Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Knuckle This: Bucs Win 5-1


Skeleton recap because I watched the Curve beat the Thunder.

Bucs win their first game at Citi Field.

J-Mac a solid 6.

Bullpen sends down 9 straight Mets to close it out.

Bats wore down the knuckle, Josh Harrison - all he does is hit.

Box score

Correia vs. Capuano tomorrow at 7:10, Pirates go for Road Win #17.

Matt Curry's Altoona Debut [VIDEO]

Matt Curry went 1-4 in his Altoona debut yesterday. Here's all four of his at-bats.









Michael Colla's line: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K. Has a 1.75 ERA and a 28:8 K/BB ratio in 36 innings as a starter this year. Not too shabby. Here he is getting Brahiam Maldonado to fly out.



Two more videos. The first is Starling Marte followed by Greg Picart.



2011 Pittsburgh Pirates - This Week In Real Pirateball - Week 8

Monday, May 30, 2011

Not an Electric Start to the Mets Series: Pirates lose 7-3

Artist rendition of the Pirates infield:


ElectricStuff extended his personal 1st inning scoreless streak to 16 starts.

Offense had a promising start in the 2nd when "Crew Cut" hit his third home run of the year on a Dillon Gee meatball, knocking in Overbay. That is the 1st Home Run Gee has allowed to a right handed batter in his career. 2-0 Pirates.

Snyder gave one right back later in the inning with a passed ball on a swinging strikeout. The Mets added a 2nd run in the 2nd on one of their 59 infield singles for the game.

2nd game in a row the Buccos offense jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and decided that was enough.

New York took the lead in the 5th, 3-2. Bucs tied it back up in the 7th.

Tranquil thought for the night: Dominating starts by Morton are nice, but tonight's start and the Braves start really show his development as a pitcher. Charlie allowed 11 hits, most of the soft variety, yet only gave up 3 Runs, 1 Earned. He worked in and out of jams and still churned out another quality start despite not having his A game, some suspect defense behind him and lets face it, a little bad luck.

Cutch 1B reverted back to Cutch 2 status in the 7th, giving up a pair, surrendering the lead for good and taking the loss.

Hard to get mad at D-Cutch though, still has a 1.19 ERA and had been lights out.

New York tacked on a couple more in the 8th....ballgame.

Mets BABIP for the game was .999


Pirates attempt to pop their cherry at Citi Field once again tomorrow, McDonald (3-3, 5.23) vs. Dickey (2-5, 4.50) at 7:10.

Check out Rich's preview here.

A Ton of Minor League Promotions

Pirates Prospects is reporting that Matt Curry has been promoted to AA Altoona, a rare move for the usually conservative Pirates organization. This move is official as Curry has already been added to the Altoona Curve roster.

Our other posts about Curry can be found here, here, and here.

This move comes as the Pirates have also promoted Miles Durham, Eric Fryer and Shelby Ford have been promoted to fill the holes left in Indy by the departure of INF Josh Harrison and C Dusty Brown. Also promoted were INF Greg Picart, who was an emergency SS for Indy once d'Arnaud went down, and C/INF Travis Scott, both of whom will be making their way to Altoona, and both of whom are non-prospects and old for their levels.

Matt Curry leap frogs Aaron Baker who, while having a decent season is not ready to make the jump. This will be a big challenge for Curry as AA is the biggest jump in my opinion. If he is successful at AA seeing him in 2012 is not only possible, it's likely.

It's nice to see the AAA team being used to fill holes on the big club when need be, but it's even nicer to see some prospects getting well deserved promotions. Fryer and Curry are pretty big deals.

Pirates vs. Mets (Series Nineteen)

And with that the Pirates have won their seventh road series. That is pretty significant because over the past two seasons the Pirates have won just seven road series total! Not seven per year but seven combined! That is pathetic.

Doesn’t it seem odd how dejected Pirates fans are after not sweeping a road series? I’m guilty of this too, but we have been rooting for such a pathetic team but to be upset when we just win a road series seems a bit off to me. What the Pirates did in Chicago is great, and it’s what you expect your team to do on the road. Sure a sweep would have been nice, but I’ll take a series win, on the road, against a division opponent any day of the week.

The Pirates face yet another (surprise, surprise) team that pretty much manhandled them last year. The Pirates were a paltry 1-6 against the freaking Mets last season, getting outscored by an insane 22 runs. The Mets weren’t exactly a great team either, finishing fourth in their division ahead of only the hapless Nationals, and 18.0 games back from the division leader. Here is another opportunity for them to do two of those three little things I keep going on and on and on and on about, winning on the road and improving against an opponent they had trouble with from last year. If the Pirates can hold the fort against the opponents who they were decent against and improve against the team that really destroyed them last year they will find themselves in a pretty decent (not great) position by the end of the year. With the way they improved on the road, and in the division thus far it’s going to be hard not to see an improvement in the standings.

The Mets probable starters are Dillon Gee, R.A. Dickey, Chris Capuano, and Mike Pelfrey.

Dillon Gee (25) RHP

Dillon Gee is basically a rookie this season after spending just five games in the majors last season. In 33 innings last year he gave up eight earned runs on 25 hits en route to a 2-2 record. Surprisingly every one of his starts last season was a quality start. He spent the majority of his season at AAA Buffalo last year after a labrum injury cost him most of 2009. He won 13 games at AAA last year in 28 appearances, but really didn’t have impressive numbers. He gave up 9.7 hits per nine, 1.3 HR per nine, and had an ERA of 4.96. He did have some very impressive control numbers though, boasting a 4.02 SO/BB and only walking 2.3 batter per nine, both very good numbers. His strikeout numbers were higher than his average (9.2 compared to 7.9) but this isn’t a guy who has ever walked a whole lot of batters in the minors.

So far he has been pretty good. He was working out of the pen so he has nine appearances in between his six starts. He has just one quality start this season in which he gave up just two hits over 7.2 innings, but that hasn’t stopped him from compiling a 4-0 record. He is walking more guys at this level, and not striking many out so his SO/BB is just 1.61, a pretty bad number. He will definitely need to line that up more with his minor league numbers if he is going to find any sustained success at the big league level.

Gee faced the Pirates one time last year. He didn’t get a decision, but not for a lack of trying as he went six five hit innings of shutout ball. The only real blemish was the fact that he walked four batters, while striking out only three at Citi Field.

R.A. Dickey (36) RHP

Dickey is probably one of the oldest guys in the league that most people haven’t really heard of. That’s for good reason though because he isn’t very good. Dickey had a huge season last year, which catapulted him into a bit of fame, mostly from fantasy guys, but he is right back to where he started. Dickey was 11-9 last season with a 2.84 ERA. That marked one of only two seasons he had an ERA under 5.00 and the first time he ever had an ERA under 4.62.

So far this year the knuckleballer is having an okay go of it, although his record is just 2-5 over his eleven starts. He does have a 4.50 ERA, which is still under his career average of 4.68 but he is getting hit all over the place. He is giving up 10.8 H/9, 1.1 HR/9, and worst of all his SO/BB is just 1.67. Guys just aren’t swinging at his knuckler out of the zone, and torturing it when it is in the zone.

He has been nothing if not inconsistent. While he has four quality starts this season he has three starts that have gone less that six innings and has gotten the win in just two of his four quality starts.

The Pirates are looking for some revenge against Dickey after he threw a complete game against them at Citi Field. Dickey gave up just one run on five hits over his nine innings of work, although he struck out just four compared to three walks.

That would be his only career win against the Pirates, a team he has faced three times (two starts) in his career. Even though he threw nine innings in that game he has just 16.2 total innings against the Bucs, and even though he gave up just one run in that game he has given up six lifetime, so he hasn’t exactly dominated the Bucs outside of that one start, in fact he hasn’t been all that great in general against them. He does have a .900 WHIP when facing the Pirates but again, the CG inflates those stats a bit.

Chris Capuano (32) LHP

Chris Capuano is another member of this pretty rag tag, patchwork rotation that really has had one good season and has been thoroughly mediocre ever otherwise. That one remarkable season came in 2005 when he somehow managed to win 18 games for the Brewers with a 3.99 ERA. In spite of that he would never have that kind of success again. In fact even though he had a lower ERA last season the Brewers used him mainly as a reliever, giving him just nine starts in 24 appearances. He would put up a 4-4 record last season and the second lowest WHIP of his career, but a lot of that is because of being used in a limited bullpen role.

So far this season Capuano is 3-5 with a 4.94 ERA, being misused as a starter by the Mets. He has nine starts in eleven appearances so apparently the Mets think that he is capable of starting for some reason, despite the fact that across the board his numbers were better as a reliever last season.

Overall his numbers against the Pirates weren’t too great last year, although one of his wins came against the Buccos. He was just 1-0 in four appearances (two starts) but pitched just 9.1 total innings. The Pirates scored seven runs, belting ten hits, including two homers, against apparently the only Brewers pitcher that didn’t completely own the Pirates last year.

Capuano is familiar with the Bucs though, his fifteen appearances being tops against any team in the league. Thankfully he hasn’t been very good. He has a 3-6 record lifetime with a pathetic 6.46 ERA. He has thirteen starts in those sixteen games. He has given up a wonderful (depending on your prospective) 81 hits in 69.2 innings and has given up more homers (14) against the Pirates than against any other team. In fact he has given up more homers to the Pirates than he has given up in his inter-league career!

Mike Pelfrey (27) RHP

Pelfrey is having a pretty bad year, which seems to be par for the course as far as the Mets go this season. His last outing was a heartbreaker though. He went 7.2 innings, the fourth time he has gone seven or more innings this season but ended up getting the no decision in a game the Mets would end up losing 5-2. Pelfrey gave up just two runs on four hits against the divsion rivals but it would not be enough. Last night marked Pelfrey’s fourth quality start in the past five games, but his fifth on the season.

Pelfrey has been good in his last five starts, which is slowly turning his season around. He is 2-1 over that span with a 3.09 ERA, throwing 62% of his pitches for strikes and holding opposing batters to a .217 average. He started the first game of this span with an ERA of 7.39, and has chipped away at it,bringing it down to a still really high 5.00, but that is substantially better than his season high 15.63 earlier in the season.

Pelfrey finally had his breakout year for the Mets, it just seems like he is one of those guys who they are perpetually waiting for stardom from though. Last season he amassed 15 wins (9 losses) to go along with his really respectable 3.66 ERA. He struck out 113 batters last year, and while that is nothing overly impressive it was a career high for him, and his numbers almost identical to his other “breakout year” in 2008, in which he won 13 games and had an ERA of 3.72. Sadly between those years he posted a 5.03 ERA and the year prior he put up an ERA of 5.57. Is this year going to be another 5.00 + ERA for Pelfrey? History says that’s a pretty decent bet.

Pelfrey was very good against the Pirates last season, picking up wins in both of his starts and averaging 7.5 innings a game. Over his 15 IP Pelfrey allowed just three earned runs, good for an ERA of 1.80. He was better in his one PNC start last year, but not much. At Citi he went 7 IP, giving up two earned runs on just six hits. That tells you how good his PNC Park start went!

Pelfrey has a decision in each of his four career starts when it comes to the Bucs, posting a 3-1 record. His only career start against the Bucs at Citi was the one mentioned previously. Lifetime he has an ERA of 3.86, which means he did struggle prior to last year against the Bucs, and the Pirates line of .283/.355/.394 is actually surprisingly okay. In fact the Pirates OPS is right around average for Pelfrey, tied for 10th out of his 21 other opponents.

Player

vs. Gee

vs. Dickey

vs. Capuano

vs. Pelfrey

vs. Mets

Pedro Alvarez

NA

NA

NA

NA

.182/.280/.318

Xavier Paul

NA

.000/.000/.000

NA

.000/.000/.000

.111/.150/.222

Ronny Cedeno

.333/.333/.333

.000/.000/.000

.167/.211/.333

.333/.333/.883

.182/.206/.303

Matt Diaz

.000/.333/.000

.000/.000/.000

.400/.400/.400

.250/.400/.250

.257/.296/.399

Ryan Doumit

NA

.000/.500/.000

.111/.200/.111

.125/.125/.500

.194/.253/.299

Garrett Jones

.667/.667/1.00

.500/.500/.500

.167/.167/.333

.500/.667/.500

.333/.357/.593

Andrew McCutchen

.000/.000/.000

.667/.750/.667

.000/.500/.000

.444/.545/.444

.353/.436/.559

Lyle Overbay

NA

.143/.333/.143

NA

NA

.310/.423/.569

Steven Pearce

NA

NA

NA

NA

.400/.538/.500

Brandon Wood

NA

.000/.000/.000

NA

NA

NA

Chris Snyder

.500/.667/.500

.000/.167/.000

.800/.857/1.40

.375/.545/.375

.247/.378/.466

Jose Tabata

.333/.333/.333

.000/.000/.000

.500/.500/1.25

.000/.125/.000

.130/.160/.348

Neil Walker

.000/.667/.000

.000/.000/.000

.250/.250/.500

.125/.125./250

.083/.154/.125

Pedro Ciriaco

NA

1.00/.100/3.00

NA

NA

1.00/.100/3.00

The Pirates probable pitchers are Charlie Morton, James McDonald, Kevin Correia, and Paul Maholm.

Charlie Morton (27) RHP

Morton brings his 5-2 record to Citi Field to take on his former division rival. Morton continues to just succeed, and even managed to lower his ERA ever so slightly in spite of his loss in his last outing against his former team. Morton is also slowly, putting some separation in his SO/BB. Something will have to give in that regard, either the SO/BB will improve or his overall numbers, and success, will start to taper off. Most people have been saying that same thing all year and it has yet to really happen but it’s rare indeed for someone to be on pace for close to 20 wins accomplish that with a SO/BB of 1.14. Like I said before the last outing I expect a bit of distance to be built up eventually because his BB numbers are a bit higher than usual and his SO numbers are lower. It will just take some getting used to after overhauling his delivery.

Morton will be pitching on the road now, where he has more wins, but worse numbers. Morton had one start last season against the Mets and it came at Citi Field. He lasted just five innings giving up two earned on five hits. His BB problem definitely showed it’s face though as he walked four compared to just one strike out. He didn’t pick up a decision and the Pirates would eventually lose the game 6-2.

He only has one other appearance against the Mets a two inning zero run effort as an Atlanta Brave.

James McDonald (26) RHP

James McDonald continues to drive me insane. He did last six innings, giving up just two runs and picking up his second straight quality start, but it took him 99 pitches to do it. He isn’t working efficiently at all and I never would have guessed he would be having less success than Jeff Karstens. Low and behold that is what is happening. He is another pitcher whose numbers should start to resemble normal, especially after dealing with injury problems that basically derailed his entire Spring Training. Usually I would look at two straight quality starts, and five in his last six games as a positive thing, but there is just something I get watching his starts that makes me feel uneasy. He gave up just six hits, not an atrocious number, and walked only one batter. He struck out six guys and threw 64 of his 99 pitches for strikes, but I just don’t feel comfortable yet.

McDonald wasn’t too swift against the Mets last year. He made four appearances (two starts) and lasted just 13.2 innings. The Mets plated eight “men” on 13 hits and got nine (!!!!!) free passes to just eight strikeouts. Surprisingly one of those games was a huge success, and it was the only one he pitched at Citi Field. He somehow threw 8 innings of five hit shutout ball, but ended up getting the no decision.

Lifetime he is 0-1 with a 4.41 ERA against the Mets, having appeared in six games, although four of those were relief appearances. His SO and BB numbers even up at 11, and he has given up 14 hits in 16.1 innings, both moderate improvements over last year. He has pitched an additional 2.2 innings at Citi Field in relief and has not given up a run. In fact the Phillies and Mets are the only two teams he has faced more than once that have yet to score a run against McDonald at home.

Kevin Correia (30) RHP

After Kevin Correia picked up his win against the Cubs he became the NL leader in wins. A pretty rare occurrence for a Pirates pitcher this late in May. Correia obviously leads the team in wins and has been just a steady, calm, pitcher for this club. He doesn’t seem to get razzled or frustrated, just a steady presence on the mound. His last outing was yet another road gem, putting up a goose egg in 7.1 innings of work. The Cubs had no answer for Correia collecting just four hits and two walks to drop Correia’s ERA down to 3.44 and give him yet another road win.

I went on about how I expect him to revert back to normal on the road and for his home numbers to improve a bit in my last preview and I still expect it. It’s just unsustainable and guys don’t usually completely reinvent themselves at 30. Correia is a good pitcher, but we’ve seen years like this before. That’s not to say he is definitely going to fall off a cliff because Jose Bautistas do happen, but I still think it’s a good idea to temper expectations, and a very good idea to listen to any offers other ball clubs might have.

Correia somehow got a win in his only start against the Mets last season but it certainly wasn’t because of anything he did. Correia lasted six innings but he also gave up six runs on seven hits on his way to the win. Wrap your mind around that. A pretty bad hitting team’s starting pitcher won a game at a pitchers paradise in which the starter gave up six runs. I hope KC bought those guys lunch the next day.

Correia has kind of mixed numbers against the Mets lifetime. He is 1-3 against the Mets in ten appearances (four starts). His only win came in that aforementioned abortion. So you’d think his ERA would be double digits? Nope including that 9.00 he put up in one of his four starts his ERA is actually a really good 2.94! That’s second best against any opponent he has faced multiple times. Lies, damn lies, and statistics I guess. He has given up four homers in his 33.2 innings of work, he has also given up 33 hits but his SO/BB is 3.00. So it’s a real hodgepodge of oddities against the Mets. Who knows what’s next? A complete game shutout in which he gives up seven walks and strikes out one? A three inning blowout in which he allows just one hit, a grandslam after hitting three straight batters? The stats really don’t tell much about his career against the Mets except that you can’t predict what he’s going to do against the Mets. Maybe that’s what they are supposed to tell us?

Paul Maholm (28) LHP

Allow me the opportunity to gush about Paul Maholm a little bit? He came out prepared to get no run support against the Cubs, throwing a complete game three hitter, all three hits played a bit less than optimally. What’s more is that Paul Maholm pitched seven perfect innings to get the complete game. Just a few bounces, or a few great defensive plays and Maholm achieves a perfect game. Maholm has been a horse, and a class act so far this season and he deserved to perform like that. He deserved the win. He deserved the ten runs of support he got. Most of all though, if he keeps pitching like this, he will deserve to have his $9 million option exercised.

If Maholm can start getting some wins to go with his really good pitching it will almost force the Pirates hand. And if he can have some success next year, maybe you don’t have to trade him. Maybe you can wait it out, offer the guy arbitration and get yourself a draft pick if he walks? I think the Pirates are at the point where they don’t have to be trading guys for the best available deal. They need to be trading guys for the best possible deal, or keeping them for their own benefit.

One thing that has been overlooked with Maholm is that he has been injured throughout the course of the last two seasons. Sure when healthy he hasn’t been a model of consistency but he is pitching healthy. The guy is a lefty and he is getting it done. He is also only 28 years old. The chances of finding a decent starting lefty next season for under $10 million (without a risky, multi-year deal are very slim). Maholm gives us a guy that’s been here, has pitched well before, and just as importantly is still pretty young.

People screamed for the Pirates to sign Jorge De La Rosa this past offseason for more than what Maholm would get next season. This in spite of De La Rosa’s age, injury history, and really lack of results. De La Rosa has NEVER had a season as good as Maholm’s 2008, and sure as hell not this year. In fact De La Rosa’s career ERA is 4.90! Maholm has had the better career despite his poor winning percentage. I think it’s time some of us (staring blankly in the mirror) start to prepare a nice sauce for our crow. Should it be eaten yet? No. Guys have good halfs all the time. Should we start preparing? You bet your ass we should.

Maholm was efficient and deadly in his last outing, which is his third career complete game shutout. Like I said earlier he seven of his innings were perfect and it shows in his pitch count of just 91 pitches. Generally complete game pitchers hover between 105ish and 120, not this time. I feel really good about Maholm’s arm after this game as opposed to guys who struggle after throwing a ton of pitches just to get the CG. That win puts Paul Maholm in 51st All Time in wins for a Pirate.

Maholm faced the Mets just once last season, a loss at Citi Field. Maholm actually got roughed up pretty good, lasting just 3.2 innings but giving up two runs on a whopping seven hits, striking out one while walking two.

Maholm has never won at Citi Field getting a loss in each start and giving up nine runs on seventeen hits over the course of 8.2 innings. Pretty pathetic for a starting pitcher actually.

Overall Maholm is 3-3 lifetime against the Mets, with an ERA of 4.60. He has allowed 56 hits in 45.0 innings, and his SO/BB is just 1.25. He is giving up a line of .315/.378/.382 over the course of his career against the Mets, although this Mets team isn’t quite the same as it has been.

Breaking Down a Slew of Roster Moves

First off congratulations to Josh Harrison. Harrison deserved the call and has worked hard to prove a lot of people wrong. Is he the slickest fielder? No. Was Freddy Sanchez when he was in the minors? No. The concerns about Harrison's glove are a bit overblown, but the fact of the matter is that he has hit at every level. In fact in four minor league seasons he has never had a BA under .300, and while the OPS is a bit low, his career best .841 at AAA this season is just fine.

You can find some of our Josh Harrison coverage here, here, and here. The second link includes some video of Josh Harrison shot by Brad.

Bringing up Harrison first was important though. First off the Pirates had one open spot on the 40 man roster anyway, this was then filled by Harrison. Now to put a guy on the 60 day DL is the same as to remove them from the 40 man roster, exactly what happened with Olsen. That said to put someone on the 60 Day DL you have to have a full 40 man roster.

This could mean that one of the injuries is worse than expected and someone is going on the 60 Day DL. The Pirates currently have Ohlendorf, Pearce, and Beimel on the DL with Ryan Doumit making his annual DL trip in the very near future.

Beimel hasn't been right all season so my money would be on him since an elbow injury can be very serious for a pitcher.

Ohlendorf has already missed 50 games this season, but it seems like they have never thought the injury was too severe or else they would have made the move already.

Pearce has tightness in his calm, no word on any tear or anything like that so one would assume that he would be placed on the 15 Day DL, replaced by Harrison.

Supposedly Ryan Doumit only sprained his ankle, but who knows. If there is some sort of break he will make the trip I guess.

Apparently Dusty Brown will be getting the call later today. With Jaramillo currently playing through a nagging injury the Pirates will go with the better stick. Brown has actually outplayed Jaramillo this season, both at and behind the plate. Brown's line of .263/.348/.535 is substantially better than Jaramillo's .260/.345/.351. Behind the dish Brown's R/G of 7.15 and Fld% of .989 are both better than Jaramillo's 6.91 and .987. Brown has caught 42% of would be basestealers while Jaramillo has gunned down 38%.

The problem with Brown is that he, unlike Jaramillo has to be added to the 40 man roster, that's where the aforementioned 60 Day DL idea comes from.

Either way a move will be announced later today.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Cubs Win, Put Your Brooms Back in the Closet

Cubs Win 3-2, Dempster rejoices.

After a 2 hour weather delay, Sunday had a promising start. McCutchen drew a 2 out walk in the 1st. Ditto for the Pittsburgh Kid.

Overbay stepped up and went Over-Pena for a double to right field, giving the Bucs an early 2-0 lead.

Real good first two ABs for Overbay.

Jeff Karstens couldn't hold it though, giving up a solo HR to Aramis Ramirez in the 2nd #alltradesweregood, followed by singles to Pena and Campana. Pena advanced to third on a Cedeno throwing error, his first error in 31 games. Cubs catcher Koyie Hill knocked in Pena on a sac fly, leveling the game at 2-2 after 2.

Ryan Doumit, the model for the Altoona Curve logo, was injured on a play at the plate and replaced by Snyder (when are we going to start protecting superstar catchers like Doumit and Quintero?).




In the third Fukodome doubled and a sac fly struck again later in the inning as the Cubs took the lead, 3-2.

After the third a whole lot of nothing happened unless you count @dbacksGate.

As @laclips said, 2 out of 3 ain't bad:



Pirates head to the Big Apple for a 4 game set with the Mets at Citi Field. Hopefully Charlie Morton can be electric on Memorial Day vs. Dillon Gee. God Bless Our Troops, happy holiday everyone.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Round Those Bases, Pirates 10, Cubs Pitiful


Today his name is Pau, because he isn't getting the "L".

Maholm pitched a complete game 3 Hit shutout on 91 pitches as the Steelers beat the Bears 10-0.

Two of the hits Maholm allowed never left the infield.

The "Lets Beat the Maholm Run Support Thing to Death" factoid of the day is: The Pirates had provided Maholm with 14 Runs in 10 starts this year; they scored 10 for him against the Cubs today. He only needed 1.

Steve Pearce opened the run scoring barrage in the 4th knocking in two with a single.

Ronny Cedeno opened the home run barrage (2) with a 3-run shot later that inning.


Overbay (5) and Snyder (2) each went solo in the 6th.

Cutch went yard (9) in the 7th, knocking in 2, to complete a 2-5 day.



Did I mention the Cubs scored this many runs:

Lets do it again tomorrow, Karstens vs. Dempster at 2:20.......Get your brooms ready.

Joe Beimel to the DL, Danny Moskos is Back

Joe Beimel has been placed on the DL and will be having an MRI on his sore left elbow according to multiple media outlets. With this move the Pirates recalled Daniel Moskos back from Indy to take over the left handed specialist role. Moskos was used very sparingly his first time up, but with no competition to face lefties he should see an increase in his work this time out.

Moskos has split time between Indy and Pittsburgh so he really hasn't been used all that much this season. He has just nine appearances in Triple A, giving up four runs in 11.2 innings and averaging ten hits per nine innings pitched. He has given up two hits in 4.2 innings over the course of his five appearances at the Major League level, but again was used extremely sparingly.

Time To Promote Matt Curry

Former TCU Horned Frog and current Pirate prospect has been absolutely raking this season at West Virginia. We have been on the Curry train since the beginning , and he is personally one of my favorite, not top, prospects.

Curry really hit well last season and was arguably the best bat at State College. His ranks at State College were as follows:

#2 in Runs
#3 in Hits
#2 in Doubles
#1 in Home Runs
#3 in RBI
#1 in BB
#2 in BA
#1 in OBP
#2 in SLG
#1 in OPS
#2 in TB
#1 in IBB

His OPS was #8 and his OBP was #2 in the New York Penn League.

So far this year he has been on an even bigger tear. Curry's stats at Class A West Virginia are even better than last year:

#1 in Runs
#1 in Hits
#2 in Doubles
#2 in Triples
#1 in Home Runs (already at 9, compared to seven last season)
#1 in RBI
#1 in BB
#2 in BA (even though his BA is .376!)
#2 in OBP
#1 in SLG (an absurd .698)
#1 in OPS (an equally absurd 1.185)
#1 in TB (104 TB, #2 has 74)
#1 in IBB (he is the only person on the team to be walked intentionally)

Those numbers tell the whole story. They aren't just above average numbers on a bad team, they are ridiculous numbers on a good one. Everyone has been talking about Bryce Harper's start, and while this comparison is a bit off because of the age let's look at their stats side by side.

Player

Hits

DBL

TPL

HR

RBI

BB

SO

BA

OBP

SLG

OPS

Matt Curry

56

15

3

9

34

33

28

.376

.487

.698

1.185

Bryce Harper

53

13

0

10

34

23

38

.329

.413

.596

1.009


Obviously that is not to say that Matt Curry will be a better player than Bryce Harper, that's insanity. I just used that comp to illustrate just how good his start has been. He should be moved up immediately. But where to? Aaron Baker probably isn't ready for AA, but he's also not ready to be completely given up on. Not to mention the fact that he and Curry would probably be splitting time at first, something that neither of them need. Besides will a short hop up to advanced A really challenge someone who is absolutely destroying Low A pitching? Remember Curry was a pretty good College hitter, are the High A guys a whole lot better than what he has faced?

I would move Curry up to Altoona right now. First off guys are walking him too much as it is. He isn't going to learn from being walked over and over. Secondly the Pirates have a huge hole in their lineup at the Major League level. Curry provides a decent glove and good bat at first, and huge power potential, two things this team needs. Obviously Curry will not be on the Major League club this year, but giving him a substantial look at AA could push him into the Indianapolis lineup next year, and prime him for a call-up either mid-season or in September when rosters expand.

The move to Altoona wouldn't really hurt either. There are organizational guys there who would hardly be missed. In fact both guys currently at first, Miles Durham and Shelby Ford really fit this description and they are both struggling big time. Hell Durham is 28 years old and is hitting .200 as the everyday first baseman. He is NOT a prospect and his role on the team isn't very large anyway. What harm would cutting him loose or moving him around have on the team?

The Pirates are notorious for handling players with kid gloves. At some point they will have to be aggressive or their "waves" of players will always be too far away to help the previous " wave.

This team is in dire need of a power hitter at first. They have a potential one languishing at Single A West Virginia.

Maybe they want the Power to win another championship?

Friday, May 27, 2011

Correia!!!! Bucs Win 4-2

The Mad Max of the pitching staff does it again....



Road Warrior.

Correia went 7 and a 1/3, surrendering 4 Hits and 2 BBs with 2 Ks, picking up his 7th Win of the season (6th Road Win) and ending the Buccos 3 game losing streak.

Is there a better remedy for a Pirates losing streak than to see this logo?


The shutout was in tact until "Duquesne" gave up a 2 Run shot to Alfonso Soriano in the 9th.


Joel Hanrahan entered for Beimel. Tony Campana - Face Smashed. Koyie Hill - Face Smashed. Blake DeWitt - Face Smashed.

I haven't seen a group of Chicago athletes collectively pee down their leg like that since.....well.....last night against the Heat.

Mr. Perfect struck out the side and collected his 14th save on the year.



Oh and now onto the hitting......we still do that?

Andrew McCutchen went 2-4 picking up an RBI and 2 SBs. Steve Pearce picked up an RBI on a sac fly in the 2nd.

The Buccos managed to score 2 Runs in the 4th frame with just an infield single. Cubs starter Doug Davis walked Cedeno, Tabata and McCutchen in the inning. Steve Pearce also reached base on a HBP by Davis. Neil Walker's infield single scored Tabs after Cutch had driven in Cedeno on a BB in his AB. Matt Diaz left the bases juiced to end the 4th with a fly out to right.

5 times the Pirates stranded a man at third, they left 12 men on base for the game.


Cubs again tomorrow, 1:05 at Wrigley, the baseball grind continues.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Pirates vs. Cubs (Series Eighteen)

Another pathetic performance by the offense wastes two more awesome pitching performances. I thought Clint Hurdle was the god of pitching coaches with Texas? All I’ve seen is a guy who says all the right things to the media, but manages a terrible game. I’ve also seen a pretty inept team fundamentally. Much of this is probably the talent level, but for all the love heaped onto Hurdle from the apologists this team isn’t all that much better (record-wise) than last season.

That said there are still plenty of bright spots, and Hurdle does deserve some credit. This team has improved on the road and against the division. The pitching staff also has really turned a corner, although I think Searage deserves the credit for that as the staff seemed to be making some strides of he took over for Joe “Don’t Use That Sinker Charlie” Kerrigan.

The Pirates will once again take on a division rival, this one a team they kind of dominated last year, the hated Chicago Cubs. This is a great opportunity (again) to get this thing moving in the right direction. The Pirates took the first series in Chicago, outscoring the Cubs by a slim margin of 14-12 earlier in the season, with Correia and Karstens picking up the wins. The Pirates will once again play at Wrigley, all of the games are day games.

The Pirates are coming off three straight losses, including the mini-sweep by the Braves and the bats have been absolutely pathetic. Pathetic to the point of absurdity actually. Still it can’t be stressed enough how important these road games against division opponents are. I think that in some ways winning on the road is more important for the growth of the young players. The home wins will come, but being able to go in and take a series from a team on the road can help to bring these guys together.

The Cubs probable pitchers are Doug Davis, Randy Wells, and Ryan Dempster.

Doug Davis (35) LHP

Davis is, and has been, a journeyman for quite some time now. He spent last season with the Brewers, his second stint with them, where he was 1-4 with a 7.51 ERA in eight games. Davis really was never all that great to begin with. His career WHIP is 1.505, but has only been that low one season since 2005. His career SO/BB is a pathetic 1.65 and he has had one full season since 1999 in which he gave up less than a hit an inning. The ONLY reason he is still pitching is because he is a veteran lefty. And I don’t know why anyone cares about that.

Davis has two starts this year, a 5.0 four hit game in which he gave up one run and a 3.2 inning eight hit abortion in which he gave up seven.

Davis did face the Pirates last season and he got hit up pretty good. In five innings he gave up seven hits, including two homers, allowing four runs (all earned), while walking three, and striking out just two.

Davis is another one of those guys I just always remember playing. He has faced the Buccos more times than any other team somehow, appearing in 23 games (all starts). Somehow he is one of the few mediocre pitchers that the Pirates haven’t made look like Cy Young. While Davis does have a winning record of 8-6, he has an ERA of 4.91 in his 128.1 innings he has given up a staggering 150 hits. In fact the Pirates line for Davis’ career is .298/.379/.437. The only Pirate who currently has a better OPS than that this season is Ryan Doumit.

The thing that blows my mind about Davis that he has made $32,510,000.00 in his career! He has a 91-103 record! That means he has gotten $357,252.75 per win! Teach your kids how to throw left-handed!

Randy Wells (28) RHP

Randy Wells comes off a pretty mediocre season. A lot was expected of him last season coming off his 12 win Rookie season, but he bumped along his way to a 8-14 record, with an ERA of 4.26. Not bad by any stretch, but pretty mediocre considering what people expected.

Wells was actually drafted as a catcher by the Cubs, and eventually was lost to the Blue Jays in the Rule V draft, but returned to the Cubs three days after making his debut.

Wells will make his first start of the season against the Pirates Saturday. His only other start came on April 4, 2011. He would go six strong innings en route to the win against the Diamondbacks, giving up just one earned on six hits, the only run being a solo homer. He wouldn’t get another opportunity going down with a forearm strain.

Wells actually wasn’t very good against the Pirates last season in his three starts. He would post an 0-1 record and pitch just 13 innings over three games. He also struggled with control, walking ten batters, the same number he struck out. His ERA and WHIP really tell the story, 4.85 and 1.615 respectively.

That’s a contrast to his 2009 season in which he faced the Buccos twice and went 13.0 innings as well. This time he would get the win in each game and post an ERA of just 2.08, with a WHIP of 1.231. He also managed to K more than BB, in fact his SO/BB was more than double (2.33).

In five career starts, spanning 26 innings he has never allowed a home run to a Pittsburgh Pirate, although Chris Snyder has one as a Diamondback.

Ryan Dempster (34) RHP

Dempster was the Cubs Opening Day starter this year getting shelled by the Pirates and picking up the loss at Wrigley. The Pirates were able knock two out of the park against Dempster chasing him after 6.2 with six earned on six hits. The homers are a trend for Dempster, giving up at least one homer in seven of his eleven starts with two of them being two homer games, and one a three homer outing.

He has been pretty inconsistent this season, but looks to be turning things around a bit after giving up seven earned runs in just .1 innings on April 28, Dempster has four quality starts in the five games since. Still he has a losing record, sitting at 3-4 with an ERA of 6.29, though that is heavily inflated due to his .1 inning game. Dempster really has given up not only the longball (1.6 per nine) but an uncharacteristic amount of hits (10.6 per nine, compared to his career average of 8.9).

Here is what I wrote in the previous preview about Dempster’s career numbers against the Pirates:

He had very little success against the Pirates last season, in fact he picked up the loss in all three of his starts. While striking Pirates out at a 10.6 per 9 clip last season he also gave up 19 hits in 17 innings.

His career stats tell a pretty similar story. He has faced the Pirates more than every team but the Houston Astros in his 13 year career, and has found little success. In 45 games (20 starts) he has a 5.63 ERA. No team has scored more runs, or interesting been hit by more pitches, against Dempster over the course of his career than the Pirates.

Player

vs. Davis

vs. Wells

vs. Dempster

vs. Cubs

Pedro Alvarez

NA

NA

NA

.243/.282/.297

Xavier Paul

NA

.000/.000/.000

.000/.000/.000

.190/.227/.190

Ronny Cedeno

.133/.133/.200

.000/.000/.000

.417/.462/.500

.225/.262/.288

Matt Diaz

.100/.250/.200

.000/.000/.000

.000/.000/.000

.183/.210/.233

Ryan Doumit

.143/.200/.143

.200/.333/.400

.182/.250/.182

.254/.360/.420

Garrett Jones

.111/.111/.111

.308/.308/.385

.133/.278/.333

.290/.357/.530

Andrew McCutchen

.600/.667/1.4000

.545/.583/.818

.313.389/.563

.333/.417/.515

Lyle Overbay

NA

NA

.333/.750/.667

.258/.347/.391

Steven Pearce

.333/.500/.500

NA

.500/.667/1.000

.325/.429/.375

Brandon Wood

NA

NA

NA

.333/.333/.333

Chris Snyder

.000/.400/.000

.333/.333/1.333

.364/.364/.364

.247/.313/.506

Jose Tabata

1.000/1.000/1.000

.000/.333/.000

.200/.469/.600

.270/.372/.351

Neil Walker

.000/.333/.000

.667/.667/.667

.625/.625/1.250

.422/.435/.844

Pedro Ciriaco

NA

NA

NA

NA

The Pirates probable pitchers are Kevin Correia, Paul Maholm, and Jeff Karstens.

Kevin Correia (30) RHP

Correia seems to be alternating good and bad starts now. His last start was very nice, going 6.2 IP and giving up just two runs on seven hits. It was also the first victory Correia got at home. And by victory I don’t just mean his decision, I mean it’s the first time the Pirates have won a game that he appeared in at home.

Correia got the win on Opening Day against these very Cubs, allowing two earned on seven hits over six innings. It marked his first Opening Day victory, and was his first of three wins in five games and his first road win in what would turn into five straight wins on the road for Correia.

So far this year Correia hasn’t only been much better on the road he has been pretty dominating. His only road loss so far came against the Brewers who beat him, and every Pirates pitcher, up pretty nice at Miller Park. Still he is 5-1 with a 2.79 ERA on the road this year.

It seems too good to be true though. Correia currently has a 2.79 ERA on the road, his secondary numbers point to that being a good amount of luck though. His SO/BB is a pretty ho hum 1.90 on the road, compared to a healthy 3.00 at home. That’s a bit odd though because his SO/9 is better away. He is walking a much higher amount on the road though. He is walking a batter about every eighth inning at home, on the road he is walking them about every four. Almost twice as much. Another alarming, and very telling stat is his BABIP. At home he has been a bit unlucky, posting a BAbip of .322, on the other hand his BAbip on the road is an extremely low .234, which explains the lower road WHIP and in a lot of ways how he has been able to deal with walking so many guys. His OBP at home is just .016 higher than the opponents batting average (part of that has to do with the high average), his road OBP (while lower than his home) is .050 higher. Once his BAbip comes more in line I think we see him come falling (if not crashing) back down to earth.

For what it’s worth as a starter his career BAbip is exactly .300. As a reliever it’s not much different at .304. So the home numbers might get a bit better, but the road numbers are going to revert to the mean eventually and they will probably look dramatically worse.

Now not to be a Debbie Downer he also hasn’t been very good lifetime against the Cubs. Including his last start he is 2-2 with a 5.10 ERA in nine games (five starts). Surprisingly for having nine appearances against the Cubs seven of them (including three starts) came at Wrigley. He got both of his decisions there but his ERA balloons to 6.62, which fell dramatically from his ERA before his last start of 8.49.

Paul Maholm (28) LHP

Ya know what I’m tired of hearing about? Paul Maholm’s lack of run support. Ya know what I’m really tired of? Paul Maholm’s lack of run support. It is criminal that this guy is 1-7 with how is throwing. Ya know what else? Say the Pirates don’t trade Maholm, then they exercise his option next year and he has a good year. This is the type of thing that could hurt his chances of becoming at Type B free agent. Imagine if this year would cost the Pirates a draft pick in Maholm’s walk year?

Anyway that’s way to far out too care about now. What isn’t too far out is his next game. It’s tough to say about a guy who has done what Maholm has that he needs to go out and give this team six or seven really good innings but it’s true. The Pirates NEED this series, and the Cubs are primed for a sweep. Maholm’s streak of quality starts was snapped at three his last outing, he lasted just 5.1 innings, though giving his chance every opportunity to win, allowing two runs on six hits. The bats didn’t score at all. In fact over Paul Maholm’s past two games he has the same amount of strikeouts as the Pirates have scored him runs TOTAL! Maholm has twelve strikeouts in his past two games, the Pirates have twelve runs in his past ten. That is pathetic.

Maholm got the no decision (better than the L I guess) against the Cubs his first time out. It wasn’t for a lack of results from Paul though, he pitched 6.2 scoreless innings, giving up just five hits. The Pirates would go on to lose that game, a game in which the bullpen not the bats, ruined it for Maholm.

Maholm is 7-2 against the Cubs (5-2 at Wrigley) in 14 starts. His ERA is still a pretty high 5.89 overall and a surprising 6.38 at Wrigley. Paul Maholm’s whole career apparently is a mess of numbers not going together. Who would think a guy with an ERA of 5.89 would have a record of 7-2? At the same time who would think a guy with an ERA of 3.65 would have a 1-7 record?

Jeff Karstens (28) RHP

Jeff Karstens is 3-3 with a 3.57 ERA. It’s true, it’s true. In fact of those three wins one of them, his first of the season, came against the Chicago Cubs at “beautiful” Wrigley Field. He pitched a whole one innings of relief, putting up zeroes in every category.

Karstens actually got the loss in his last outing, giving up two runs in two innings of relief work against the Cubs. He did strike out three and gave up two hits, sadly one was a homer.

As a starter this year Karstens is 2-2 with a 3.82 ERA in 37.2 innings. Guys are hitting him up for a pretty decent line of .280/.316/.500. It will be interesting to see how he pitches on three days rest after pitching out of the pen. It really shouldn’t be that big a deal as he was probably scheduled to throw anyway that day.

Karstens was pretty solid against the Cubs in three starts last season, posting a 1-1 record with an 3.00 ERA over 18.0 innings. That six inning average is about right for Karstens overall. He really gave up the longball against the Cubbies last year, allowing four homers while only allowing 17 hits. Three of those homers came in his two games at Wrigley, where he received both decisions and oddly enough has the exact same ERA and average innings pitched per game.

The Cubs are one of only two teams Karstens has multiple wins against, the other two being the Toronto Blue Jays (2). Karstens is 4-2 in eight appearances (six starts) lifetime against the Cubs. He also has a pretty good ERA of 3.86 and a reasonable SO/BB of 1.90. All four of his wins have come at Wrigley, in fact the only decision he has against the Cubs away from Wrigley is a loss at PNC. He also boasts a fantastic 2.25 ERA and his WHIP of 1.083 is lowest of any ballpark he has made more than one start at.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Indianapolis Indians vs Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees [VIDEO] 5/24/11

Alex Presley vs Adam Warren


Gorkys Hernandez vs Adam Warren


John Bowker vs Adam Warren


Dusty Brown vs Adam Warren


Dan Brewer vs Blaine Boyer


Jesus Montero vs Daniel Moskos

Walking the Plank: Pirates Thoughts and some Black and Gold Links

State of the Pirates Address

The Pirates are now 22-24 as we roll slightly over the quarter mark of the MLB season. At this point we are deep enough into 2011 to start gauging how this team looks, but not far enough for some slow starts to turn around.

Everyone can acknowledge there is a good amount of young talent in Pittsburgh these days, perhaps more than in any one of the previous 18 losing campaigns, but when you see progress from that talent it is a beautiful thing.

While in most cities a ball club that is 2 games under .500 would have almost as many negatives as positives, if not more, there is a lot of positive to pick from in 2011 so far.

When looking at the 2011 Pirates you have to start with the surprising pitching, and you can't start anywhere else but with Charlie Morton. Morton stands at 5-1 with a 2.62 ERA and has looked downright dominant at times becoming the ace of the staff. While the Halladay comparisons early in the season were somewhat laughable, he has done nothing other than reinforce the comparison early in 2011.

If not for the electric Morton, Kevin Correia would probably get more accolades in Pittsburgh. Correia has proven to be a solid free agent signing and set the tone early winning his first few starts on the road. He is the first Pirates free agent pitcher to win more than 5 games since 2003.

After Ross Ohlendorf went to the DL Jeff Karstens has filled in about as well as you could expect from a 5th starter. James McDonald seems to have turned around a funky start (that included giving up grand slams in back to back outings) and has turned in 4 consecutive quality outings to teams not named the Brewers.

Lastly, there is Paul Maholm, who is 1-7, which ties him for the most losses in all of baseball with Brian Fuentes and John Danks, but that really isn't representative of how well Maholm has pitched. Pirates' bats have given him the worst run support in baseball at 2.04 runs/game. The next lowest is for Madison Bumgarner of the Giants at 3.18. If there was a precursor to how this season would go for Paul it was the second game of the season, where Maholm was in line for the win against the Chicago when the bullpen let him down. Paul's trade stock is going up with each quality start and his record is not indicative of how good he has been.

The bullpen has been up and down, but what bullpen isn't? Evan Meek still hasn't gotten off the shelf but Jose Veras has filled in nicely for him. Joel Hanrahan has been a flat out stud, 13 for 13, 16:5 SO/BB, not much more you can say about him, he defines closer.

Andrew McCutchen, who is the centerpiece of all this young talent (at least in my mind) seems to have gotten things back on track after a slow start. McCutchen continues to show more power, than most scouts originally thought he had during his prospect days, with 8 HRs, leading the team. Cutch is also 5th in the defensive WAR stat overall at 0.8 (if you can figure out how that is calculated), while he does have a propensity to misplay balls every once in a while, I can't help but notice he also comes up with one of those highlight reel sliding catches about every other game now.

Don't laugh but how about Ronny Cedeno? While Ronny isn't anyone's dream SS, he has been on a tear recently, picking up a hit in 9 of his last 10 games and multiple hits in 4 of the last 7. If anything it gives Pirates fans a taste of what having a SS that isn't a black hole in the line up, is like.

Lastly Neil Walker looks like he will be a stud at 2B, his ABs are quality, he has been clutch at times and he leads all 2B as well as the Pirates with 30 RBIs.

It hasn't been all roses though, it never is for a sub .500 team. Tabata, despite a quick start, still hasn't gotten on track, he does lead the team with 11 SBs. Pedro Alvarez, other than a few ABs, has looked lost out there and now sits on the DL. There have been baserunning snafus and bunts gone wrong as well as innings from hell. The bats have gone silent at times, which is indicative of a young team, and the run support just isn't there some evenings. ***cough, cough, Maholm***

Overall though, from a team perspective the Pirates have already accomplished a lot early in 2011, they seem to have put their atrocious road woes behind them with a 13-12 record (4 wins away from lasts years total of 17). This past weekend the Bucs matched their interleague win total of 2 from last year.

While there have been horrific moments, there have been segments of quality baseball. The sixth inning against Detroit Saturday comes to mind, where strategic hitting and proper baseball plays gave the Pirates the lead and handed Max Scherzer his first loss of the season. The next step is if this young team can a consistently execute at that level or will moments like that 6th inning remain a flash every once in a while.

Jim Leyland will always be a baseball man I respect greatly and he had some glowing words about the Bucs after the weekend series with the Tigers:

"The people here should really be excited about this team," Leyland said. "The Pirates have a lot of good young players. They can score some runs. They have good pitching. Quite honestly, there were a few years here where there wasn't much reason to get excited but there is now and I know how hard it's been for the fans to be patient."

Hearing Jim Leyland say those words, reinforces my excitement for the future.

Some links around the Pittsburgh Sports World:

Pirates

Guess what Pirates fans, the pitching matchup of the night takes place right at PNC Park as Charlie Morton (5-1, 2.62) takes on Jair Jurrgens (5-1) and his pristine 1.80 ERA. When is the last time you could say that?

Check out Rich's Braves series preview here.

Steelers

Something we all know in Pittsburgh already, but it's always good to see it in print, Troy Polamalu was voted as the NFL's best defensive player by a panel of experts over at ESPN. Take that Ed Reed.

Penguins

Thankfully, the off season focus is on the power play according to Ray Shero.

Speaking of Ray Shero, he met with Pascal Dupuis and Mike Rupp to open up contract negotiations. It will be interesting to see how Shero wheels and deals with all the UFA forwards and 2 RFAs (Jeffrey and Kennedy).

Penn State

Ed DeChellis leaves Penn State, coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance, to go to...........Navy? Interesting take on the entire basketball situation at Penn State from David Jones at Pennlive.com.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Ed DeChellis to Navy



Ed DeChellis is leaving Happy Valley to becaome the head coach at Navy. This is a stunner. DeChellis was under contract until the 2014 season and Penn State is coming off their first NCAA tournament appearance in 10 years.

DeChellis will also me making $200,000 less at Navy. While Penn State is not the basketball mecca we want it to be, Navy is a downgrade.

I have bashed DeChellis in the past from a basketball standpoint, but DeChellis is a good man and I wish him the best at Navy. The Penn State basketball program is in better shape today than it was before DeChellis.

The timing couldn't be worse for PSU AD Tim Curley. Good luck finding a replacement this late in the game. The team is in a full rebuiling mode and a very long season awaits.

Pirates vs. Braves (Series Seventeen)

While a sweep would have been nice a series win is good enough for me. The Pirates have now matched last year’s inter-league total of wins in just one series. Any wins beyond on that are an improvement over last season and it’s only May! The Pirates probably would have swept the Tigers but Paul Maholm pitched and, as everyone knows, the Pittsburgh Pirates can’t score runs for him.

Something the Pirates have to be used to by now is playing a team with whom they had a losing record against last season. The Atlanta Braves are no different. Before I get into that though I must mention my seething hatred for this evil organization. I have a lot of ill-will towards the last team to defeat the Pirates in a winning season, and it obviously stems from that last game. The game that ruined the Pirates, and my, World Series dreams. The series that led to an unwatchable World Series for me, and the series that would engender a hatred of Barry Bonds that lasts to this day.

I’m not sure if it’s punishment for the cocaine trials, or just karma for having such a great organization like the Steelers to root for, but the baseball gods came together that fateful night to not only ruin the dreams of at least one young child, but they gave us a small glimpse of what was to come in the next 18 years. The hell of that game is pretty much a microcosm of the Pirates long losing streak. Maybe my hatred of the Braves in unwarranted? Maybe the Pirates would have lost that series to any team? Maybe the Braves were a bystander to divine Baseball God intervention? Maybe I’m being unreasonable?

I have never claimed to be a reasonable person.

I abhor the Braves. I hate CNN. I hated WCW. I hate the chop. I hate that, despite having a solid team and great young talent, their fans only filled the stadium to 61 percent last season. And I hated Bobby Cox and his played up, incessant whining.

Anyway, the Pirates were 3-6 last season against the Braves being outscored 41-24. They only go two games this series and have yet another day off. The Pirates are going to have a day off before and after this short series. A bit odd considering how much traveling they’ve done thus far after three and four games.

The Braves probable pitchers are Jair Jurrjens and Tim Hudson Mike Minor.

Jair Jurrjens (25) RHP

Jurrjens has had a kind of up and down career. My earliest memories of him were when the Jack Wilson to the Tigers rumors wouldn’t die. I really liked the idea back then, and have kind of followed him ever since. Jurrjens was traded for a shortstop though this one was an Atlanta Brave named Edgar Renteria. Another interesting note was that the Braves also picked up Pirates prospect and Indianapolis Indians outfielder Gorkys Hernandez in that trade.

After the trade to Atlanta Jurrjens rattled off two 13+ win seasons in 2008 and 2009, posting an ERA of 3.68 and 2.60 respectively. While that 2.60 ERA is phenomenal Jurrjens’ FIP of 3.68 is probably a much more accurate representation of what he is.

He struggled a bit last season though, missing time in the early going with a hamstring injury. He only started 20 games last year and his homers went through the roof. Jurrjens normally has been very good at keeping the ball in the park, but last year he gave up 13 homers in 116.1 innings, compared to 15 in 215.0 innings the season before. He also gave up more hits, 1.5 more per nine innings that the season before. His BB numbers stayed consistent, and his SO actually increase so it’s obvious that his problems last year can probably be chalked up to guys hitting him better. Pretty obvious huh?

This year Jurrjens seems to be doing much better. His HR numbers are back down to normal rates (.4 per nine right now!), his H/9 is .5 less than his career average at 7.9, and he is walking a scant 1.4 batters per nine. All those numbers explain why his record is 5-1 and his ERA is just 1.80.

With numbers like that it’s hard to call him anything but a stud thus far. He has seven quality starts in seven games this season and has more SO than BB in every single one. He has thrown 100 or more pitches in five of those seven games and has lasted more than 6.0 innings six times. To say Jurrjens is on fire right now is an understatement.

I guess if there is one positive it’s that Jurrjens has been better at home than on the road. His only loss came on the road this season and his ERA is a nearly human 1.93 in four starts. His WHIP on the road is a realistic 1.357 compared to his home WHIP of .636, and his SO/BB on the road is 2.50, compared to 7.00 at home. On the road opposing hitters are putting up a line of .286/.328/.420 with both homers, at home the line looks like something Pedro Ciriaco would hit, .164/.187/.233.

Jurrjens did not face the Pirates last season but has faced them four times. He has gotten a decision in each game and his ERA is 3.13 against the Buccos. He has never allowed a homer to the Pirates and has stuck out 24 batters in his 23.0 innings. His nine walks leave him with a pretty solid 2.67 career SO/BB against the Bucs and he has allowed just 18 hits total. The Pirates career slash line is a somewhat pathetic .217/.309/.289 against Jurrjens. The aforementioned four decisions against the Pirates? 1-3. Proving once again that you can’t judge a pitcher based solely on wins and losses.

Half of Jurrjens’ starts against the Buccos actually came at PNC Park, and that’s where he picked up two of his losses. His ERA is actually slightly better at PNC (3.09) but all his other numbers are just basically the same. There really isn’t much difference in him at PNC Park as opposed to facing the Pirates anywhere else.

Mike Minor (23) LHP

Atlanta Braves prospect, and the #37th ranked prospect entering the season by Baseball America, Mike Minor will take the ball for the Braves in place of veteran Tim Hudson, who is sidelined with a stiff back.

Minor doesn’t have a ton of experience in the majors, and has had just one start this year. His one start ended pretty badly, giving up five earned runs in just 4.2 innings. He also allowed seven hits, walked four, and only struck out two. That occurred on April 6th, and he was sent to the minors after.

He made eight starts for AAA Gwinnett, posting a 2-2 record and a fantastic 2.56 ERA. Minor seems to have little to prove at the Triple A level, dominating the level in his few starts there. Last year he started six games there going 4-1 with a 1.89 ERA.

Still he has failed to have success at the Major League level. He is a control pitcher and those types can take a little longer to develop than guys who can just blow pitches by batters. Maybe some time at AAA, even if the domination continues wouldn’t be a bad thing for him.

Minor made nine appearances for the Braves last season, picking up eight starts and a 3-2 record. All three of his wins came in his first four games and his only three games of 6 innings came in the first three. After those three he lasted no more than five innings, and his first three starts were his only three quality starts. Minor struggled big time in his last five games with the big club, going 0-2 with an 8.66 ERA while giving up a line of .377/.402/.701 allowing 29 hits in just 17.2 innings.

One thing Minor did do last season was strike guys out. Minor posted a very nice SO/9 or 9.5, or 43 SO in 40.2 innings. That is a bit lower than his minor league numbers, but is a pretty reasonable estimation of where he might end up in that regard. His minor league numbers are just absurd, striking out 10.4 per nine while walking 2.9. Minor doesn’t have the most overpowering stuff (high 80s to low 90s), but he throws four pitches and has a good changeup. He has pretty good control and isn’t afraid to throw all his pitches for strikes.

Minor has never faced the Pirates.

Player

vs. Jurrjens

vs. Braves

Pedro Alvarez

NA

.455/.455/.727

Xavier Paul

NA

NA

Ronny Cedeno

NA

.212/.255/.327

Matt Diaz

NA

NA

Ryan Doumit

.375/.375/.375

.307/.366/.493

Garrett Jones

NA

.242/.297/.303

Andrew McCutchen

.000/.000/.000

.294/.368/.510

Lyle Overbay

.200/.333/.200

.329/.457/.513

Steve Pearce

NA

.333/.571/.333

Brandon Wood

NA

NA

Chris Snyder

.400/.400/.800

.241/.330/.483

Jose Tabata

NA

.182/.182/.182

Neil Walker

NA

.292/.320/.583

Pedro Ciriaco

NA

1.000/1.000/2.000

The Pirates probable pitchers are Charlie Morton and James McDonald.

Charlie Morton (27) RHP

Charlie Morton gets the start against the team that traded him. Just what the doctor ordered for all the lunatics who follow Bob Smizik and Dejan Kovacevic a Morton vs. McLouth duel. How anyone is still knocking this trade I do not know, but Morton seems to have transformed himself into a stopper, and is the unquestioned Ace (at least from a performance standpoint) of this staff.

Morton takes his 5-1 record and 2.62 ERA into this game after yet another complete game against the Reds. It’s one thing for Morton to be winning games and getting guys out, it’s another thing entirely that he has pitched 55 innings over his eight starts, that’s just under seven innings per start for the guy who had so much trouble last season even getting outs. Morton has failed to go 6 or more just twice in eight starts, and every single time he has gone 6 or more he has had a quality start.

Morton has received criticism for his somewhat poor secondary numbers but they are starting to get to at least a reasonable place. His SO/BB does need to improve, and it slowly is, but results are what matters. Can Morton continue to keep getting results with poor secondary numbers? I doubt it. I also doubt his secondary numbers will continue to be so poor. Morton is still learning, still building confidence, still figuring his control out. I would think his secondary numbers will eventually match his ERA and record, not the other way around.

This isn’t the first time Morton has faced his former team. Last season he picked up the loss in his only start against the Braves. It wasn’t a bad start, in fact it was a quality start. Morton lasted six innings, giving up two earned (both solo homers), on six hits. He struck out and walked three batters. Not a great start, but definitely put his team in a position to win, something this team proved time and again wasn’t enough last year. His only other start against the Braves came on June 10, 2009 and he gave up one hit and no runs in just one inning of work.

Morton has been better at home this year, hopefully it keeps up. At PNC Morton has a 1.74 ERA (compared to a 3.15 on the road) and guys are hitting him to the tune of .222/.305/.306 (slightly lower than on the road where guys are hitting him at a .234/.324/.289 rate). Surprisingly though the numbers at home seem a bit better, Morton is 4-1 on the road and just 1-0 at home.

James McDonald (26) RHP

James McDonald answered some questions his last time out, bouncing back pretty well from his disastrous start in Milwaukee to pick up the win against the Reds. McDonald is slowly getting his ERA back in line and his current 5.21 ERA is the lowest it has been since his 3.86 after his first start of the season. McDonald now has four quality starts in the last five games, and all three of his wins have come over that same span. McDonald seems to be getting back into the form we saw last season, and I think the time he missed in Spring Training was definitely the culprit.

McDonald is another player who had poor secondary numbers but seems to be getting them back in line. In his first four games he had the exact same amount of walks and K’s in each game, then in his fifth game he had one more walk than SO. Since then he has had more SO than BB in all four games, and not just one more walk. McDonald has a total of 17 more strikeouts than walks in that four game span and unsurprisingly the Pirates are also 3-1 over that time.

McDonald picked up the win in his only start against the Braves last season, throwing seven innings of five hit, shutout ball at PNC Park.

PNC Park was good to McDonald last season. In six starts he was 4-1 with a 2.91 ERA. That success has carried over to PNC Park this year too. While McDonald has struggled overall this season he has been great at PNC. JMac has a 1-0 record at PNC with an ERA of 2.41 in three starts there. He is averaging just over 6 IP per game and has given up just 13 hits in his 18.2 innings.

McDonald has just two more appearances against the Braves, both as a reliever, and has never allowed a run. He has pitched a total of four innings of relief as a Dodger giving up no hits or runs.