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Cards unleash furry on Davis
Written by admin
Considering Jason Davis was stretched out from 87 pitches thrown over 7 days from July 29 – August 4th, came back and threw 90 pitches six days later and then 102 pitches five days after that, I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised he was throwing high in the zone with little command Wednesday night against the Cardinals – he was probably in a dead arm period of sort.
And, when two-pitch sinkerball guys are up in the zone, they get mauled and Davis was. He managed getting just 11 outs (3.2 innings), walked three, gave up 9 hits, and 8 runs. Everything in play was smoked in his first career start against the Cardinals.
Doumit struggled on defense allowing four extra bases on two passed balls (three others went off his mitt with nobody on) but, once again, was the only offensive threat as he went 3 for 3 needing just a triple for the cycle through the first five innings which included a 2 run homer. He ended up 3-4.
Then I knew better so I turned the game off. Last I looked it was 11-2.
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Moss started in left. After being out with a sprained ankle. And it rained all game and the grass was wet. Sounds a tick risky to me.
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And there it was, a 10-2 game and Doumit was still catching. Puh-lease John Russell.
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And how many errors do the LaRoche boys have combined since Andy hit the club? Ouch.
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Anybody else notice we have won two games per week since the break? Now 7-12 = .368 winning percentage. I’m sure glad we traded for more average pitching.
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Speaking of pitching, Craig Hansen was one of the guys we received from the Red Sox in the Bay deal and he was left on the mound to try and get 6 outs. It took 44 pitches in a blown out game allowing three hits, three runs, two walks, and fooled next to nobody.
Considering Hansen has always been thought of a 9th inning type guy, I don’t understand the Pirates stretching him out. That’s 82 pitches last five days now in three appearances and the 44 thrown Wednesday night was the most he’s tossed during his limited three years of pitching in the majors.
So is he cut bait for the sharks now? He sure seems to be. Looks to me like Pittsburgh isn’t exactly thinking long-term with Hansen.
Or Moss, for that matter. Has anyone looked at his MLE’s and projection now for 2009?
.235/.317/.402
Ouch.
So that’s two of the four players with little to no value down the road. That leaves Andy LaRoche and the very risky Bryan Morris as the return for Bay.
Double ouch.
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(edit 2:29 PM 8/21 — as you can see from Mark’s comment below, I have the affiliates backwards. Hickory stands to end up in Charleston and Lynchburg at Winston-Salem. Hat tip to Mark – I’ve had these turned around for days.)
I’ve discussed the rumors here about the Hickory club being moved for 2009 and word on the street is that the Pirates have now communicated that to Don Beaver’s club.
Now, will they find another resting spot? Who knows. Some say the obvious choice is Winston-Salem where the team would play in a brand new stadium. At least they are changing the name of the team from the wartHOGS to one of these:
Aviators
Dash or The Dash
Racers
Rhinos
Wallbangers
Wallbangers – that’s hilarious.
Just a guess but look for the name to be Rhinos as the team owner, Billy Prim who purchased the franchise from none other than Pirates limited partner Don Beaver years ago, owns Blue Rhino Inc (propane-gas tank distributor) and Blue Primo (that blue jug of water you see at every Lowes).
Now how do they get it done considering the White Sox have been the Warthog’s affiliate for years? It starts with Pedro Alvarez and the Pirates near $10M draft allocation – many of whom could start off there in 2009, and probably ends with Winston-Salem resident Frank Brenner, who is also a limited partner in the Pirates. Oh, and money… lots of it.
As for the rumors about the Pirates possibly moving from Lynchburg, one source said the Pirates don’t have any desire to move from that area but another source in Charleston, WV, suggests the Pirates could be playing there in 2009. We’ll see.
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Hilarious – the Pirates fielded Duffy, Bautista, Walker, Bixler, and Paulino at Indy with Jimmy Barthmaier allowing just two runs over 5.1 innings and they still couldn’t beat Charlotte because – you guessed it… Oh-sorry-O blew the save. Duffy was 1-2 with 2 walks, Cutch had a day off and came in late and got a hit (he’s been hitting the ball well lately).
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I see Shelby Ford is hitting better than Tabata is in Altoona. Ok, small sample size alert.
And what is it with all the Pirates pitchers having such poor command all through the entire farm? We need some serious pro development help in this system.
Filed under: Archives
I’m going to miss my drives to Hickory to watch bad baseball. And STOP scooping Dejan Jake!!
– edit by Jake — no, I didn’t sccop him. Watch now and you’ll see, he’ll put up an article and then back date it to before my post.
Ford is hitting better overall, but not in Altoona. Tabata is at like .370 since the trade. Also, what’s up with Romak? Dude is on pace for a 40 HR season if you extended his Double A numbers, but also like 140Ks and he’s only hitting .218.
Funny conversation I had with one of my friends today. He happened to be watching the pirates game when I was over at his house on an errand. I think the score was 6-2 at the time.
“Him: When did the Pirates get Doug Davis?”
“Me: That’s not Doug Davis, that’s Jason Davis.”
“Him: Who?”
“Me: Exactly.”
– edit by Jake –
That’s hilarious Tom. Funny you should mention that because I found myself calling him Doug a couple of times too.
Also, it shows what they think about Moss long term that they used him today even though he hurt his ankle a couple days ago. I sprained my ankle four years ago and it took me over 2 weeks for me to recover, granted that was a serious sprain. But still, you would think if they considered him a part of their long-term plans, they would have been more cautious with something like that.
Jake – How do you feel about getting left off of Dejan’s PBC Blog links? That’s got to hurt.
CSB – You must be kidding? Obviously you haven’t read my material very long to even suggest that. The last thing in the world I want is bought-and-sold reporters linking to my posts as that would only prove to the Pirate Nation I’ve become an azz kisser like they are. No thanks.
Besides, I draw more traffic here than probably every media site in town except the PG and probably triple or more traffic than any Pirate daily beat blog on the web, including those with newspapers away from the PG.
Dejan needs links from me to continue getting paid from advertising revenue. I don’t need him.
One point on the possible move from Hickory is they could not go to Winston from Hickory as it’s two different levels. They could go to WV from Hickory (which is the strong rumor here), or to Winston from Lynchburg.
As bad as the team has been this year, there are a few rays of light on the defensive side.
This is probably the strongest overall defensive team up the middle we’ve had here… .shortstops especially. The 3rd round pick, Jordy Mercer, while he’s finally coming around a little at the plate, has been steady at short. But the two other guys we’ve had here on a regular basis, Jose De Los Santos- now at Lynchburg- and Silvio Pena have both been better at short at get to about everything. Both slap the ball around well and use there speed. Pena can turn on a ball occasionally, but several scouts I talked to while they were here loved De Los Santos’ potential.
Currently, the SS posiition will easily be the best fielding group in our history by fielding pct.
Catching will either be 1st or 2nd, as Walker did a nice job before ending his season with an injury.
And Austin McClune in center gets to about everything hit from gap to gap. He has a shot to finish the year with the most putouts and total chances in our history for a season, and 2nd in assists behind only Magglio Ordonez. Now if he could hit…
– edit by Jake — thanks Mark. I don’t know why I’ve had WS and Charleston turned around but I have for days now. Post is corrected.
Mercer is a glass half-full guy in my book… doubt he amounts to much other than org fodder or a utility guy. Walker has a chance I think but will take time. McClune seems to be more of Duffy mold – plus cover ability without the bat. Lots of those types across the minors.
The problem with those bought-and-sold reporters is that they are not always objective…but face it Jake, you can’t be either. They have an agenda and so do you.
We all understand how the world of blogging works. To be successful you have to provide some information, and then provide enough controversy to make us interested. If you didn’t always take the negative approach, your blog would not be successful.
Instead, you do a good job trying to convince us that anyone who says anything positive about the Pirates is a huge butt kisser, that you are most always right, that your motives are pure, and that Huntington and Coonelly, despite being about 30 rungs above you on the career ladder, are never right about anything.
And somehow it all works!
First time commenting here. I enjoy this blog more than the others I read even though I’m not always in agreement with the author’s opinion. The balance of coverage around the Pirates is subpar, including the Post Gazette.
edit by Jake — The other blogs suk, that’s why I started one. And the newspaper coverage in Pittsburgh doesn’t know what journalistic standards are since they only cover one half the story. Dejan needs to go back to roasting mashmellows as soft as he is.
So, you’re projecting Moss for ‘09 already. Pretty hasty.
I have no idea what Russell and Andrews are doing with the bullpen half the time. Hansen for 2 innings is pretty ridiculous.
Hey Jake, you should be happy – they just traded Jose Bautista. I believe earlier this year you said he shouldn’t be wearing an ML uniform, and I agree.
It was not so much his stats that bothered me. They would have been OK for a utility guy. The problem I always had with him was that he always seemed to be satisfied with his poor numbers. He didn’t get why Laroche was starting, didn’t get why he was demoted, etc.
If the guy just once would have said “hey, I’ve got to perform better”…
Jake is right, he’s not an azz kisser. Sike! We all know he is being paid off by Ronny Paulino and Chris Duffy. Dejan stole his gf back in junior high and he’s never gotten over that either.
Just because Dejan doesn’t bash the Pirates and their organization constantly doesn’t mean his reporting isn’t objective. He constantly points out the negatives when fans get too excited, but he is also a fan too, something I’m not so sure about with Jake. I’m pretty sure DK would get fired if he just constantly wrote the same ole garbage about how bad this team is over and over because we all know they are pretty bad, that isn’t news. Let’s be honest though, I come here just as much to read the other readers comments and opinions as I do Jake’s.
uhhh….did you guys miss the past 15 years of losing??
He’s just calling a lemon a lemon. It’s pretty simple.
At what point did Nutting and crew deserve cautious optimism even? Lets have a season + .500 and THEN by all means let the positivity run. And look at the other sports teams in pgh. There was a time for optimism (ie with the strong Penguins drafts etc) and it was pretty obvious when it was time for that. I can’t see how that applies to the Pirates at this moment.
Bryan Morris was pulled from his start tonight due to a sore shoulder, and is likely done for the year….. also, Mercer may also be done due to a hip flexor sustained last Saturday…
At this point, we have only three non- 1B infielders and no backup catcher… but 6 OFs…. great job Buccos!
Brad Lincoln pitched a good game tonight he went 6in 1era and 7 ks no walks