By Jake, on September 30, 2009, at 11:58 pm | 10 comments
The Cubs sent out their “B” lineup in game one and Charlie Morton wasted no time putting them down throwing a complete game shutout striking out eight along the way. His run support came in the form of a Lastings Milledge hard slide to break up a double play in the first and we went on to score four runs in the frame.
Ted Lilly took the mound in the first unable to find the plate or command of any of his four pitches as you might expect after being out 12 days from tendinitis in his shoulder and we patiently sat back and let him walk us two times in the frame and then Jaramillo hit a clutch two-out double to plate two of the four runs.
Morton came early with his “A” stuff flashing a fairly nice 2-to-7 curveball, an average slider, and ran his fastball in and out while changing speeds on it during the game. I think the key for him was that he wasn’t leaving as many hanging chads all over the plate like he has been known to do - he kept his breaking balls down in the zone and Cubs batters kept fishing for it. And not finding it. Hat tip to Morton getting the job done.
The second game we exploded on offense. Zambrano just kept pumping fastballs and we kept hammering them into play, many of them finding holes in clutch times. Grabow came out and pitched some and was throwing up in the zone which we crushed, and then the blast of the game came in the 9th when Doumit took Marmol deep, just the second time this year in 70+ innings that’s happened to Marmol. Doumit had a career night going 4-4 with 4 rbis.
But let’s be blunt honest – I didn’t see any enthusiasm on the field for the Cubs in either game, they made lots of errors on the diamond, ran themselves out of innings, and threw the ball carelessly. Like above with Morton, hat tip to the Bucs for exploiting the ‘not caring too much’ Cubs but I sure wouldn’t bet on the same results during the regular season.
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There continues to be some fallout over the failure of the Bucs front office to get Sano signed. Today Dejan noted some excuses by Neal Huntington why it didn’t get done and the fans have gone off the deep end reading them. I join the crowd – I couldn’t care less why we failed, we failed. It’s inexcusable. I said last night Frank Coonelly can’t let this pass without some sort of acknowledgement that they did fail and that they are taking some sort of corrective procedure to insure they don’t fail like this again. Coonelly has to account to the fans. Has to.
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The other day the Post-Gazette ran a piece where Bud Selig said he didn’t believe the Nuttings were putting profits in front of winning. Attached to that article was an audio transcript of the Selig conversation. I downloaded a couple of the audio lie-detection software programs and ran the audio through them and got varying responses because of the poor quality of the recording. So I didn’t get far.
But my gut feeling is that Bud Selig questions a lot more than he may admit to the press while he gave his automated response to the reporter.
Now I mention this because I’m still hearing some ownership rumors. Not that they are for sale, just that there might be some disgruntled parties and the Nuttings might be planning to buy them out this winter. Since the Nuttings haven’t seemed to use their own cash for anything related to this club yet, and if additional buyouts do in fact occur this winter, then we might finally have an explanation why so many guys were traded to lower Nutting’s short-term debt. More on this later this winter.
Selig was quoted in that article as saying:
“I understand the frustration of the Pirates’ fans,” Selig said. “But I have great confidence in Frank, and I know that Bob Nutting is committed to building this franchise. Do I believe they’re on the right path? I’m very confident they are. I understand the cynicism, and I understand the reluctance of people to get excited. It’s a very painful process, a painful transition.”
He paused, then added, “I’m going to be right about this. When Alvarez and those other players get there, and that franchise is a success again, on and off the field, ask me again in a couple years, and you’ll be able to say that Bud was right.”
When Alvarez and those other players…
Huh? Bud’s obviously looking at a different system than the one I see.
I mean, we’re losing the opportunity to sign top talent left and right, Maholm, Duke, Doumit, et al will be much too expensive to keep around for new contracts, we’ll have a rotation with mostly 0-3 arms, and we’ll be fielding many position players in the 0-3 year class including Alvarez and a new middle infield.
Call me dense but, how does that equate to success in ‘a couple of years’ Bud?
And how could this man possibly understand 17 years of fan frustration when it’s never happened before? I respect that he believes in Frank Coonelly, and I respect he thinks the Nutting family has turned over a new leaf, but what I don’t understand is why he believes that in ‘a couple of years’ this franchise will become successful.
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Hey what do you know, Jack Wilson’s injury only covered the rest of the season and he’ll be magically better a week after the season closes. How Wilson’ish. I can’t wait to see if Neal Huntington runs like crazy to try and sign him this winter and what Wilson’s reaction to that will be. As if I don’t already know.
By Jake, on September 29, 2009, at 10:37 pm | 51 comments
I won’t call it a “must-have” signing, but it was as close to it as there was and we missed out by just a few measley dollars. Or so the Post-Gazette article makes us all believe, that is.
As I reported here back on July 3, I had heard that the Pirates were out of the running for Sano but then later had a conversation with a beat reporter who tried to convince me otherwise. It turned out my source was dead on and his was just dead as Sano rebuked the Pirates with his agent, Rob Plummer, calling out Neal Huntington for being distrustful in the process.
Interestingly, not only did Sano sign for the price Baseball America originally reported was his asking price, Plummer suggested in the PG article Sano could have been a Buc if not for Huntington’s actions.
Unfortunately, this is exactly the same theme Perry Hill gave the fans when he said he won’t be returning because Neal Huntington told him one thing when he was hired and then other things happened, and Scott Boras also claimed the Pirates weren’t dealing from a full deck. Throw in the Tom Gorzelanny fiasco, Ian Snell’s comments, Eric Hinske’s comments, and a handful of other players, agents, and/or staff, and it’s plain to see Neal Huntington is/has been striking out in more ways than one.
Missing out on the best talent in the draft and now in Latin America – for whatever reasons - is totally unacceptable and can not be ignored or pushed lightly aside by Frank Coonelly.
By Jake, on September 29, 2009, at 10:36 pm | Comments are closed
Nobody wanted to field the ball, Hart didn’t want to throw strikes, and Dempster went on to throw a five-hit complete game shutout leading the way for yet another embarrassing loss on the road.
It all started with Hart who was working so slow, his defense was back on their heels during the 100 or so pitches he threw just to get 12 outs. Unable to repeat his delivery for the third consecutive start and throwing more two-seamers than I’ve ever seen him throw, Hart rarely found the strike zone leading to four walks – the equivalent of one an inning.
But it was his defense that let him down the most. Balls went off Cruz’s glove twice at short, Young’s glove at second, Milledge broke back on a little flair and then stumbled trying to come back in and another ball fell in, Jones tossed a feed to Hart at his ankles instead of his shoulder, double plays were routinely not turned, and so on, and so forth. Later, yet another ball would go off Milledge’s glove and another off Jones’ glove that luckily went to Young and then for an out.
Just pathetic 2009 Pirates baseball at it’s best.
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Word is Joe Kerrigan will be back in 2010. What a glutton for punishment but I assume it’s for a good rea$on. I can’t wait to see how he goes off if we trade half our starters this winter.
There’s still no word about Perry Hill returning. I can’t help but wondering if Hill is quietly thinking about being closer to his family in Texas and I can’t help further wondering if Chuck Greenberg’s bid for the Rangers might have something to do with it, not that Chuck would be talking to Hill of course. But Hill did turn down Nolan Ryan to come work for Huntington and it’s been rumored Ryan might continue managing all aspects of baseball operations with Greenberg, so there is a nexus.
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There’s a lot of talk in the circuit about John Russell and Joe Kerrigan’s decision to pull Duke in the 9th with two outs Monday. Lots of talk. It was a major bonehead decision and word has it there are quite a few around the club upset. Yeah, more upset than a Gorzelanny/Kerrigan meltdown. I don’t think we’ve heard the end of that one.
In case you missed the action, here’s raw video footage of it:
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I wonder what the internal fallout from the Latin players will be because we didn’t sign Sano. This is yet another case of financial constraints and poor management.
Just when you thought this organization couldn’t get any lower.. WHAM!!
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Rich Donnelly won’t be back in 2010. What’s up with Huntington’s inability to hold key people? This is just unbelievable. What else can possibly go wrong? Please don’t answer that.
By Jake, on September 28, 2009, at 10:47 pm | 12 comments
Andy LaRoche with a 5-5 game including two home runs against his former club.
Wasn’t that special?
I don’t know if it was the added motivation from them trading him or their pitchers just grooving pitches to him. Ok, I do know because I looked at my PITCHf/x plots – he was given a steady dose of middle-away or upper-away pitches to feast on. His specialty, of course. But, he still had to do something with those pitches that were grooved and he did just that. Kudos to him for such a fine day swinging the bat.
And if you were watching the game on MLV.tv then you heard what I heard in the 9th when Russell brought out the hook for Duke – boos. Lots and lots of boos. Probably the loudest booing I heard all year considering so few were even in the park. I was very surprised the fans didn’t litter the field, they were that upset. And they should have been – what a bonehead move by Russell if Duke wasn’t hurt. That’s not the way the front office drew up the game plan for the final game of the year in front of their fans because that pain will be remembered all winter. Believe me.
Does Duke own the Dodgers, or what? Yeah, hardly. They came in as his second wost club (6.64 career ERA). But he did pitch a good game even if it was against their “B” squad.
So, even with the gifting of three-of-four by the Dodgers (would you rather clinch and party in Pittsburgh or San Diego?), we ended the year 40-41 at home even though we scored more runs than we allowed at PNC. That’s a rare feat. The last time we accomplished that was in 1968 when we went 40-41 both on the road and at home.
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Speaking of PNC, the Pirates’ home attendance of 1,577,853 this season was the lowest in the nine seasons since PNC Park opened in 2001. The previous low was 1,583,031 in 2004. We hasn’t drawn so few fans since 1,560,950 went to Three Rivers Stadium in 1998. Next year? Without some major additions, 1.4M is probably reality.
Wizards DeShawn Stevenson has new tattoos and the most prominent of the group is a backwards Pittsburgh Pirates ‘P” on his cheek, as the picture above shows. The Bucs are his ‘favorite’ team, so he says.
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Pete Toms’ article at BizofBaseball.com which talks about the Pirates and revenue-sharing.
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Brad Lincoln was one of the Pirates best, and most improved, pitchers of the year and significantly more deserving, at least in my opinion, of the Pitcher of the Year award. I think the Bucs shot blanks by handing the award to Owens even though he had a nice year.
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Steel Russell, son of Bucs manager John Russell, signed to play baseball with Ohio State Monday.
By Jake, on September 27, 2009, at 8:40 pm | 7 comments
On the road so a quick post. The story of the day has to be Brad Lincoln’s win as Team USA took home the gold. It certainly isn’t Pedro Alvarez who went 0-4 and struck out twice on six pitches. Congrats to Lincoln – it’s well deserved especially considering he wasn’t even on the orginal roster. As for Pedro Alvarez, let’s hope he starts figuring out how to hit the ball consistently and how to lay off the Twinkies.
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What a great come back win for the Bucs Sunday, especially after Capps gave up the farm. Dejan called it a ‘dramatic hit’ and it sure was, but Broxton feed him nothing but fastballs so you would think… Ah, never mind. It’s just nice that it happened.
The Dodgers haven’t exactly been playing like they are capable of since they hit town (bringing in southpaws to face right hand batters with men on base, etc..), but that’s another story. I’m guessing we’ll win another Monday the way things are going. Thank you for the bones, Mr. Torre. Whoof, whoof. McCutchen was so hittable it wasn’t funny and, that too, is a story for another day.
Any major league team which fields a replacement level club should win about 25% of their games and when you add just a little bit better talent from pitching, coaching, and defense, you end up winning about 35% or so. That’s where this roster is right now – when they play error-free baseball, they stand to win about 3 in 10 contests.
“Look, we’ve said repeatedly that we’re not just going to go and sign free agents just because we have the money..
God forbid. God forbid.
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Non-tender Capps? Why not? Let’s put the money into free agents, along with the Sano money, the rest of the Bay money, the Gorzy money, and so on, and so forth. If we don’t add some sticks to this roster, we’re in deep do-do in 2010.
By Jake, on September 27, 2009, at 12:45 am | Comments are closed
You knew the Dodgers were going to clinch a spot in the post-season, we just didn’t want to see it happen on our turf. But it did. Some will point to Steven Jackson’s two bases-loaded walks and blown save as the reason for this particular loss but John Russell knew Jackson had allowed just one less walk than strike out in this, his rookie year. Asking Jackson to go out in a high leverage situation like that (Bucs up by one, PNC Park packed, and all the bullpen talk from the previous night on how important it was for the pen to win) was too much for him, and he failed as expected. Jackson will learn from the opportunity but like most on-field development this year, it’s simply a case of too little, too late. One can only wonder what direction Jackson will spiral in now.
But let’s face some facts, the Pirates were lucky to be leading 4-3 after seven anyway. It took a bizarre low and away heater from Wolfe to Andy LaRoche in the third which he jacked out of the park for a solo shot (why Wolfe allowed LaRoche to extend his arms is a scouting mystery), and then a bases loaded, two-out McCutchen line drive back through the box which plated two of the three runs in the 7th to give us the lead. If Wolfe had put his glove up instead of ducking for cover, the inning was over.
Little did it matter, however, as the Pirates bullpen imploded in the 8th walking four batters, three of them in a row, and throwing more than 50 pitches over a 30+ minute half-inning. It was embarrassing to watch as a fan knowing the park was packed.
“To be quite honest with you, from watching this team all year long, I just don’t think you can question the effort at all. The big question is, in general, is there enough talent on this team to win. It usually comes down to that. There’s a reason why they have lost 23 out of 26. And you can work hard all you want.. what was it Jim Leyland said, ‘I can get a bunch of guys off the street to work hard. Give me baseball players.’ We will see, as John Russell says so often. We will see.” — Steve Blass generally agreed with him.
Brown is just as frustrated as the fans are but what you have to really respect is the fact that he even mentioned it on air. Kudos to him for his honesty. It may get him fired or reassigned, but at least he had the gonads to stand up before the fans and question the level of talent being fielded. AP writer Alan Robinson did a shallower job of that in his article Friday night. Robinson used to work for Ogden Nutting so you would think the Nutting clan tunes in a little closer to his opinions. Or so you would think.
The e-mails I get from families of players in the system and others around this team all point to one thing lately – how can this club demand accountability within when it’s leadership is too high and mighty to be held to the same standard of accountability? It’s a great point. John Russell was quoted in Robinson’s article as saying:
“It’s not acceptable, we don’t want to accept losing,” Russell said. “We’ve made it very clear all year: Guys are getting opportunities and we’ve got some good talent coming and we’ll search the free-agent market. The guys who were given opportunities, some have taken advantage of it and some of them aren’t quite ready for it.” — emphasis added.
Robinson continued in his article by saying:
“Many of the players added in the trades have disappointed, not coming close to matching the numbers of the players for whom they were dealt.
Obviously Huntington and his lieutenants made some poor decisions in their trades and are the ones who should first be held accountable. But will they?
Don’t count on it because, remember now, the horse you have to bet on has blinders on.
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Here are the remaining outfield ball in play rbi/total base per touch stats I promised last night. One thing you will notice is that all three positions are playing no less than league average defense in the second half and, for the most part, better than. Unfortunately, that hasn’t gotten us very far.
First, center field where you’ll see that Cutch has become a monster in saving runs when the ball heads his way. And it’s not like he isn’t getting chances – he’s seeing quite a few. You might also notice that McLouth was a tick better than league average in center too.
Now right field.
Well look here – Jones is quite the guy in right. No wonder he’s getting so many innings out there because, outside of Nady, we haven’t had anyone patrolling right that was worth a can of corn and Nady was a tick below-average to boot. I would venture to guess Jones is all but cemented in right for 2010 and we’ll be looking for a first baseman in the free agent market.
By Jake, on September 26, 2009, at 12:42 am | Comments are closed
Who said Lou Piniella is a fool?
Remember when the Rays were having such a hard time winning ballgames with their starters in 2005? Piniella joked what was needed was to start the games with his relievers. He never did and he eventually left the Rays later that year.
Fast forward to the Bucs Friday night game against the Dodgers and six relievers combined to hold LA to seven hits and one run. Ok, maybe it was because they didn’t get to their hotel until 3 AM Friday morning? Or maybe it was because they came in expecting to win?
Naw, it was because our mighty bullpen (8.20 ERA last five games). Right? Yeah, right.
The odds? The Bucs went off at 185 at Bodog where I hang my hat. No, I didn’t jump on it. I wanted to, but I didn’t.
So how about Moss – a little two-out flair that drops in at Manny’s feet scoring the two go-ahead runs in the third? LOL, talk about some luck especially since the inning should have been already over except for Loney’s misplay on Doumit’s ground ball. Stuff happens, huh?
And how about Donnie Veal? Two innings and three big K’s. You know a team is offensively challenged when Veal causes them some distress. Or Capps, for that matter.
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I’ve been hammering the defensive play of Lastings Milledge in left field for a couple of months now and today I received an e-mail asking me to review a few plays. They also outlined why they felt Milledge was doing an average job defending left, if not better. So I looked at the games and reviewed their data and then did some additional research. I already knew that zone based statistics like Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) had Milledge about one win above average for us but I’ve long learned that defensive metrics are pretty much pookie other than for comparing the average Joe to the league average guy since that doesn’t tell me if the league average guy is any good or not.
What I did know was that my fan-based scouting senses (video only) told me Milledge gets poor jumps, runs below-average routes, has a below-average arm, and is occasionally slow to the ball.
The chart below shows two types of events for our left fielders over the last two years – an opposing at bat where the ball in play was hit to left field (and fielded by the left fielder) and it resulted in at least one run batted in, or an at bat to left which resulted in at least one total base. Both are broken down into sub-events like 1 rbi or total base, 2 rbis or total bases, and 3 rbis or total bases.
Read the chart like this (first row) – there were 348 balls in play against Pirate pitching in the Bay era which resulted in 1 RBI and 86 of them were fielded by Bay which gave him a 24.7% rate. As you can see, the Morgan era was by far the best in reducing opposing rbi’s on balls fielded in left as he had a 15.5% rating, which was well below MLB average in left. Milledge, on the other hand, rated better than Bay but not as good as the Morgan or Moss/Morgan/Michaels eras.
Milledge also rates better than every era except the Morgan era in the reduction (is it really reduction??) of 2 RBI plays and is well below the combined average of 22.1% for all other 2 RBI eras. There isn’t much data available to look at for 3 RBI plays but you can see Milledge is taking a beating there by a longshot. Funny, there never was a 3 RBI play with Bay in left (2008 and 2009 data), or with Morgan.
You can also see Milledge is fielding a higher rate of singles than anyone else did except Bay, where he’s nearly identical. The same is nearly true on doubles and triples.
(edit 09/26 in the AM: I added the MLB average column to the chart below since a few asked for the numbers.)
Realize that there are numerous differences in each of the era’s like positioning, pitchers, parks, time in the season, and a whole lot more. I don’t even try to account for those in this – it’s a raw look.
But raw as it is, it still tells us a story - whatever the reasons why, balls in play fielded in left the last two years which resulted in at least one rbi or total base suggest that the Milledge era is seeing average results across the board as compared to the other three Pirates’ eras. The Morgan era was clearly the best.
Other research I did also suggests the same thing – so far he is a league average defender. Does that mean the range based stats are off suggesting he is almost a +1 win defender in left? Well, I don’t see it and the numbers don’t support it on my end. His numbers are improving but the sample size for just September are a bit too low to get a good handle on.
So I stand corrected Mr. Milledge.. we are not bleeding runs in left because of your poor defense. However, your not exactly helping us save runs either as I expect from your speed so in that regard, I’m moving you down a tick to below-average because I expect more. Morgan did a hell of a job and I’d bet a dime to your dollar Neal Huntington probably wishes he hadn’t made that deal.
I’ll put up center and right field numbers over the weekend or first of the week.
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Pedro Alvarez was named Minor League Player of the Year and Rudy Owens Minor League Pitcher of the Year Friday by the Bucs. Owens I understand, but Alvarez after all the grief we went through with him???
Puh-lease.
Jonathan Lucroy, Eric Fryer, and Chase D’Arnaud all had solid offensive years. Neither did what Alvarez did with the bat but, then again, none of them were expected to either. Matt McSwain (sub-3 xERA) also had a great year.
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Team USA won again and Alvarez went 2-4. They play Cuba Sunday in the gold medal game.
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The Pirates minor league system finished 23rd in the win-loss column for the year. I see Tom Kotchman’s Orem Owlz had the 5th best record overall (51-25) and won the Pioneer League Championship. Huntington needs to get serious and go after Kotch.. if it’s not too late.
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Hey, hey, hey, I’m winning my first round playoff in MLB’s fantasy challenge.
By Jake, on September 24, 2009, at 11:42 pm | Comments are closed
Morton was pitching fine until he threw a 2-2 fastball middle-away to Drew Sutton in the third inning with men at first and second and two outs. The pitch was to the mitt so it was exactly what Jaramillo called for and it had just a tick of tail away from the left handed batter so I assume it was of a four-seamer variety, but there was one problem. Morton’s defense in left was shaded way over in left center plus playing in a bit so the pitch selection was a bit odd, especially since Sutton is well known to like to extend his hands and is a good fastball hitter.
And he did just that – he laced it just inside the left field line for a double scoring Arroyo with Traveras, who reached with a single off LaRoche’s glove which should have been the third out, stopping at third. Then the unthinkable happened – Morton threw a 1-1 changeup that sort of fluttered out over the outside of the plate thigh-high and Votto, who obviously saw our center fielder swung all the way around into left center, hammered the ball to the right center field gap where it ran to the wall scoring two more. Not to be outdone, Phillips then hit a little nubber off the end of the bat to Milledge and he stood there waiting for the ball to fall as yet another run scored. Those four runs beat us, but there’s more to this story than what you read.
You see, these types of defensive events are happening no matter which pitcher takes the mound and no matter what batter happens to be at the plate. The reason for it is simple – there isn’t a professional hitter in the game that can’t routinely square up on the pitches in any of our pitcher’s arsenal. Not only that but, because we’re talking about professional hitters who are standing at the plate with the equivalent of deer eyes in bright lights looking out at the massive gaps down our lines, they simply wait for the pitch they want to put the ball in play where we aren’t and, well, the rest is already in the history books.
Thursday’s game might have been a 4-1 contest on paper but there’s no question that if the Bucs attempted any kind of a come back the Reds were locked-and-loaded ready to put up another five spot just about any time they wanted to.. they are a very good hitting team. Funny thing, every other series we play is against good hitting clubs who can do the same thing and the rest of the series are against good pitching clubs we don’t have the sticks to even touch third base against.
Simply put, this roster hasn’t a prayer in hell. Not today, not in 2010, not in 2011, not ever. You can move in Alvarez, put Cutch in the three-hole, bring up Clement and Tabata, play a healthy Doumit, and even bring in a 100 rbi, 30 home run free agent bat, but we’ll still lose 90 games. It’s not going to matter.. there’s not enough men with sustainable talent on the roster.. not in Pittsburgh and not in our system. Not even combined.
End of story.
I suppose this is where I should add that Neal Huntington is Tony LaCava’s bitch and that, without Tony by his side, he’s been a catastrophic failure as Frank Coonelly’s bitch. But I won’t say that.. Neal’s hands are probably tied tighter than Littlefield’s were so instead I’ll just say that ‘The Frank Coonelly Show’ has been an unprecedented disaster. You don’t give away arms like Gorzelanny and Torres just because you can’t handle them – you find a way to handle them. You don’t leave talent on the board as a small market team, you take best available regardless of the cost. And you most assuredly don’t hire men like Joe Kerrigan and Perry Hill telling them tales because that not only haunts you with them, it haunts you in the entire circuit.
Frank, you have failed.
But maybe that has been ’THE PLAN’ all along? You know, ownership wasn’t about to infuse another $50M per to keep Bay et al as well as build a competitive roster so what else could Coonelly do except bail and pray something – anything – went his way? Unfortunately for him, it didn’t. But at least Bob Nutting saved Chuck Greenberg’s great name by sparing him the agony of all this and Nutting and Coonelly spared LaCava by picking Huntington.
So maybe the next step in ‘THE PLAN’ is a show of accountability to the fans where all of a sudden Neal and his crew are sent packing, LaCava is brought in to glue the pieces back together, and ’THE SHOW’ goes on? I mean, at that point Nutting still keeps a low payroll for two years while being able to keep positive fan and player influences like Perry Hill and Joe Kerrigan around, LaCava would then be able to amass his crack team of scouts and developmental people to take charge of the very expensive farm implements Nutting has purchased which, by all accounts, needs some major overhauling before that value is lost too, and Nutting finally hears the ‘buzz’ he’s wanted to hear that the club is really moving forward, not that it seems like it might be moving forward.
The fans, players, local business and the City would all have a coronary knowing LaCava and the Pittsburgh Boys were back in the saddle, it would be so great. However that can only mean one thing though, we’ve been dreaming and it’s time to wake up.
You know what I’m talking about, moves that devalue the organizational assests but increase the bottom line for Mr. Nutting and his family. Make your signs now for 2010 – Thank You Bud For The Welfare, Love Bob’. Let’s rush Alvarez, Lincoln, and Sanchez to Pittsburgh like we did McCutchen so they can all experience the losing culture too. Let’s sign some more Huntington era Expos free agents for too much money. And let’s play another two or three years of meaningless baseball in Pittsburgh until the fans finally rise up/wise up and run the Nutting’s out of town.
Uggghhh.. reality bites.
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I’ve taken a little heat over my pre-season prediction that this was a 72 win club. Obviously I didn’t expect the wholesale house cleaning we had since I had assumed it would have started in December 2007, not in mid-year 2009. But the rest of the prediction sort of played out – the division was weaker than most thought mostly due to injuries, there has been a lot of runs scored, and division play has been a lot sloppier. Unfortunately, we’ve gone 20-48 in the division, the higher runs scored has mostly been against us, we’re the ones playing the sloppiest baseball, and when other teams played us they tended to play sloppy too.
As you can see from the historical schedule analysis I did pre-season, we’re expected to lose 96 games and we are currently on pace to lose 102. That’s a difference of -6 wins. Now remember, we were +3 wins over expected back at the end of May before all the trades and then, well, we went downhill.
Do you think Karstens has a prayer in hell against Jon Garland and the Dodgers Friday? If you do, run like hell and get some action in Vegas because this game holds one of the longest odds of the year against us. Vegas knows that the Bucs have lost 80% of Karsten”s last ten starts at PNC, that the Bucs have lost 78% of the last 32 games they played the Dodgers on their home turf, and that we have lost 72% of the last 57 games when a right-hand starter took the mound against us. Oh I forgot to mention, the Dodgers are scoring an average of 9.3 runs per game against right handers last five; 6.8 runs per last ten.
OUCH.
Aye Mates, don’t be fooled by all that. Go buy long because September is a funny month and, you know, the G-20 is in town and the Dodgers played a game Thursday, the Prime Minister from Japan is throwing out the first pitch (remember Matsumi Kuwata??), and it’s going to be relatively cool for Manny-types (60′s).
Maybe you should wait to put your hard-earned money down on Saturday night since it’s the last fireworks night and legendary rock band Foreigner is playing? I certainly would. Go buy a ticket.
Cheers!
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Team USA smacked down Cuba and Alvarez went 0-3 with, yep you got it, two strike outs. I know, I know, he’s just getting warmed up for the big game.
By Jake, on September 23, 2009, at 10:51 pm | Comments are closed
(FLORENCE, Italy) – Behind three home runs and 8 1/3 shutout innings from starter Todd Redmond, Team USA (11-1; 5-0) secured a berth in the 2009 Baseball World Cup championship game by defeating Puerto Rico (8-4; 2-3) by a 3-0 score at Stadio Cerreti in Florence, Italy. It will be the 12th appearance in a Baseball World Cup final for the U.S., which will aim for its fourth such title, along with 1973, 1974 and 2007.
Ike Davis got things started for the U.S. with his solo homer to right field in the second inning. Buck Coats added his home run to right in the fifth and Jon Weber capped the U.S. offensive with a shot to deep center field in the top of the eighth inning.
USA starter Redmond (3-0) was brilliant, allowing four hits and striking out four batters for his third win of the World Cup. Jason Childers came on with one out in the ninth inning and finished the game for the U.S., striking out one for his first save of the tournament.
The U.S. will face Cuba next in Round Three of IBAF Baseball World Cup action, Thursday, September 24 at Stadio Borghese in Nettuno, Italy. Game time is scheduled for 8 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) and will be televised live on MLB Network.
Team USA will then close out Round Three against the Netherlands on Friday, September 25. After an off day, the Americans will attempt to defend its 2007 IBAF Baseball World Cup Championship on Sunday, Sept. 27 in Nettuno, Italy at 3 p.m. (10 a.m. ET). The gold medal game will also be televised live on MLB Network.
Game Notes:
* The box score and play-by-play report of today’s game are attached, as are Team USA’s cumulative statistics throughout World Cup action.
* After losing the opener to Venezuela in Regensburg, Germany Team USA has now won eleven consecutive games at the 2009 Baseball World Cup.
* Trevor Plouffe’s hitting streak ended at 10 games on Wednesday, spanning his 10 Baseball World Cup games dating back to September 11.
* USA Baseball Professional Teams hold an 8-1 all-time record over Puerto Rico in international competition.
(FLORENCE, Italy) – Behind three home runs and 8 1/3 shutout innings from starter Todd Redmond, Team USA (11-1; 5-0) secured a berth in the 2009 Baseball World Cup championship game by defeating Puerto Rico (8-4; 2-3) by a 3-0 score at Stadio Cerreti in Florence, Italy. It will be the 12th appearance in a Baseball World Cup final for the U.S., which will aim for its fourth such title, along with 1973, 1974 and 2007. 
