Game 142: Cubs at Pirates

Zambrano and Snell starting now. Here's hoping that Snell has all the powers of Snell at his fingertips tonight.

Coonelly in as CEO?

In what might be -- as sludge suggests -- a Grimm Tribune moment, Ken Rosenthal proclaims that Nutting will make the "phenomenal" choice of Frank Coonelly for CEO. Link here.

Paul Meyer hedges for the Post-Gazette.

Vlad jumps the gun -- the fat ladies have not sung in the Pirates' front office. (They are not fat, I'm sure, but very beautiful ... I mean this rhetorically.) Do read his post, however, and click on those crazy links he dug up on Zip "he's a larned skoller" Frank Coonelly.

Littlefield era post-mortem

Dejan Kovacevic offers his analysis of the Littlefield era here in the Post-Gazette.

It's strongly worded, and it's pretty damning. I also think it's fair.

And I cannot think of anything significant that Kovacevic has left out.

Game 141: Cubs at Pirates

Hill and Gorzelanny at seven.

LITTLEFIELD FIRED!!!

Finally. Official announcement here. P-G story here. All hail Bob Nutting! Beer me!

Game 140: Pirates at Cardinals

Bullington vs. Maroth, starts now. McLouth back in CF. Phelps at 1B, Pearce in RF, Maldonado catching. Ronny on the bench, calling the game and stealing signs.

UPDATE: start of game delayed by rain again. Game on (3:35 PM).

Game 139: Pirates at Cardinals

Armas and Mulder, starting real soon. Tonight's wrinkle is Izturis at third, Bautista in center, Pearce in right.

UPDATE: Start of game delayed by rain. Game on (9:00 PM).

Honest Wagner NFL pick 'em pool

Get in the pool:
FREE PigPool at Pigskin.com.
poolname: Honest Wagner Pick 'em Pool
password: 51yardparker
If you did this in years past, you're still in the pool and you can simply login and make your picks. For more info, see Rowdy's post from last year.

Game 138: Pirates at Cardinals

Morris vs. Pineiro starts now. Morgan and Pearce starting again.

Bullington, JVB, and Davidson

Three pitchers called up, reports Dejan Kovacevic. Bullington will try to protect the integrity of the rotation, but all three are unlikely to make the postseason roster.

Game 137: Pirates at Cardinals

Ian Snell vs. Kip Wells. Kip, 6-15 but hitting .340, is batting eighth, in front of 3B Brendan Ryan. For the Bucs, Nyjer Morgan leads off and plays CF, while Steve Pearce bats sixth and plays 1B.

Pirates prospects

The Trib's Rob Biertempfel reports on Pirates prospects, with a few zingers added by BP's Kevin Goldstein.

Under "mixed results", the summary at the end lists: Yoslan Herrera, Jonah Bayliss ("The skinny: Spring training success might have been a mirage"), Brad Lincoln, and Pedro Powell. Although Powell hit only .241/.320/.304 in his second full year at Lynchburg, this profile by mlb.com's Lisa Winston reports:

Powell was slowly but surely starting to learn how to play the "little man's game."

Game 136: Pirates at Brewers

Gorzelanny vs. Suppan at two eastern. Bucs need a win to stay in contention.

Game 135: Pirates at Brewers

Youman vs. Bush in fifteen. Batting sixth and playing RF, Steven Pearce.

Tracy on integrity of the game

Don't expect all of the Indy call-ups to start regularly. Jim Tracy (via mlb.com):

"You don't foresee a lot of days where you are going to have the liberty to run four or five guys out there -- who were playing baseball in Triple-A or Double-A -- in a big league game," Tracy said. "You need to protect the integrity of the game and your situation in relation to the other competitors that you're playing against."

I'd hate to see what Pirates baseball without integrity would look like.

Pearce, Morgan, and Perez up

1B Steve Pearce, OF Nyjer Morgan, and LHP Juan Perez have been called up from Indy, Paul Meyer reports.

Game 134: Pirates at Brewers

Armas vs. Gallardo soon. Jack returns, freeing Izturis to work in the dugout.

Game 133: Reds at Pirates

Morris vs. Belisle, starting now.

Duffy surgery

Chris Duffy will have surgery on his left shoulder tomorrow, Dejan Kovacevic reports. Duffy will miss the playoffs, but should be ready for spring training 2008.

Game 132: Reds at Pirates

Snell vs. Harang, starting now.