Game 5: Pirates at Reds

Tony Armas Jr. and Eric Milton. They moved the game from 7pm to 1pm because it's so friggin' cold.

Lynchburg and Hickory

Minor league previews of Lynchburg and Hickory at OnlyBucs, by Wilbur Miller. Another poor draft provides Hickory with little offensive talent.

Game 4: Pirates at Reds

Paul Maholm and uh Matt Belisle.

How to win the NL Central

The following plan is foolproof. This is how the Pirates can win the NL Central:

1. Move into first place.

2. Stay there.

Sanchez could return

Dejan Kovacevic reports.

Halfway there

Now for the second leg of this road trip.

Next stop: Cincinnati. But first, the Pirates get a day off to fly and sleep.

If they maintain this level of play - I thought they played well tonight, better than the box score will suggest - people will have to talk about them and look seriously at them. If they keep this up, I'd say, for another week or two.

... aw man, Brewers just lost to Los Angeles. They almost rallied in the ninth off Saito, too. No company for the Pirates then. I bet they can deal with that no problem.

Game 3: Pirates at Astros

Temperance boy Tom Gorzelanny and Old Man Williams at eight.

Needle-eyed

A (probably fictional) play, by Pat from WHYGAVS.

Catbird seat

Pretty unfamiliar ground, but the view sure is nice from up here.

Lincoln has Tommy John surgery

Just as things were looking up for the Bucs, comes the bad news for Brad Lincoln. Dejan Kovacevic reports:

Brad Lincoln, the Pirates' first-round draft pick last summer, yesterday had reconstructive surgery to repair ligament damage in his right elbow -- commonly described as Tommy John surgery -- and will be unable to take the mound for 10-12 months. The surgery was performed by the noted orthopedist, Dr. James Andrews, in Birmingham, Ala.

Sounds awful familiar. Flashback to Wilbur's comment on draft day (6/6/06), four minutes after the draft started:

Dr. Andrews can't wait.
WTM | 06.06.06 - 1:04 pm

I wonder if Creech is on Dr. Andrews' Christmas card list. Anyway, best of luck to Young Brad and his healing arm.

Game 2: Pirates at Astros

Ian Snell and whatever they got tonight.

Wilbur's Altoona preview

Wilbur Miller's Altoona preview went up at OnlyBucs yesterday. See also his Indianapolis preview.

McLouth vs. Oswalt

Dejan Kovacevic Q&A.

Pirates win

Yeah they did.

... recap here.

Opening day: Pirates at Astros

This is it: Duke and Oswalt at seven.

The first six

Rowdy and I both strongly agree with Dejan Kovacevic here: the first six games are really important. Must avoid learned helplessness.

DL on hot seat

The Trib's Rob Biertempfel asks some outsider experts to rate Dave Littlefield. Their objective opinions? DL is not good and is on the hot seat:

"Frankly, the general perception around baseball is, 'Why isn't he already gone?' " said Kevin Goldstein, national writer for Baseball Prospectus. "There seems to be no sense of direction there. The record speaks for itself -- the Pirates are not good now, and they never were good while he's been there."

Baseball America's Jim Callis:

"The farm system's certainly not any stronger. After five years, you'd think you'd see more progress. Dave Littlefield has got to be on the hot seat."

Charlie's THT preview

Charlie Wilmoth (of Bucs Dugout) weighs in with his THT preview, on 2007, 2010, and the absurdity of rooting for a team as poorly run as the Pirates. A sobering read (fetch a drink), but well said, as usual. All hail Charlie!

Speaking of THT, the THT 2007 preview is still available. The bloggers who contributed don't make a cent, but are trying to help out the good people at THT.

Dejan and LaRoche (on fire)

Dejan Kovacevic, on the burning desire of the "lackadaisical, outright lifeless" Adam LaRoche.

So who would win a fishing contest: Adam LaRoche or Bob Nutting?

If you love something, set it free

Couldn't help laughing out loud at this from Dejan's Saturday spring training report:

Hernandez, 37, batted .300 and said he was "surprised" not to return for a third tour with the Pirates.

Tracy long has counted Hernandez among his favorites, including their time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he became visibly emotional when describing how it felt to break the news.

"It was very, very difficult," Tracy said.

HW readers poll: 2007

Only three more days, so last chance for season predictions. If you have a minute, please humor us in the comments:

1. How many games will the Pirates win in 2007?
2. Will the Pirates finish in last place? If not, who will?
3. Any other predictions?

We'll start it off.
1. Last year, we did the same team record poll. Rowdy refused to seriously participate (going with 112 wins). I went with 75, 8 wins too optimistic. Of all the votes, 90% were too optimistic.

This year, Rowdy is seriously going with 81 wins. Trying to negatively counterbalance that irrationally optimistic prediction, I'm going to lower the bar way down, and go with 67. The inability to consistently score runs combined with paper-thin depth will ensure the usual massive helping of losing. Averaged, that makes an official HW prediction of 74 wins.

2. Yes, Bucs last.

3. 2007 will be the end of the road for DL and Creech. Excessive losing generates intense public dissatisfaction, inspiring Bob Nutting to look more carefully at why this team stinks.

Big study

Dejan Kovacevic explains what Brad Eldred did last summer vacation.