Game 5: Pirates at D-backs

Duke and Haren starting soon. After only a two day exposure to ALD (Adam LaRoche Disease), the Bucs are starting to appear symptomatic.

Game 4: Pirates at D-backs

Morton and the first-place Bucs vs. Rodrigo Lopez at 9:40.

Game 3: Dodgers at Pirates

Maholm and the undefeated Bucs vs. Billingsley at 12:35. Given the events that have transpired, it doesn't seem too early to start entertaining the notion of Jonezilla, 2010 NL MVP.

Game 2: Dodgers at Pirates

Ohlendorf and Kershaw at seven. Bucs need a win to stay undefeated.

First Place

Nice view up here.

Game 1: Dodgers at Pirates

Duke vs. Vicente Padilla in the season opener at 1:35.

HW 2010 Readers' Poll

It's time. Please humor us in the comments with your predictions for:

1. How many wins?
2. Who gets traded first?
3. 2010 Whipping Boy?
4. How could the Bucs win 82 games?

Feel free to share any other predictions as well. I'll start.

1. A variety of other sources have predicted shades of suck ranging from 62 to 75 wins. Walking the earth, not tied down to any beer fort, I'm optimistic for a significant improvement over last year's effort: 67 wins.

2. Vazquez. Then Doumit, Dotel, Crosby and Church.

3. Tougher call than most years. LaRoche? Clement?

4. Milledge, Cutch, Jones, LaRoche, then Alvarez all go berserk. Ohlendorf gets the team hooked on some kind of secret PED made for farm animals? MLB surprisingly announces that the season will be extended to a 262 game format?

End of spring training

Pretty exciting stuff maybe.

Morgan Ensberg

Best baseball stuff I've read in a long time. Kudos.

the ZiPS

I held out as long as I could, hoping to prevent May burnout and disappointment. But now I am reading the ZiPS and starting to look at this team more critically.

They don't look good or likely to be good but the entertainment factor looks higher than in previous years.

Spring Training continues

They keep playing those spring training games.

Realignment

I read Tom Verducci's report about realignment talk with great interest. I had my own ideas about realignment not long ago.

Something has to be done. Baseball is broken as it is, and it's dying a slow death I think.

Realignment in tiers makes a lot of sense. I like the idea. I could see a league where teams move up and down levels based mainly on last year's win/loss records. The players are already doing it; the better ones graduate to the same few teams. Divisions could be more balanced at the start of the season to reflect the reality created by baseball's lack of a salary cap.

Baseball being what it is, it's quite possible that the playoff winner in the junior circuit could beat the playoff winner in the big-bucks circuit. For a game or two or even a best-of-seven series if, say, the junior circuit champion has a pair of ace starters. People would like that. If the old highly paid guys can't fend off the upstarts, they don't deserve the ring.

Realign the divisions based on geography and payroll, reduce the amount of interdivision and interleague play, and come September there will be a variety of teams with winning records. Young upstart teams and old highly-paid teams. There would be great interest in the playoffs. And no market would need to suffer through 20 consecutive years of losing seasons.

One more thing. For the love of God, get the Pirates out of sharing a division with Houston. There is nothing I hate more than all those games in Houston. It's friggin' stupid. Bismarck, North Dakota is closer to Pittsburgh than friggin' Houston.

Win

Ronny who? All hail Tony Ballgame!

Game on

Bryan Morris, Donnie Veal, Ronald Uviedo, Justin Thomas, Ramon Aguero, Jeff Sues and Anthony Claggett vs. the Hapless Manatees at noon.

Walking the earth

Last season I laid up supplies all winter, in preparation for the coming Pirates season. Opening day came and I was hunkered down in a beer fort of such size and solidity and swankitude, I thought I'd have some shelter through the All-Star break. At least. Alas.

New year new strategy. Why be a stationary target? Move around some more. Leaner and meaner and more nimble. Sleeping in the open air. Growing a huge bristly beard. Not washing my jeans and wool shirt. Why settle down and have so much invested in one place, I figure.

R.I.P. Jim Bibby

With heavy hearts and sweaty brows, we pour some out for Game 7 starter Jim Bibby.

How about that bullpen

Something about new guys in the bullpen. Oh yeah.

How about that bullpen? Turning things around, I say.

Long live the comments

Haloscan was terminated while we were napping in the twisted ruins of our Stiller fort. We scraped together the change and paid for the Echo upgrade. We are hopeful that comments will return soon.

My thanks to our two readers, who finally woke us and alerted us to the power outage.

NFL week 17: Steelers at Dolphins

Elimination day.

Can't say I like the Steelers' chances of making the playoffs.

NFL week 16: Ravens at Steelers

Ben taking a knee with a minute to go.

Looks like win.