Saturday, June 30th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
What Became Obvious
Last night, the Pirates beat a Washington Nationals team that is even worse than they are in order to improve their record to 34-45, or 11 games away from that ever-elusive .500 mark. Ian Snell turned in another very solid outing and Jim Tracy’s gamble with his bullpen paid off on the way to the 3-2 victory on a Jose Bautista sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th. Other notes after the jump:
-Ryan Church had a huge rip in the left side of his pants, giving all of the left-centerfield bleachers a very humorous sight to look at. In other Ryan Church news, the Pirates’ leftfielder doesn’t try, but Church completely gave up on Bautista’s sac fly. Instead of sprinting back so that he could catch it, crowhop, and rifle it in; Church jogged back, simply made an effort to catch the ball and then looped it back into the infield. It was a lame play on his part.
-Manny Acta mismanaged more than Jim Tracy, but Tracy could have easily been the victim of bullpen mismanagement as well. Acta kept Jon Rauch in even as his balls-to-strikes ratio was 1:1 after five or so batters. At that point, you realize that a guy simply doesn’t have it that night and pull him, you don’t leave him out there to lose the game. Tracy’s nuttiness stemmed from his decision to throw Capps in the top of the 9th, as he was totally counting on winning in the bottom of the innning and probably would have brought in Gopherball Wasdin if they hadn’t scored in the 9th. That would have almost certainly resulted in a Pirate loss.
-The bottom of the 7th was one of the most electrifying innings of baseball that I have seen at PNC Park in some time, despite the lame opponent and awful baseball that the home team has been playing. If you were one of the over 32,000 people that was there last night and weren’t completely pumped when McLouth hit his triple, you just don’t have a pulse or are named Bob Nutting. Pittsburgh again proved why it is one of the best baseball (or sports) cities in America.
-The fireworks after the game were awful. The “grand finale” would have been dominated by the middle of any random suburbs’ Fourth of July ceremony. Maybe the team is getting cheap here, too, eh?
-Chris Duffy is going to the DL with a badly sprained left ankle. I’m willing to bet that the Pirates receive about 3x as much production out of centerfield with the platoon of Davis/McLouth than they would have out of Duffy. Two decent players who go all out every night or another slacker? This team needs the two decent players, especially if they are two of the most exciting players that the team has.
-From where I was sitting, it looked like Jason Bay came within six inches of a homerun, but I never saw a conclusive replay of the shot.
-Jim Tracy quote Analyzation of the day:
“We know there are areas where we’re a hell of a lot better than we’ve showed, but we’re not giving up. We’re not quitting.”
Has he seen his leftfielder play lately? Or his catcher? Or Chris Duffy? Or, well, most of the guys who they were counting on to produce? Outside of about five exceptions, they’ve already quit.
-Ian Snell is a very good pitcher right now, maybe the best I’ve seen this year outside of Randy Johnson. He displays tenacity, excitement, and a will for victory that this club needs. This is the type of guy who the manager makes be a leader in the clubhouse because not only is he one of the team’s best players, but he’s also the most passionate. Last night, it seemed as if he had pretty good stuff, but was not always locating the ball correctly (see the Langerhans homerun). Snell did not quit, however, and led the team to victory.
-The pitch speed thing was broken again, so I couldn’t get a read on his velocity all night. Someone needs to tell the Pirates about this; apparently they are too busy checking out their Bob Walk bobbleheads to notice that an integral part of the only thing they have going for them isn’t working.
-Bob, you clearly miss the point. If you appreciate the passion of your fans so much, why do you allow two completely unpassionate dolts to hold the crucial positions of manager and general manager? Why do you count on gimmicks and promotions to draw people to the ballpark? Why do you think that this boycott tonight is the only time the Pirates have been recognized by the national media this season? Why do you think fans booed last night when they heard that it was a fireworks night? Why do you think that Irate Fans t-shirts were more common last night than ever before? Why do you think that no one believes you when you say that your main focus is winning? The answer to the last question, by the way, is that you have never, NEVER, in your stint as owner showed a commitment to winning. It is just phenomenal that the Player’s Association hasn’t filed a grievance against you, as your team has shown no willingness to sign free agents, no willingness to wrap guys up to long-term contracts (outside of Bay and Wilson and those were clearly for marketing purposes), and no commitment to the farm system. Your team, my good sir, is a joke. A joke of your own making that has you laughing all the way to the bank. Yes, Pittsburghers will keep coming to the stadium because they love baseball and sports. If this were almost any other market in the country, you’d be damn lucky to draw 10,000 a night. Just don’t think you can trick fans into believing you are actually committed to winning, Mr. Nutting. There is only one group of people that you care about, and it is not the fans. It’s the Nutting Family. I’ll leave it up the The Who to say it for me.
-If you are at tonight’s game and don’t at least leave your seat after the third inning, shame on you.
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