Joe Rutter and Josh Fogg

Joe Rutter and Josh Fogg trade comic lines in Joe's latest on the ongoing Ray Charles festival the Bucs have been enjoying in the locker room.

Minor league update

Lynchburg is back to .500, but Nashville just fell to .500. More as always here. We read this Trib feature daily.

Altoona in PNC Park

We liked the idea when we first heard about it. We like it more after reading these reports (here, here) on the anticipation of the Curve players for their game this weekend.

Bullington, Cortes in Futures Game

Details here, here, here, here.

Remembering the 1997 Pirates

Seems like an a good idea right about now. Steve Novotney has an article about Lamont's club.

Gammons making stuff up

In his latest essay, Peter Gammons makes up a trade that "makes sense" for the Pirates:

4. The Padres trade Xavier Nady to Pittsburgh for Kris Benson. In his start last Thursday, Benson threw better than in a long while, and this atmosphere might be perfect for him. Nady was almost in the Brian Giles deal last season, and could play first, third or the outfield.

Nady is a 25-year-old rightfielder who has some power. Nate Silver's PECOTA projection system compares Nady to Kevin Mench and a ton of other very similar players including Bill Robinson (Yankees version), Tony Perez, Bob Watson, and Eduardo Perez. Nady's been playing at Portland for most of this year. With Burroughs at third and the need for three centerfielders in that Petco outfield, it's easy to see how the Padres could be induced to part with him.

For the record, it doesn't look like Gammons has any evidence there has been any talk of such a deal. It's not even a rumor. It's just Gammons playing matchmaker & making stuff up.

Josh Fogg tonight

Good picture here. He should grow one of those Amish beards and then he'd look more like Oliver Perez.

1979 Pirates around .500 in mid-June

The Trib has been publishing stuff about the 1979 Pirates.

Game 66, Josh Fogg at Tim Redding

Monday's starter for Houston, Tim Redding, is a right-handed finesse pitcher & average ground/flyball guy. He's run hot and cold this season and has been mediocre this month.

No Pirate hitters have much of a meaningful record against Redding. Kendall's 1-for-14 at Enron whatever this year and usually he hits pretty well there so I anticipate a correction.

Josh Fogg, our right-handed finesse guy, leads the Pirates. Fogg has been generating more ground balls this season and you have to wonder if that's one reason for his recent success.

The big story tonight might be Daryle Ward's return to Enron Orange Juice Park. His career numbers there are better than the rest of his career numbers: .282 / .328 / .479 with 22 doubles and 14 home runs. The Astros were disappointed with his play in his 27th season; 2002 was his second straight "down" year after a most promising 2000 season. They dealt him for Ruddy Lugo - months before running his brother out of town for some off-the-field allegations - to Los Angeles in January 2003. The story then was that Ward was underachieving, the Astros wanted to reduce payroll, and Craig Biggio was going to play centerfield. Hunsicker's remarks at the time must have been irritating:

``I'm disappointed that we're not going to see him reach his full potential in an Astros uniform,'' Houston general manager Gerry Hunsicker said. ``He is still a young player with great talent, and I hope this opportunity will be positive for his career. We certainly wish him well.''

Ward proved him right, however, with his poor play last year in Los Angeles. Like Ruben Mateo, Ward has a chance to fulfill the considerable potential most people saw in him as a young man. It would be a great story if he plays this well all year, and it would provide Pirate fans with something to consider when they see Jose Guillen blossoming years after leaving the Bucs as an underachieving prospect.

Ron Cook on ripping the Pirates

Don't miss his latest. That throw from the outfield was godawful, and made me reverse my dim idea that Craig Wilson should be the first guy signed for next year. Trade him to the AL where he can DH and get mad prospects for him. We can find another bat for right field.

Interview with Ralph Kiner

Steve Serby has this interview with Ralph Kiner in yesterday's New York Post. Kiner, who dated Elizabeth Taylor, rates her an "11."

Being a fan

Inspired by Brian of Redbird Nation's analogy, here's some thoughts about being a fan.

What does it mean to be a fan? History can help. The word "fan" comes not from "fanatic" but from "fans" which derives from "fancy." This word, "the fancy," was used to describe the enormous crowds that assembled to watch the epic bare-knuckle prizefights of the nineteenth century. The fancy was a diverse mix of men from all social stations. They interacted as equals and had a grand time watching the fight, betting on it, drinking and getting drunk, fighting with one another, and doing all the other fun things people would do at such things. If the sun was shining and you had a spare dollar and the day off, you wanted to go and be a part of that crowd. "The fancy" became "the fans" and an individual member of the crowd became "a fan." The play on "fanatic" was obvious from the beginning of the usage of "a fan," I'm sure.

The sports fan is often caricactured as a man of id. And no doubt we do turn to sports because it allows us to indulge certain passions and self-delusions that we couldn't possibly indulge in our regular working lives. But sports does far more than deliver that high or sanction that rowdyism.

Being a fan means different things for different sports and in different places. A given team might have a fan culture that breaks down into a wide range of subcultures, too. At Wrigley Field, for example, not all Cubs fans are there to gratify their id's directive to swill beer and holler. Uh ... bad example. You know what I mean.

The basic thing that sports does is bring people together for diversion. The basic characteristic of a fan is not some lack of self-control but an eagerness to go and be a part of that crowd. It's an eagerness to be with lots of friends and lots of like-minded strangers in a setting where everyone agrees to ignore all the usual and painful objects of our attention - work, illness, pain, war - and enjoy all the amenities and distractions of the arena together.

After all, why are you reading this, right now? Not because you're still high off last night's Pirate game. And not because you are jonesing for a hit of irrationality, and not because you feel a duty to perform your religious devotions. Odds are, you're goofing off. You're at work, or you should be at work. You are taking a break. You have gone somewhere that's characterized by lots of people ignoring work. It feels good to be among such people, when you are so inclined. Even if you don't leave a comment or read some comment written by some total stranger, you still have the luxury of knowing you're among other people who are also goofing off.

That said, more Ruben Mateo please!

Down to the river time

Cue the Ray Charles. Chris Adamski has the kindness to add 'em up and tell the world the Pirates have lost 17 of their last 20 games. Ouch. Put it that way and the Pirates are looking like ET in the river.

It's not that bad, though it is depressing. But let's not get mawkish.

A sentimental blues
Will worry you
And make you do
Things that you
Wouldn't do
Only when you
Hear these blues

A sentimental blues
Will wet your eye
You wonder why
You heave a sigh
You start to cry
Each time that you
Hear these blues

Sigh, sigh, sigh
And drool
Cry, cry, cry
You fool
Yes, I know that it's cool

Here's hoping the Astros think they'll have an easy time this week.

Steve with Kendall

Steve Novotney writes about a conversation he had recently with Jason Kendall. I'm not sure what Jason means when he says that money has ruined baseball. It's doesn't look ruined to me. He's earned his jack and we don't begrudge Jason one dime of his salary. If has the impression that all the fans think his contract "ruins" our team, well, he's wrong.

Here's one of many good quotes from the article:

"Listen, if there is one other thing I've figured out playing this game, it's that the easiest thing to do in baseball is to hustle. Hitting is hard. Fielding is hard. Pitching is hard. There are other factors that go into how well you hit, field and pitch, but hustling is entirely under your control. There's just no excuse."

Go read it yourself for the rest.

Joe Rutter: Mac is "green"

Joe Rutter shares our inability to understand why the MLB front office has abused Mac this season.

If "spraying" was a suspendable offense in the NFL, imagine how often Bill Cowher would watch the game from his office.

Oliver Perez

Perez threw 107 pitches to get through six today, or 17.8 pitches per inning, up a bit from the 15.4 pitches he averaged going into today's game. The last three starts he averaged 15.7 pitches per inning. He looks pretty tired here in the top of the seventh; his pitches are missing their spots. Here's come Mac to pull him. Good effort from Oliver Perez today, but not his best for sure.

Darlye Ward hits No. 10

Ward has been hitting well lately after that 1-for-23 stretch earlier this month. He went 10-for-37 (.270) with four extra-base hits (but no walks) in the nine games previous to this afternoon's match. Ward is one of the "washed-up," "mediocre" free-agent signings that has worked out pretty well so far for Dave Littlefield.

Craig Wilson gets the day off

He's in a rut, Mac says in this report by Joe Rutter.

Right fielder Craig Wilson didn't get the ball out of the infield, went 0 for 3 and is hitless in his past 18 at-bats. He has gone 2 for 34 in the past 10 games, dropping his batting average from .349 to .309.

Wilson is the only Pirates player to start all 64 games. Perhaps the grind is finally catching up to him. McClendon doesn't think that's the case.

"He's just in a rut and that's only normal," he said. "I think he'll be fine. His approach is fine and he's staying aggressive. ... He'll find his holes."

So ... Craig Wilson will find and mend the holes in socks as he rides the pine today?

Another Simon start, another GIDP

Simon has a track record of hitting, but not, I think, at his current weight. Bottom of the first, runners on first and third, one out, Pirates with a chance to have a big inning, Randall Simon at the plate, guess what happens.

It's important, when your starters are struggling, to score often and early and let them pitch with a lead. Kip Wells wrote about this a while back. I suppose Simon will continue to get one start per series so long as he's on the roster, but here's to hoping it's not much longer. The man's a weak-hitting GIDP machine this season.

How often has Kip pitched with a lead this season? Not often, I'd guess, seeing that he's often matched up against another team's ace.

Game 65, Garcia vs. Perez, Father's Day

Enjoy those promotional hats for Father's Day at PNC Park. The Pirates will face another power pitcher, Freddy Garcia. Garcia's name is often mentioned in trade rumors these days. (Click here for Peter White's essay arguing for a Garcia trade at Mariners Musings. Here's to hoping the Bucs score often and early and give Oliver Perez a good lead to protect.

And Happy Father's Day.