Mixed Results from Pirate Fans for Change Protest
The Pirates announced a crowd of 26,959 on Saturday. But more than 27,000 fans had a keen eye on this game—a protest of Pirate management and ownership by the “Fans for Change,” led by Andy Chomos, drew local and national attention.
I wasn’t in attendance, but I’ll do my best to point you in the [...]
Game #80 vs. Nationals; Protesting the Pirates
PNC Park | 7:05 | Gorzelanny vs. Jason Bergmann | Box
The protest results are covered in a separate thread. I’ll keep updating it as more headlines pop up; if you see anything that I missed, feel free to leave a comment.
I’m not sure how much the game mattered tonight. Most of the diehards turned their [...]
Game #79 vs. Nationals
PNC Park | 7:05 | Snell vs. Matt Chico | Box
Rarely do you see the Pirates erupt with a show of such sheer jubilation as you did on Friday night.
Jose Bautista’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth scored Jose Castillo, and the Pirates walked off with a 3-2 win.
As Castillo trotted home from [...]
The Lost Generation – Part 1, Sean Burnett
The Pirates’ starting rotation has contained highly touted, homegrown arms Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny, Zach Duke, and Paul Maholm for a few years now.
Several years ago, the Pirates had another group of promising young pitchers, each selected in the first round in a three year period. Sean Burnett (2000), John Van Benschoten (2001) and Bryan [...]
The Time has Come for a Pirate Revolution
I can no longer ignore tomorrow’s protest. I’ve held off as long as possible, waiting to make my stance known—but the time has come to say what I need to say.
I don’t think it’s enough.
By now you’ve likely heard the reasons behind the walkout organized by Andy Chomos and Sean Lucas, and you’ve heard [...]
Game #78 at Florida
Dolphin Stadium | 12:05 | Duke vs. Scott Olsen | Box
So, I live blogged the first hour of the game today. When I left, the Pirates trailed, 5-0.
The Marlins won, 9-7. Zach Duke took the loss, as he allowed 6 runs and 12 hits in 4 innings.
Our bats narrowed the gap in [...]
Taking a Look at the Pirates' Offensive Offense
Dejan implied in Monday’s live chat that hitting, not pitching, has had the greater effect on the team’s failures—and successes—so far in 2007. The rankings don’t lie: A .250 team average is more significant than a 4.55 staff ERA.
A number of Pirates are underachieving this year. Two, though, stand out from the [...]
Game #77 at Florida
Dolphin Stadium | 7:05 | Van Benschoten vs. Sergio Mitre | Box
Jim Tracy stresses the importance of throwing strikes. It’s clear that skipper believes that the ticket to a pitcher’s success lies in his ability to hammer the zone.
Tonight, John Van Benschoten threw 81 pitches. Only 39 were strikes! Terrible, absolutely horrible. [...]
Game #76 at Florida
Dolphin Stadium | 7:05 | Maholm vs. Dontrelle Willis | Box
The Paul Maholm we saw in Spring Training is starting to return, I think.
Maholm worked into the eighth inning, the offense received contributions from unexpected sources and the Pirates beat the Marlins, 3-2.
In seven of his 16 starts, Maholm has thrown seven innings or more. [...]
A Quick Draft Note or Two
I headed over to Baseball Think Factory this morning with the idea of comparing the Pirates’ current stats to where the ZiPS system projected they would be, but I got sidetracked. (I’m grateful; that would’ve been another depressing post in a long string of depressing posts.)
What caught my eye was a shadow draft conducted [...]
