The Brewers theatrics in Monday night’s game were too much.. over the line.. and as one player said, breached serious professional baseball etiquette. Two of the more egregious acts were when Lee hit his home run in the 3rd inning off Duke putting them up 10-2 and their bullpen played out an immature knockout punch act. The second was Bill Hall’s HR in the 5th putting the Brewers up 12-3 when Hall stood in the box looking at the flight of the ball then did a slow trot around the bases.
Those two clown’ish acts pissed off the Pirates so much that they came back the next two games with fire in their hearts wanting to teach the Brewers a lesson. Because, by taking the series against the Brewers, the Pirates showed the Brewers front office that the team isn’t serious enough to push for a wild card.. they don’t have the discipline to make the late push.. they don’t have the players to do the job. By dropping the Brewers 10 games behind the Cards and 6 games behind the Reds in the wild card race, the Pirates all but nailed shut the Brewers coffin.
And it was because they woke up a sleepy team with their own foolish acts.
Kudo’s to the Buccos.. they beat the Brewers where it hurt the most – on the field in the win/loss column. C-ya Lee.. hope you end up in the AL somewhere.
Now THAT is what baseball is all about.. beating a team that is toooo cocky.
Maholm had a rough start to the game today mostly from poor pitch selection. He walked Clark on 9 pitches to open the game then, on an 0-2 count, grooved a heater right down the middle of the plate and Cirillo crushed it for a double. Up to the plate comes Hall who had hit two home runs against Duke Monday night and, instead of beaning him, on a 3-2 count Maholm grooves another heater on the outside part of the plate waist high and Hall took it yard. And, yes, he sat back and watched the flight once again.
But Maholm immediately regained his composure – the mark of a good young pitcher – and retired 18 of the next 24 batters he faced allowing only one additional run. Of the six he didn’t retire, one was a single off Jack’s glove that should have been caught, one was a hit batter, three more were singles, and one a double.. all scattered. In fact, only one more Brewer touched 2B with Maholm on the mound after the first 3 batters he faced.. and he ended up being the fourth run allowed.
Offensively the Pirates had a solid heartbeat going 4-10 with runners in scoring position, scored five of their eight runs after two outs, and mauled Brewer pitching for a .333 game batting average. The big hit of the day was Craig Wilson’s two-out clutch double in the 5th scoring two and putting the Pirates ahead to stay. Also worth a mention was Maholm’s clutch two-out rbi liner in the 4th inning. However, every Pirate starter contributed with at least one hit in the game and Bay and Bautista had home runs.
The offensive output was expected though.. Brewer starter Capuano had a 2-4 career record vs. the Pirates with an ERA over 6. I guess his 10.80 ERA today won’t help that a bit. *ouch*
– Trade Tidbits –
The Pirates head home and have an off day Thursday before the Barry Bonds circus act comes to town. The Giants are rumored to be interested in Roberto Hernandez but I believe they want Mike Gonzalez. Considering the Giants are Kevin McClatchy’s favorite boyhood team (like the Red Sox are Littlefield’s), don’t count McClatchy out ordering an ok on a shaky deal with the Giants, especially with all the rumors floating that this is Kevin’s last year with the Pirates. The Giants are an NLWD team and they need relief pitching bad.. real bad. They also have very little in the farm so the only way this deal gets done would be if a team needs to dump salary in the deal.
Yep – in walks Burnitz. The Giants need Burnitz like a whole in the head but can afford to just release him if they can’t give him away. A Gonzo/Burnitz deal to the Giants would lessen the impact Sabean would need to pay for Gonzalez and allow Littlefield more breathing room to spend in another trade.
One of those could be Craig Wilson and Sean Casey to the Angels for Casey Kotchman as a player to be named later. I spoke with Tom Kotchman today who said Casey is getting new tests done on the viral infection he picked up in December. The ironic part about Casey’s infection is that he most likely picked it up speaking to the children at the elementary school his mom works at. Tom said he expects Casey to be ready to play in winter ball – perhaps in the Dominican.
He didn’t mention any trade rumors about his son but he did say that the Angels seem to be interested in a short-term solution at 1B for the run. Enter stage right – Sean Casey as a possibility, I would guess. The problem becomes, who else does Littlefield have to give up to make this deal work.. if it can be worked at all without a third team like, say, the Yankees.
The Yankees are back on Roberto Hernandez now that Littlefield has seemingly dropped the Burnitz tag along part of the deal. If Cashman can’t land another solid veteran setup man without dealing with Littlefield, Hernandez is his man.. and Littlefield knows it. But if Littlefield can’t shove Burnitz off on the Giants, the Yankees might be the only place left that could absorb his contract in a deal. But they will most likely refuse leaving Littlefield holding Burnitz’ bags.
That brings us back to what else Littlefield needs to add to the pot to get a Kotchman. My guess? Gonzo, Casey, Hernandez, Burnitz, and Craig Wilson out the door and either Kotchman or one of the coveted Angels farm starters to the Pirates. A good possibility exists that Sabean would like both Hernandez and Gonzo and Stoneman Wilson and Casey. How it all works out is anyone’s clue – if it even does.
There has been some talk about a couple of teams interested in Oliver Perez and I just don’t see Littlefield pulling that trigger without getting blown away. I realize DL likes Mench (too much in my opinion) and might be able to do a deal to get him, but I hope he doesn’t. He doesn’t fit.. he never has.. he never will.. just like Shealy, imo.
In the end, who knows what happens but the dominoes will start falling real soon.. most likely when either Lugo or Soriano are dealt. Right now teams are working on short-list wish lists but that will change real fast once the market explodes which will probably start Saturday.
– General Tidbits –
Did anyone see this comment made by Larry Dobrow with Maxim:
"Littlefield, the Pirates GM/resident slugwit, has several moderately appealing spare parts with expiring contracts to deal off: Craig Wilson (Yankees?), Roberto Hernandez (Giants?), Joe Randa (Padres?), Jeromy Burnitz (the CBS SportsLine softball team?). I’ve been told, however, that he’s slightly more difficult to deal with than a 2-year-old on a cake-frosting bender, demanding A-list prospects for his C-list trinkets. If he can’t get even a meager return on these guys and Sean Casey, firing is not a severe enough fate for him. Maybe somebody could follow him around with a radio tuned to local pundits discussing the Pirates’ record under his watch?"
There is a bit of history between Maxim and the Pirates in an indirect way, of course. Anna Benson, Kris Benson’s wife, posed for them awhile back and Dobrow has interviewed Kris since. While Benson didn’t condemn Littlefield, he made it well known that he was happy to be away from Littlefield and the Pirates. So Dobrow’s comments aren’t totally unexpected. Not surprising, Littlefield is also rated as Dobrow’s #1 Maxim You ****: Baseball’s Dumbest Executives 2006.
BTW, Kris didn’t like being in Pittsburgh and stayed on the DL alot. He also said he didn’t like Baltimore either and, guess what? He now is undergoing assesment for ‘elbow discomfort’ he has had now for ‘two months’. Nobody knows how to play the disabled list game better than Krissy.
And how about Jerry Crasnick’s article at ESPN (insider subscription required) who basically said that the industry views Littlefield’s deals as being ‘over valued’. And they are/have been/will be..
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Chris Duffy Watch: Duff got an rbi single off of Jose Lima (yep – I said Jose Lima.. the 33 year old Met) as Lima pitched a four hitter over 7 innings of work tonight against Indy. Duff also had an error bobbling a grounder allowing a runner to advance on him. Hurry back Duff (and, no, I don’t believe the trade rumors about you).
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