A Long Long Time Ago - Catching Up On What I've Missed

The title explains my feelings. It's been quite some time since I've posted on here. A lot has happened since then. Here's a bit of a recap to get caught up on everything...

Gorzo Sent Down
(3.18.09) - Tom Gorzelanny was sent down to Triple-A Indy following a seven run in nine inning performance in Spring Training. Gorzo is just two years removed from being a 14 game winner and a staff ace for the Buccos. Some were shocked that he was sent down so early in the season. Many thought that Gorzo would get to spend more time in camp to work with the Pitching Messiah Joe Kerrigan. Will he forever be cursed from the 6.66 ERA? I like Gorzo and I hope he can regain that 2007 form.

Jaramillo Named Back Up
(3.28.09) - I don't know why, but I like this guy. Jason has great defense, but is lacking offense. Robinson Diaz has great offense, but not as good defense. It seems like it'd make more sense for the Pirates to go with someone who has a better bat, since that is something the Pirates will probably be lacking this year. However, I think that when you get a guy that can call a good game behind the plate and is able to throw out runners, as Jaramillo did in the game yesterday, that is way more valueable in a catcher than the offense he produces. I may be eating those words at some point this season, but as of right now I like this decision.

Tabata Has Some Personal Issues
(3.25.09) - One of the top Pirates prospects faced some personal issues. Jose Tabata's 43-year old wife was arrested and accused of kidnapping. Tabata, 20, has been cleared of any ties to his wife's actions. Something shocked to many Pirates fans was not the crime that was committed by Tabata's wife, but it was the fact that she was 23 years older than him. What was he thinking? Is she a gold digger? Or was she just that good in the sack that he couldn't resist?

Cutch's Amazing Performance
(3.28.09) - Andrew McCutchen is making it very difficult for the Pirate's brass to decide what to do with him. In yesterday's game against the defending World Series champion Phillies, Cutch went 5 for 5 with two doubles, three runs, two RBIs and an absolute bomb of a homerun. Will he or won't he come north with the team? As much as I'd like to see him come up to St. Louis, I think a May call-up will do him well.

Rotation Spots Being Locked Up
(3.28.09) - To the surprise of no one, Paul Maholm was named the Opening Day starter. Following an impressive end to 2008 and an amazing Spring Training, Maholm got the official nod from management as the starter against the Cardinals on April 6th. So far, it'll be Maholm, Ian Snell, Zach Duke, and Ross Ohlendorf in the rotation. Jeff Karstens and Virgil Vasquez will be awarded the final spot. Neither is tearing up Spring Training, still leaving many to hope for some outside help in the rotation *cough*Pedro Martinez*cough*.

Bullpen Needs Help
I can remember it like it was yesterday. The Pittsburgh Pirates had one of the most dominant bullpens in all of baseball. Matt Capps, John Grabow, Damaso Marte, and Tyler Yates owned the majors. Now three of the previously mentioned guys are locks for the '09 bullpen. Capps, Grabow, and Yates will be in the pen. It doesn't seem like too many other pitchers are making an effort to win a spot in the bullpen. The Pirates have reported made an offer to Will Ohman. Neal Huntington even was quoted as being disappointed in the bullpen and will more than likely be looking for outside help to complete it.

Lascheid Passes Away
(3.19.09) - Long time Pirates organist Vince Lascheid passed away at the age of 85. Lascheid was remembered by many for his wit and ability to match a song to pretty much any batter or situation. His talents will live on, as the Pirates will be using digital recordings to play over the PA system this year.

That's about it for the mjor happenings. I'm sure that I've missed something, but that'll happen when you are busy and can't keep up with the happenings. Only 8 days until Oening Day. 15 days until the PNC Park opener. The blog will probably be pretty quite for the next week, unless something huge happens and I feel like I need to post about it.

I will be live blogging on Opening Day. Following the home opener, I will be posting a photo blog and game report. Until then...


Let's Go Bucs!

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photo credit: Amalia Tabata Pereira is lead out of Child Protection Investigation Division office on Tuesday. Pereira is accused impersonating an immigration official and taking the child from her mother. Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Offense Does It Again

Well the bats have once again come alive for our beloved Pittsburgh Pirates. They are currently winding down what should be, at most, a 7-run victory over the Houston Astros. The win will push the Pirates record to 8-3 in Grapefruit League play.

Ross Ohlendorf started off going 3 1/3 innings, giving up 2 runs, 1 of which was earned, on 6 hits. He had 2 strike outs and no walks. Not a bad outing except for the number of hits. I can almost guarantee that numbers like that during the regular season will yield about 4 runs. Donnie Veal gets the blown save and win in this one. Evan Meek and Matt Capps both looked solid, as did most of the Pirates pitchers.

Another encouraging game, which I know really means nothing when it comes down to it. It'll all only matter once April 6th rolls around. 30 days until Opening Day in St. Louie.

Let's Go Bucs!

I Still Can't Believe My Eyes

I still cannot believe what I am seeing the the Grapefruit League standings. Ten games into Spring Training games, and the Pittsburgh Pirates are tied for first with a 7-3 record. Their offense has also scored 55 runs this season (5.5 RPG). Opponents have scored 43 runs (4.3 RPG). The fact that the Pirates have been scoring 1.2 runs more per game COULD be a good sign for the upcoming season. It's only 10 games, a very small sample size, but still encouraging.

I know that it's only Spring Training and that most of the pitchers we are facing late in the games are more than likely career minor league pitchers, but who knows. There are a lot of people on this team now that have that "winning culture" attitude them. And that is something the team so badly needed. And if it does not pan out this year, as most people expect, surely the Pirates will be looking forward to the 2010 or 2011 seasons. That's when a lot of these younger guys will be making their presence known at PNC Park. However, I feel that this is finally the year in which the team will make a turn for the better and improve on their 67 wins from last year.

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It looks like Eric Hinske will be getting a lot of playing time this April. Brandon Moss, who was a lock to be a starting right fielder, injured his right thumb yesterday against the Twins. A MRI and all of that good stuff will be done to determine the extent of the injury. here's to hoping that Moss can get through this with some R&R and not have surgery. A major injury like this would be a huge blow to the Pirates upcoming season. I am confident though having Hinske as a back-up.

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I am trying to decide whether or not I want to purchase one of the new jerseys for the upcoming season. If I do get one, I know it'll probably end up being either the home or away jersey. Then, I don't know whether I should get #55 or #58 on it. Or, should I just wear the Bobby Hill BP jersey I bought a few years back at PirateFest?

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A lot of debate over the decision as to whether or not the Buccos should bring in Pedro Martinez as a back of the rotation guy. Sure he'd bring in some more fans and he could end up regaining some of his form from previous years, but is it worth the financial risk? Would he even sign with the Pirates? It was said that Pedro could go for 2-3 million. The Pirates could pay slightly higher than that to try and get him. I don't know if it is worth the risk. A good discussion can be found on the Unofficial Pirates Message Board.

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Japan is going to mow through the WBC. No doubt in my mind. Expect the Netherlands to be a surprise.

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All is quiet now, but expect another large push for the Vote for Romulo campaign in the upcoming weeks. The deadline to vote is April 30th.

Let's Go Bucs
Vote for Romulo!

Spring Training Game 1: Phillies @ Pirates

The Pirates hosted the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies this afternoon in Bradenton. Buccos topped the Phils 8-2 in a rather impressive pitching and offensive showing. I know, it was a lot of minor league players and relief pitchers...no superstars batting 3-4 times a game, so on and so on.

Mind you, I only listened to the game from the 8th inning on, so most of my opinions will be based off of what I read on the box score.

Chris Bootcheck seemed to pitch well. That's about it.

Matt Capps had some difficulties and was the only pitcher of the 9 Pirates that went out on the mound to walk batters. It was like a flashback to Opening Day last year in Atlanta. He'll get his control issues figured out though.

Romulo allowed the first run of the day for the Pirates. Still no real harm as the Pirates would come back to score in the bottom of the 3rd.

Shelby Ford. Remember that name, because one day, I think he's going to be a GREAT baseball player. He cracked a 3 run homer in the bottom of the 4th, the first and only of the game. Plus, doesn't Shelby Ford sound like such a great baseball name?

Evan Meek sounded solid today. Jesse Chavez...not so much.

I know this is a very small sample size, however, I do feel pretty encouraged by what I have seen and heard today.

Tim Neverett sounds like a stereotypical baseball/sports broadcaster. I think he fills Lanny's shoes rather nicely...except for he doesn't quite have the passion that Lanny had.

It'll be interesting to see how the extended ST plays out.

Pirates improve to 1-0 on the season.

Let's Go Bucs!
Vote for Romulo

A Vote for Romulo Campaign update

Over the past few days, I have been feeling really down. Not because I hate my job sometimes or because my wife has been really busy. No, those things don't get me down, because I know that once summer comes, I will be on vacation for 3 months and in a few weeks, my wife will be done with the conference she is planning.

You see, the reason why I'm down is because of the sudden lack of support from the Vote for Romulo campaign. The VFR campaign began as a joke back on Sunday January 25, 2009 while I was at PirateFest. I made a visit to the Trib kiosk to place my vote for the Pirates fan voted bobblehead and to lie through my teeth to the Trib representative about how I occasionally buy the Trib on Sundays and eventually shoot down his "special offer" for a subscription. I put Romulo Sanchez down on the line, simply as a joke. As I walked around PirateFest for another hour or so, I was thinking to myself, "Wouldn't it be awesome to start a campaign to get a Romulo Sanchez bobblehead and see how many people would buy into it." And, I had recently had an interest in starting a blog about the Pirates...as I was inspired by various other Pirates blogs, and my good friend, The Unemployed Asshole. And so it started with a little post that evening.

That Monday, BucDugout.com picked up the story on the campaign.

On Tuesday, it was The Green Weenie.

Wednesday, WHYGAVS.

And then...much to my delight...Thursday morning on the PBC Blog on the Post-Gazette website, Dejan linked to WHYGAVS and the story of the Vote for Romulo bobblehead. I emailed Dejan the day before about getting this blog on the list of blogs on that site, but couldn't due to missing one key qualification...I wasn't a year old in blogger.

Then, as quickly as the momentum built up, it seemed to come crashing down. All of a sudden, people on the PBC blog started to post "Why vote for Romulo? We should be voting for any of the '90-'92 Pirates." Then it just got worse from there.

Honus Wagner.

One of the greatest players, not only in Pittsburgh Pirates history, but in all of Major League Baseball history. I mean, Dejan clearly laid out Honus' track record:

3,415 hits
.391 OBP
.327 average
.857 OPS

Plus, numerous other accolades. He is honored with a statue outside the home plate rotunda at PNC Park. He's in the Hall of Fame. His baseball card is worth HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars.

Why disgrace...yes I said DISGRACE such an important ball player with a freaking bobblehead? last year, Tom Gorzelanny had a bobblehead that was giving the middle finger!

You know what will happen with a Honus Wagner bobblehead? Every 9-15 year old kid at that ballpark will say "This isn't (insert popular or current Pirates or other player name here). I'm breaking this thing apart!" I can guarantee there will be hundreds of Honus Wagner pieces laying around PNC Park by the time Matt Capps throws his final pitch against the Dodgers and picks up his 60th save of the year.

What worth is a Manny Sanguillen signature going to have on a Honus Wagner bobblehead? NONE.

What worth will a Romulo Sanchez signature have on a Romulo Sanchez bobblehead? Well...a little more than nothing.

Maybe, just maybe with the love and support of Pirate Nation, Romulo Sanchez will have a year like none other. Maybe, just maybe, we can make him the most sought after reliever after the 2009 season.

Honor the players that DESERVE to be honored with a bobblehead...the current ones.

Honor the greats where they deserve to be honored...in the Hall of Fame, as a retired number, as a statue towering over fans as they enter or walk around the ballpark. Not as a goofy looking bobblehead.

All of that being said, I must thank all of my continued supporters in the Vote for Romulo campaign. Including my two newest supporters, Raise the Jolly Roger and Bucs Trade Winds.

It seems that the battle lines have been drawn in the sand. You have until April 30th to make it happen.

Now, more than ever, Lets Go Bucs...Lets Go Romulo!

PirateFest 2009

I will be heading off to PirateFest 2009 in about 12-hours. Watch for an update to this post sometime later tomorrow.

Edit: There seemed to be a rather large crowd at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for the third and final day of PirateFest 2009. By the time my wife and I got to the convention center, which was shortly after 10am, there was already a long line of Season Ticket Holders and VIPs to get in 1 hour early. In fact, there was a decent line of "regular people" waiting for the doors to open to them at 11am.

I really only had two things I wanted to do while at PirateFest, get a Freddy Sanchez autograph and to see Matt Capps to say "hi" and see how life has been for him.

What's so important about Freddy Sanchez that I needed to get his autograph? Last year, the Pirates sent out these two prints of artwork to Season Ticket Holders. One was of Jason Bay, the other of Sanchez. They are actually pretty nice, so I always thought it would be cool to get them signed and framed and hang them with some of my other sports memorabilia. Thanks to J-Bay being traded to the Red Sox last season, I won't be able to get his print signed until I visit some American League stadium where they will be playing. Anyhow, my wife and I stood in line from 10:30 until 12:15 just to get this print signed. I mentioned how stupid people are to wait in line that long to get things signed by human beings that really are no different than you or I, they just have an above normal athletic ability. However, I took my dumb self and stood in line for nearly two hours and got the print signed.

We didn't hang out long enough to go check out some of the game shows that fans can play with the players. We did, however, checkout one of my favorite places to go during PirateFest, the Lost Treasures game used items store. This is the place where I bought my holy "Amazing Jesus" Bobby Hill BP jersey. Before I mention what I bought there today I suppose I should take a quick journey with you down memory lane...

About a year and a half ago, my wife and I got married. Since we are both huge baseball fans, we decided that following our rehearsal and dinner, we were going to take about 40 family members and friends to the game at PNC Park. My wife is a huge fireworks fan as well, so it all worked out with it being Fireworks Night. That was on September 28, 2007. So, since that time, I always thought that it would be cool to have something, besides the ticket stub, from that game as a memento. The lineup card was one of the better things that I could think of. For the past two years, I have gone to PirateFest and to the store at PNC Park, looking for this specific card. Well, after several years of exhaustive searching, we finally found the card, in of all places, the last stack of cards we looked though. Great success!

We had the opportunity to see Capps prior to his autograph session. It was good to see him and see that he is enjoying married life. My wife and I were a little caught off guard however, when she went to shake his hand and he went in for the hug. It's been a rather cool experience seeing him go from someone the fans hardly knew to one of the more popular players on the team. Plus, he's just an all around swell guy.

Let's Go Bucs!

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photo credits: Me with the 1979 World Series trophy & Freddy Sanchez signing a print exclusive to season ticket holders - my wife. The lineup card from the night of our rehearsal dinner - me.

New Uniforms and More

The much anticipated new jerseys were revealed today at PiratesFest, and I must say that I am meeting them with mixed emotions. Let's take a look at this picture, and I will simply move from left to right with commentary on each jersey.



I'll start with last year's lone Pirate All-Star, Nate McLouth. Nate was able to shine on the national stage in last year's All-Star game. Unfortuniately, he seems to be lacking an All-Star look in this new solid black jersey. The button up jersey features a gold "P" over the left chest and the player number on the lower right side of the jersey. HATE IT! I say get ride of these things and bring back the red jerseys.

Moving on. Our next model is Matt Capps, superstar closer and all around swell guy. He is wearing the pin stripes with the vest jersey and t-shirt under it. This is the look the Pirates have had for the past several years. Since I've had season tickets, I've seen these jerseys worn mostly on Sunday afternoon games. I like it, it's in.

Next is Mr. Nyjer Morgan. As you can see, Nyjer is sporting a solid gray away uniform. It's a mix of the old unis from around 1990 which had the cursive "Pittsburgh" across the chest and the recent away jeresys. They have had the gray look for about two decades now, but the 1990's is the most recent I can remember. I like it, it's in.

Finally, there is the 2006 NL Batting Champion Freddy Sanchez. He is sporting a uniform simlar to that of Nyjer, only in white, and it says "Pirates" across the chest. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail, but I'll end the uniform discussion with an I like it, it's in.

It looks like "Mr. Almost Perfect" Jeff Karstens will be sitting out the first week or so of Spring Training. Due to some elbow soreness from minicamp a few weeks back, Karstens was shut down for a few days, and it looks like the Pirates will be taking it easy on him for the start of training. All the better in my opinion. There is no need to rush him. We've seen that he has potential to be good (held opponents scoreless through his first 15 innings last year). I'm looking forward to big things from this kid in the upcoming season.

I'll be back tomorrow with more musings. Look for my PiratesFest update on Sunday.

Let's Go Bucs

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photo credit: Players modeling new uniforms. pirates.com