Orioles vs. Pirates, Liveblog

Sorry I'm late! Got stuck at work. Here's your liveblog.

Tuesday Thunder

The rhyming post titles continue.

The Pirates defeated the Yankees today by the score of 12-7. The offense started early and continued often. McCutchen singled to begin CC Sabathia's rough outing. After McCutchen, Cedeno doubled to left and moved Cutch to third. Milledge then brought him in with a single into right field. Garrett Jones joined the party in a big way, with a monstrous home run to deep right center field that put the Pirates up 4-0.

Charlie Morton could have done better to keep the lead, he gave up 3 runs in his 3 innings of work. He had 2 walks, which you don't want to see, but he did throw some good pitches in his outing. His high point was when he struck out Curtis Granderson on 3 pitches. It really didn't matter what Morton would do today, because he could not have possibly looked worse than Brian Burres did. Burres gave up 4 runs in .2 innings including 3 walks. He was awful. But don't fret Pirate fans, he doesn't have a chance to make the team out of spring training. That was all the Yankees would get though. Ronald Uviedo, DJ Carrasco, Donnie Veal, and Anthony Claggett teamed up to shut out the Yankees in their combined 5.1 innings of work.

The same couldn't be said for the Yankees bullpen. The Pirates scored 6 runs off of the relief pitchers today. RBI's after that first inning went to Lastings Milledge (his second of the game), Andy LaRoche, Bobby Crosby, John Raynor, Pedro Alvarez, Steve Pearce, Doug Bernier, and Hector Gimenez. Cedeno, Jones, and Raynor all had multi-hit games. At the end of the contest, the Pirates had another 15 hit game on the board.

Speaking of John Raynor, he has been absolutely no fire this spring. He is now hitting .538 this spring (that's 7 hits in 13 at bats). He is one of the guys battling for the 5th outfield spot, and if he keeps hitting like this I don't think the Pirates will have any choice but to give it to him. He plays great defense and he can fly around the bases. He sure has my vote right now.

The Pirates are back in action tomorrow against the Orioles at 7:05. The game will be on FSNPittsburgh and we will be having another live blog. Be sure to check back here during the game and chat with us!

Monday Slumber

Firstly, the Pirates played 2 games today and lost both. They collected 1 hit in their 6-0 loss to the Yankees and didn't do too much better against the Rays. If you want more details, check out Raise the Jolly Roger and/or North Side Notch.

Secondly, if you saw yesterday's post, you'd realize that this title is really clever.

Thirdly, the Pirates play Tuesday at 1:05 against the Yankees.

That is all.

Sunday Lumber

The Twins weren't ready for what the Pirates brought to the field this afternoon at McKechnie Field, as the Buccos put up 15 runs and defeated the Twins, pushing their spring training record to 2-2-1. Leading the Pirates today was Bobby Crosby, who drove in 4 runs, and Delwyn Young, who drove in 3 of his own. The Pirates got home runs from Crosby and Garrett Jones, who hit his first bomb of 2010 in the 4th inning. It should also be noted that Pedro Alvarez hit a triple today, don't get used to that. The fact that the Twins were playing with a split squad today may have attributed to the beating. I should also mention that I have never heard of any of the pitchers the Twins sent to the mound today. Regardless of that, the Pirates had a great showing at the plate today. They collected 15 hits, which is impressive against any level of pitching.

As for the Pirates on the mound, Ross Ohlendorf made the start and it didn't go exactly how he wanted it to. In the first inning, Denard Span (the lead off hitter) drew a walk off Ohlendorf. Two batters later Justin Morneau drove a mistake pitch a long ways out of the ballpark, and the Twins were on top 2-0. Ohlendorf settled down from then on, and finished his outing with 2 hits allowed in 2 innings pitched, a long with those 2 earned runs. Next in was Chris Jakubauskas, who didn't fair particularly well either. His line looked like this: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO. After that it was smooth sailing for the buccos. Ronald Uviedo, Vinny Chulk, Bryan Morris, Anthony Claggett, and Ramon Aguero teamed up to shut out the Twins through the final 5.1 innings of the game. Morris and Aguero both pitched perfect 1-2-3 innings, and Claggett struck out the side in his frame.

It was all-in-all a very good effort from the Pirates today. They certainly put on a show for the Pirate faithful watching the game in Bradenton.

We've now played 5 Cactus League games, so before the Pirates start a new work-week, let's take a look at some of the stats from some very important Pirates so far this spring:

Pedro Alvarez: 2/10, 2 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 5 SO
John Raynor: 4/10, 2 R, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 2 SO
Ryan Church: 3/9, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 SO
Bobby Crosby: 3/9, 2 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 0 SO
Ryan Doumit: 3/8, 0 XBH, 2 SO
Garrett Jones: 1/8, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 SO
Andy LaRoche: 1/8, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 4 SO
Akinori Iwamura: 2/7, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SO
Andrew McCutchen: 3/6, 1 R, 0 SO

D.J. Carrasco: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
Vinny Chulk: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
Ross Ohlendorf: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Chris Jakubauskas: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO
Ramon Aguero: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO
Anthony Claggett: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO
Jack Taschner: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 S0
Steven Jackson: 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Charlie Morton: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO
Daniel McCutchen: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
Kevin Hart: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 4 BB

I bolded those last two for obvious reasons, let's hope that one of them steps up and decides to win the job as the Pirates 5th starter. Neither of them have looked good at all in their very limited innings, but we're hoping that will change soon.

You have to be careful looking at pitching stats in spring training because a lot of them can be deceiving. However, the one that I have found to be completely reliable as a check for how a pitcher is performing is walks. The main thing pitchers work on in spring is control, so if they can't keep their walk rates down while they are consciously trying to just that, it doesn't bode well for them heading into the regular season. The Pirates pitchers have done okay with it so far, with the exceptions of Kevin Hart and Charlie Morton, who were pretty much the last two guys we wanted to see struggle with it. They both have less than 3 innings of work so far so it is hardly even worth mentioning.

The Pirates are back in action tomorrow as they have a split squad day. Half the team will face the Yankees in Bradenton and the other half will travel to play the Tampa Bay Rays. Both games start at 1:05.

Sanchez Shines

Tonight was the best Pirate game of the year so far, the main reason for that is the Pirates first round draft pick of last year, Tony Sanchez.

Sanchez did all kinds of things well tonight. First, in the 6th inning, he nailed a would-be base stealer at second. Second, he blasted a solo home run in his first at bat in a Pirate uniform in the 8th inning, which helped the Pirates greatly in their 5-3 come from behind victory. Sanchez also made a nice play fielding a bunted ball to throw a runner out at first.

You can read this same story on pretty much every Pirate blog there is, so I'm gonna phrase it in a way that you haven't heard before : Tony Sanchez is a pimp.

The Pirates were frowned upon for taking him with the 4th overall pick. People said he didn't have the skills to become anything more than an average big league player. They all said that the Pirates only picked him because they wouldn't have to pay him very much, just another typical safe, cheap, wasted draft pick for the Pirates. While it's still extremely early in Sanchez's career, so far he has done nothing but prove all of those things wrong. Scouts rave about his defense, he has the all the tools to be THE BEST defensive catcher in the game when he gets to the bigs. That's not just my opinion, real scouts say it too. In addition to that, his offense is by no means going to keep him off the field. The guy has power potential. We're not talking 30 bombs, but we're talking consistent 15-20 homers a year with an above average catcher batting average. He's not going to Victor Martinez or Joe Mauer, but I really think that if he reaches his potential, he will be a top-5 catcher in the majors.

Tony Sanchez just keeps making the Pirates look smarter and smarter, and it will be extremely fun to watch him the rest of this spring training season. Tomorrow the big league starters will be back out as the Pirates open up their home spring training schedule at 1:05 when they host the Phillies at McKechnie Field.

The "Mc" Speaks

The Pirates lost to the Braves today 4-2. I don't have time to give many details from the game, but the high point of it for the Pirates was Andy LaRoche hitting the Pirates' first Grapefruit League home run this spring. Charlie Morton started the game and had some control issues, just the normal Charlie Morton. Let's hope he works those problems out.

Anyways, Nate McLouth, 50% of the inspiration for this blog's name, made some comments after the game - which were quite interesting. You can check them out Jennifer Langosch's most recent post.

Pirates take on the Orioles tomorrow night at 7:05.

Pirates/Braves Lineups

The Pirates face the Braves today in their 2nd spring training game. Here are the lineups:

Pirates:
1. McCutchen, CF
2. Crosby, SS
3. Milledge, LF
4. Church, RF
5. Clement, 1B
6. Alvarez, DH
7. LaRoche, 3B
8. Young, 2B
9. Jaramillo, C

Starting Pitcher: Charlie Morton

Braves:
1. McLouth, CF
2. Heyward, RF
3. Jones, 3B
4. Glaus, 1B
5. McCann, C
6. Diaz, LF
7. Hinske, DH
8. Infante, SS
9. Conrad, 2B

Starting Pitcher: Kenshin Kawakami

Let's Go Bucs!

Spring Training Game #1, Pirates vs. Yankees, Wrap-up / Liveblog

The Pirates lost their first game of the spring in good style today, as Virgil Vasquez started off his year by giving up a 3 run walk-off home run to Colin Curtis. His ERA now sits at 81.00, which almost reflects how bad of a pitcher he really is.

It was a pretty good game until the ninth inning though. The pitching was dominant early on, as the Pirates staff didn't allow a hit until the 5th inning. Maholm, Ohlendorf, Bass, and Carrasco all put up hitless frames. Steven Jackson had some bad defense played behind him, but did give up a home run to Eduardo Nunez, and he finished his day with 3 runs allowed (2 earned). Jack Taschner and Jean Machi had good innings, putting 6 Yankees down in a row. After that it was Vasquez's game to lose, and he did just that.

The offense wasn't too impressive, except in the 7th inning, when Erik Kratz scorched a hanging breaking ball to the left center field gap which drove in 2 runners (Delwyn Young, who was hit by a pitch and Jose Tabata, who hit a soft single over the second baseman's head). Kratz advanced to third when the throw from left missed the cut off man, and he scored on the next batter when Ryan Church grounded out. The Pirates collected only 3 hits all game long, from Andrew McCutchen and then aforementioned Kratz and Tabata.

The guys I was interested to see today were Akinori Iwamura and Jeff Clement. It was weird seeing Aki in a Pirates uniform. I am a pretty big Rays fan, so I usually watch a lot of their games, so it was weird seeing Aki not sporting the Rays blue. Clement is probably the guy I am most intrigued with this year. The reason for that is his offense, but his defense is another pretty big reason to watch him with interest. He isn't experienced at first but he looked pretty solid there today. Early in the game, Ronny Cedeno fielded a ground ball and made a throw that was a couple feet to the right of the bag, which Clement stepped off, caught, and applied the tag very nicely. The next batter hit a grounder to Clement, which he fielded easily and flipped on to Maholm for the out. Two plays in the first inning and I was feeling good about his defense. He looked pretty comfortable out there. One game doesn't prove anything, but at least he didn't mess those two plays up. Keep your eyes on Clement when he's out there this spring, he could be a big part of the future.

3-up:
Erik Kratz (+2): 1/1, 2B, 2 RBI (plus a beautiful throw from his knees from catcher attempting to catch a base stealer)
Ross Ohlendorf (+1): 1 IP, 0 H, 1 K, 7 of 12 pitches for strikes
Jean Machi (+1): 1 IP, 0 H, 2 K

3-down:
Virgil Vasquez (-1): 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 HRA
Steven Jackson (-1): 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 K
Gorkys Hernandez (-2): 0/2, 1 SO

So there's your recap, here's the live blog we did during the game. Next game is tomorrow at 1:05 against the Atlanta Braves. Charlie Morton, Brian Burres, and Brad Lincoln will all make appearances on the mound. Until next time!

Pirates vs. Manatee Community College, Wrap-Up

The Pirates avenged their loss last year to Manatee Community College today by defeating them soundly, by the score of 6-1. Let's get a quick wrap-up then go 3 up, 3 down.

The scoring was started in the bottom of the first, when Pedro Alvarez doubled in John Raynor, who had reached on an error. It wasn't exactly a well-hit double, it was kind just a bloop that was horribly misplayed. The Manatees/Lancers/Whatever they call themselves did not look too good in the field today. After that, home runs from Brandon Moss, Steve Pearce, and Erik Kratz put the Pirates up 6-0 after the third inning. The offense then stopped, as the Pirates put up 3 0's in the next three frames.

The pitchers that took the mound performed did okay today. They gave up 8 hits in 7 innings, which isn't what you want to see, but they kept them off the scoreboard in every inning except the 6th, when Jeff Sues walked 2 and gave up 1 hit that brought in a run. Bryan Morris started the game with a perfect 1-2-3 first inning, striking out two. Donnie Veal pitched a hitless second inning while walking one. Ronald Uviedo and Justin Thomas gave up 2 hits each in their innings of work. Ramon Aguero struck out 2 in his 1-2-3 5th inning. And after Jeff Sues ruined the shut out, Anthony Claggett came in and pitched the seventh. He gave up 3 hits but got out of the inning unscathed, and the Pirates finished their first game of the spring training season with a victory.

For these spring training games we're going to do some 3-up, 3-down, where I will be pick the best 3 performances and the worst 3 performances. I'll keep a tally and see who has the most points when the regular season rolls around. So everybody is at 0 right now, an "up" will give a +1 and a "down" will give a -1.

3-up:
Erik Kratz (1): 2/2, R, HR, 2 RBI
Pedro Alvarez (1): 3/4, R, RBI
Brandon Moss (1): 2/2, R, HR, RBI

3-down:
Gorkys Hernandez (-1): 0/4, 2 SO
Jeff Sues (-1): 1 IP, 2 BB, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 SO
Anthony Claggett (-1): 1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 SO

Tomorrow the Pirates face the Yankees at 1:05, with Paul Maholm and Ross Ohlendorf slated to pitch the first 2 innings. I'd expect to see guys like Tabata, Alvarez, and Kratz back in the lineup, while we see a couple more major-leaguers in there to face some major-league pitchers. The game will be on MLBNetwork and I'm pretty sure it will be on MLB.TV as well, so there are chances for the fans to watch. Regardless if you can watch it or not, be sure to come back right here tomorrow at game time and participate in our Live Chat. I'll be joining the chat around 2:00, and I hope to see you all there.

Let's go Bucs!

The Start of Spring... Training... Games

The Pirates have been in camp for a couple of weeks now and are ready to play some actual baseball this week. Tomorrow they face Manatee Community College, whom they lost to last year. According to Raise The Jolly Roger, the forecast isn't looking to great and the game could be rained out, wouldn't that be a great way to start the year?

Wednesday the Pirates kick their big league opposition games with a 1:05 date with the New York Yankees. There aren't two more different stories in the big leagues than the Pirates and Yankees, and it's always an interesting game to watch. And the good news is you WILL be able to watch it. The game is being shown on MLBNetwork, which a lot of people don't get, but just the fact that it's on there means there will be all kinds of streams of the game on the internet. Our crew from last year will be starting our 2010 liveblogs during the game, so be sure to check out one of our sites and chat about the game with us. You can check it out here at The "Mc" Effect, or head over to Raise the Jolly Roger, North Side Notch, or Bucco Fans.

Pirates beat writer Jennifer Langosch made a post telling us who we will be seeing on the mound in this first week of games. It looks like this:

Tuesday vs SCF (7 innings): Bryan Morris (1), Donnie Veal (1), Ronald Uviedo (1), Justin Thomas (1), Ramon Aguero (1), Jeff Sues (1), Anthony Claggett (1)
Wednesday @ NYY: Paul Maholm (1), Ross Ohlendorf (1); (Brian Bass, D.J. Carrasco, Chris Jakubauskas, Steven Jackson, Jack Taschner and Jean Machi will be available as possible relievers)
Thursday @ ATL: Charlie Morton (2/45), Brian Burres (2/45), Brad Lincoln (1)
Friday @ BAL: Zach Duke (2/45), Daniel McCutchen (2/45), Virgil Vasquez (1)
Saturday vs. PHI: Kevin Hart (2/45), D.J. Carrasco (2/40)

The guys on there I am most interested in seeing are Bryan Morris, Donnie Veal, and Brad Lincoln, for pretty obvious reasons. Those are 3 of the better arms we have in the system and they could all have a major impact on the big league team in the next couple seasons.

That's all I've got for now, be sure to check back Wednesday between 1 and 4 as we kick off the Pirates spring training season with a live blog. See ya then.

Catching Up, Hanrahan, Milledge, Moss

Well are just over a week into spring training, and I haven't made a post in a couple days. Not much has been happening, as nothing big ever does at the end of February and the beginning of March, but there are a couple things worth nothing.

• Joel Hanrahan's elbow injury was not as serious as some people thought, and he will begin throwing again in the next couple days. A lot of the inflammation in his right elbow has dissipated and there is a chance that he will be ready for Opening Day. That's big news for Pirate fans, I sure wasn't looking forward to seeing our bullpen without him.
• The Post-Gazzette has a good article about Lastings Milledge up, posted today. Milledge is obviously pretty geared up for this season and has every desire to make it his best one so far. He is getting really serious about his career and has found a home in a Pirates uniform, next to his long time pal Andrew McCutchen.
• A couple days ago, another article was posted by the Post-Gazzette about another Pirate outfielder, Brandon Moss. This one caused me to chuckle a little bit. Moss talked a lot about how awful he was last year. Some of his quotes were quite harsh, including him saying, "I'd rather be out of this game and not ever be able to play again than to play like I played last year. It's just not worth it". I guess it's good to hear Moss say that, he is obviously pretty upset with himself and feels that he has something to prove to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for Moss, I think it might be too late. Unless there is an injury or a strong underperformance by Garrett Jones or Jeff Clement, I don't see Moss getting much playing time this year. He might not even make the team. One outfielder will have to be cut, and it certainly isn't going to be anyone but Moss or John Raynor. Personally I would like to see Raynor make the team, but my guess is that management will make sure Moss is on the 25-man roster when the club heads to Pittsburgh in April.
  
  

Anyways, I'll be back soon. Every day is one step closer to Opening Day, and I'm getting restless already.

Hanrahan Sidelined

Looks like we're starting off spring training with some bad news - Pirates reliever Joel Hanrahan will most likely start the season on the DL.

He had some elbow pain at the end of last season, and it turned out to be more serious than he thought. He felt some pain and had some setbacks during January throwing sessions, and he has since been shut down until he sees Doctor James Andrews. It's never a good thing when a pitcher goes to see that guy.

Barring a radical healing, Hanrahan won't be pitching at all for the Pirates in spring training, and will start the 2010 season the DL. We're hoping it's not too serious and he only misses a couple weeks, but there is really no way to tell right now.

If Hanrahan misses significant time it would be a pretty big blow for the Pirates bullpen. It won't be as bad as it would have been before Huntington inked Dotel, Lopez, Donnelly, and Carrasco, but we will definitely miss his arm in the last innings. The bright side of this is that we will get to see some more competition for a spot on the opening day roster. There will be an extra spot open that 4 or 5 guys will be battling for. It should be interesting to see, but we all hope Joel heals quickly.

It Begins Today

Happy Pitchers and Catchers Day Everybody :)

Not much news out yet, besides the fact that Neil Walker caught for Zach Duke today. That's probably not even worth mentioning, as it's highly unlikely that Walker would ever be considered to catch in the Pirates organization again, but it's the February and there isn't much news circulating, so we have to work with what we have.

Also, another birthday wish goes out to my sister, Erin, who turned 23 today. Happy birthday Erin.

Have a great day everybody, and enjoy the first official day of spring training!

Birthday Wish

The Pittsburgh Pirates aren't a good baseball team. Because of that, they aren't a popular baseball team either. Because of THAT, there aren't many Pirates' bloggers out there. The good thing about that is the relationships that us bloggers have with each other. I have (virtually) met a handful of guys that share my love for baseball and blogging, and they are all really great guys.

I'm saying all of this because tomorrow is one of fellow Pirates' bloggers birthdays, and I wanted to say happy birthday by sending some of my readers his way that maybe haven't seen his blog before. He runs a very successful blog on the MLBlogosphere (at MLBlogs.com). His name is Matt, and he writes the blog "The Pittsburgh Peas". He is a great writer and has made dozens of really great posts in the last year. I have personally met Matt at the Jerome Bettis grill the night of the Penguins game 7 Stanley Cup victory. I was coming from a Pirate game and my friend and I walked over to the grill to watch the 3rd period and party with the rest of Pittsburgh (even though I really don't care for the Penguins). It was a great time. Anyways, go check at Matt, give him a comment and wish him happy birthday.

I'll be back in the next couple days with some Pirates news... or something.

More on Mario

Well after having some intense discussion with some people about this Mario Lemieux situation, I realize more needs to be said on this blog.

A good friend of mine (Steve) made a comment on my last post which led to a pretty good back-and-forth argument. I'll recap it real quick and then explain my position more clearly:

Steve's Position: Steve took the stance that in order for a pro baseball team to compete for the World Series, they almost have to have a high payroll. He provided statistics to back it, and accompanied with his accepting that is not ALWAYS like that (the exception of the '08 Rays), his point was a good one. Now, the less reasonable part of his argument was when he stated that he thought that Mario Lemieux would surely save the Pirates, and until he buys them, they have no chance of competing in this league. His reasoning for this was that "Mario would pay his players more than 5 dollars". I had a major problem with those statements.

In that last post, I explained that I didn't want Mario to buy the team because I wanted to see Nutting and company finish what they started. I am one of the few who trust them and think what they are doing is the right thing and that it has a good chance of working in the end. The last thing I wanted to see was this glorified "saviour" come in and reap all the benefits of the hard work Nutting and Huntington put in. After thinking about it, that stance was very personal-centered and really had nothing to do with the welfare of the Pittsburgh Pirates as a team. So here is my new-slightly altered stance, which responds to the arguments of Steve:

If Mario would buy the Pirates, ticket sales would go up and people would be more excited about the Pirates for the first year or two. After that, if the team still isn't winning, I think the ticket sales would gravitate back to where they were last year. The Lemieux flux wouldn't last too long if the team still loses. Steve would say that Lemieux would guarantee the team more wins and people would be excited about the Pirates because they were competitive again. However, in mine and many other of my Pirates' bloggers opinions, Lemieux would have very little affect on the Pirates' win totals.

The reason I say this is that Lemieux really wouldn't have too much of a choice but to follow the plan that is already laid out by Huntington and Nutting. Let's face it, regardless of Lemieux's history with the Penguins and their small-market franchise, there's no way he knows enough about baseball to feel confident enough to take over the system and deviate from the plan. I'm sure he would realize that what they are doing now is the best way to do it, and even if he didn't agree with it, they would be too far into now to give up on it. Therefore, everything would go the same way with Mario in charge as it is going now. The only variable here is if Lemieux and Burkle were willing to chip in some of their own money to help the team. Now Burkle is worth over 9 billion dollars, so that's not completely out of the question. However, I can't see him investing enough of his own worth in the team to make a significant impact. It's also pretty ridiculous to say that Nutting WON'T spend money when the time is right. There is no grounds to say that Lemieux would spend money when Nutting wouldn't. When the time is right (when the Pirates have a solid core of home-grown players), the team will spend the money necessary to take us to the next level and start competing with the best teams in the league.

So there you have it. If Mario buys the team, I'm not saying anything bad will happen, I am just saying that not enough good will come out of it to make it worth while. I still stand by Nutting and stand by my stance that he deserves to finish what he started.

And if Steve or any of you disagrees with all that, go be a Yankees fan or something :)