This Week on The Farm

Team of the Week: Indianapolis
Hitter of the Week: Neil Walker, Indianapolis
Picther of the Week: Bryan Morris, Bradenton

Indianapolis: 6-0 For the Week
Neil Walker led the way for the Tribe on the week, as he has 11 hits and 11 RBI on the week, while playing all around the diamond. Jose Tabata had a strong week with 9 hits, one of which was a triple. Brandon Moss, Brian Friday, and Argenis Diaz all had 7 hits and Steve Pearce had 7 runs and six hits.

On the mound, Brad Lincoln had a start that went 7 innings, allowing only 1 run and striking out five, walking none for a win. Daniel McCutchen went 7 as well, allowing only one to get a win. Will Ledezma picked up 2 saves out of the pen this week. Kevin Hart, recently put on the DL, went 7 innings in two starts, allowing 8 earned, walking 5 and striking out 8. Steven Jackson was solid, going 6 innings, allowing only 1 run, while striking out 8.

Altoona: 2-3 On the Week
Jim Negrych led the offensive attack for the Curve with 6 hits and 7 RBI. Chase D'Arnaud had 5 hits, Jordy Mercer had 4 with 4 RBI. Alex Presley had 6 hits, two of them triples. Gorkys Hernandez had a horrible week, striking out 8 times in 15 at bats, getting only 1 hit and walk.

Rudy Owens pitched the one gem of the week in the rotation, going 6, allowing only 2 for his second win. Tim Alderson went 5 to pick up the other Curve win on the week. Derek Hankins pitched 4 scoreless innings of relief, Mike Dubee went 3 scoreless until his promotion to Indy. Ron Uviedo went 4 scoreless, striking out 5 and Danny Moskos got another save, with a scoreless frame.

Bradenton: 4-3 For the Week
Calvin Anderson awoke from a slumber to led the Marauders with 8 hits, a home run, and 6 RBI. Austin McClune had 7 hits, but 8 strikeouts. Brock Holt, perhaps a little overlooked, had 9 hits. Tony Sanchez returned behind the plate this week and had 5 hits, as did Starling Marte. Quincy Latimore had a staggering 13 strikeouts.

In 6 innings of relief, Diego Moreno had 11 strikeouts and runs. Over two starts, Bryan Morris put together a line we would want to see as he went 12 innings, allowing no earned runs, walking only 2 and striking out 16 batters for no decisions in either start. Jeff Locke went five allowing only 1 to get a win and Casey Erickson picked up a win in 5 innings as well. Noah Krol got three saves on the week.

West Virginia: 3-2 For the Week
Aaron Baker supplied the power offensively with 2 home runs, 6 RBI, 10 hits, and 6 runs. The rest of the offense seemed to be missing in action as Ramon Cabrera was the next highest hit total batter with only 6 hits. Wes Freeman stuck out 9 times and Jarek Cunningham struck out 7 times.

Kyle McPherson went 7 innings, allowing only 1 run to get a win. Duke Welker picked up a win in relief. Philip Irwin had 7 K's in 4 innings and Melkin Laureano had 8 in 7 innings.

Go West

The Bucs pulled off yet another exciting victory in Milwaukee over the Brewers. Contributions came from all over the place in this one, a real team effort. Home runs all up and down the order and great pitching once again from the bullpen. LaRoche kept up his hot hitting, Andrew McCutchen had two home runs, and Ryan Doumit had his second in as many days against Trevor Hoffman.

With the victory the Pirates have moved their record equal that of the Brewers and are one game better than the Dodgers, whom they play next in a wraparound series. Despite being outscored by almost 80 runs, the Pirates are still holding the season precariously together.

A few things to watch as they head west will be how they are able to react to the trip out west again, as it went horribly earlier this month. It will also be interesting to see if Ryan Doumit continues to go on a power surge as, he has been against Trevor Hoffman. Finally, perhaps the most striking, will be to see if Andy LaRoche can continue to stay white hot. He'll be playing against his old team, so maybe he will keep it up.

This team has had the ability to do the unexpected and deliver some surprises, both good and bad this season thus far. It will be interesting what they can put together in LA this upcoming weekend to cap off this road trip.

Monkey Off the Back

It seemed strange when it was shown during the game that it was a year ago today that Jeff Karstens hit Ryan Braun and caused the Dave Kerwin affair of 2009. And today, one year later, Karstens was summoned from the minor leagues to help lead the Pirates rotation to some form of stability. Karstens did just that, pitching very effectively and giving the bullpen a bit of a rest.

Despite the strong performance from Karstens, the team needed to stage a comeback against Trevor Hoffman. Granted Hoffman has not been the same so far this year, but he is still Hoffman and this is Brewers vs. Pirates. Ronny Cedeno jumped on a pitch early to tie it up. Then a hits by Andy LaRoche, Lastings Milledge and a walk to Garrett Jones, loaded the bases for Ryan Doumit. Doumit promptly took the 2-0 pitch from Hoffman and hit it a mile for a game winning grand slam.

You could see in the faces of the Pirates' players a real sense of relief when the game was coming to a close and at the end of the game. It may only be one game, but to the guys in that dugout that have been around for a awhile, it may have seemed like the day that would never come. The monkey is now off the back.

Death, Taxes, and the Milwaukee Brewers

Ben Franklin once said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. Ben never got to witness the Pirates play the Brewers in Miller Park and he might say that a loss to the Brewers might be just as inevitable.

As I write this, the Brewers are batting in the bottom of the 8th and the bullpen is doing it's best to make things worse than they already were. I don't know what more can be said about this fiasco that is the Pirates versus the Brewers. In lieu of saying anything more than needs to be said about this game, I just point to the table below, that shows the totals of the National League teams against the Pirates' pitching staff, from 2007 coming into today:

TEAM	Runs	Hits	HR	BB	SO	AVG	OPS
Milwaukee Brewers	291	492	67	177	302	.311	.930
Arizona Diamondbacks	158	261	36	105	180	.290	.870
Colorado Rockies	131	229	28	64	154	.292	.842
Chicago Cubs	285	499	52	190	283	.295	.834
New York Mets	112	204	18	79	94	.293	.812
Philadelphia Phillies	95	158	19	85	126	.261	.807
Los Angeles Dodgers	135	244	18	86	121	.290	.796
St. Louis Cardinals	252	506	46	164	282	.291	.793
Houston Astros	217	465	35	186	277	.284	.781
Cincinnati Reds	265	521	61	191	306	.269	.778
Atlanta Braves	95	199	21	71	122	.278	.769
Washington Nationals	96	194	18	73	127	.271	.766
San Francisco Giants	91	187	16	59	120	.269	.765
Florida Marlins	77	157	19	44	126	.260	.745
San Diego Padres	85	172	19	77	122	.248	.737

Just the simple act of me copying and pasting that table, gave the Brewers four more runs thanks to Casey McGhee. To see the reasons as to why the Brewers have been so dominant, just look to the number of runs, hits, home runs, average, and OPS. The Brew Crew is at the top or close to it in every category. The OPS blows everyone else out of the water. The batting average alone is enough to make one cringe. You would expect the hitters paradises of Arizona and Colorado to be up there, but Milwaukee is making it look too easy.

Money for Nothing, and Chicks For Free

With the NHL playoffs on FSN, I have not been able to actually watch the Pirates in sometime. I think that is good for me as from all I have read, in articles and in box scores, it might just make my blood pressure shoot up. Things are not going good for the club and it starts with the pitching. They have been giving away just far too much and not doing a good enough job executing.

Joe Kerrigan emphasizes the first pitch strike and with the rate at which these pitchers are throwing first pitch strikes, he might as well be talking to the wall. They say that a good rate to have to be a successful pitcher is around 60%, my guess is at least something that is in the upper ranges of being rounded to 60% would suffice. Here is what the Pirates pitching staff has been doing:

Name	F-Strike%
D.J. Carrasco	62.90%
Jack Taschner	62.50%
Paul Maholm	59.10%
Evan Meek	58.10%
Ross Ohlendorf	56.50%
Javier Lopez	53.90%
Daniel McCutchen	50.80%
Chris Jakubauskas	50.00%
Octavio Dotel	50.00%
Brian Burres	50.00%
Charlie Morton	49.20%
Zach Duke	49.00%
Brendan Donnelly	48.60%
Joel Hanrahan	39.10%
Hayden Penn	31.30%

Those just are not very good numbers.The vast majority of the staff, including the whole starting rotation outside of Maholm, have been giving away a free pitch, thus giving the hitters a distinct advantage. And take that advantage they have been. The Pirates have walked 68 batters, 6th worst in the league. They have only struck out 101 batters, worst in the National League. They are also dead last in Whip with a 1.68 average. Every batter thus far this season has looked like a Hall of Famer aginst the staff, as opponents are hitting .302 against them.

The free stuff does not just end, no just like how fans flock for bobbleheads, the Pirates staff has been allowing opposing teams to all the bases that they would. It is almost like the Kentucky Derby out there. Coming into the game Sunday, the Pirates had allowed 12 stolen bases. In Sunday's tilt, the Astros took 6 more running it to 18. Now as I write this I don't have the complete numbers, but that number will probably be 'good' enough for second place in the majors. Only the Red Sox would have allowed more, but that is skewed due to knuckleballer Tim Wakefield out there.

Granted the blame for stolen bases goes to the catcher, and surely Doumit is no Gold Glover with some cannon that will scare pitchers, but the stolen bases as go against the pitcher and they have not been doing a good job of holding runners.

There are plenty of problems with the Pirates offensive, but no matter how much or little they hit, it won't matter until the pitching staff stops giving up to much to the opponents. I don't think there was ever an offensive in baseball history that could score enough runs to keep up with the amount of offensive the pitchers are giving opposing teams.

This Week on the Farm

Team of the Week: Altoona Curve
Batter of the Week: Quincy Latimore, Bradenton
Pitcher of the Week: Rudy Owens, Altoona

Indianapolis: 2-5 On the Week
Neil Walker continues to hit well in Indianapolis this week, as he had 9 hits and two home runs. Steve Pearce chipped in with a home run of his own as well as 9 hits. Jose Tabata had 6 hits and Pedro Alvarez had 8 hits and led the team with 4 RBI. Brandon Moss had 4 hits, and Brandon Jones and Brian Friday each had 3 hits.

Donnie Veal went 5.2 innings to get a win this week and Justin Thomas picked up one in relief. Kevin Hart went 4.1 innings, allowing 3 runs, and striking out 6. Brad Lincoln went 6 innings, allowing 3 to get a loss. Jeff Karstens was lit up this week in relief, going 9.1 innings, allowing 10 runs on 15 hits, though he did strike out 9 and not walk anyone.

Altoona: 4-2 For the Week
Alex Presley led the Curve this week with 9 hits, a home run and 5 RBI. Matt Hague had 8 hits and 6 RBI. Jim Negrych had 8 hits and 5 RBI. Jordy Mercer had a home run along his 7 hits and had 5 RBI. Gorkys Hernandez had 6 hits and Chase D'Arnaud had only 3.

Jared Hughes went 5 scoreless to get a win and Mike Crotta picked one up this week, going 6.1 innings, allowing only 3 runs. Tony Watson struck out 8 in 5.1 innings to get a win and Rudy Owens went 12 innings in two starts, allowing 4 runs, walking 1 and striking out 11 to get a win. Don't look now but Danny Moskos picked up 2 saves, striking out 4 in 2.2 innings. Jeff Sues went 2 scoreless to get a save.

Bradenton: 4-2 On the Week
Quincy Latimore had 8 hits, led the club with 2 home runs and 12 RBI. Tony Sanchez playing DH had 7 hits, 2 of which were home runs, and had 8 RBI. Brock Holt had 11 hits and 9 RBI. Jeremy Farrell had 7 hits.

Jeff Locke went 5 strong, not allowing an earned run, and struck out 10 to win. Bryan Morris picked up a win, allowing 1 earned over 5. Brian Leach added a win, with 5 scoreless. Nate Adcock gave up 6, 3 earned in 5 innings.

West Virginia: 2-4 For the Week
Jarek Cunningham and Rogelios Noris each had 8 hits to lead the Power. Jesus Brito had 7 hits and 4 RBI. Benji Gonzalez had 6 hits in what was a pretty quiet week for the Power.

Philip Irwin and Marc Baca each picked up wins for the Power. Quinton Miller only lasted 1 inning, before being pulled for an injury that is not deemed serious.

Again?

What more can be said? I can almost write the same post each and every time. The opponent blew out the Bucs tonight. The pitching did little to help the Bucs and the lineup could not muster much of anything. It is like some script that must keep repeating itself. As though we are stuck in some fandom version of Groundhog Day. It is almost as though every time I turn on a game, it is as though Sonny and Cher are playing on the alarm clock radio.

Prior to the game, the Bucs called up Argenis Diaz to help with the infield depth, as Brian Burress went back down to AAA. I would say that is a good move to not have a Brian Burress on your roster, but is it really that good of a move, when you call up a guy that cannot hit, even at AAA? It is like a tree falling in the woods when no one is around, does it make a sound? If the Pirates were to call up a guy that does not hit, does it get noticed?

As for anything notable from this game? Well there was not much. The team drew a few walks, but struck out a good bit, with Lastings Milledge leading the way with his golden sombrero. Andrew McCutchen stole two bases. Evan Meek and Jack Tashner pitched four solid innings to help stem the bleeding. Other than that, there is not much to take away from this one.

The Bucs finish up this home stand, finally, tomorrow afternoon against the Brew Crew. Despite what has happened the past two games, I fully expect them to blow them out, you never know the Pirates might get lucky.

Gas on the Fire

Credit: NOAA

I don't know what Charlie Morton's music is that he comes up to the plate with, but he may want to consider The Crazy World of Arthur Brown for when he toes the rubber. He has been setting the games on fire when he goes out to pitch, and not in a good way. Sure Charlie brings some heat, but the other teams have been on fire when he has gone out there.

Against the Brew Crew he dug a pretty deal hole for the club, as he allowed 6 runs in only one full inning of work. He could no get out of the second inning. His ERA now stands at 16.55 over his first three starts. Don't they say that three is a trend? If so, Morton is not setting a very good trend.

Of course it is not as though the lineup has done him any good in helping to get out that hole. Just take a look at the batting averages of the team after tonight's game:

A. Iwamura	.234
A. McCutchen	.288
L. Milledge	.269
G. Jones	.196
R. Doumit	.200
J. Clement	.121
D. Young	.273
R. Cedeno	.295

That is no lineup to be feared by anyone, even Dave Bush. You have Jones, Doumit and Clement all batting below the fabled Mendoza line. Combined they are hitting an average of .170, you cannot have that with the supposed 'heart of the order.' When one of your more productive hitters is Ronny Cedeno, you have a problem.

I am not sure what the remedy might be, but Morton needs to get it together. We simply cannot punt every fifth day, and with the way things have been going every fifth, third and fourth day. The lineup also has to start hitting. No one is going to confuse them for the '27 Yankees or even the '07 Yankees, but they are better hitters than this.

The Little Pirates

Minor league baseball has a long and storied history. When digging back in time you find all sorts of different teams, leagues, and players. One of the more interesting stories is that of the Pennsylvania State Association. The PSA was a Class D League minor league, where not all of the teams were affiliates of big league clubs but some where in some way affiliated. Of course this affiliation is nowhere near the type that we would think of today.

In 1937 the Pirates had just such a team in Jeannette, Pennsylvania. At the time Jeannette was more well known for its glass industry than anything else, but the Jayhawk football team was probably pretty good even then. In that summer those many years ago a Pirate team graced the city, led by former Pirate major leaguer Wilbur Cooper at the helm.

Of course with the stats being the way that they are, we can't get a full counting of who did what, but it seems to be that Alfred Derenne led the circuit in runs scored at 106 and that young Ken Heintzelman led the circuit in wins, 20, and strikeouts, 229. Behind the pitching of Heintzelman, the Little Pirates edged out the Greensburg Red Wings for the league championship. Jeannette took first place by .5 a game over the Greensburg club and then beat them 4 games to 3 in their championship series.

The Jeannette team was not loaded with a ton of talent, but one of their players did make it to the majors, that being Ken Heintzelman. In 1937 he would get a cup of coffee with the Bucs, as he did in 1938. All told he would appear in 13 big league seasons, missing a few due to WWII. He had a career 77-98 mark, with his best season coming in 1949, when he won 17 games for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Some of the other teams to appear in the PSA with the Little Pirates that year, reads like a who's who of Western PA mill towns and county seats. Amongst the teams were; Greensburg Red Wings, Butler Yankees, Monessen Indians, Charleroi Tigers, and my favorite name, the McKeesport Tubers.

Rolling Along

The Pirates used some late inning heroics over the weekend to sweep the Reds at PNC Park. In doing so they erased the bad feelings that came from the ill fated west coast swing after beating the Dodgers for 2 of three. Wins are wins and right now the team is on a bit of a roll. It could not come at a better time for them.

The Brewers are coming into town and we are all aware of the history with the Brew Crew. The sweep of the Reds enabled the Bucs to get off to a good roll within the division, which is going to be important here in the early going. The majority of the games coming up, until about mid May, are going to be intra-division games. A series win this week at home with the Brewers would set them up nicely for the wrap around series in Houston this weekend.

Last season they only won 24 games within the division. If they can get four wins in their next seven games, the club will have 7 wins within the division, before diverting to Los Angeles to face off with the Dodgers. I know that it is early, but having 7 wins within the division in only one month, would be a pretty big deal if this Pirate team wants to look like it is competitive.

Before getting ahead of ourselves, we will have to see how Charlie Morton bounces back on Tuesday. He'll be going up against Dave Bush, a thorn in our side. Morton will have to step up to show that he can put together a complete outing for the club. If he is able to do it at home and against the Brewers that would be a great start to the three game set.

Revisionist History

In today's Post Gazette, Dejan raises the issues of why the Pirates have not had an ace pitcher in their entire history. This is a question that I, myself, have pondered numerous times. There are plenty of offensive players in the past, Wagner, Waner, Traynor, Clemente, Stargell, Parker, Bonds to name a few, but no pitching name that stands out through the pages of history.

Despite this historical send up, the article actually is trying to attack the club for not signing Tanner Scheppers, and to do that is unfair to the team and is not in the thinking of the time the decision was made by the team and Scheppers, himself, in August of 2008. Walt Harris once famously said, "Hindsight is 50-50" and it seems Dejan is indeed looking at it that way.

In 2008 the Pirates selected a consensus top 10 pick in Scheppers with the 48th pick. He fell that fall due to concerns about his shoulder, a torn labrum, that had kept him out of the College World Series and a large portion of the regular season. Scheppers came to PNC Park to pitch in front of the team and he had difficulty in matching what he was reported to be throwing at Fresno State. The team felt that he might be hurt a little more than thought, but still offered a deal around $1 million, probably a little less than that but within that ballpark range. Dejan then writes this note of caution to those hoping that the Bucs sign Scheppers on August 15:

"Scheppers remains not fully healthy, with damage to the labrum in his shoulder. And shoulder surgery causes the greatest uncertainty for a pitcher's career, much more than the elbow. Remember: His pitching exhibition here was delayed by two weeks. Then, once he pitched, he could not go full-throttle or throw breaking stuff. ... Could be that Scheppers' final offer is on the table -- no idea what that is -- and he will have to decide whether he wants to take it."

Neal Huntington was quoted as saying that the team took a calculated risk in drafting Scheppers, but explains the reasoning, from the team's side, on why the did not make the deal:

"...we knew when we selected Tanner that we might not be in a position to sign him by the August 15 deadline. Despite the quality efforts of both parties, it became clear that Tanner's financial expectations were not in line with the risks presented by Tanner's current status as a pitcher in the early stages of a rehabilitation program following an injury to his throwing shoulder. Unfortunately, Tanner's rehabilitation program timeline changed dramatically from what his representative presented to us prior to the draft. Had Tanner been able to demonstrate that he was fully recovered from the injury he suffered towards the end of his 2008 season at Fresno State, we are confident that we could have found common ground on the economic terms of a contract."

Scheppers went on to play in the Independent League and flashed enough stuff that the Rangers took him 44th overall and shortly after that selection, it was reported that he may have a 50% tear in his labrum requiring surgery. On reporting of the news, Dejan said of the Scheppers situation:

"Many lessons to be learned, but this probably should be first: One, players who opt for college should check their coaches' history of beating up arms. The one at Fresno State has among the worst reputations in that regard, even though his program wins and wins. Two, who snub getting drafted and turn down close to seven figures (what the Pirates offered last year) probably should not go to Independent League ball and try to hit three figures on the radar gun to impress new suitors, unless they are way sure they are healthy."

Scheppers ended up signing for $1.25 million after the deadline, as he was not a collegiate player, he could sign up until this year's draft. The Rangers signed him as there was news that Dr. Lewis Yocum had said that Scheppers did not need surgery and was fit to pitch. The Rangers sent him to the instructional league and he impressed in spring training, enough that he was considered for their rotation. It was at this point that the failure to sign Scheppers turned out to be a huge mistake for the club, at least in Dejan's eyes.

Despite the fact that up until the late summer of 2009, a full year after the Pirates had a chance to sign him, Scheppers looked like he may need surgery, thus putting any prospect status in jeopardy. He was just as likely at the moment to be John Van Benschoten instead of Roy Halladay, he still can be either or at this time, as pitching prospects are a fickle kind.

Sure the Pirates may not have an ace, but the Rangers don't have a sure fire ace in Scheppers right now. Many things can happen to Scheppers before he realizes any potential. But for the beat writer to make the claim that the team had that ace in their hands, only to bumble it away, is revisionist history. The team had a promising prospect, that may have required reconstructive shoulder surgery in their hands. With that card dealt to the at the time, I have no problem with them letting Scheppers walk. Any informed fan would have no problem with that move, unfortunately the many uninformed look to pieces like this and form the opinion that the team has no idea.

This Week on the Farm

Team of the Week: Altoona Curve
Batter of the Week: Jarek Cunningham, West Virginia
Pitcher of the Week: Jared Hughes, Altoona

Indianapolis: 3-5 On the Week
At Indy Steve Pearce had 12 hits on the week to lead the team. Of the 12, 8 were extra base hits. Jose Tabata looked strong with 11 hits, 2 of them for extras. Pedro Alvarez made a thunderous debut in Indy with 3 home runs since the season started and 7 hits and 7 runs scored, though he does have 8 k's in 32 ABs. Brandon Moss continues to not hit, as he only has 4 hits. Brian Friday, playing a good bit of second, has 6 hits. Neil Walker, playing everywhere, had 6 hits and 6 walks to only 1 strikeout.

Brad Lincoln was the horse for the pitchers, going 9.1 innings, striking out 7, walking 3 in picking up a win, over two starts. Anthony Claggett and Jeff Karstens picked up the two other wins. Donnie Veal has given up 10 hits in 10 innings and Kevin Hart has gone, 6 innings, allowing 2 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks and 5 strikeouts.

Altoona: 7-1 On the Week
Josh Harrison led all Curve batters with 11 hits and 6 runs. He also added 5 RBI. Jordy Mercer had 9 hits and 6 runs scored, while Miles Durham also had 9 hits. Gorkys Hernandez had 7 hits, 4 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Chase D'Arnaud added 5 hits and 5 runs scored.

Jared Hughes went 10.2 innings over two starts, both wins, while striking out 11 and walking only 1. Mike Crotta went 13 innings, allowing only 1 run, walking 1 and striking out 8 to get a win. Derek Hankins pitched 5 scoreless to get a win and Tim Alderson went 10 innings, allowing 4 runs, walking 3, and striking out 4 to get a win. Justin Wilson added a win as well, as he went five, allowing only 1 run. Danny Moskos got the last win for the Curve and also picked up a save, as he went 5.2 scoreless innings of relief. Jeff Sues had 4 scoreless for 2 saves.

Bradenton: 5-2 For the Week
Jeremy Farrell had 8 hits, three of them home runs, to give him 12 RBI for the week. Quincy Latimore added 9 hits, 2 home runs, and 7 RBI to the wind aided offensive Marauder attack. Greg Picart had 10 hits and Robbie Grossman and 8 hits, 7 runs, 1 home run, and 3 RBI. Starling Marte had 8 hits and 6 runs. Tony Sanchez had 7 hits and 5 RBI. Gift Ngoepe had a hit, as he skips low A ball, and Calvin Anderson had 7 hits, but fanned 10 times.

Tyler Cox went 4.1 scoreless to pick up 2 wins for the week. Nate Adcock went 5 scoreless, striking out 7 and walking none in getting his first win. Brian Leach and Diego Moreno pitched strongly and each picked up a win in relief. Jeff Locke went 8.2 innings, allowing 5 runs, walking 3 and striking out 7. Bryan Morris went 9.2 innings, allowed 11 hits, 2 earned runs, and 8 strikeouts.

West Virginia: 3-5 For the Week
Jarek Cunningham seemingly did not miss a beat, as he had 12 hits, a home run, and 2 RBI. Unfortunately there was not much else offense. Evan Chambers had 4 hits and a home runs, while Jesus Brito and Ramon Cabrera each had 4 hits. Wes Freeman managed to strikeout 10 times in 19 at bats.

Quinton Miller went 5 innings, allowing 0 earned runs and striking out 3 for a win. Zach Foster went 2.2 innings, allowing only 1 to get a win and Nate Baker went 9 innings, allowing 2 earned, striking out 9 to get a win. Kyle McPherson went 10 innings, allowing 7 earned to get two losses, while Marc Baca and Ryan Kelly each got a save.

When It Rains It Pours

Charlie Morton said prior to the game that he was going to do what had worked for him in the past. That apparently was going to be a lot of fastballs. Unfortunately for Morton he did not get his fastball into the zone early in the count as he had wanted to and fell behind. For Charlie falling behind, meant that the Giants were able to jump on his mistakes.

Coming into the season, Morton was looked at to be a key piece in the rotation. It was thought that his growth would be key to the success of the rotation. His ability to be able to take his natural gift of pitching and take it to another level was going to be the key to helping the rotation be even more of a rock for the team.

Yet so far we have not seen that happen in his two starts of the season. Morton has been rocked in both Arizona and San Francisco. Sure he has had moments in both games where we saw flashes of what we had hoped to happen more often. Instead opponents have been hitting .386 and have scored 14 runs in 9.1 innings. On the bright side, he has 9 strike outs to 1 walk.

Morton's struggles underscore the struggles of the pitching staff this early in the season. Unfortunately it looks like it might not get much better if Ross Ohlendorf misses some time with his bad back. Things could get pretty ugly if we have to depend on an unproven minor league starter and have to deal with Morton trying to right his ship.

It is important to get off to a good start if the team had any hope of being competitive late into the season. A major part of that good start, begins with the starting pitching. With them letting the team down a good bit early on, it might look bad shortly. It is not the end of the world, or the season, but I would say that it is an alarming trend.

Backdraft: 2002 MLB Draft

It seems so long ago, but it was 2002, Dave Littlefield's first draft as the Pirates' General Manager and he sat there with the very frist pick in the country. BJ Upton was the top talent in the country, a high school shortstop that oozed potential. Other first round prospects included; Zach Greinke, Prince Fielder, Jeff Francis, Jeremy Hermida, Nick Swisher, Scott Kazmir, Cole Hamels, James Loney, Joe Blanton. The Pirates instead went with Bryan Bullington first overall and proceeded to tab him a future number 3 starter.

Ed Creech had this to say when asked to look back at that moment.

"Basically calling a spade a spade," Creech said. "We didn't want to send out false hopes, false innuendos. We thought he was the best available out there. We didn't want anybody thinking there was a [Mark] Prior out there."

Former Indianapolis manager Trent Jewett said of Bullington, "He is not a power guy. He is not a finesse guy." Gee where does that leave Bullington, oh yes batting practice guy. In this article from 2005, that claims that the 2002 draft is starting to bear fruit, there are countless mentions of how bad that draft was, yet tries to make it seem like it is not all that bad.

Players that are highlighted to make an impact include Brad Eldred, coming off his monster year in the minors, Taber Lee, who fizzled out at about this time, Matt Capps, still a starting pitcher, Nyjer Morgan, who like he always was in the minors hurt. Then there was hopeful mentions of guys like Alex Hart, Wardell Starling, Bobby Kingsbury, Brian Holliday, and Blair Johnson. Many of those players were hurt at the time the article was written or where coming back from injury.

For anyone to say with a straight face that the 2002 draft, after three seasons, looked to be a solid part of the Pirates' future would be ridiculous. The only ones from that draft to do much of anything, both now play for the Washington Nationals in Morgan and Capps.

In 2005, just three seasons after that draft, the Pirates had only 2 players left in the organization that they had signed from rounds 12 to 43. The vast majority of the players had been given their release after no more than three seasons. In fact looking at Baseball Reference, many of those lasted only a season or two.

It is no wonder the Pirates' farm system was in such disarray. Not only did the front office lack the ability to be able to select top talent, they had a difficult time in keeping minor league depth. When you are drafting guys and then waiving them after only a season, you are dependent a great deal on minor league free agents to stock your farm system. That is not a good way to go about doing it. Sure you might not hit on the top guys, but one would think you could at least draft guys that could be organizational filler. It turns out they were bad at even that.

When it comes to evaluating things like the MLB draft, it will take years to fully see what the outcome may be. In 2005, Paul Meyer seemed to be buying the crap that was coming from Littlefield about that draft. In reality there was a huge problem with the draft. Some of it was talent issues, others had to do with injury. No matter how one looks at it, there were problems and they were not addressed. It continued to be business as usual and the hole we were in 2005, got even bigger. Well at least they were able to select Andrew McCutchen in 2005, but everyone seemed to get a superstar in that draft.

A Slip of the Tongue?

In Sunday's Post Gazette, if you can remember back to the time prior to the 13 run inning put up by the Diamondbacks, Dejan had a quote from Neal Huntington in regards to the first base postion. The article profiled teh seemingly very early decision to put Jeff Clement at first base. In the article, there were quotes from Huntington about the position and the options at first. In there was this one:

"If it doesn't work, we've got the fallback of moving Garrett Jones back to first and using Ryan Church in the outfield. Or, at some point in the summer, those could be Alvarez and Jose Tabata."

Upon reading that quote, I thought to myself that it would make sense to see them move Jones back to first base then it hit me that he mentioned the idea of moving Pedro Alvarez to first base. That this is one of the back up plans to Jeff Clement, really hit me as odd for Huntington to say this.

He has done nothing but publicly say that Pedro is a third baseman and that they like him to stay there as long as possible. To read that quote, it made me think if they really are serious about the third base stuff or if at some point this season they may look to bring him up when he is 'ready' to play either third or first.

Not that having Pedro Alvarez would matter much, as the pitching staff keeps getting rocked around. From that debacle that was the game Sunday to having to go to Brian Burres to come up and pitch in San Francisco, pitching remains a problem. Pedro Alvarez or even Albert Pujols for that matter won't solve that problem.

Big Deal in Altoona

Being that Altoona is only a short skip and ahop away from Pittsburgh, I knew that I had to try to make the trip up to Altoona to see the professional debut of Stephen Strasburg. A buddy and myself made the trek from the Burg up to Altoona to the Blair County ballpark to watch the debut of the modern day Nuke LaLoosh.

Before the game began, I though that he would easily plow through the lineup, as it was a Lloyd McClendon Sunday special for the lineup. The only prospect of note in the lineup was Gorkys Hernandez. The rest was filled with the likes of Shelby Ford, Jose De Los Santos, and Jim Negrych.

Surprisingly Strasburg seemed to struggle at throwing strikes and the Curve did get a jump on him, with Alex Presley driving a ball to deep right.

For the first three innings, Rudy Owens seemed to be the guy that was the hyped prospect. As Owens mixed pitches well and had the Senator hitters off balance. Owens seemed to strike me as a Paul Maholm type, who happened to throw harder.

After a few innings, Strasburg started to amp it up, hitting 98 on the gun and started to mow through the Curve hitters, though he seemed to be more effective with his off speed stuff than the fast ball. As Strasburg started to get it going, things went south for the Curve.

There are pictures below from the game, so that you can see Strasburg's debut, which was impressive, but not the mind blowing debut some may have thought. It seems that hype can make you think differently about things.

5 Minor Leaguers to Watch

No look at the upcoming season would be complete without a look to the minor leagues. There will be for a change, plenty for Bucco fans to look forward to when the minor league season heats up. There will be plenty of talent in the lower and even upper levels, by the time the year is over. Here are five guys that we think will have big years this season:

Jeff Locke
Coming over in the Nate McLouth trade, Locke seemed to have trouble adjusting to the change in scenery. It seemed to be a bit of a mized bag for the young lefty in 2009, but hopefully this season he is able to fully adapt to his surroundings. Starting out in Bradenton, Locke could be a lock to eventually get a call up to Altoona before the year is out.

Aaron Baker
Drafted last season out of Oklahoma, Baker is a guy with a big bat, but looking for a position. It seems the Bucs are going to put him at first base and let his bat do the talking. Last season many looked to Calvin Anderson as the break out power prospect in the system, this year people will be talkking about Aaron Baker as the up and coming power prospect.

Hunter Strickland
Many might remember Strickland for his part in a combined no hitter when he first came to the organization in the Adam LaRoche trade. Strickland does not really jump off the stats sheet at you, but he does a good job of striking guys out and avoiding walks. He'll start the season back at West Virginia, but he might make the jump to Bradenton before the year is out. I'd peg him as a sleeper starter.

Jordy Mercer
The headlines seem to be going to fellow Curve infielder Chase D'Arnaud, but Mercer is a pretty good prospect in his own right. A little bigger, Mercer has some power potential in the infield. Because of his size, his position is not yet nailed down, but there are good signs of power coming from his bat. If he can show in AA that he can hit with some power, we just might be on to something with Mercer.

Jesus Brito
Many may forget about the aquistion of Brito during the offseason, as that Brian Bixler deal was such a blockbuster. Brito was among the minor league leaders in batting average in his first season in North America. Brito may be a bit old for his level, but he definitely has more upside than Brian Bixler was ever going to have. I would not mind seeing the Bucs push Brito a bit just to see what he can do.

Juggling the Pen

In a game that seemingly took forever to complete and where it seemed that every inning had the game tilting on the verge of being decided, I found it somewhat intriguing that John Russell went to Octavio Dotel in the 9th against the Dodgers on Wednesday night. The game was tied at the time, 3-3.

I bring it up as last season, when he would bring in Capps like this, it would put Capps as off limits the next game, as Russell did not like using him on three straight days. To boot, Capps would usually come in when they were close to running out of pitchers, as well. Instead he went to Dotel with Donnelly still in the pen, to keep the game close.

The move turned out marvelously, as Dotel was able to work himself out of a jam in the ninth to give the Bucs another chance. This season, the whopping two games, has shown Russell as more quick to use the different options available to him in the bullpen. I don't know if it is perhaps more confidence in the arms this season, or he has decided that they need to do everything to protect any lead that they may have. I do want to see how he will continue to use Dotel, as I think he might use him a lot more than Matt Capps.

Also of note is how the defense can change things rather quickly for this Pirates team. In the fifth, where the Dodgers scored their runs, they were able to get everything jump started with an errant Andy LaRoche throw to first. When Dotel was playing with fire in the ninth, Andrew McCutchen made a play for a ball that just got a bit of him before it would have rolled to the wall. That miscue, allowed the runner to go to second base. In the 10th, Garrett Jones and Jeff Clement miscommunicated on a pop foul, that fell between them. Luckily for those two nothing came of it, but the story is the same.

These Pirates are not a good enough team to allow good teams like the Dodgers extra chances. It almost hurt them this time, perhaps they won't be so lucky next time.

The Longest Day

Every year, there is an off day after opener in case of a rain out or in some cases a snow out. When it does not rain and we in Pittsburgh are treated to a day like today of sunny weather, I tend to really dislike the schedule makers for inserting that 'off day'. I am usually so excited about the first game of the year, that you almost go through a withdrawal then next day, when there is not another.

When you have a day like this, there is usually time for sportswriters to put together a story like this one. Chuck Finder broke the news that in Philadelphia, the team was called together at an upscale steak house, to gain a focus on what needed to be done this season to become a winner.

This is the type of story that old timers and sportswriters really seem to like to write. I am not a huge believer in the unquantifiable qualities of team unity, as these guys are professionals, it should not matter all that much about chemistry. On the other hand, if they mentally think that this is helping them and can enable them to focus on goals, psychologically it might not be all that bad.

What is interesting about the story is that that the 'veterans' Dotel, Church, Donnelly, and Crosby called the meeting. All of them had not quite had the Pirate experience of wearing that uniform in Pittsburgh, yet were quick to call a meeting to try to end all of the streak talk. These guys don't even know what they are quite in for, and already they are trying to put a stop to it. I'd say it is different that they are doing this now, as in the past it usually happened later in the season.

While it is intriguing and makes for a good story, especially in light of the first game. I don't think it will mean all that much. Instead we should be hoping that Ross Ohlendorf is able to throw strikes tomorrow, instead of any team meetings.

Kings for a Day

As we have had the opportunity the last few seasons, the Pirates went out and won on Opening Day. Today was a little different than others, as the offense burst out onto the scene to help carry the club. It was definitely a welcome relief to see the offense get such a good start.

Garrett Jones continued his Roy Hobbs impression, hitting two home runs, as he tries to show everyone around baseball that he is not a one year wonder. While it will be something for him to continue to hit home runs at a Ruthian or Hobbsian pace, I have tended to think that he is not a one year wonder, but solid major leaguer. I would not expect power to be as legendary as it has been, he will provide some much needed pop in this lineup. His game today may have been his moment to try to tell everyone else that is indeed the case.

Also having good days were Ryan Doumit, the oft injured catcher had a home run today. Every time I see Doumit drive a ball like that, I often think of what if. What if he was not cursed by the injury bug? What would we have behind the plate?

What was nice about today, was that not just the regulars were able to contribute, but even the bench players. Ryan Church, inserted in the fifth to bat for Zach Duke, came up big with a bases clearing double. With that one hit in only one game, he has made himself almost as productive as Eric Hinske and Ramon Vasquez were last season.

The focus of today in the media will be on the great opener, but the real focus should be on taking one of the next two against the Dodgers to take this series. In the first month and a half, the Bucs have a pretty heavy schedule of tough out of division opponents, a west coast trip, and divisional games. All of that happens early, so if the team is able to come out of the gate and play well, they could set themselves up nicely heading into Memorial Day. One game at a time though, and winning the series against the Dodgers would be a good start.

It Begins Anew

They say that hope springs eternal. In baseball we get that feeling every year. After the long and dreary winter, we are treated to the prospect of warmer weather and better baseball to be played. Every team has the same chance of winning, as we start with a clean slate.

That idea of a clean slate seems to be lost with many 'observers' of the team this season. There are many, many out there that are killing this season before it even starts. Some have gone as far to predict an epic amount of loses for this team, losing on a scale not seen since the expansion Mets. Apparently for some reason, this team is being saddled with the burdens bestowed upon them by the previous 17 teams.

I understand why there is this indifferent feeling towards the Pirates. They have lost for so long that no matter what they do, it will be the 'same old Pirates." It seems that this season, many want to place blame for all of these losing seasons on this team, and say that this team will be the worst of the all.

That is very short sided and actually not well informed at all. Sure this probably won't be a pennant winning team, but to say that they are bad on an epic scale, before they even play? There is legitimate talent on this club, not pennant winning talent all over the place, but talent nonetheless. There is also an upside to this talent, the likes of which we have not seen in this streak of losing.

The upside is what we have to look forward to. The potential of these younger players that make up this roster, far out weight anything a roster of the veterans that we have traded away, who by the way would have left via free agency now. Don't try to tell that to some, they still think that Jason Bay would have somehow willed us to the World Series, if he was to stay with Nate McLouth and Xavier Nady.

This season is different. There are things to look forward to this season, that are not named Pedro Alvarez. They are instead, McCutchen, Milledge, Jones, Clement, Morton, and Ohlendorf to name a few.We all have something to look forward to in watching these players develop at the big league level. Their development will in turn have us as fans looking at the improvement of the team as a whole.

Let the growing chorus of nay sayers continue to have their time. It is far easier to criticize someone that is down, then to look and see the potential that is there under the surface.

 This will be an exciting season. A season that will, hopefully, start to show us glimpses of what can and will be. It all starts today against the Dodgers on a sunny afternoon in Pittsburgh. A fresh slate on which to begin.

Things to Watch For 2010

Well we are upon another Pirates season and as is the case every year, I wanted to present some of the things to watch for in 2010. This is a crucial year for the club, as we should start to see what kind of team we have started to build. Are we headed in the right direction or not? This team will give an indication of what is to come.

Five Players to Be Hopeful For

1. Lastings Milledge - After coming over from the Nationals, Milledge has been a model citizen and teammate. He has put in a good deal of hard work this offseason and it looks like it has paid off somewhat for him this spring. If he can recapture some of the promise he had coming up with the Mets, we may have something very special.

2. Bobby Crosby - The former AL Rookie of the Year has had plenty of injuries to deal with since that season. He has not been the same player since, due to those injuries. This year he says he feels healthy and if he is, perhaps we can see this former gem regain some of his luster. If he does, we could have stumbled upon a pretty good signing.

3. Charlie Morton - After coming over in the McLouth trade, Morton had a lot of pressure on him to perform as the main major league piece in that trade. He showed flashes of stuff the likes of which we have not seen for some time in Pittsburgh on the mound. If he is able to put it together, we could have something very special.

4. Evan Meek - It seems so long ago that we all cringed on the rare occasions that Meek entered the ball game. Now after getting straight, he is a piece of the future bullpen. The real question is what can he do for us this year. Will he be able to step up and provide solid late inning work? He had glimpses last year, and if he can it will really help out the bullpen's older arms.

5. Pedro Alvarez - Remember when Andrew McCutchen made his debut? Well this will be even bigger.

Five Players to Be Concerned About

1. Jeff Clement - Management seems pretty certain that no matter what Clement will get a try at first base. To me that sounds like a 'scholarship', but who are we to argue semantics. Having barely played the positon, as well as not having really proved his bat at the big league level, Clement could be a huge hit or a huge miss.

2. Zach Duke - It sure does seem weird to put an All-Star from the previous season on this list, but Duke has been nagged by inconsistency in his major league career. Couple that with the fact that he looked to benefit a great deal by the defense from last season, some of which has been traded, we may want to worry about this pitch to contact lefty.

3. Ronny Cedeno - Cedeno showed some flashes of being a pretty good ballplayer when he was with the club last season. Unfortunately, he has shown flashes all through out his career. It seems as though there are plenty of questions about his offensive ability and his defensive prowess. Will he be able to replace the defensive value of Jack Wilson over the long haul or will we have to go to Bobby Crosby?

4. Brendan Donnelly - Donnelly had a bit of a renaissance last season, but his age and spotty track record the past few seasons, gives some pause. We are putting a great deal of pressure on his old arm to be the man before Octavio Dotel. If he falters we may have to do a great deal of scrambling.

5. Garrett Jones - Simply put was last year a fluke?

Five Stories to Watch

1. Callups from Indy - From the moment the first pitch is hurled at PNC Park, there will be a countdown as to when we will see the likes of Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, and Brad Lincoln gracing the green grass of PNC Park.

2. Growth of the Team - This is a pretty young team, even with the additions of the veteran players in the bullpen. There seems to be from many reports a sort of galvanizing of the core of this team. Granted we have all heard that before and stuff in the locker room tends to be overrated, but this team seems like it could move forward together as a group.

3. Payroll - Many critics just look at only one number as to why the team has failed to win over the years, payroll. No matter what people will look at that number and say that is THE reason as to why they don't win. We will need to find what we have first before we spend. The calls for more spending are a little early, but they should look to spend next year.

4. The Draft - This could be a story line every year but this year with Bryce Harper available in the draft and many knowing that he is the 'best' player in the draft, there will be plenty of pressure to take him if available. If they don't have an opportunity to take Harper there will be plenty of analysis on the draft, as we watch to see what Huntington and Greg Smith do to top last year.

5. The Steak - Yes it was the story last year, but it will inevitably come up again and again this year.

Five Predictions

1. The team will be better than many think. That may not seem like such a prediction, but many out there seem to think that they are the worst team in baseball. I do not think that they are. I think that they will surprise but still have a losing record. Let me say it on record, 72 wins.

2. Akinora Iwamura will resign with the Pirates. I think that the team will approach Aki in the early going about signing an extension to stick around at least another season. The team does not have much in the upper leavels that can be considered a major leaguer right now, so it makes sense to get it done.

3. Lastings Milledge will make people remember why he was such a highly thought of prospect. He will also make many ask, Nyjer who?

4. If available, the Pirates will take Bryce Harper. I don't think the Nationals will let him go by, but the Pirates will take him and at least shut up the critics for a few hours.

5. Meaningful or at least somewhat meaningful baseball will be played after July in Pittsburgh. This may be the boldest of statements, but one that I hope comes true.