Pirates win; Wilson rocks

Was that Opening Day victory sweet, or what? Wells labored early and threw a lot of pitches, but he rolled up the strikeouts and got key outs. Randall Simon walked! Tike Redman got on twice. Bobby Hill went 0-for-3 and Abraham Nunez replaced him, probably to keep Castillo on the bench as a possible pinch-hitter. Torres was OK and Mesa got that quick and easy save - against the Phillies (!) - that we've been rooting for. And the big good news is Craig A. Wilson, who had a double and a home run off that tough right-handed "ace," Kevin Millwood.

Don't think Mac didn't notice. As Ed Eagle reports for MLB.com:

"Craig did an outstanding job," said Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon. "The home run at-bat was a pretty darned good at-bat. Millwood threw him some pretty good pitches. He just missed a home run on the pitch before, he stayed in there on another slider and hit it the other way."

Last year, Wilson didn't get his first hit until April 23rd, when he had a double and a home run off the left-handed Kirk Rueter. He started April 24 against left-hander Damian Moss, April 25 against left-hander Odalis Perez, and sat for Simon and Stairs against Nomo and the Dodgers on April 26. Mac started him on April 27th against lefty Kaz Ishii. Wilson went 0-for-1 and walked against Ishii. He then doubled off Guy Mota for his first hit off a right-handed pitcher. At the end of the day, he was hitting .200 / .333 / .400 in 30 at-bats that included about ten pinch-hitting appearances. Over the next month, he didn't get many at-bats, and he didn't show that deserved them. His OPS was 639 at the end of May.

And people cry that Mac should have handed him more playing time as a result. Wilson, of course, did not have the record of consistent success that warranted such handouts, and Mac has been wise to not degrade the value of PT on the Pirates by giving it away to prospects who aren't demanding it with excellent part-time play.

If Craig A. Wilson continues to hit like Jim Thome, don't be surprised if Wilson and Jason Bay force Simon to the bench. Unless Simon starts drawing a lot of walks and hitting for more power, he won't have a stronger claim on a job than Wilson or Bay. As Shelly Anderson reports Mac saying after the game:

"One thing I told Craig -- and I mean this and I think he understands this -- I don't make out the lineup. Guys that perform make out the lineup," McClendon said. "There's been such an uproar about Craig Wilson's playing time. Maybe, just maybe, we've done the right thing as far as his development is concerned. Maybe now he's ready to take a step further. He's come a long way."

No doubt Mac's detractors will read this as Mac taking credit for a development that Mac stifled, but if Wilson has a Jim Thome-like season this year, Mac deserves at least some credit for it since it will be hard to say that Wilson's development was stunted.

Also, at this point, given the fun of any "uproar," we can expect (and should applaud) efforts like this, by Chris Bradford at the Beaver County Times & Allegheny Times, to keep the uproar going. That said, uproar or no uproar, it would be out of character for Mac to sit a white-hot Craig A. Wilson to play a less-hot Randall Simon. The uproar might not be necessary. Wilson may look like a statue at first base, but if he hits like that Willie Stargell statue outside the ballpark, he'll be in Mac's lineup.