Game 83: Pirates at Reds

Zach Duke takes on Edinson Volquez tonight at seven. Six games under and back in the basement, the integrity of the travesty appears safe. For now.

Game 82: Pirates at Reds

Paul Maholm vs. the Harangutan starting soon. Paul Meyer notes that for the first time in 52 years, the Bucs' pitcher is not batting ninth.

Game 81: Rays at Pirates

Gorzelanny vs. Sonnanstine starting now. Bucs are on pace for 77 wins.

Game 80: Rays at Pirates

Edwin Jackson and Ty Taubenheim tonight.

Mid-season editorial

As they approach the mid-point in the season, the big story is the ineffectiveness of most of the pitching staff.

The Pirates are rolling with a few flat tires in the starting rotation, and the failures of the starters have taken a toll on the bullpen. Opponents are averaging about 8 runs per game over the last week or so.

Edwin Jackson will start against Ty Taubenheim, who has been called up to make a start for the Pirates tonight. Denny Bautista, who was acquired in a low-risk trade to provide some relief for the overworked mop-up crew, has gone on the DL. T.J. "Steely Mc" Beam and John Van Benschoten have been recalled to eat innings, if they can. Dejan Kovacevic reports for the Post-Gazette that the indestructible-looking "Franky Six Fingers" Osoria could also be headed to the DL. Kovacevic also reports that Cuban defector Yoslan Herrara could be called up to start next week. Rotoworld reports the Bucs just picked up Ryan Drese. I guess we'll see him on the big club pretty soon.

The Bucs are 37-42 and seven games back in the race for the wild card. Another loss tonight and they'll fall to that depressing depth, six games under. One measure published by Baseball Prospectus suggests the Pirates have a 1 in 200 chance of making the postseason.

Pirate fans may be asking themselves if they think the team should gun for a .500 season, thus breaking that depressing run of non-winning seasons, or if they should make roster moves and trades that sacrifice the present somewhat for the future. I see the distinction as a false one. On one hand, .500 is not satisfying. If they finish the year at .500, I expect most Pirate fans will feel silly for thinking it was going to feel like a big accomplishment. It won't land the Pirates in the playoffs. On the other hand, I'm deeply skeptical of plans that see much beyond next year. In most cases, I think the best decision for next year is also the best decision for the rest of this season. And plans for two years down are fool's gold. Of course the team should stockpile all the best young talent they can; what I object to, and scoff at, to some extent, are the kind of plans that spell out who is our CF, who is our ace pitcher, who is our clean-up hitter, etc., in years as far away as 2010 and 2011. If the team stockpiles all the depth and promise it can in the minor leagues, it's wise to believe that players will appear as needed. What's not wise is pretending you know exactly which prospects will pan out, or which veterans will pull up gimpy and ineffective.

So it's six of one, half dozen of the other. The Pirates need to make roster moves and trades that will make them a better team right now and for next year. .500 can't be a goal, and liquidating the roster talent in the belief that there will be, at some later date, stunningly effective ways to spend that saved salary, can't be the plan.

Game 80: Rays at Pirates

Jimmy Barthmaier vs. Scott Kazmir at seven. Rays are a half game out of first. Barthmaier, who broke out in Indy, makes his major league debut.

Game 79: Yankees at Pirates

Maholm, Mussina, and maybe 38,000 fans at seven.

Game 78: Yankees at Pirates

Zach Duke and Joba Chamberlain at seven. The Bucs are 7.5 games back in the wild card race.

Game 77: Yankees at Pirates

Beauty vs. the Beast at seven.

The starting pitchers will be Darrell Rasner and Tom Gorzelanny.

Snell's elbow

Ian Snell will have an arthrogram tomorrow due to right elbow irritation that flared up today, reports the P-G. Snell also had this to say:

"I never give up. I don't care if people boo me, tell me I [stink], whatever. You're not going to take my manhood from me or my competitiveness from me. Nobody will ever do that! Ever! Until the day I die, then you take it from me."

Game 76: Blue Jays at Pirates

Ian Snell vs. Dustin McGowan at 1:35 PM EDT.

Rotation anchor Phil Dumatrait has been placed on the DL with a left shoulder injury. T.J. "Steely Mc" Beam has been recalled from Indy, where he was dominant. Dejan has the scoop and also suggests that Marte might not be traded. Meanwhile, Paul Meyer reminisces over the 1960 World Series.

Game 75: Blue Jays at Pirates

Paul Maholm vs. former Rays' batboy Jesse Litsch starting soon. Nady's not on the DL, as Salas was sent down. Dirty Doug gets the start in RF.

Game 74: Blue Jays at Pirates

Duke vs. Halladay at seven. The Post-Gazette reports that Nyjer Morgan (.559 OPS at Indy) has been called up, presumably because Nady (.886 OPS) is going on the DL. Win meter: broken.

Game 73: Pirates at White Sox

Dumatrait vs. Floyd at two. Breakout vs. Even Bigger Breakout. Fourth place vs. first place. 7 runs vs. 24 runs. Pistol-whippee vs. pistol-whipper. Beer vs. beer. Jolly Roger: proudly unfurled vs. shamefully concealed.

Game 72: Pirates at White Sox

Gorzelanny vs. Buehrle at eight. Despite yesterday's pistol-whipping, Bay's stomach virus, and Gorzo's 35K:46BB ratio, victory is imminent as Iowa Pirate braves floods and a beating to fly the Jolly Roger.

Game 71: Pirates at White Sox

Ian Snell vs. Javier Vazquez at eight as interleague play continues. Although Nady is out with the acromioclavicular joint* sprain and Vazquez has eaten more innings than the entire Bucs rotation, Snell is coming off two decent starts and ALR is hypnotically descending from the treestand, so victory is imminent (if J-Mike wills it to be so).

* the acromioclavicular joint, or AC joint, is the connection between the clavicle and scapula.

Off day

Nady vs. MRI at eight.

Game 70: Pirates at Orioles

Maholm and Cabrera in half an hour.

Game 69: Pirates at Orioles

Zach Duke vs. Radhames Liz at seven. According to BA, Liz has freakishly long arms - standing up straight his fingers stretch to below his knees. Also freaky is that his scapula makes an audible clicking noise every time he throws a pitch.

Game 68: Pirates at Orioles

Dumatrait and Burres at seven. Only one team will emerge at .500. Regardless of .500 being just mediocre and nothing to be content with, tonight's game is a big freakin' deal.

First, as Dejan points out, a win "would mark the latest in a season the Pirates have been .500 since Sept. 1, 1999." Is it Freakshow II? Are you not entertained?

Second, Dumatrait's first pitch will be the first Bucco pitch in Baltimore since Teke's on Oct. 17, 1979.

Game 67: Nationals at Pirates

Gorzelanny and Bergmann in half an hour. ALR gets the day off. Dirty Doug at first and Gomez at third.

Game 66: Nationals at Pirates

Snell and Lannan starts at seven.

Game 65: Nationals at Pirates

Maholm and Redding at seven. Bucs are two games under .500 but only a half game out of the basement.

Game 64: D-Backs at Pirates

Zuke vs. the Unit. Game on.

Wilbur on draft

Wilbur Miller's profiles of the 2008 draft class are up. All hail WTM for surviving this torturous exercise during the DL/Creech era, and maintaining his invaluable site.

In other post-draft linkage, scout.com gives the Bucs the second highest draft grade in MLB: "Beyond just the elite talent at the front of the class, the depth that Pittsburgh added really is remarkable".

Game 63: D-Backs at Pirates

Staff ace Phil "Kamasutrait" Dumatrait and Doug Davis, just started.

Game 62: D-Backs at Pirates

Whatever is inhabiting the recesses of Tom Gorzelanny's mind takes on Dan Haren tonight at seven. Gorzo can't keep up his 1.87 WHIP and 28 K to 40 BB act for much longer.

Game 61: D-Backs at Pirates

Snell and Webb at seven. Ronny calls the game remotely from Indy.

Day two of the draft continues. None of JR's kids taken yet.

Game 60: Astros at Pirates

Maholm vs. Backe starts now. An angry Wiggy stands between the Bucs and a trip out of the basement.

Draft thread

C'mon, lucky seven. Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Game 59: Astros at Pirates

Duke and Oswalt at seven.

Red Wings at Penguins at eight.

Game 58: Astros at Pirates

Wandy Rodriguez and Phil Dumatrait tonight at seven.

If I had to pick one game to go see the Pirates, I'd look for a game where they are facing Wandy Rodriguez. I don't much of anything about Wandy, but the way the Pirates bat him around, when his name is drawn as the match-up, I'm always surprised to see he's still in the league.

The weather could be better for this one.

In other news, Bo Diddley died. The ipod shuffled through "Dearest Darling" about two hours before I heard the news. That would be freaky except that I listen to Bo Diddley all the freakin' time. The man was pretty good.

And, oh yeah, last night there was a hockey game. It was pretty good.

Game 57: Pirates at Cardinals

Tom Gorzelanny and Adam Wainwright at eight.

Game 56: Pirates at Cardinals

Ian Snell and Braden Looper at two.

It's June. Now is when bad starts become bad first halves.

Game 55: Pirates at Cardinals

Maholm, Parisi, seven eastern time.

Game 54: Pirates at Cardinals

Duke and Wellemeyer at eight.

Game 53: Pirates at Reds

Dumatrait and Harang starting pretty soon.

Game 52: Pirates at Reds

Tom Gorzelanny and Bronson Arroyo at seven.

Game 51: Pirates at Reds

Snell and Cueto at seven tonight.

Pirates are 24-26, five and a half back of first.

The YTD stats are somewhat comical. Not in a good way. Bay is back with a 950 OPS. McLouth, a guy we called "Frodo" when he came up with Duffy ("Sam"), wants to be an All-Star with a 1025 OPS. He is proving something this season, but I'm pretty skeptical he'll keep that Vlad Guerrero-like pace all year long. Nady (900 OPS) and Doumit (950 OPS) have been solid. Cue the Benny Hill music for the rest of the numbers: Paulino (500), LaRoche (700), Sanchez (600), Bixler (440).

The only starting pitcher who has been league-average has been Dumatrait.

The bullpen has been great.

More than half that offense will be better, but that does not mean they will be good. Of the four sluggers, only Bay I think is likely to maintain that pace in something like everyday play. Doumit and Nady could too. Whatever happens, I don't expect the offense to dramatically improve.

The bullpen could stay the same. The starters should improve. The substitution of Dumatrait for Morris, alone, might be enough to pace the team to 26 wins in the next 50 games. Heck, if they can manage 24 of 50 with these numbers, I guess I expect -- assuming no major subtraction of players through trade or injury (big assumption) -- that this team will still be around .500 at the 100-game mark.

And this is falling in line with expectations I've had for a long time. When the Pirates finally finish a season at .500, we will be underwhelmed, on the whole, with both the record and the general range of individual performances. .500 is mediocre.

That said, we will enjoy all the victories. It is cool to watch, listen, or attend a game and see it end with a victory. I don't get tired of that.

Off day

The Pirates are not playing this Memorial Day, for some reason. Tomorrow they will start a stretch of twenty games in twenty days.

Game 50: Cubs at Pirates

Lilly and Maholm this afternoon.

Game 49: Cubs at Pirates

Marquis and Dumatrait this evening.

Game 48: Cubs at Pirates

Zambrano and Duke. Pirates have to do better than 1-8 against the division's frontrunner.

Game 47: Brewers at Pirates

Dave Bush and Tom Gorzelanny in half an hour.

Bucs in a bit of tailspin here. How low will they go before they get within a series of .500 again?

Game 46: Brewers at Pirates

Ben Sheets and Ian Snell in about an hour.

What are your expectations for Snell going forward? I see him settling down and clubbing the crap out of the league through the end of the summer. I'm not sure when he'll start all this though. Maybe tonight?

Game 45: Brewers at Pirates

At seven, Manny Parra and Paul Maholm at PNC Park.

Off day

Sober up.

Game 44: Pirates at Cubs

Phil Dumatrait and Jason Marquis at two.

Flyers at Penguins at three.

Game 43: Pirates at Cubs

Zach Duke and Carlos Zambrano this afternoon.

Game 42: Pirates at Cubs

The Pirates draw Chicago for six of the next nine games. The Bucs are 0-for-6 against the Cubs this year, so now would be a good time to figure them out.

Today they will play the second of four consecutive day games. The starting pitchers will be Tom Gorzelanny and Sean Gallagher.

Game 41: Pirates at Cardinals

Ian Snell and Joel Pineiro at one.

Game 40: Pirates at Cardinals

Pirates are 19-20. Tonight it's Paul Maholm and RHP Todd Wellemeyer.

The Pirates will call on Ronny Ballgame to step up and do some of the things Ryan Doumit was doing.

Game 39: Pirates at Cardinals

The Pirates move to the central time zone for some games. Tonight at eight, Phil Dumatrait and Kyle Lohse.

Games 37 and 38: Braves at Pirates

These guys will play two today, weather permitting. The scheduled starters are Jair Jurrjens and Zach Duke at 12:30, then Tim Hudson and JVB.

Game 37: Braves at Pirates

Jair Jurrjens and Zach Duke at one-thirty. Jurrjens made the Pirates look bad in the first week of the season.

The Bucs have run their record to 17-19. Five in a row is sweet, but 17-19 is worse than mediocre. One day a winning streak will end with the Pirates above .500.

Game 36: Braves at Pirates

Four in a row improves the current high moment to .457, or 16-19. This is a 74-win pace.

Tom Gorzelanny and Chuck James tonight at seven.

Game 35: Braves at Pirates

Ian Snell and Tom Glavine tonight at seven.

The sweep of the Giants was sweet, especially since they come away with their ace to open the next series. That's how you want it done. On the other hand, you'd like to be better than four games under .500. Any season will have its ups and downs, and winning three straight to attain .441 is not much of an up. Here's hoping Snell can keep the Pirates on a roll tonight.

In other news, Nyjer Morgan has been demoted. And the Pirates made a pretty good low-risk pick-up in acquiring Jason Michaels from the Indians.

Game 34: Giants at Pirates

Matt Cain and Paul Maholm just after noon.

The weather could be better for this one.

Game 33: Giants at Pirates

Zito and Dumatrait at seven.

I thought they moved Zito to the bullpen, but the Pirates' website has him listed as tonight's starter.

Game 32: Giants at Pirates

Jonathan Sanchez and Zach Duke at seven.

The big, powerful-looking big man returns and everyone will surely make little mental comparing notes between him and Bautista.

Off day

The Pirates are flying to San Francisco.

... (later) Now they are flying back to Pittsburgh. Funny idea, that, flying all day for no reason.

Game 31: Pirates at Nats

Ian Snell and Tim Redding at one-thirty.

These two pitchers are defying expectations. Snell should be getting better results with his stuff. Redding has been winning more games than his peripherals suggest he should.

In other news, Sean Burnett got the call, and the Pirates designated Evan Meek, the Post-Gazette reports.

The Pirates are six games under at 12-18.

Game 30: Pirates at Nats

Paul Maholm and Matt Chico starting soon. The Post Gazette reports the Pirates will wear the Grays uniforms this afternoon.

Game 29: Pirates at Nats

Phil Dumatrait and John Lannan.

Time to get beer. Must ... steer clear ... of Baltika 9.

Game 28: Pirates at Nats

Zach Duke and Odalis Perez at seven.

Pirates are 11-16, sharing last place with the Reds at six games out of first. And they continue to lead the NL in runs allowed by a wide margin (Pirates 160 in 27 games, Reds 139 in 29 games).

Game 27: Pirates 13, Mets 1

Cool box score on this one.

Game 26: Pirates at Mets

Rather than start a new thread, I'll just change the date on this old one.

Snell and Santana tonight at seven.

Pirates are 10-15 and own last place. They've allowed 154 runs, far more than any other NL team.

Steelers got a bunch of good players in the draft, and now they scour the remainder for defensive ends, as Ed Bouchette describes day two.

Game 25: Phillies at Pirates

Brett Myers and Paul Maholm at one-thirty.

More NFL draft thread

Steelers are picking more guys. I like the Bruce Davis pick a lot.

Pirates release Matt Morris

Paul Meyer has the word at the Post-Gazette.

It's sad that Morris can't pitch effectively. He can't. We've seen conclusive demonstrations of this.

The money owed him is staggering, but it's better to pay him not to pitch. This way he only hurts the team once. And the money is a sunk cost. It may still be flowing out the safe, but it's already gone. It's spent. There's no getting it back. Learn from the mistake and move on.

I still like the idea of acquiring top-quality veteran players for a year or two at the end of their big contracts. There are values to be had there. This only makes sense, however, if you are getting what you paid for: a top-quality player.

Here, as elsewhere, the success of the team depends on its ability to evaluate talent at every level of play and in every organization. The more you know, the better value you will get for your payroll dollars. The Matt Morris acquisition was an enormous mistake in the talent evaluation department.

NFL draft thread

Steelers picking guys today. Ed Bouchette guesses Kentwan Balmer of North Carolina.

Game 24: Phillies at Pirates

Kyle Kendrick and Matt Morris tonight at seven.

Game 23: Phillies at Pirates

Adam Eaton and Zach Duke at seven.

Game 22: Cardinals at Pirates

Pineiro and Gorzelanny at seven.

Pirates riding a two-game win streak to lift themselves to three games under .500.

Game 21: Cardinals at Pirates

Todd Wellemeyer and Ian Snell.

Pujols owns Snell, sad to say, so maybe they don't pitch to him tonight.

Game 20: Marlins at Pirates

April is the cruelest month.

Paul Maholm and Ricky Nolasco tonight at seven.

Game 19: Marlins at Pirates

Enough of the Cubs for now. At seven it's Matt Morris and Mark Hendrickson.

There has been a pattern with the starts of Morris lately. All eyes on the fourth inning. Can he make two trips through the Marlins' lineup?

Game 18: Pirates at Cubs

Zach Duke, Ryan Dempster, two o'clock.

Game 17: Pirates at Cubs

This road trip is not going so well. The Pirates need a win soon. Today at one it's Tom Gorzelanny and Jason Marquis.

Game 16: Pirates at Cubs

Ian Snell and Rich Hill for a 2:20pm scheduled start.

The weather forecast looks good enough for Iowa Pirate, who is making the trip to see this one.

One time I went to Wrigley for a 2pm game, and it rained, and there was a six-hour rain delay. That's a long time to eat hot dogs, drink beer, and explore the corners of the stadium with a roof. You can't leave the stadium and return on your torn ticket, so there were not many people left when they started the game around eight.

Off day

Nothing doin'.

Game 15: Pirates at Dodgers

The Pirates will try to walk off the Los Angeles at ten.

Paul Maholm and Brad Penny square off.

Patience

Dejan Kovacevic writes how the Pirates think they can walk off the Island of Misfit Ballplayers.

Game 14: Pirates at Dodgers

Matt Morris and Hong-Chih Kuo at ten o'clock.

Pirates have opened the season as a .500 team. They are 7-6, 3-3 at home, 4-3 on the road, and they've scored the same number (69) as they have allowed (69).

Sure, it's early. We all know that. But the April games count. All this is for real.

Game 13: Pirates at Dodgers

The Pirates are on the West Coast for a three-game series with the Dodgers. It's Zach Duke and Hiroki Kuroda tonight at 10.

After LA, they fly to Chicago to play the Cubs before coming home for an unusual three-team, seven-game homestand.

All hail the sweep

The Pirates just swept the Reds to climb back to .500.

No snark intended here - this is a pretty good achievement for this team. Even that year they fought back to 30-30, they were ripped and blown out for most of early April.

So all hail that. Raise your Dogfish Head or whatever you drink for sports-related celebrations.

Jason Bay looked strong this series. Here's a photo for the drinking-room wall. The wind was blowing in something fierce when he knocked that out and scored the game's only run.

Jason Bay has played in 11 of the team's 12 games. He's 11-for-39 with a double, three home runs, and 11 walks.

.282 / .440 / .538 ... welcome back, Jason Bay

Game 12: Reds at Pirates

Good game last night. It makes a big difference when they win.

This afternoon, it's Johnny Cueto and Tom Gorzelanny. Cueto has been the phenom. Should be interesting. The game is scheduled to start at 1:30.

Game 11: Reds at Pirates

Bronson Arroyo and Ian Snell at seven.

Game 10: Reds at Pirates

Tonight at seven, Edinson Volquez and Paul Maholm.

The Bucs have lost three in a row to fall to 3-6. Three of nine is how you get to be 30-60 at the All-Star Break. If the players are going to be better than that, the team needs to start winning some series.

Game 9: Cubs at Pirates

Matt Morris and Rich Hill at seven.

Game 8: Cubs at Pirates

Duke and Dempster at seven.

Yesterday's thread

Monday's game was pretty surreal, but the loss was hardly crushing. Any time a team comes back from 7-0, it's hard to say they should have won the game. Dejan Kovacevic describes the game, and Dan Majors reports on the all-important cost of concessions for the Post-Gazette.

Game 7: Cubs at Pirates

Ted Lilly and Tom Gorzelanny in the home opener today at one.

Game 6: Pirates at Marlins

Ian Snell and 22-year-old Rick VandenHurk just after one today.

If the Bucs can get their shit together and win this one, they finish the road trip at 3-3, which would be pretty impressive, all things considered.

Game 5: Pirates at Marlins

Paul Maholm and Mark Hendrickson at seven.

Game 4: Pirates at Marlins

Matt Morris and Scott Olsen at seven, in what could be another epic battle of the bullpens.

Game 3: Pirates at Braves

Zach Duke and Mike Hampton at seven.

Game 2: Pirates at Braves

Gorzelanny and Jurrgens at seven.

Undefeated

Pirates have the day off. They can bask in the glory of 1-0.

Game 1: Pirates at Braves

Snell and Glavine at 7.