The Pirates get a day off. They are 13-17, 4 games under .500 and 7.5 out of first. The Brewers are 11 games over .500 and running away with the division.
Tomorrow night the Pirates will play the Cubs at Wrigley. As I expected, the Pirates catch the Cubs just off a sweep of the Nationals. They've won six straight.
The good news for the Pirates: tomorrow night, there will be Snell to pay.
Armas vs. Sheets. Doumit catching. Iowa Pirate waving the Jolly Roger in LF.
Dejan Kovacevic explains the perhaps unlikely combination of the Pirates' good fielding percentage and their not-good BABIP (opponents' batting average on balls in play). The players' range has not been good, and the fundamentals have been neglected. Pitchers like Duke and Maholm cannot be expected to look good if they start in front of a defense that cannot get to an above-average percentage of balls.
10-0, ouch. Meanwhile the Cubs have won three straight and now own second place.
The Pirates have two more with the Brewers and then three games at Wrigley. Then a long homestand with Atlanta, Florida, and Arizona.
Maholm and Claudio Vargas in less than an hour. McLouth in CF, LaRoche at 1B.
The Brewers are feeling the love from USA Today.
Brewers owner Attanasio:
"I love waking up in the morning, picking up the paper and looking at the standings," Attanasio says. "I'd wish I could tell you that was it, but I probably look at that thing 10 times a day."
Everyone should look at the standings ten times a day when their team is eight games above .500 and in first place, don't you think?
Two stories worth reading: this Greg Couch item for the Chicago Sun-Times and this Bill Plaschke item for the Los Angeles Times.
In the first, the Cubs are described as a failure for their 12-14 record. I'll go on record as saying, when the Cubs left Pittsburgh, I pitied their next few opponents. They look ready to go on a tear. Ten days from now perhaps I'll revisit this prediction and see what came of the Cubs.
In the second, we learn about the subservient toadies hired by teams (some? all?) to puff the whiny titty-baby ballplayers. This is not a flattering portrait of life in the clubhouse. It's repulsive in fact. I mention it because the man at the center of the story worked for the Dodgers while Tracy was there. FWIW, a peek behind the curtain.
Gorzelanny and Bush in five minutes. Doumit starts at first, Nady in right.
Dejan Kovacevic gently pokes a stick at the still-hibernating LaRoche in "Adam bomb".
In today's Q+A, Dejan continues the LaRoche theme, and suggests calling Wally Joyner or trying anything other than what's clearly not working.
I've got an idea. Adam wears Deluxe Eye Patch for games and batting practice for one week. He'll continue to struggle, most likely. After one week, he removes eye patch. The sudden return to binocular vision will give his neural circuitry involved in seeing a baseball a chance to reset.
Up from Indy, on DL, and due back tonight, respectively, notes Dejan Kovacevic. Wasdin was put on the DL with an unspecified ailment, possibly chronic ineffectiveness. Should Nady's return force Doumit to the bench?
The Pirates will be back, in a little bit, for the full game of the one-and-a-quarterheader . . . with Snells on.
Pirates and Cubs will finish the suspended game before all Snell breaks loose in the regularly-scheduled afternoon game.
Lilly and Armas in half an hour. I would call that an even match-up.
Some thunder in the area.
The Bucs are right at .500 and three and a half back of Milwaukee. Last night the top three teams in the division standings, the Brewers, the Pirates, and the Reds, beat the bottom three teams, the Cardinals, the Cubs, and the Astros. After Milwaukee, not much separates the division.
The Pirates are 5-6 at home this year and 5-2 on this current homestand.
Brian O'Neill looks at the new deal, fangraphs.
I admit I'm underwhelmed by these things. Of course the win probability goes up as the end of the game approaches. A football version would show how a last-second field goal wins the game, and for this a person might be tempted to argue that field goals are terribly important and field-goal kickers, terribly clutch. But we all know, as one of the tenets of the higher criticism, that football games are not won and lost on last-minute field goals. Both teams had 59 minutes to achieve a field-goal-proof position.
The same is true in baseball. A run is a run. In a 2-2 game, a run in the eighth is not important without the two runs scored earlier in the game. If the team wins 3-2, it sounds foolish to me to talk like the third run figured more in the win than the first or the second run. All runs count equally on the scoreboard. Preventing runs in the first is just as important as preventing runs in the eighth. And so on and so forth.
That said, Matt Capps and Ian Snell have been as good as anyone in the NL. There's no denying it. All hail Matt Capps, all hail Ian Snell.
The Pirates are one game under .500 and three and a half back. The Brewers, at 15-9, had a great first month. All the teams of the NL Central continue to play each other today and tomorrow.
Pirates are still at Mediocre Point looking up at Opportunity Mountain. Paul Maholm and Aaron Harang this afternoon.
So far I'm underwhelmed by these picks, but what do I know? I don't know much of anything, sir.
... tell me they did not trade up to draft a punter? What's next--a mascot?
Picking Spaeth allows Arians to go with three TE sets. PFW likes the pick:
(Spaeth) is one of the best blockers in the draft and has the type of tough-minded, hard-nosed mentality to endear himself to the Pittsburgh brass. The Steelers, who like to use a lot of multiple-TE packages, landed a warrior.
Scouting reports from the NFL and NFL draft countdown are favorable. PFW adds that Woodley "... made plays for the Wolverines and came up with big plays in the clutch". This bizarre youtube montage 'the Wood' has highlights (and quotes and pictures of wood. Earmuff the kids for this, as there's profanity).
Nate Silver of BP presents The PECOTA Top 100. Only one Bucco. When Upsides are used to assess overall organizational talent levels, the Bucs come in dead last in the final summary rankings of "Total Talent Stock". (Thanks to sludgeworm for the link).
Mesmerized by the Bucs' 11-10 start, we haven't thought much of late about football. But of course we're acutely aware that, later today, the names of young men will be read aloud in succession. A select handful of these men will be given the chance to compete for the right to wear a new throwback mustard helmet.
The Steelers needs are many (e.g. OLB/OL/DE/RB/CB/WR/ILB/P). As one would expect given the vagaries of the draft, predictions rarely agree:
Ryan of HSS predicts G Ben Grubbs. Ryan also likes punter Dan Sepulveda.
PFW predicts LB Lawrence Timmons.
Ed Bouchette predicts the Steelers trade down with JAX from 15 to 17, trading CB Darrelle Revis for DE Jamaal Anderson and an extra third round pick.
For live draft coverage, the P-G's Jerry Micco will be updating the P-G's Blog 'N' Gold.
John Fay describes their trouble. Jerry Narron comments.
They've had problems with their bullpen, which features not enough variety and not enough talent.
Four wins in a row and the Pirates have moved to that definition of mediocrity, the .500 record.
Every win now is big money for the team and the players. But they will have to kick it up a notch if they want to win much the rest of this homestand.
That series with the Astros was an epic battle of weakness against super weakness. I'm with Phil Garner. The Astros lost these games more than the Pirates won them. The Astros were much weaker than the Pirates. The Pirates had just enough self-command to walk away big winners.
That said, wins are wins and you take them as you find them.
The next two series are all-important.
Ian Snell goes for us tomorrow, with Tom Gorzelanny to follow. They have their aces ready to go, so the Pirates should approach these two games as they would a playoff series. If they get blown out by the Reds and then get blown out by the Cubs, then they are back to needing something like a four-game winning streak just to regain the opportunity. And the way the last fourteen years have gone, it is hard to say that four-game winning streaks are common things.
So it could be the team's last chance. They need to establish themselves as a group of men who tour the country with a winning record. The sooner the better. And that must be the goal: get above .500 and stay there--for a long time.
If they need a little extra motivation, they should study the standings. It is always a good day to win a baseball game, but it is an especially good time to be mediocre, or slightly above average, in the NL Central. The Pirates are locked up with the Reds. Only one team can advance from this point.
The Pirates are 9-10 and three games back. Today they send Tony Armas to match strikes with Wandy Rodriguez.
This is a day game. It starts in about three hours.
Keep an eye on the weather ... should be OK but sudden rain could happen ...
Adam LaRoche is uh, clutch.
Jose Bautista followed with a hit up the middle that moved Wilson to third. And Jason Bay was intentionally walked so that the Astros could face LaRoche.Hey, why not? LaRoche came to the plate 0 for 4 on the evening, leaving him 0 for 18 at PNC Park since joining the Pirates.
Houston shortstop Adam Everett was shading well behind second base, and LaRoche noticed it. Moehler would throw him the steady diet of low-and-away sinkers he has been seeing -- and not hitting -- all season. And LaRoche was aware of that, too.
"How can you not be?" LaRoche asked.
He took a pitch, then willfully squibbed one of those sinkers right to where Everett would have been. It barely eluded Everett's backhand try to reach the outfield, and Wilson touched home to end the Pirates' longest game since the 18-inning gem they won against the same team at the same venue May 27, 2006.
"I didn't even want to stroke the ball," LaRoche said. "I just wanted to guide it right through that hole, just like a game of pepper."
That's Dejan Kovacevic on the lyre.
Dejan Kovacevic touches clutch again in the Q&A. He expresses a little frustration. I disagree with the parts I read. I would agree with the parts I didn't read except--I didn't read them.
The Pirates need good hitters. They would be wise to keep it simple. Hitting in this or that kind of situation is putting too fine a point on it. Get and make guys who hit well in every situation, and they will do it in the clutch.
Albers vs. Duke, starting now. Freddy has been scratched after an unidentified object was removed from his eye earlier today.
Fire Joe Morgan has fun with Dejan's clutch piece. The conclusion:
Tracy's "case" is that they need a high BA with RISP, and that OBP doesn't matter so much. That's like saying that the important part of the alley-oop is the slam dunk, and it doesn't matter so much whether anyone bothered to lob you the ball.(link via WHYGAVS)So, in the end, I guess I made fun of Jim Tracy. Dejan Kovacevic gets a check-plus, because I think if you read between the lines he is on the side of Facts and Truth. Freddy Sanchez and Jason Bay get gold stars. Ronny Paulino and everyone else who would rather pitch to Albert Pujols than David Eckstein gets a punch in the face and an exhortation to seek counseling.
In response to Dejan Kovacevic's clutch study, Charlie argues that the Pirates are wrong and Dave Pinto follows Jason Bay and argues that it's not clutchiness that exists but chokiness.
There's no doubt that the situation affects a player's ability to hit. With all respect to Charlie, I am not persuaded by something like career batting averages and postseason batting averages. The hitting environment is just not stable, and the data is far too incomplete (making sample sizes much too small) to say with any authority that the numbers prove anything in the debate about "clutch." It could be coincidence that Joe Rudi's postseason numbers delivered in the clutch match his overall regular-season numbers. Joe Rudi does not dent the argument either way.
Think about the variance in the hitting environment from at-bat to at-bat. Some players are affected by defensive alignments. Sometimes you'll see a shift on, for example, and both the shortstop and the second baseman will be on the right side of the infield. That affects a player's ability to get on base in the at-bat. Or maybe some lucky genius had the right-fielder cheat just far enough toward the line that a usual double is caught for an out. These situations are not easily sorted from the rest of the player's at-bats. And there is no "true" or consistent "regular" hitting environment. There is enough variance from at-bat to at-bat to make each one unique and each one its own too-small sample size--when, that is, we get into debates about one of the endless variety of at-bat subsets.
So it's hard for us to say what a player's "true" clutch hitting ability is--it depends, in ways we cannot articulate with the current stats made available, say, from ESPN or USAToday, on the kinds of situations in which they bat. I am not saying that season-long, month-long, or career-long averages are meaningless. I am saying they are too messy and complicated to neatly subdivide into statistically authoritative arguments about subsets of at-bats.
And not all "close and late" situations are the same. There are games where both teams look tired and appear to be going through the motions, and there are games where the playoffs are on the line and the stadium is packed and the crowd noise is intimidating.
The data is not complete enough to say much of anything decisively at this point.
Proof for me that hitting is heavily influenced by the immediate hitting environment are the abysmal numbers most players post in pinch-hitting situations. Very few players are good pinch-hitters, as I discovered, to my surprise, a few years ago. If hitting ability was truly some kind of ideal constant, we would not see a difference between PH numbers and everyday play numbers. This, for me, is proof that something like "clutch" surely exists--but what that is would depend on how it's defined and even then, the numbers are not likely to be very helpful in distinguishing one player's clutchiness from another's. Fine distinctions may be impossible to quantify.
Further proof that clutch exists is anecdotal. Even Charlie concedes it in Elway and Jordan. But for me, this anecdotal evidence carries as much or more weight than the kind of statistical evidence we have at hand today. I have no disdain for statistics, mind you. Rather it's a serious respect for their present limitations. Because I have thought so long and hard about them, I am of the opinion that they do not tell as much as we wish. So I expect the study of baseball to be one that is further characterized by innovations in approach and further scholarly explanations of how everything you previously thought was all wrong. (For example.) Though I do think that some sabermetricians adopt a tiresome "Mr. Enlightenment" tone toward the observation of anecdotal evidence, I am no bleeding-heart Romantic arguing for the conviction of reason-transcending intuition. My belief in clutch is not an article of faith, either.
My advice to the Pirates would run along the lines Adam LaRoche advances in the piece. You certainly can't depend on some perception of clutch ability. The season is too long. Not every game will have a playoff atmosphere. It's just not possible.
If the Pirates want to score more runs, they have to get on base more often. Any way they can get on base is a good way to get on base. As I've said before, I'm not so frustrated when they load the bases and fail to score--as they have too often done this season. The best solution to such trouble "in the red zone" is practice in the red zone. If they keep loading the bases, they will score more runs.
So I believe in clutch and I believe that people choke, but I would not trust in clutch. I would trust more in consistency. I'd rather have a #2 hitter who can draw a walk in his sleep than a #2 hitter who appears to have an ability to deliver a hit in a clutch situation. Why? Because the first player will have far more opportunities to exercise his skill than the second player. As a result, the team would score more runs. And I'd also be skeptical that we can be certain that this or that player truly possesses more clutchiness than the others.
And one more thing on the lineup. I'd stick with what works. If the Pirates win big against mainly right-handed pitching on Monday and face a right-hander on Tuesday, I'd run that same lineup out there again. If they can win often with Jack Wilson in the #2 spot, then don't fix what's not broken. The standings, however, suggest that Jim Tracy would do well to keep tinkering with the lineup until he finds a consistent winner.
Brian O'Neill looks at the coming homestand.
I'm still not sold that anyone's hitting numbers are beyond the usual week-to-week fluctuations. They don't look good, a number of them, but they have established a good level of ability in previous year(s). They are not rookies. So they are due.
Break out the hidden vigorish, and bust some people on the head.
Take it easy.
Here's some reading material if you need it. The Pirates climbed out of last place with the win yesterday. Hopefully the Cubs can sweep the Brewers in their series this week.
The coming homestand will be Astros, Reds, Cubs. Weekday games this Thursday and Wednesday a week from now (5/2). It will be nothing but the NL Central until May 10. Now would be a good time for the team to heat up and maintain concentration.
The Pirates are 6-10, in last place, and 3.5 games out of first. The Pirates have won only two of their last ten. The Astros have won eight of the last ten, and the Brewers have won seven of the last ten, and they are teams at the top of the NL Central. Those teams play each other at two o'clock.
The Dodgers are 13-5 and own the best record in the NL. The Pirates send Tom Gorzelanny against Brett Tomko. They need a win. Game on at four.
The Nuttings don't like the Forbes report.
I was inclined to believe that the owners were not profiting excessively. Then I found out what they pay Bud Selig. And of course the owners do not think that is excessive. So it's clear that my idea of excessive is different than that of other people.
This is one of those west coast games that starts after the nightly departure of the early risers, the children, and the heavy drinkers.
Beautiful day today. I'll expect I'll just read about tonight's game in tomorrow's paper. It will be Tony Armas and Randy Wolf.
To keep hope alive, the Pirates must win, I think, at least one of these games in LA. They do not want to dick around out there and come home five games under .500.
The Pirates are 2-2 on this road trip. That is OK. Six and eight is not good but not horrible. Six games under .500 would be horrible. They gave away a game or two early and have not really won any games they deserved to lose. It's not a lucky 6-8.
The back half of the rotation looks awful. The front half looks hall of fame. Snell and Gorzo will not finish with numbers just like they have now. Duke and Maholm and Armas are not so awful.
Twenty-one days or eighteen or nineteen games are the smallest significant sample sizes, in my long-held opinion. With the freaky weather and unusual amount of time off early, I might extend that for assessing the start of the season for individual hitters. Right now I say don't even look at batting averages, strikeout-to-walk ratios, etc. for the hitters--wait until after game twenty or twenty-one. And then it's a bad spell if the numbers stink, and it's not necessarily evidence that someone has to go to AAA or that someone is a bust. Two consecutive twenty-day periods of full-time play and Noonie numbers, and then I am with the people calling for some kind of change.
Overall, I am not disappointed by the start of the season. They are only two games under, two and a half out of first, and they have yet to win a game at home. Things don't look great, and some of these losses have been demoralizing to watch, but on the whole there is still a lot of opportunity for this team. It is April 19 and there is play left in this season.
And that makes this season, already, twice as good as last year's.
Duke vs. Suppan. Bucs trail 4-1 in the third after Duke got roughed up for 4 earnies in the first.
Dejan Kovacevic analyzes the payroll discrepancy between the Brewers and Bucs. Of the $20,000,000 difference, 9 and 5 million can be attributed to increased revenue the Brewers receive from ticket sales and parking, respectively. That leaves only 1 Burnitz (6 million dollars) for Nutting and McClatchy to stuff in their pockets. Despite the ownership group's secrecy in their financial dealings, they share at least that they're comfortable:
Neither principal owner Bob Nutting nor McClatchy will talk about how their operations compare to those of other teams, including the Brewers. But McClatchy did say, "I'm very comfortable with where our payroll is."
From Pittsburgh Lumber Co., Randy's 9th and 10th installments of the Downfall-of-the-Fam-A-Lee series continue the inquiry into whether bad trades that built the 1979 team doomed the 1980s teams. Part 9 focuses on Enrique Romo and, towards the end, provides a likely explanation for Romo's mysterious disappearance. Part 10 focuses on Jim Rooker, one of the heroes from 1979 WS Game 5.
For the first half of the long streak of losing seasons, the Pirates owned the Brewers. No matter how bad the Pirates were, they could still beat up on the Brewers. That's how I remember it. Don't correct me if I'm wrong.
Then everything went to hell and now the Brewers are good.
It stirs up powerful contradictory feelings. On one hand, they are the Brewers and I respect that. And for a long time I liked playing the Brewers; playing them was a holiday from the torturous monotony of losing series after series.
On the other hand, I hate the f'n Brewers and their wealth of outfielders and prospects and Ben Sheets and their Bill Hall.
I forget who's pitching tonight, but I believe it is a battle of back halves of rotations. Paul Maholm and . . . (looking it up) Claudio Vargas. Starting soon.
And tied with Houston, a team that obviously recovered from their home-opening series. Houston will play Cincinnati as the Pirates play Milwaukee.
The NL Central is knotted up. The teams on top play each other tonight (Reds and Brewers). And the Pirates get another crack at the team immediately above them.
Another strange thing--looks like the Pirates are not the only team who have not played so well at home. Hopefully the sage fumigation Mr. Nutting scheduled for this week will have the stadium in a friendly mood when the Pirates return.
Honest Wagner friend Juan Quinto repaid his loan in full. Now to find another worthy microloan recipient . . .
. . . some of the more appealing choices include: butcher, guy with enormous PA system on roof of car ("hey you -- on the motorcycle --"), donut maker, and owner of computer game hall.
You could call this last place, or you could call it two games out of first place.
. . . no game tonight. So this is all we got . . .
Bucdaddy raised a good question in the comments the other day. Does being a fan of the Pirates make you a better beer drinker?
At first, it may be hard to see how the two hobbies might be related. On second thought, I see some clear connections. So I can imagine more than one approach to this deep and thorny question.
Tony Armas vs. Barry Zito tonight. I will ponder the question as I head to the beer store to stock up.
Dejan Kovacevic reports. Of course I agree with the decision to retire no. 11.
All hail no. 11!
Baseball Musings notices how far off the scoring has been this year vs. last year. It's the Pirates' fault, of course.
The Pirates fell from first. The NL Central remains knotted up. The big event this weekend looks to be the Cardinals-Brewers series. Hopefully they can wear out each other's bullpens before the Pirates visit both these teams next week.
Spike had an idea. For your off-day satisfaction, consider burning sage around the computer, the radio, and the television.
If someone had told me that the Pirates would finish the first eight games with a 4-4 record, I would say, "That is not bad." It is not good, either. It is mediocre.
The fact that they remain in first place with a 4-4 record suggests the great opportunity that mediocre teams might have in this division.
Not everything is going right so far this year, but not everything is going wrong. A little winning would go a long way right now.
This is a much different and a much better situation than the 0-6 start of last season. Now if the back end of our rotation can pitch as well as the converted relievers of St. Louis, perhaps the Pirates can win a few and put the early pain of this home-opening series behind them.
Minor-league middle-relief journeyman vs. Beer-guzzling Tom Gorzelanny. Game on pretty soon.
It is not too early to look at the standings.
It is much too early to worry about Adam LaRoche. He will be fine. He's not 39 years old with a recent history that predicts decline.
The same can be said for Ronny Paulino.
This is a day game. It will be cold. Braden Looper will start for the Cardinals, Ian Snell will start for the Pirates.
It's never too early to look at the standings.
If you must be at work, put the game on the radio. Or stream it from MLB.com--if their lousy servers can make room for you.
The Jeff Conine Experience continues with Zach Duke and Eric Milton at 1:15.
Paul Meyer on the return of Sanchez: the demoted Doumit will catch every day for Indy. Meanwhile, Don Kelly enjoys a major league roster spot. I'm guessing that demoting Doumit over Kelly is more about trying to get regular ABs for Doumit than affirming Don Kelly's irreplaceable value from the bench.
Robert Dvorchak for the P-G, on 21st century baseball technology:
A computer like IBM's Deep Blue can be programmed to beat a grand master in chess. But no computer can throw a called strike by Jason Bay, can it?Prediction: in twenty years, a retired Tracy will blissfully clown around with his Jose Hernandez and Mike Edwards simulators.Actually, there is a device called the ProBatter PX2 pitching simulator. Using patented technology, the machine projects a DVD-quality image of a real pitcher onto an 8x10-foot screen, either throwing from a windup or from the stretch. At the moment of release, an actual ball is fired through a small hole in the screen simulating fastballs, sliders, sinkers, cutters, curves and change-ups. The top speed is 100 mph.
The Yankees have purchased the system for their big league and minor league clubs.
Tony Armas Jr. and Eric Milton. They moved the game from 7pm to 1pm because it's so friggin' cold.
The following plan is foolproof. This is how the Pirates can win the NL Central:
1. Move into first place.
2. Stay 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.
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.
Wilbur Miller's Altoona preview went up at OnlyBucs yesterday. See also his Indianapolis preview.
Rowdy and I both strongly agree with Dejan Kovacevic here: the first six games are really important. Must avoid learned helplessness.
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 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 Kovacevic, on the burning desire of the "lackadaisical, outright lifeless" Adam LaRoche.
So who would win a fishing contest: Adam LaRoche or Bob Nutting?
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.
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.
And there's your 2007 Pittsburgh Pirates for April 2, 2007.
Please make predictions in the end-of-spring poll thread.
So I was at lunch today, by myself, after doing a whole bunch of work all morning, at a fairly swanky establishment. I ordered an over-the-top deluxe sandwich and step over to the cooler to select a beverage.
In the back of my mind, I am thinking about the Pirates and wondering what will come of them. I am scanning the rows of beverages absent-mindedly. My eye is looking for something--I don't know what. There are a few remaining roster cuts, but so far as I can tell they are predictable.
Then it happens: Latrobe, Pa. Yes! I nearly fall to me knees in gratitude. I find a somewhat stale Rolling Rock from last summer waiting for me in that original Latrobe, Pa. bottle. Hallelujah!
Next I felt a Spiritual Presence beside me--like an old friend had slipped down from the heavens to stand beside me with a pleasant smile. Yeah, like that.
It was a good lunch.
Oh, and in other news, the Pirates cut Jose Hernandez today. So long, Jose.
I also see, as Dejan Kovacevic explains, that "they have Nate McLouth, Ryan Doumit, Humberto Cota, Brad Eldred, Don Kelly and Jose Castillo as six players for five bench openings, pending a decision on second baseman Freddy Sanchez's status." I like Don Kelly and see him as the next Mackowiak. I mean that in a good way. Cota never appears to call a good game and he can't hit too much, so I would cut him, but I'm not the decider and I acknowledge the Pirates can't go wrong choosing five of these six.
...it appears Don Kelly made the team for sure. Congratulations, Don Kelly!
