team an out. Especially in an intense situation. I personally would think that I'd keep my composure, put my arms out and lean back trying to keep people away and then say something like "stay back" or anything to let people no what we should do. But people who argue against me can just say that I've never been in that situation and who knows what I would do, and they'd be right. I have no proof of anyone being capable of being that smart in that situation until today. Casey Blake made an amazing catch in Cleveland (check it out yourself, they're featuring it in the video section of mlb.com right now), climbing over the tarp and reaching into the stands. One person (a girl) put her hands up, but she ducked and everyone else leaned away. This is Cleveland people, the town we supposedly hate, for reasons that go so far back I don't know what they are. They just showed up us and everyone else in Major League Baseball, they're good sports fans. For me, that's hard to swallow. So if you find yourself with a kick ass seat, just like a player you need to know what you do when the ball comes you're way. I'm not suggestion you rear back and try to catch someone napping off of third, but let your guy have a chance to make an amazing play. posted by Rory at 11:14 PM | |
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Not So FastI'm going to bite my lip, and say so far today that Mac is really managing the game well. I thought he was nuts for leaving Fogg in for the 7th, but he practically had his best inning. Plus we've been running extremely well, I don't think he could have really affected much else so far, in what he could he's been damn near perfect.UPDATE 9:30PM: And then he goes out to talk about the bad call, nice. posted by Rory at 9:21 PM | |
Holy CrapFogg just threw a meatball so large it could feed the Sudan for six months. My anemic aunt could have hit that out.posted by Rory at 7:53 PM | |
Someone Had a BreakdownThe beginning of this week had us witnessing the worst of Lloyd McClendon. Normally I'm a Mac fan, but after not having his team show up two out of three days on the biggest stage of his and their career and not sticking up for his team, criticizing his teams ability, doubting his players, not sticking up for them, and sounding like a whiny bitch in the media (I can complain, you need to move on): McClendon has put himself on the hot seat. I can confidently say, that if this teams doesn't pull out of this, he won't be back next year.posted by Rory at 6:21 PM | |
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The HauntingI'm glad I only caught the last two inning of yesterday's game. I don't want to know how bad I would have felt had I vested my interest for 10 full innings. This was by far the worst loss of the season. One guy just called in on the talk shows and said that if they kept statistics on gut wrenching losses, the Bucco's would be #1. This kept me up. I couldn't stop thinking about it.It was a blown call that kept me up. Yeah, I'm that guy, I'm going to blame the Umps. "But Rory," you say, "bad calls happen. They even out over the course of a season." Not this time my friend. There is no chance for it to even out when the call makes a game over into a game. Will we get a game changing call later in the season? Maybe, but not like this. Tell me how and when some call going our way is going to make up for our destroyed confidence, and who are we going to be playing that day that convinces the nation that we are the real deal. This was not a game breaker, this was a season breaker. If I sound like I'm whining, I am. I'm crying as much as Jose Mesa did in the dougout last night. If this team bounces back from this. I will be a hundred times more amazed then I already have been this season, and if they don't bounce, I can't say I'd be surprised. posted by Rory at 11:03 AM | |
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On John WehnerI like his insight, but if some people have a face for radio, he's got a voice for telegraph. Just the sound of it, it's excruciating to listen to.posted by Rory at 7:03 PM | |
On Trades and Not TradesI'm tired of all this trade talk too, from Ed Eagle on, it's all bunk. No matter what the Pirates do, if they trade someone good they get accused of giving up, if they trade someone bad they get accused of not playing the guy enough to get his trade value up. Right now David Littlefield probably has the hardest time he has ever had following baseball Jedi code: "Be mindful of the future but live in the present."Fans also don't realize that by playing crappy players you are effectively giving up, and the only way to get good players in return is to give up a good player. Here's where I go into a whole spiel about trade-ability, but it isn't appropriate. I'm not even going to think about making a deal until it happens or until the All-Star break. I can stand it to some extent, but what really irks me is when people who know nothing start speculating about who we could get in return. One of the things that pissed me off when Paul Meyer wrote the Q&A is that he would dignify these with a response. It's not worth it. Smizik is right, I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to think about it, I just want to watch baseball. posted by Rory at 3:23 PM | |
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Raining on the ParadeThey're going nuts in Pittsburgh! Dancing on the roof of their cars, rioting! It's pandemonium! Maybe a little too extreme? So is being content with .500 record. This is foreign territory for most of us I know. Believe me, this was a great game and I'm happy as anybody, but real fans don't root not to loose more then they win, they root to win the last game of the year. All our perspectives are skewed, and that's fair, let's enjoy it. But if we stay competitive, we need to be pushing for a playoff spot. That's the next step.posted by Rory at 10:15 PM | |
And What a Fifth!Good to see Dirty back in the lineup, 1 for 2 with 2 BB. I object to comparisons to Tike Redman, I have observed Freddy to be a much more patient player at the plate and feel that he could grow into a solid middle infielder.Mackowiak comes through vs. the left-hander, going 1 for 3, but did have two strikeouts. Mack at this point is most likely considered the everyday starter at center, but will still get occasional starts at third. Still, he will probably only start about 85% of the total remaining games; not because Mac is an ass, but because he does have a tendency to pace his players for the season, especially ones that aren't used to starting everyday. Has Doumit even done anything in the field today? I guess it was pretty smart to give him the start today in right, though I wouldn't mind seeing a defensive replacement if Perez comes out of the game. And Jose Castillo! Pulling out of his slump maybe, he just earned himself one less day off, which before today, I'm pretty sure was looming. I'm also going to jump the gun a little bit and assume that Perez doesn't give up a combination of four hits and walks next inning. Because of his string of three games with a WHIP under 1.2, we here at bleacherblogger.com are officially proclaiming Oliver Perez back. posted by Rory at 8:44 PM | |
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(The Shrugged Shoulders Post)You know, I was kind of bored watching the game today. I don't think I know how to be the fan of a good team. Ahhh, Bay seems to be hitting a hot streak, Castillo might need to have a day off. I don't know, Tike had a good game. Whatever, I'm going outside. Anyone mad at Lloyd for anything lately?posted by Rory at 9:39 PM | |
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My Take on KendallThere is a debate raging over at Pat's about the catchers impact on the pitchers, particularly Jason Kendall's. Pat contends that the catcher has a significant impact on a pitchers game. He's absolutely right, that much is obvious. What I disagree with is that this is something that Kendall was bad at.I'm of the belief that catchers, pitchers, and coaches sit down together before a game and discuss how each player should be pitched. If the catcher is not going to follow the game plan, he's going to be accountable for that. If this happens repeatedly then the public is going to get a hold of it. Something along the lines of "We didn't follow the gameplan," would be uttered, it even happened earlier this season, but I can't remember with who. Anyway, this is all conjecture. Pat says that in 1999, when Kendall got hurt, Joe Oliver really pumped up the staff. I don't really see that in the stats. If anything Kendall was getting better and better at calling pitches, and may have been at top form when he was injured. From Kendall's first year in 1996 to when Joe Oliver was here, the ERA and National League Rank of Pirate's pitching: Year ERA NL RankThe ERA is up in '99 but the rank is the same. A better arguement would've been the years following Kendall's return: Year ERA NL RankYou can tell the numbers started to drop off, but was that Kendall's fault. 1999 was really a swing year for the Pirate's pitching staff. The dissapation of a rotation that had been in place for three years, and thier replacement by the subsequent likes of Pete Schourek, Dan Serafini, Tony McKnight, Joe Beimel, Omar Olivares, and Ron Villone. It wouldn't be until 2002 the the Pirates and somewhat of a respectable rotation, and then the year after that we didn't have a bullpen. This year, with Kendall gone, we look awesome. The rank is about the same but the ERA is way down. My arguement is based on the idea that the pitchers as a group, are just better now then they were when Kendall was here. Consider, Kip Wells is good this year (3.39 after last night), but if you take away last year, he's just as good as his other two Pirate years (3.43), all of them were caught almost completely by Kendall, and I have a hard time believing last year was Kendall's fault with all the problems Kip had. Fogg has pitched better this year then he ever has (4.20/4.59 career), but his problem has always been the long ball and he's on pace to give up more this year (31) then he ever has (28 in 2002) If you want something more substantial his HR/9 was 1.17 his first three years here, it's 1.54 in 2005. Perez, in his first full season, was amazing last year (2.98) but I'll be fair and say that he's had a few bad starts to start the season and other problems and it's too early to make a call there. Dave Williams has been decent (4.06 after Tuesday), but he was more decent when he was pitching full time four years ago (3.71) before the injuries, and is just now returning to form. Redman has been spectacular of course (2.82) but considering that he wasn't here before only helps to explain the lower team ERA. All of this is what's happened after 1999, the year Kendall got hurt. I think you have to go back to when our rotation consisted of Loaiza, Lieber, Schmidt, and Cordova to have any significant arguement. I'm pulling stats out of the vault here. Cordova's career peaked and fizzled in five years. A career ERA of 3.96, he started to fall off the year Jason wasn't there, posting a 4.43 in '99 and he was finished the next season. Loaiza has recieved attention since leaving but he honestly only had one good season, putting up a 21-9 record and 2.90 ERA with the White Sox in 2003. Other then that he's been a dissappointment. His 4.35 ERA in his 3 seasons with Kendall catching in Pittsburgh is less then his career number of 4.65. Lieber has had a strong consistent career since getting out of town. We all now what I attribute that turn around to. Despite that, his 4.22 ERA with Kendall at backstop is the same as his career. Jason Schmidt is the case that I'm sure everyone who wants to argue with me is waiting for, and they should be. He didn't suck at Pittsburgh, but he has been ridiculous in San Francisco. The stats don't support me, and I know nothing of he and Kendall's relationship. All I know is how I feel about the situation, (this is highly subjective) and that's the Jason Schmidt is a big pussy. He wasn't successful in Pittsburgh, and he was never going to be. At least Kendall tried every game, Schmidt didn't care about the Pirates. The man went to the Giants and lost 40 lbs. Suddenly his ERA is under 3.5 and that's Kendall's fault. He said things about Pittsburgh that would make a little kid with hope cry. It's hard to win here because players like you didn't try, not because the team has a bad attitude, only you did. The only other real case I could see being made is that of Todd Ritchie. The stats suggest that he and Kendall didn't work too well together. His 3.49 ERA in 1999 makes it seem like he was a very capable pitcher, but you could make a case that Ritchie wasn't as good as those stats would suggest. I love Todd, but even his 2000 and 2001 stats (4.81 and 4.47 respectively) are better then the numbers he had anywhere else. You can try and blame Kendall for the non development of Jimmy Anderson, Bronson Arroyo, and Kris Benson, you might have a case with Arroyo, but there's little to suggest that those other guys don't just suck. Plus Kendall had amazing success in 1998 with Jose Silva and Chris Peters. Their careers were effectively over about the same time Kendall went down. That's my take on the debate of Kendall's influence on pitchers, but it's not my opinion as to why the pitchers have played they way they were. I think before PNC the Pirates pitchers by-in-large over-achieved (except Schmidt). I attribute it to the coaches, and while I think the catcher may have something to do with it, I don't think it really mattered who that catcher was. When we got in the new park we were putting up the number we should have been, but we've been getting better ever since, and right now we're really putting it together. posted by Rory at 12:34 PM | |
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My Beef?Is it worth arguing the Gonzalez should have stayed out there to pitch the ninth after we increased the lead to 6-1. No, not really, go Buccos!Baseball blogging really looses it's attitude the less there is to complain about. posted by Rory at 9:45 PM | |
ESPN SucksI was so psyched after last night's game. There's only so much you can grasp watching a 3x4in computer video, so I turned on ESPN right after the game. Baseball Tonight was on, and I watched update after update after update of other games. Finally, five minutes before the show ends they have the highlights. They show four of the six homeruns and cut to the boxscore. I don't care about the homeruns, after they leave the bat they all look the same. They don't even show the double play which is all I really wanted to see. Then, get this, they spent the next three minutes talking about how potent the Orioles offense is, and how they are going to give the Red Sox and Yankees a run for their money. What?!?Can we really get that little respect after a win like yesterday; that you can't even say the Pirates have been getting hot. On the Junker and Crow show this morning (highly recommended listening if you're a Pittsburgh sports fan) they nominated ESPN, their boss, as The Jagoffs of the Week. Baseball is at the point now where if they covered the teams similar to the way they cover football it would probably garner a lot more interest league wide. I don't know. One way or another, until we stopped being referred to as the "Lowly Pittsburgh Pirates", I'm going to be pissed. posted by Rory at 5:58 PM | |
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The Jack EffectI'm stunned. I'm completely stunned. I really don't care for Daryle Ward, I think he's streaky and doesn't play with a lot of heart. Or at least I used to think that, maybe I still do, but he has carried this team in the absence of Craig Wilson. Credit goes to where credit is due.I was also in the middle of writing a post about Jack Wilson. Revising a theory about him I made earlier, there are two Jacks. The Jack that slumps and the Jack that makes great contact. He's best however when he's in between those two. You can tell when he's not in between by his frequency of 0-2 counts. When he thinks he's off he's more patient and takes more strikes, and there's a lot of 0-2 counts. When he thinks he's on he swings at everything even if he can only foul it off, and there's a lot of 0-2 counts. I believe we saw the transition during the Marlins series. So here I am thinking I'm a genius and he goes and ruins it by hitting a game winning homerun. Jackass! (no pun intended) Then there's a sweet double play and everyone's happy. Go team. posted by Rory at 9:32 PM | |
Things I Can Actually AffectOver the past five weeks the Pirates have been competitive. I can say with complete confidence, no matter who's pitching, and even if Tike Redman is in the lineup, that on any given night we can win. But normally my train of thought doesn't extend too far past the any given night that comes up next.What's dangerous as a player (and as a fan) is getting too far ahead of yourself. Each game is played one at a time. It's obvious why players need to take it one game at a time, but not clear why as fans we should do the same. Is it wrong to say that this is an important homestand, or that we're coming up on a tough stretch? No, those are virtually facts. What's bad is thinking that we could sweep the Devil Rays or that we can take two of three from the Yankees. Hope is a precious commodity, especially in Pirateburgh. There's nothing wrong with hope, but it's not worth your while to misplace it. I hope we win tonight. By placing my hope in this game I am magnifying the emotional response to the result. We loose, I take it a little harder. We win, I'm up high all the way until tomorrow's game. I hope we sweep the Devil Rays too, but by the time the Rays come to town we could be a completely different ball club. My hope becomes my expectation and I can only have my expectations met or be disappointed. There is no additional value to be added if my hope is fulfilled. Why do I care what other fans do? Hope snowballs in a competitive game, but our hope also has a finite capacity. When it's the tenth inning of a tie ballgame with two outs and the winning run on third, why am I the only person who stands up? Last at bat of a ballgame down by a run, I don't care if Spin Williams is up to bat, that's the time to believe. But you don't care, your hope is a week and half away in Boston. Come on people, these are the times, now is the game. Cheer, be proud, you don't think players feed off that. Get into it! posted by Rory at 12:51 PM | |
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Pirates:My Anti-ClutchSo as good as the defense was at times, it also cost us the game tonight, that and Jason Bay's realization that he is above sacrifice flies. I guess Restovich also suffers from Al Martin disease, that is watching a called third strike to end the game if you can't remember Al's trademark.posted by Rory at 9:46 PM | |
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Lack of ExecutionWhy is it so difficult for us to move runners from second to third with no outs? Why is it so difficult to get a runner home from third with one out? Why have we failed numerously at sacrifice bunting? This is becoming abhorrent. I will not put the onus on the manager for players not executing. I will for players consistently not executing. Mac needs to take care of this now before it gets worse. It's time for a clinic in smallball.posted by Rory at 3:17 PM | |
My Take on DoumitHolding on to three catchers is not entirely unfeasible for these Pirates. Consider the following scenarios. Pirates up 4-1, you put in a defensive replacement at catcher and you have no qualms about it because you have another catcher on the bench. Late in the game you need a right-handed pinch hitter, where's Ty, aha, don't have to use Ty, I can bring Cota up because I've got another catcher on the bench. Extra innings at home, lead-off double, come on David Ross and bunt this guy to third, not a problem because there's another catcher on the bench.My concern is that Doumit becomes the one on the bench. I didn't mind when Duffy didn't play because it was only a week and at the time the outfield was pretty set. I didn't mind acquiring Alfredo Suckaga because he was only there to hold the roster spot. But this is a building block of the future, and as I take a look at the situation, seems to be here for a while. He needs to play. My prediction is that we will see him primarily at right field when Slawo gets more and more (Rob Mackowiak style "situations he can succeed in") days off, primarily at home, and maybe a few at first against lefties. And of course the occasional start at catcher, today would be a good day considering the Braves are running out some guy from AAA, but I guess Cota and Perez have their things. That limits his C start to when Wells or Fogg pitches. As far as I'm concerned though, that's not enough, and if he's better then a butterknife defensively in right (which is hard not to be compared to the incumbent) then I figure that's where his immediate future is and this hastens the trade ticker on Lawton. posted by Rory at 1:19 PM | |
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The Anti-Hindsight CommentsGuys we've come accustomed to counting on have come up short today. Bay and Mackowiak both with pop-ups with runners on third with less then two outs. Ross had no business throwing that strikeout to first; the announcers were commenting how Slawo was caught napping, not backing up the play. No shit Steve, he's the laziest player ever. I also think Jack is letting his recent string of hitting go to his head. I've said before that he makes great contact, but great contact on pitches out of the strike zone become outs; he's done that twice today. You got to get that OBP up Jack, otherwise I don't care if you hit .300. Dirty's playing great defense, and Redman's pitching great, shame he can't go the whole game because we couldn't score two easy runs.posted by Rory at 8:44 PM | |
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Back to the GrindIt was amazing to me how much more difficult it was to keep up on the Pirates when I was in Pittsburgh as opposed to back here at home. I think most of this has to do with my social life in the different cities that I have resided in, but I won't get into that considering I'm writing commentary, not a journal. So what did I miss.Ron Cook made a huge ass of himself. Congrats accusing the player on the team that symbolizes heart of not having any in the midst of 10 for 16 series. Message to Ron, you don't speak for me or any other fan, so stop proclaiming you do in the headlines of your garbage. Ty Wiggington is upset he's not playing more. Don't bother reading it, I can paraphrase: "I shouldn't be demoted. I'm steel. The Mets played me last year when I sucked so that I would look attractive in a trade. Come on! I've hit five meaningless homeruns in my last nine games. Why would you sit me now after starting me when I was playing like shit. Plus I tried really hard when I painted my name for the PNC Park intro. This pisses me off, stand at homeplate so I can run over you for no reason."I have the typical Lloyd McClendon response; I expect nothing less from a player. If you have someone on your team that doesn't want to play, then he shouldn't be on the team. There are also some that shouldn't be on the team anyway. One other note. After being at two awesome games in a row, I got to catch the last half of the 9-1 game in the Chicago airport. Seeing my team play as well as they did, (clutch hitting, Mackowiak's grand slam, Jack Wilson smacking and diving all over the place, Salomon Torres batting) MY TEAM, I started to tear up a bit knowing how long it was going to be before I would be able to take it all in again. They may disappoint us and break our hearts, but take advantage of it guys, you don't know what you have. posted by Rory at 2:41 PM | |
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This is a blog about the Pittsburgh Pirates. My vision: to write about the games at the games. Want to email me? Make it out to rory at bleache... you know the rest. |
