Jerry Meals Sucks

Honestly, that's all I can really say. A game like that  decided on an umpire's terrible call is disgraceful. Downright pitiful, actually. It was amateur hour for the Braves and their fans all night, complaining every time they weren't given the Economy sized strike zone they've become accustomed to over the years.

Hurdle should argue the first call Meals makes tonight, then drop him with a Stone Cold Stunner and chug a beer at home plate.

Also, we need offense ASAP. Overbay and Alvarez were a combined 2 for 15. Unreal, thats our lefty power. Both had chances to win the game for us. Cutch was 0 for 6, too. Kdro also notched his 9th error in 38 games when he threw a ball into the stands and struck out 4 times, choking under pressure many times throughout.

WE NEED OFFENSE NOW

James and the Giant Pitch

 3  1

James McDonald might not have had his best stuff going, at least not consistently, last night. He was little bit wild, he gave up 8 hits (all singles I believe) over 5.1 IP, but he when he left the game with a 3-0 lead, he had fanned 9 Braves and put the Bucs in position to steal another W.

J-Mac put 2 Braves aboard with 2 outs in the 2nd inning before fanning Alex Gonzalez to get the final out. He started the bottom of the 3rd by allowing his mound opponent to lead off with a single (after he appeared to strike him out) followed by another single by Martin Prado. After a line drive double play off the bat of Jason Heyward, Larry Jones singled to put 1st and 3rd with 2 outs and after Jones swiped 2B, it was 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. But McDonald struck out Freddy Freeman to end the inning. The bottom of the 6th saw back to back 1 out singles from Freeman and Dan Uggla followed by a catcher's interference to load the bases for good measure. But Chris Resop came on to retire Cornerstone Nate McLouth and Gonzalez to end it.

The Bucs didn't manage much offensively, but it was enough to win.  Tim Hudson was working with the Obligatory Atlanta Braves/Greg Maddux strike zone while J-Mac was working with a pill box. Hudson struck out the side to start the game, but the Bucs got to him in the second inning. Cutch and Kdro drew consecutive walks and each moved up 90 feet when Overpaid flew out to deep center. Cedeno's groundout was enough to get Cutch home and Fort McKenry's 2 out single plated Alvarez for a 2-0 lead. The Bucs struck again in the 6th after GI Jones drew a 1 out walk and moved to 2nd on a Walker groundout. Cutch singled to center to score Jones for the 3-0 lead.

Larry Jones, activated yesterday from the DL for the 427th time in his career, lead off the bottom of the 8th with a solo shot off of the Guy Who Cried. After walking Freeman, Veras came on to retire the side and the Bucs went down in order in the top of the 9th to bring about Hammer Time. Hanrahan wasn't looking to make it interesting, getting Gonzalez to line out to 2B, fanning PH Julio Lugo, and getting Martin Prado to fly out to end the game. RTJR! Bucs 3, Braves 1.

That's 2 in a row where the Bucs used duct tape and spare parts to notch another W, but that all important W is all that matters. 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 errors probably doesn't win you a game every time, but it was good enough to do the job last night. Xavier Paul, who many Pro's believe is a ML lead off man, went 0 for 4 with 2 K's last night, dropping his OBP to .275 for the season and lowering his K to BB ratio to 36 to 5. Yes, he is fast, but that does no good when he can't get on base. Walker went 0 for 3 and is 1 for his last 18 after being red hot for most of July. He also hit into his 294th double play of 2011, which I'm sure Smizik will be all over since he always has a I hate Neil Walker Bullet in his chamber ready to fire at any time.

Player of the Game: Future All -Star Chris Resop-  2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K. Inherited a bases loaded 1 out situation in a 3-0 game and didn't flinch. He has been that good all year, man, what a find.

Head Scratcher of the Game- Can't we get anybody but Xavier Paul to lead off? I don't blame Hurdle for batting him 1st, I don't think he had much of a choice. Plus, he's made chicken salad out of chicken shit all year long. But Paul is 14th on the team in OBP (Bucs are 12th in NL in that category)  among players with a similar number of at-bats. He's lower than McKenry. His K to BB ratio is worse than Alvarez's.  I guess it's really just the injury bug, but I figured maybe we had someone else who could step in there.


Face Palm of the Night- Sorry folks, I had to do it. First batter of the night for the Braves and Kdro boots a routine grounder for his 8th error in 37 games. Thats on pace for 35 over a whole season. After that, though, Kdro did have a solid game: 1 for 3 with 1 BB, 1 K, and a run.

Karstens will take the bump against Tommy Hanson tonight in what should be another low scoring affair. Here's hoping the Bucs can find some offense in a hurry! I will actually be taking this one in at the Fox and Hound on McKnight Rd if anybody wants to join, e-mail me: mutinyontheallegheny@gmail.com

Ghosts of Prospects Past

Although there is still time for them to prove us skeptics wrong, it is looking more and more like the Pirates will do little to nothing at the trade deadline this season.

As the PG quoted Neal Huntington this morning about the cost-demands of bringing in talent: "As surprising as it sounds, they've probably gotten worse," he said. "This club deserves something to help them, but at this point the acquisition costs are just so high that it's been a challenge…"

"…I think the fact that we're in a pennant race, I think the fact that we're on pace to break an 18-year streak, the fans are coming out in droves ... if I were in [other teams'] shoes, I would be trying to leverage that as best I could," he said.

I would like to call total bullshit on that newest of lame excuses. Other teams are really raking us over the coals because they realize we are in the midst of an 18 year losing streak? They are upping their trade demands after seeing attendance figures at PNC Park? C’mon. Plus, I thought we weren’t allowed to talk about things in the 18 year timeframe, and the only thing that matters in evaluating this management group is what has occurred over the past 3 seasons? Why are you allowed to (poorly) defend your inaction with the 18 year number, but as fans we are supposed to erase and ignore any information we have assimilated before the year 2008?

For those who are worried about “mortgaging the future” and dealing off some of our highly rated prospects for a short term rental: I understand your legitimate concerns. I would be very hesitant to deal away top notch talent and would hope that the Pirates drive for the best deal possible. As we in Pittsburgh are all too aware of however, even the most highly regarded prospects and talents do not always transform themselves into even adequate major league players.

I now humbly submit the following list of position player prospects I recall, and ask you folks who have been so worried about dealing from the farm system: in retrospect would you not package any number of these guys for someone like say, Hunter Pence, who is a relative guarantee to give you at least 2 years and 2 months of above-average major league service?

In no particular order:

J.R. House

Rajai Davis

Brian Bixler

Andy Laroche

Robinzon Diaz

Luis Cruz

Tike Redman

Chris Duffy

Mark Johnson

Brad Eldred

Abraham Nunez

Emil Brown

Chad Hermansen

J.J. Davis

Pirates beat Cardinals in extras

It took 10 innings and a few errors by St. Louis, but Pittsburgh pulled out a 4-3 victory Sunday at PNC Park to avoid a three-game sweep.
With the win, the Pirates (52-47) are back in a first-place tie with the Cardinals (53-48) and Brewers (54-49). The Bucs (.525) are a percentage point above Milwaukee (.524) and have an identical percentage-points mark with St. Louis (.525).
Pittsburgh is most likely in Atlanta as of this writing. They began a four-game set with the Braves Monday at Turner Field. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. It's been awhile since the Bucs have been on National TV.
After the Cardinals failed to get any runs off winning pitcher Joe Beimel (1-1), Xavier Paul used his speed for an infield single with one out. Paul hit a grounder that Albert Pujols fielded up the first-base line, but Paul beat pitcher Jason Motte (3-2) to the bag.
Paul took off for second with Chase d'Arnaud batting, but catcher Gerald Laird's throw was off the mark and Paul made it to third. The Cardinals made three errors in the game.
D'Arnaud's fly ball to center scored Paul from third and the Pirates "raised the jolly roger." I didn't listen to the radio broadcast, but I'm sure Greg Brown said it.
Pittsburgh needed this win and it played like it. They trailed 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 and rallied each time. It only managed seven hits, but took advantage of some mistakes by the Cardinals.
Trailing 1-0 in the third, d'Arnaud doubled in Eric Fryer, who singled and reached third on a stolen base and an error by Ryan Theriot on the catch.
Down 2-1 in the fifth, Ronny Cedeno doubled, moved to third on Fryer's ground out and scored on starting pitcher Charlie Morton's sacrifice fly.
Morton pitched 5.1 innings and allowed three runs on six hits. He had three strike outs and five walks. He also allowed a home run. Pittsburgh gave up at least one ball in each game of the series. It has not hit one out since last Saturday against Houston.
Losing 3-2 in the seventh, Cedeno hit his third double and moved to third on Fryer's bunt base-hit. Steve Pearce hit into a double play, however it allowed Cedeno to score.
Cedeno and Fryer had four of the seven hits for the Bucs.
The Bucs did a great job on playing small ball and using their speed, but a power bat is needed. Andrew McCutchen shouldn't be leading this team in homers.
I don't have any problem giving up prospects to win now. I say it will take between 85-90 to win this thing. Maybe Clint Hurdle should put up a naked poster of Bob Nutting in the clubhouse and promise to put the sections back on after every win. If you've seen "Major League" you know what I'm talking about.

Undertow

Anybody who knows anything about baseball knew that the 13 game stretch the Pirates were facing against the Reds, Cards, Braves, and Phillies was going to be the truest test this ball club has faced all year. That is why anybody who actually cares about the Pittsburgh Pirates and it's oh so loyal fans wanted to see some offensive help acquired PRIOR to the July 31 deadline. This 2011 team has a chance to be something special but still needed an additional bat to make any sort of serious run at the Central division title. Seeing the lineup the Bucs  trotted out last night, only a game out of first place, I feel obligated to question the true motivation of the men at the top over there in the Tax Payer funded offices on Federal Street.

But it isn't just those with control over the company checkbook that have shown reluctance to have the Pirates seen as a baseball team taken seriously by their peers. There are many pros out there with a myriad of excuses why this team should "stand pat" at the trading deadline. The cost is too high, we don't want a rental, we don't want to mortgage the future. Honestly, when I see that, all I read is this: WE DON'T WANT TO WIN. It's funny, those who run this blog and those who follow us and comment here are the ones whose loyalty to the Pirates is frequently called into question. But how can one seriously make those allegations against us when WE are the ones who want nothing more than to see the Pirates win.

These Pros who are calling to stand pat now say to do so because this team isn't actually a contender. Yet our loyalty has been questioned when we made the same points various times on this blog and in the SmizBlog comments section. These Pros who are calling to stand pat in 2011 say they want to do it because 2015 is the year we need to wait for. 2015 is the year that a bunch of kids who are now barely out of high school are PROJECTED to simultaneously arrive at the major league level at the same time that we miraculously managed to maintain the 2 current viable MLB bats we have, the one potential power source in the system, and a bunch of speedy slap hitters. 2015 is the year we are waiting for guys who have never played about Single A and in some cases Double A to show up in the majors and wreak havoc upon opposition.

By 2015, we could all be dead. By 2015, Jameson Taillon could be coming off Tommy John Surgery. Andrew McCutchen could be in a Yankees uniform. Pedro Alvarez could be 350 lbs. 2015 is a LONG way away; even longer for a fan base that has suffered being the laughing stock of the league for 18 going on 19 years. 2015 has just as much of a chance as being the year the Bucs turn it around as 2011 does/did. We have been planning for the future in Pittsburgh for so long, I have lost track of which 5 Year Plan we are currently following. We have been down so long, I am DESPERATE to see the Bucs pay $5 million for the rest of the season for a guy batting .225 because he would be an upgrade over our current options.

If you think long and hard about where the Pirates are today, it is the perfect situation for Nuthouse. He got his packed houses, the fans did their part! He may still get many more as the team flirts with respectability and fans are so downright desperate for something resembling winning  baseball that they will still come out in droves, buying overpriced food and false hope by the gross. Now that he can say " See, we're not ready to contend" he doesn't have to spend any of his precious money. Opie can come out and say the demands were too high and we didn't want to mortgage the future, because everybody clearly seems to buy that excuse. He can trade Maholm or not pick up his option. In the offseason, let Diaz and Overpaid walk, then sign 2 more guys like them to make it seem like the team is trying, then field the 3rd lowest paid team in the league yet again.

It's the Pirates Cycle. We all know it too well and I have zero confidence that things will be any different in 2015. Between now and then, we will see the veterans coming up on arbitration or free agency traded away for Andy LaRoche and Andrew Lambo. I have no reason to believe otherwise because I have seen nothing from this organization that proves to me they have any interest in playing meaningful baseball at the major league level. They pat themselves on the backs when they draft guys they should be drafting and then have a circle jerk over putting the appropriate amount of money into the draft. They should be doing that; it's their jobs. They have the money to allot for the draft because they're not putting the money into the big league club, that's for sure.

This 2011 season has been the epitome of lightning in a bottle. The organization did nothing different than in years past. They picked up Correia off the scrap heap and he is performing above career levels, just like very other pitcher on the staff. The offense is absolutely awful and the main keys to it's "success" were Littlefield's guys. The FO said they needed to see a commitment from the fans, in terms of attendance, before they would open their padlocked wallet. Well, what better time than now to buy some goodwill with the fans and prove to them you are in it to win it? You have a team that was heading into this sold out weekend series in 1st place. You have attendance increased by 500,000 and sellout upon sellout on weekend games. For a team that came into this season looking to extend it's own record for futility, I would say the fans have taken an awfully  big leap of faith. If your landlord told you  he wants to raise your rent from $500/month to $1,000/month and   in turn he may eventually improve your apartment to be worth $1,000/month, how many people would renew that lease?

The FO knew who the team was facing coming into this weekend. They knew where they were in the standings and they knew the history. BUT, they also knew the games were sold out whether they added a bat or not. Once again, the fans step up, the city steps up, the players step up. And once again,the FO kicks the fans square in the nuts.

And once again, I implore Bob Nutting: SELL THE F***ING TEAM.

When a Long Shot is Your Best Shot

If you want to read a good, balanced article from a guy who understands both small markets and the game of baseball, go check out Grantlands Rany Jazayerli's take on the season the Pirates are having right now.

He sums up my feelings quite well on how and why these Pirates should approach this trade deadline with an aggression and boldness that is both necessary and owed to the longtime fans in this city.

"They would need unexpectedly good performances from unheralded players, and they would need their NL Central rivals to underachieve. They would need a season, in other words, like the one they're having right now."

This IS our year. It may have come sooner then "the plan" but it needs to be seen as a rare and precious opportunity, for winning, for respect, and for relevance.

"The Pirates can't do that this year. No matter how flimsy their record is, those wins and losses are in the bank, and no team can betray its fan base by throwing in the towel when they're a half-game back. If they can't be sellers, they might as well be buyers."

There is no guarantee of success, and more likely than not they will not win a championship by pursuing this strategy. But standing still dooms them to a certain fate and all the good will being built up this year will wither and die, like a flower that blooms before Spring’s final frost.

"Sure, it's unlikely that the Pirates will stay in the thick of the NL Central race for the next 70 games. But that's nothing compared to how improbable it is that they've stayed in the race until now. Resurrecting a franchise often requires a miracle. The Pirates are more than halfway there."

The way I see it, the Pirates need 3 definite, indespensible things to happen to win the division:

1) The Pitchers must continue to pitch over their heads/paygrade
2) Pedro must return to form and have a late season surge like last year
3) They must add one quasi-elite bat for the middle of the lineup

They can then fill out a lineup card somewhere along these lines for August and September.


1. Pressley/Tabata (LF)
2. Walker (2B)
3. McCutchen (CF)
4. Alvarez (3B)
5. Beltran/Pence (RF)
6. Doumit (C)
7. Jones/Overbay (1B)
8. Cedeno (SS)
9. Over Achieving Pitcher

I wouldn't be opposed to a scenario that involves sliding the fragile, but necessary batter, Doumit to 1B if neither Jones nor Overbay pulls it together and leave McKenry at the plate. OR, if they could pick up Pena at 1B you could slot him in at 4 just as well, bump Pedro to 5, and let the Jones/Diaz platoon handle RF in the 7 spot. But that is all in the minutia.

The over riding point: outside of Taillion and Heredia, no prospect should be untouchable to bring in a hitter to make a miraculous run this season. This is our shot. C'mon NH, FC, BN! Let's do it.

Revisiting Trade Scenarios

Last week, we discussed some potential trade acquistions, but got sidetracked by our traditional internet peeing contest. Yesterday, Buster Olney ran a piece for ESPN in which he quoted the Lying Liar as stating that the Pirates could possibly, potentially, perhaps, at some point, maybe, if the stars align, at the right price, if the timing is good, if the offer is great, if the temperature in hell dips a few degrees, may consider probably adding something to the current team. Some people took this as Coonelly committing to something. Most took it as a whole bunch of nothing and I happen to agree that it was nothing more than some fluff spread out over a few paragraphs.

The Lying Liar did note that attendance is indeed up, and that gives us flexibility to be somewhat possibly, potentially, slightly likely to consider the thought of looking into the idea of evaluating the reality of thinking about pondering making a move. So the FO got their wish, the fans are showing in droves, alleviating them from having to take any financial risk to win.

So now that is have gotten only a few hundred miles off track, let's talk about trades. I will put a list of players below that have been discussed and give my 2 cents while soliciting all of your opinions, as well.

1.) Carlos Beltran- RF- Mets. I like the idea if the Mets are willing to either eat some of his salary or take less if the Bucs take the whole thing (LOL). Problem is simple: if the asking price for Beltran is too high for the Red Sox, it's WAY too high for the Bucs.

Potential value: 9/10. Good power, some speed, switch hitter who drives in runs and hits for average. A little crazy, but thats okay.

Likelihood of Acquring Beltran: 0.5/10. Not gonna happen.

2.) Carlso Pena- 1B- Cubs. Great power, low average. Good OBP for a free swinger. K's a lot, walks a lot. Far more affordable than Beltran.

Potential value: 7/10. Great power and can take advantage of short RF.

Likelihood of Acquiring Pena: 3/10. "Not willing to mortgage future" ( actually means not willing to spend money)


3.) Hunter Pence- RF- Astros. Hits for average and some power, drives in runs, good career #'s at PNC park. Decent defesne and a good arm. Good speed, can steal bases. Affordable with a couple of arbitration years left. Will likely see a nice raise after 2011.

Potential Value: 8/10. Excellent RH stick. Only 28 and under control for a few more years if the Bucs are willing to pay him (ROTFLMFA0)

Likelihood of Acquiring Pence: 1/10.

4.) Josh Willingham- OF/1B- A's. Solid RH stick. Average isn't great, but good with RISP. Some power and good for driving in runs as well as affordable.

Potential Value: 6/10

Likelihood of Acquiring Willingham: 5/10

These are 4 examples of names we've either heard or discussed. Feel free to add more and give your opinions of these playesr as well. Also, Brandon Inge was DFA'd by the Tigers. That is the kind of deal the FO is looking for............................

Spellcheck didn't take, so there are likely numerous errors.