Ian Snell, the former Pirates’ No. 2 starter who was demoted Thursday after deciding he needed a change of scenery, struck out 13 in a row after walking the leadoff batter Sunday for Triple-A Indianapolis against Toledo. He finished with 17 Ks and two hits allowed in seven innings, throwing 70 of 108 pitches for strikes. Indianapolis won 2-1 in 10 innings.
The Steelers squeaked out a win to bring home the NFL’s top piece of hardware. The Pens battled the Red Wings to get the same from the NHL.
Big Ben and company are always a huge hit in the ‘Burgh. Sidney and Gino are rising superstars.
All is well in “The City of Champions.”
Or is it?
For the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are trying to keep from setting the Major League record for consecutive losing seasons, it’s not.
The team just traded away an All-Star outfielder for the second consecutive season. Nate McLouth, the face of the franchise, was traded away to the braves for a pack of gum, a new pair of socks, and a bag of batting practice baseballs. Nate followed Jason Bay out of town. Bay was traded to the Red Sox as part of a three-team deal last season.
Here’s the big question:
What will it take for the Pirates to have, what the fans would consider, a successful season?
legally blondes online Well, right now, there’s rumors swirling that the team could trade any or all of the following players: Ian Snell, Adam LaRoche, Freddie Sanchez, Jack Wilson, John Grabow, and any of their outfielders not named McCutchen.
That’s just giving the fans more ammo against the current team ownership, who have been labeled as cheap, penny pinchers. Fans believe that the owner is in this only to make money, and not produce a winning team.
So the restated question is this:
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Will a .500 record make the fans happy? Its been 16 years of losing. Sixteen years of ineptitude, and 16 years of frustration.
Would winning 82 games make the fan base believe that the team is turning the corner? Would that give the impression that they actually trying to win?
Not for this fan.
Going .500 is better than what we have been given for the past 16 years. It’s a start. It is showing improvement. It wont make me happy.
What I want to see is: quality Major League Players on the roster. Skilled players. Young, hungry players. I want to see something being given back to the fans, many of who have endured these last 16 seasons of pathetic baseball.
Well here we are again after 62 games witht he exact same record as last year. Wait? Last year we were tearing covers off baseballs with Nady and Bay not to mention Nate Mclouths breakout all-star(iffy) year. But this year it’s a new bag with similar results, the pirates are 29-33 4 games under the even mark, not far from respectable but also on the edge of a big collapse. Where does this leave the team, I know the pitching is remarkable in its improvements with solid stuff coming from Zach Duke, Maholm, Ohlie and even on occasion Karstens. Now loading in Morton as our potential bottom of the rotation saviour things could be on the up and up. But we still have the pattern in our teams history or dumping and prospecting all over again, like drilling for unfounded gold in california or removing mountain tops in my home state in west virginia this simply has not worked. I have a plan lets just try holding these pieces in place, unless a crazy deal presents itself of course. Nutting, Neal please lets try to get even before we go for the world series. I may be under reaching for this team, but I dont wan t the pirates to wear the collar of worst team in history of professional sports, just give in this year for Pittsburghs sake.
Charlie Morton’s first start didnt last long. AHe tossed one scoreless inning, allowing one hit.
The Pirates said that he experienced tightness in his hamstring.
Jeff Karstens replaced Morton, who took Karstens spot in the rotation.
download secret the dvdrip Well as I sit here and await thegreat Pirate sell-off of 2009 I am once again reminded by the cheap acting and sometimes befuddling management team of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Don’t get me wrong I have warmed up to the Mclouth trade, he did a lot of damage with a short porch/high wall in right and Atlanta is nothing like PNC. I hope Nate well I just can see managements point in trading him for at least 2 potential long term starters. We certainly don’t lose a lot of anything except power with Mccutch out there anyway. I do scoff at the front office however In the we don’t want a .500 season we want a winner, guys you have to crawl before you can walk and we are not going to pluck a farm system that has nothing to begin with. What are we doing? Signing cheap as my colleague pointed out in his earlier post, but it puts tremendous pressure and little time for our players to ripen the way major leaguers require. The Pirates acquire and distribute talent to the rest of the majors like we were passing out “kick me” stickers. We can’t lose Jack that is for sure, he may not always be clutch or have any wheels, but what he saves us in runs on defense saves us probably 2-3 runs a game. Adam, Andy and even Maholm can go, I wont shed a tear as long as we get decent return. Freddy Sanchez is the guy that I think truly will show the best intentions of FO mice and men- If he is let go for a few rogue prospects or a quick money dump or even sold for a box of cracker jacks then we may legitimately have a riot on our hands. I really hope the Freddy Sanchez is considered enough of a “corner stone” that he retires a Pirate, but I doubt it. After the loss tonight the Pirates are in a gut check time we are 6 under with 2 more in Atlanta, reverting back to old form andgiving up a lot of runs early and constantly playing from behind (tonight being an exception) or blowing the lead late. Minimal offensive efforts and the ever looming shaky bullpen. Sounds like a winner. The life of a baseball team get a meal, have a drink go to sleep, wake up and do it all over tomorrow. Let’s Go Bucs.
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