By Jake, on February 1, 2010, at 9:06 pm |
One of the most bizarre statements of the winter that I heard came from one Pirates exec when he said something to the effect of:
Our young players tasted success in the second half that we believe will serve to be their catalyst in 2010.
The ‘taste’ the exec was talking about was the August 17th – 27th homestand where we ran off a 7-2 spurt by pounding out 5 runs per game while holding the Reds, Phillies, and Brewers to under 3 runs per game. Unquestionably, it was the roster’s finest hour over a very poor season.
I’ve talked numerous times this winter about the internal debate on Federal Street regarding this very issue – some believe they have enough pitching to compete even with below average offense. But how realistic is that thinking?
No matter what side of that argument you stand on, the fact remains that our roster limped down the stretch in their last 2300 at bats. Simply put, it’s hard to win games when you can’t crack .700 OPS over an extended period of time. I think the last 36 games is a good example of how this roster will play in 2010 before Alvarez comes up.. they went 9-27 (.300) and were outscored by 2.1 runs per game on average.
Remarkably, they went 3-3 in their last road trip despite being outscored by almost a 1/2 run per game. The Pirates execs might argue they generated luck because of good pitching (sub 4 ERA) and that’s what they hope to accomplish in 2010. I’d argue that we won the doubleheader in Chicago playing in low 50’s, high 40’s weather with wind blowing off the lake, and then got our butts kicked two of three by a mentally defeated Reds squad. It wasn’t a pretty end of the season by any stretch of the imagination and, if anything, we had the wind knocked out of our sails when we couldn’t muster but 2 runs per game against the Dodgers and Astros September 11th – 16th while our pitching posted a sub 4 ERA.
Look closely at those batting averages from July 23rd on — that’s about as ugly as it gets folks with four of the nine groups (24 games) at .225 or less and ERA’s above 5 in five of the nine groups.
How realistic is it to think we have enough pitching to contend with the less-than-impact bats we have? Should we expect 5 runs per game in offense? I think that’s possible, but certainly unsustainable. So let’s assume 4 runs per game is more probable with 3.5 runs average per game most likely. What will be required of our pitching to keep us close every game at 3.5 runs produced on offense? For every 100 games (810 innings pitched) where we allow only 3.5 runs per game on average would require a collective ERA of 3.78 ERA just to keep the opposition at 3.5.
Do you know how improbable it is for a pitching staff to throw a collective 3.78 ERA across 160 games anymore? It’s happened just 12 times since the 2005 season led by such incredible staffs like the Padres with Young and Peavy, the Red Sox in Beckett and Schilling, the Blue Jays with Halladay and Burnett, the Dodgers in Lowe, Kershaw, Wolf, and Billingsley, and the Giants with Lincecum and Cain. I’m sorry to say we don’t have one pitcher – in Pittsburgh or in our minor league system – who resembles any of those men. Not even close.
So something has to give.. either we have to score more than 3.5 runs per game on average or we’re going to lose an obscene number of games again in 2010. Which will it be?
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I’m very, very bummed out about the upcoming year. I realize it’s yet another development year in Pittsburgh, and I realize the fans think they have a possibility of seeing 70+ wins, but I’m here to tell you I can’t get any model run to come out with more than 62 wins. Where PECOTA is finding the other 8 wins is beyond me because this is a 100 loss team no matter how aggressive you get with Alvarez, Clement, and Morton. (Update at 11:08 PM Monday.. PECOTA projection remains at 70 wins despite the fact they just shaved 83 runs scored off from the initial projection. Oh, and they also shaved 80 runs off runs allowed for some reason plus the Cards score the most runs in the division at only 724! Unbelievable stuff.)
We have too little power, a significantly unbalanced defense, and rookies waiting in the wings to add more unstableness. Hammer me all you want but it’s just not going to be a pretty year.
Except for laying down a few bucks on our Bucs, that is. I think Vegas and the rest of the world are going to be fooled by our roster this year leaving a wide open door for some outrageous opportunities for fans like us to make a small fortune from side bets.
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Preliminary Sleepers and Foolers for 2010
Sleepers
Dotel – think Mike Gonzalez on steriods and that’s how much fun Dotel is going to have.
Crosby — someone is going to have to step up and take charge in the Bucs inexperienced infield and Crosby is just the guy to handle the job. Look for a breakout type year from him as a utility man who plays too much.
Veal — the guy nobody believed in goes to 3A and uncoils a ridiculous sub 2 ERA in his first 10 starts and then comes up to Pittsburgh to replace Duke and ends up winning more games than any starter.
Doumit – he smells his exit from Pittsburgh and runs off a .320/.385/.490 line in his first 50 games and is then dealt to the Rangers. If he isn’t dealt, he’ll be on the DL the rest of the year.
McCutchen - April and early May won’t be his best months but by mid-August will be causing a ticket selling frenzy everywhere he plays. It’s the year of the Cutch.
Foolers
LaRoche - he knows if he tanks early he’s going to be dealt away from the land of suits and misery.
Duke – how do you spell ERA above 9?
Jones – he just can’t get around high and tight heat and the league finally adjusts.
Milledge - will he last 40 games before going on the DL? I don’t think so.
Ohlendorf – his head is still in Washington dreaming about all the heifers he met.
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A very special interview with a very special person, he says. Almost has a Pee Wee Herman ring to it, huh? Man I miss Joe Rutter. If you want to skip the interview I’ll give you a quick transcript of what was said that was meaningful:
nothing
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The Reds signed Orlando Cabrera for $4M. Wow. That’s a deal that will come back to haunt the Bucs. Mark it down.
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I forgot to mention that the other day I saw where Huntington was talking about competing and mentioned the 2012 – 2013 seasons. That’s typical for a GM to talk one year further out than he is inked for so I suspect we’re about to see him get a two-year extension.
By Jake, on June 27, 2009, at 11:23 pm |
I was able to watch part of the game on the way home and saw where Maholm took a shot off his left arm but kept pitching. He’ll probably be fine but I was surprised he remained out there as long as he did. He seemed to be hitting his spots a bit better and his sinker looked to have a tick more sink on it, so he deserved the W. As I suspected might happen, the Royals got to him early but then Maholm shut their game down. Let’s face it, we’ve faced two pathetic offenses these last two series so it’s really hard to gauge anything at all off these pitching performances and, you know, don’t be shocked if you see Morton throw a near no-no tomorrow the way the Royals look so beat.
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WHAT??!?? The Pirates are relaying signs to batters??!!??
Preposterous.
Right??
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I saw where the Nats pursuit of Morgan has shifted since the Bucs said they weren’t interested in Milledge, which comes as no surprise to me. But you have to believe it’s a dead issue now because a Milledge for Morgan swap wasn’t bad on paper and since it didn’t go down, it’s unlikely anything else will unless Karstens loses his mind.
Another thought is that the Nats deal was leaked to get a third club to act. I have heard Morgan’s name in the rumor circuit for a month now but never tied to any team – just that he was available before and after the McLouth trade. It could be there is a third club close on him – we’ll see. One obvious thing to me came out of the leak, Pirates fans don’t appear to care too much if they lose Morgan like they did McLouth.
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Continue reading » Bucs, Maholm manhandle putrid Royals
By Jake, on May 30, 2009, at 10:45 pm |
Everyone in Pittsburgh knew there was going to be a record crowd at Saturday night’s game with a concert and fireworks slated after the game plus the Penguins playing on the road. So for the first time this season John Russell finally shuffled his lineup to put some of the higher OBP guys at the top of the order and sat some cold bats in McLouth and Adam LaRoche.
And it paid off as you would expect.. lots of runners on base for the guys swinging the hotter bats, and lots of runs scored. Oh, and a win to boot. Wait.. maybe it was the second time.. I think I remember Young leading off some too.
Anyway, don’t think for a second that all this was done intentionally by Russell to try and jump start a generally lethargic offense. Naw, that’s too obvious. Instead, focus on the front office probably sending him the card for this game because, like I said before, everyone knew it was going to be a big draw night.
What upsets me as a fan is that Russell and the Pirates have had numerous opportunities to shift our sinking lineup around and bench non-productive players for weeks but they refused to do it. Instead, they wait until they got a full house. That’s rank, almost as rank as..
Matt Capps’ bullsh*t in the 9th inning.
Continue reading » Pirates shuffle lineup expecting large crowd; finally win one
By Jake, on May 26, 2009, at 11:08 pm |
So through the first four innings Snell has only thrown a handful of mistake pitches and just two of them came back to bite him. The first was Fukudome’s home run on a heater down the middle of the plate he hammered over the left field wall, and in the third, Hoffpauir was fed back-to-back fastballs.. the first one he crushed foul pulling it too hard, the second one he ripped off the right field wall scoring Bradley who had made it to third after Snell walked him with two outs in the inning. The third Cubs run crossed when Fontenot lined a double into the right field corner in the pouring rain and eventually scored when Mike Marshall slashed a single into center with two outs.
Starting the fifth, Snell was quickly approaching that magical 80 pitch mark I talk about here so often and, sure enough, his game fell apart. Soriano somehow managed to get wood on a slider 6″ off the dirt and drive it into right for a single leading off the inning and, with Theriot up, Soriano stole second on Snell and Diaz airmailed a throw 15′ off the bag that went into center instead of holding on to it, and Soriano took third. Luckily, Andy LaRoche handled McLouth’s throw to third because that was 10′ off the bag as well. Theriot flaired one into shallow center with the infield in scoring Soriano and Snell then walked Fukudome putting men at first and second with no outs and taking him over the 80 pitch mark. Bradley then walked taking him to 86 pitches.
And then Snell’s fun began.
Continue reading » Ian Snell rocked. Again.
By Jake, on May 22, 2009, at 12:56 am |
Bucs up by a run in the 7th with Snell out of gas at the 92 pitch mark so who does John Russell run out to the mound? You guessed it – Tom Gorzelanny, the guy who had thrown 296 pitches in his last three starts through May 12th with a 2.98 ERA.
Never mind that he hadn’t pitched in relief role since college days.. never mind that he pitched on five days rest in his first appearance on the 18th, was then brought back out the 19th after warming up for a few innings, allowed one day off, and then asked to hit the mound again Thursday for two more innings and thirty pitches.
Never mind that our organizational depth in starting pitching is so weak we’re starting the likes of Jeff Karstens and Russ Ohlendorf who are considered 7th inning guys at best by every scout’s standard I’ve ever spoken to, and never mind that Gorzelanny was lucky enough to get past the “Verducci effect” last year without going under the knife. No, all the Pirates seem to care about is wins with a total disregard to the potential long-term cost of those wins.
This stuff makes Littlefield’s incompetence seem competent, imo.
Continue reading » Ridiculousness continues – Gorzy, 3rd relief outing in 4 days
By Jake, on May 6, 2009, at 10:55 pm |
I thought it was interesting that John Russell waited until his club left town before putting Delwyn Young in the starting lineup. We saw why in Wednesday night’s game.
After Pujols homered in the first off Duke, Young opened the second with a single and, after three walks and a double play, finally scored when Morgan ground one past Thurston at second making the score 1-1 after two. It could have been 2-1 Bucs had Jaramillo made a tighter turn home as the trailing runner on Morgan’s ground ball, but between that turn and a weak slide, Rasmus and Molina teamed up to nail him at the plate.
Then everything seemed to s – l – o – w down a bit. Really slow. Until the fourth.
Continue reading » The g R i N d continues; 8th loss last 9
By Jake, on April 30, 2009, at 11:33 pm |
Some interesting questions this week:
“Pedro Alvarez has more errors than home runs in Lynchburg. When does he get moved to first base?” — CT, Belle Vernon, PA
Lots of fans e-mailing about this. The Pirates aren’t about to move Alvarez from the hot corner just because he commits errors while being developed, CT. The fact of the matter is, Alvarez has to stick at third or they risk losing a lot of value in him.
“You mentioned clubhouse problems the other day Jake. What are you hearing?” — NR, Reynoldsburg, OH
Nothing specific, just some low-level grumbling. There are some very dedicated men who want to win as bad as the fans want to see them win, and then there are some who just collect a paycheck, sort-to-speak. When a club is winning a lot there’s less grumbling – when they are losing a lot, there is more. So the fact I was hearing grumbling while they were winning means there is some deep conflict within the group. But let me stress something, clubhouse problems aren’t always directed player-to-player, they are also directed player-to-front office, field staff, or even ownership.
“Wilbur Miller and other die-hard Pirates fans agree with Smizik’s claim that Bob Nutting had nothing to do with the Pirates problems the last five plus years. Is it possible you are wrong?” — PM, Wheeling, WV
I’m not going to get into a pissing contest over what someone said or didn’t say. But no, I’m not wrong – the Nutting’s controlled the Board. Now what the details of the initial ten-year partnership agreement were I haven’t a clue, but it stands to reason that if one family has a majority of the stock and owns a voting majority on the Board, they control the franchise – including the CEO. The Nuttings started buying up everyone’s stock in the 2002/2003 era with one thing in mind – complete control, and they did that knowing they had the votes on the Board to do as they pleased.
“Why did you believe Tom Gorzelanny might be brought back to Pittsburgh when we head to St. Louis next week?” — JB, Las Vegas, NV
I miscalculated Gorzelanny’s service time. He was a tick over two years at the end of the 2008 season so to keep him around another year we won’t be seeing him until June 1st at the earliest, more likely June 15th or later. Same would be true for Andrew McCutchen being called up – no earlier than mid June.
“Jonathan Mayo at MLB had an article on Tanner Scheppers today and it seems you were right about him all along Jake. We should have signed him. ” — JF, Belle Vernon, PA
It was a no-brainer at the time, JF. Looking back today it’s even an easier decision – if you are going to spend $2MM for an older utility player, why in the world would you not spend that money instead signing one of the premiere arms in the ‘08 draft knowing you had Bixler and a 90-loss club?
But what bothers me most about the Schepper’s no-sign is that our decision-making process was obviously flawed from our pro scouts all the way to Coonelly. The Pirates stated they felt he was an injury risk but he’s clearly shown that not to be the case.
Perhaps the biggest concern I’ve always had is that we have never been geared up to develop pitching in our system, and we still aren’t. Hiring quality pitching instructors is next to impossible for clubs going nowhere and the Bucs are a perfect model of that. Until we go spend some stupid money on getting pro caliber talent to develop these arms, it might be better we don’t try to put any in our system because all it will do is lead to more failure.
“Grant Green in June?” — VR, Pittsburgh, PA
No, we need arms and there are some decent second-tier pitching that will be hard to pass up on. Remember now, I was high on Crow last year and I’m still on him.. Matt Purke is another live arm, Shelby Miller another. If I’m picking a position player and Green is available, I probably pass him and take Mychal Givens instead (a tick of an overdraft as a shortstop but one I think worth it). The kid is simply a monster in waiting, but very, very raw. And for those that have asked, I’m not high on Ackley.. I just don’t see the power potential everyone else seems to think is there. I think he’ll go early as a raw hitter, but it will be an overdraft in my opinion.
Crow, Givens, Miller.. those are three studs. Miller might even be available at #49, although I highly doubt it. Givens and Crow are top 15 guys on my board.
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So the Reds are coming to town, huh? We see Arroyo Friday night and you probably immediately said, we own him. We certainly do.. Arroyo is 0-4 last four starts at PNC against us. But guess what, the Bucs (are you sitting down?) have won only four Friday night games that Duke started (out of 21). Ouch.
Duke always throws well against the Reds at PNC – he keeps the ball down and we see a ton of ground balls so look for Vasquez to start at short and then we have a problem - who plays left? I assume Monroe but maybe Moss since his knee looks better and he’s certainly seeing the ball well right now. That assumes McLouth is sitting this series, of course.
If I was in Vegas betting on this game I sure like the long odds on the Reds. Arroyo always pitches well at PNC but always seems to lose. He got bombed by the Braves but that’s understandable with the way the Braves are hitting right now. What bothers me about Duke this game is that he threw 114 pitches last time out and he has the potential to give up the ship after throwing more than 100 the previous game. I don’t expect him to go very deep.. maybe 85 – 90 pitches so that means our pen will have to close out the last three or four innings.
And don’t think the Reds pen can’t hold a lead, they are pretty good so far this year and the club ERA is like 5th or so in the league.
Saturday we see Owings (ouch, but we should get to him because he’s probably going to fatigue early) and Sunday it’s Cueto who is always been tough against us.
Be careful with this series because if McLouth comes back less than 100% and the Reds put some runs up, we could very easily get swept.
But don’t count on that happening.
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So we ended up the month with an 11-10 record, good for +2 wins over historical expected with one game cancelled. That’s excellent. This month we have a little harder schedule but a tick better historical winning percentage against so if we take care of business against teams like the Reds who have some problems, we should be able to go up another +2 wins.. or even more.
And we better because in June it gets downright ugly.
By Jake, on April 26, 2009, at 9:24 pm |
Winning two of three in San Diego, $1,560 at BoDog, Freddy Sanchez benched, $8M savings in ‘10, Jack Wilson put on the 15-day DL,
How ’bout ‘dem Bucs? And just in case you didn’t notice, other than Adam LaRoche, Brian Bixler, and Nyjer Morgan, that was Neal Huntington’s boys out there winning Sunday. Sure, they only went 6-20 with no rbis and three runs scored compared to LaRoche, Bixler, and Morgan who pounded out a 5-10 day with 8 rbis and 5 runs scored, and Ohlendorf did all the rest of the work, but, you get the idea.. maybe there is more to that lineup than anyone realizes? Like, oh… trying to sway ownership into allowing some talent to be dealt for youth down the road? Maybe.. maybe.
Well, we’ve played six series so far.. we won three of them, lost one, and tied in two, we’ve scored an obscene 81 runs in 18 games (4.5 runs per game; obscene because of the limited ‘toolsy’ talent), and held opponents to a measly 55 runs (3.1 runs per game). That’s a 1.4 runs per game split and historically so far out in left field, it’s beyond comprehension.
So let’s take a peek where we are at based on the pre-season schedule analysis. We are already +2 wins from historical expectations with a chance to go up a couple more (and don’t forget one game was postponed in April). We can see that April is our third easiest month based on the strength of schedule using each club’s 2008 winning percentage, and we see that May is the second hardest period of the year behind July before the break.
Now we heard the media say before heading to San Diego that the Padres series would show where the Pirates truly were, but I warned you to be cautious about that statement. The Pads have a lot of problems from the clubhouse to the diamond and we went in there and took care of business as we should have.
But the real test starts now.
We play the Brewers five of the next eight games with the Reds sandwiched in between, then two in St. Louis, two in New York against the Mets, three more at home against the Redbirds, then the Rockies come in for three. That’s a tough 21 games compared to the first 18 we played.
But hold on.. the Brewers are a little vulnerable right now, the Reds have massive holes if they don’t get solid pitching from their starters, the Mets and Cards always play tough at home no matter what, and what happened to the Rockies.. they have really fallen off.
Maybe we’re hitting a few of these clubs at good times? Still, don’t discount the play the next few series.. they are all going to be tough especially in Milwaukee where they have owned us for years.
As a fan, I WANT to sweep the Brewers at home. I WANT to see 10,000 KFC buckets thrown on the field. I WANT to see the Bucs handle them. If they win the first two, I’m on a plane to watch Snell with my own broom. LOL
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God Bless the person who made the decision to put Wilson on the DL. Left middle finger strain.. puh-lease.
Bixler up to play but I would hope Vasquez gets more time behind the harder ground ball pitchers like Duke, Snell, and Maholm.
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I was asked via a reader’s e-mail if I’m starting to get warm and fuzzy yet and my answer was no.. I don’t see anything to make me believe this club is better than the 72 win club I projected. True, we’re on a roll having won more than any other Pirates team since 2002 but don’t forget that the 2002 team was an 89 loss club too. In 1992, we were 23-16 after 39 so let’s see where we are after the Rockies series and talk again.
Still, we all have to be pleased with the hard nose play and the fact players are picking up each other. But just imagine for one second what might have been if Adam LaRoche broke out early in ‘08? Oh my.. the Bay trade might never have gone down.
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Jaramillo has been a pleasant surprise. I’ve been watching his receiving skills closely and, while his blocking mechanics and release times on throws to the bag are much improved over Doumit’s, he’s got a nasty habit of moving his glove too soon after receiving the ball. He needs to understand that umps call the zone based on where the ball lands and learn to hold his mitt a split second longer. I think he’ll get more of the ‘on the black’ calls he’s not getting right now.
At what about his bat? Man, he can absolutely mash a low inside pitch. Since he appears to want to pull everything I’m guessing video will catch up to him because he’s got a few pretty serious holes. But so far nobody seems to know where they are and he’s raking. You have to like his bat speed.
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And kudos to whoever made the decision to play Andy LaRoche every day regardless of the outcome. It’s exactly what was needed and now he’s starting to get some confidence going. Let me tell you, I saw him pick some balls off the turf the last few games that few hot corner Pirates in the last decade would have made a play on. He’s still raw on his thinking and throwing but he’s slowly maturing right in front of our eyes. Oh, and have you seen what Don Long has done to his approach in the box? Whoa.. he’s really loading up now.
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I saw an interesting thread at Pirateball.com’s discussion forum today. Evidently Keith Law made a few comments about Maholm and Duke being back of the order guys which he’s said a few times already this year.
And he’s right – they are.
But what made the thread more interesting to me was the fact some of the fans were questioning Law’s credibility about the Pirates.
They shouldn’t.
I happen to know Keith Law’s name ran across Neal Huntington’s desk for the open AGM slot. No, Law’s cell never rang to the best of my knowledge and the position remains open today showing how far that went, but Law isn’t exactly stupid when it comes to his hometown Bucs. Plus don’t forget, Law worked with Tony LaCava and some of the ”Pittsburgh connection boys” in Toronto so I would suspect Law wants to see the Bucs turned around just as much as all of us do.
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Tom Gorzelanny is getting squeezed big time in 3A by the umps running the circuit. I noticed it a few starts ago and then it continued the start before this one and today it happened again. To Gorzy’s credit, Kratz is way too big to be behind the plate receiving (remember my mentioning the scout’s talk about big body catchers potentially being a disaster?? Kratz is the extreme of that premis.) but it’s more than just Kratz. It’s Gorzy. His command isn’t sharp by any means but he’s not getting good calls either. I’m not sure I understand why.. perhaps something happened this spring we didn’t see? Something last year we missed? Has he become a household name to the umps?
I don’t know. I’ve asked two scouts to give me their impressions the next couple of games he throws to see what they think since I don’t know anyone that was at the game today. And is his velo down?????
Oh, and Ford didn’t make an appearance today.
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Dad always told me good hitters rake all the time. So, what’s up with this dude? 60 AB, .217 BA, 8 strike outs last 12 AB, and more K’s than total bases. And, can he even hit a southpaw?
YAWN.
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I’m not advancing the Brewers series other than to say don’t bet on it.
By Jake, on April 14, 2009, at 7:16 pm |
So let’s take a look how we’re doing so far against my projected ‘09 record:
We’re projected to win 9 games in April and have already won 4 and that was based on 22 games being played with a winning percentage of .410 for the month. Since one game was cancelled, we’re still expected to win 8.6 games so we’ll just keep our projected 9.
Last three years we have a .416 winning percentage against the three teams we’ve played so by the end of Thursday’s game I expected us to have 3.2 wins, but we’ve already passed that. So very early in we are +1 win based on our expected record and could go to +3 if we sweep the Astros.
Then we play the Braves, Marlins, Padres, and Brewers for 12 games who we have a .364 winning percentage last three against which suggests another possible 4 wins.
So let’s assume we split the remaining two games with the Astros, win 4 of the next 12, and combine that with our first 4 wins, that would give us 9 wins on the month – exactly what we expect. So knowing we are +1 win now, but we’re on pace to be -0 wins by the end of the month, you probably get a good feel for how hard the next four series will be for us.
And how important they are.
I don’t have to tell you the Braves are a vastly improved club this year, or that we were swept every series in Milwaukee last year, or how hard it is to play the Padres in their home park. That’s not an easy schedule by any means, but there is some light. The Brewers pitching is suspect and the Padres don’t have all the wonderful arms they have had, so perhaps we can sneak by with a .500 record the next 14 games to close the month?
That’s pretty optimistic, you say? Sure it is. But don’t look now – we’ve allowed the fewest runs in the NL so far even though we’ve played one team on their heels, another on their back, and the Cards who we happened to hit at the right time. We’ve been pretty fortunate so far.
Let’s hope Lady Luck remains with us awhile longer.
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Jo-Jo Reyes will pitch for Glavine Saturday against the Pirates.
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Neil Walker could be only days away from his MLB debut. Easily the most heralded Pirate in more than a decade Walker has started the season strong in “AAA” Indianapolis.
Talk about optimism, whoa.
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Something I thought was pretty neat.. as of Monday morning before the games, there had been 1,721 pitches right down the heart of the plate in baseball so far this year. 629 were put in play resulting in a .331 batting average (208-629) and 370 total bases (.588 SLG) from 32 home runs, 5 triples, 56 doubles, and 115 singles.
Now if you think about that a second you might come to the conclusion that that’s about 2 HR per 9 innings and one in three batters getting a hit.
But that’s also two outs every three at bats too. Think about it.
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From ESPN’s Page 2:
Coonelly: I think it’s deeper than that. Look, the Steelers are a given here, whether they’ve just won the Super Bowl or not. Their fans are showing up for every game, they’re going to have their sponsors who’ve been with them for years. The fact that they just won the Super Bowl doesn’t mean they’re suddenly swooping in and taking a bunch of our fans. Their fans are heavily invested in following the Steelers, win, lose, or draw.
Page 2: But I’m not suggesting that you and the Steelers are competing for the same customer in a zero-sum situation. I don’t mean that if they gain a fan, you have to lose one. I see it more as an attitudinal thing, where a fan gets used to a certain level of performance — good in their case, bad in yours — and how that can affect sales.
DePaoli: I don’t hear that: “How come you’re not as good as the Steelers?” We don’t see that.
Puh-lease.
The only reason they may not hear it is because the other 1MM fans who would be saying it are long gone.
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Baseball Fans Give Back is a movement calling for the boycotting of all professional baseball games this Friday calling awareness to the steroids issue. Their goal is worthy – take the $13 bucks you would have spent at a game and give it to a charity and donate the two hours you would have been at the game to a cause in your community.
Unfortunately they state they are doing this in honor of Roberto Clemente, but I found that ‘honor’ to be tasteless and rather offensive as a Pirates fan.
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