Bucs shutout 17 of 19 innings losing two

I’m writing this post with a touch of sadness in my heart as minor league camp starts to gain some momentum. All I can say is that minor events have transpired in our minor league system which are disappointing and I’m guessing you’ll be hearing about them soon enough from other sources.  That being said, New Bucs readers aren’t going to understand a lot of what I have to say right now although I think it’s important that somebody says something…

Opening this blog and smoking management and ownership over part of the last decade has been one of the hardest things I have ever done, but I felt it was important for me to take a leadership role educating the fan base on what I felt were petty motivations.  Along the way I gave up quite a few things in my life in exchange for a chance to heal that little piece of my heart I gave to this organization while growing up which has been stomped on.

I wasn’t soft about my decision – I knew what I wanted and I went after it doing the best I could.  For me it was an easy decision.. call it generational motivation. I haven’t been perfect.. I’ve made mistakes along the way and I’ll keep making mistakes as I continue to learn and grow. But my heart has never wavered in my cause regardless of who attacked me, regardless that others beside me walked away, regardless of what others were saying near me, or regardless of the fact my task seemed insurmountable.

My point is this – you are generally either a leader or a follower in life, but you should always be the one in control OF your life.  Sometimes it’s hard to see the stairs to climb from all the smoke being thrown out there but, believe me, the stairs ARE there. You just have to WANT to see them.  I know, it took me several decades to find them.

Open your eyes and take another look around.. it’s not too late to keep climbing.

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Alfredo Aceves is a perfect example of why major league organizations tend to frown on handing over release papers to players who want to walk away.  Monday he threw four perfect innings against the Bucs fresh off his postseason appearances in 2009.  What many fans don’t realize is, he was a Blue Jay in 2001 until he asked – and was granted – his release and went and played in the Mexican League. Six years later the Yankees paid Monterry about $400k for him and less than six months later he was pitching in the bigs.

It’s an amazing story, but an increasingly rare story too.

The Bucs couldn’t get a handle on him (he’s known to command four solid pitches), nor could they get a handle on any of the other Yankees arms other than a little grounder that found a hole by Steve Pearce.  One hit and two walks short of a perfect game by four pitchers against the likes of solid batsmen like McCutchen, Aki, Doumit, Crosby, and Walker. There were some hard hit balls like Doumit’s crushed line drive back to the mound in the 5th, but there were also a lot of lazy fly balls and routine grounders too.

You just have to tip your hat to the Yankees who also scored six runs, two of which came off Maholm who was the victim of a bit of shoddy defense (Crosby at short.. multiple times on the day, no less) and some unlucky groundball bounces. Still, it’s a bit early in the spring to be looking for too much from heavy two-seamer guys like Maholm.

I think it just goes to show you how poor some of the pitching has been that we’ve faced already. Anytime we face someone with top shelf stuff, we’re immediately reminded that we have a roster with very few tools. That’s not to say that we can’t beat aces, just that it’s improbable. And isn’t that really the problem?  I mean, if all of a sudden the Bucs jumped out to a five-game lead in the division and we had to start facing top of the rotation starters day-after-day, is there any reader out there that thinks we’d have a prayer of winning more than one in five?

I certainly don’t.

Well on to Tampa where we witnessed another pro spanking when Matt Garza handed us our booty on a stick striking out five of the twelve batters he faced including four of the first five.  You can’t score too many runs if you can’t even put the bat on the ball. We did manage to get to junk man extraordinaire Lance Cormier, but he’s probably not even throwing half the weapons he has in his arsenal yet.

Alvarez had yet another triple (he’s quickly proving me wrong about his speed, I suppose), and.. sit down for this one.. Brian Friday took ex-Bucco Jeff Bennett deep in the 7th to put us ahead. (Funny story, Mickey White was with the Rays before coming over to the Pirates after Bennett was drafted in 1998. And low and behold, here is Bennett pitching for the Rays.)  If you recall, we burnt Bennett’s arm out and he’s come all the way back.. another amazing story of true guts polished with a little touch of Braves solid-gold development.

And what do you know.. yet another Cedeno error showed up in the box score. Who would have thought after his play the last couple of times out?  Man do we have problems this year.

Two losses in one day. Ughh..

Notes:  Aki, who also created an error costing us a run Monday, is said to be wearing a knee brace (as I mentioned last week, it’s not when he will be 100%, it’s IF, in my book);  Brandon Moss continued his torrid strikeout pace adding two more; Tabata played center against the Rays which is very surprising to me but it seems he got away with it (it’s also a telling sign he was even out there); Alvarez at DH instead of starting one of the two games (was Walker playing for scouts?); we’re witnessing far fewer double-plays than expected so far this spring which, at this rate, would put us +35 more runs allowed on the year (yikes! — but have faith, the pendulum swings both ways); it seems we’re seeing fewer and fewer pitches per at bat over the last few games; and where/when did we pick up Miles Durham???.. I missed that NRI.

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A Pittsburgh-Post Gazette bureau chief ran an article February 27th which said in part:

Well, I know one thing for sure — I won’t be driving back to the Burgh for games at PNC Park, as lovely a facility for baseball as it is.  Whether any of you folks want to spend your hard-earned money on Pirates’ tickets, that’s up to you. But as long as people keep faithfully buying tickets to see an inferior product, there’s no reason for Pirates’ management to improve it.  (emphasis by me)

Another Pittsburgh daily, the Tribune-Review, posted an article on January 31st which said in part:

This is where the Pirates fans come in:

You can’t make Bob Nutting sell the team.

But you don’t have to buy what he’s selling, either.

If you’re not following along, that’s both newspapers in Pittsburgh suggesting to the fans that they should boycott the organization if they want change.

That has to be unprecedented.

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Is there a major leak in our front office that has been feeding others?  Considering the draft is getting closer…

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Last call for those who signed up for fantasy baseball. If you haven’t registered with MLB by Wednesday, your spots will be lost.

Wednesday is also the last day for you to make a pledge (the pledge button is over on the far right column up top) and gain membership goodies for the season.

Related posts:

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3. As the Bucs keep losing, the fans want accountability
4. Bucs swept behind Gallardo's shutout; head home