Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 by Adam Wagner
The Pirates Are Better Than Live
Pittsburgh Pirates 6, Milwaukee Brewers 2
The Pirates played to a 25,000 person crowd today at PNC Park in what had to be one of the ugliest baseball games I have ever seen prior to one of the ugliest concerts ever. The good news is that the Pirates emerged from the scrapheap that was today’s game victorious. The bad news is that the diversion wasn’t much of a diversion at all and was, in fact, a pretty lame concert. Shane Youman looked solid despite sort of Mike Williamsing (trying to cause a heart attack every inning) on the mound and the bats sort of came around, at least enough to score six runs. The real story of the day, however, was the Brewers defense, which was the worst I have ever seen played by a big league team. The team not only committed errors, but also simply didn’t make plays, thereby giving the Pirates chances to score where none should have existed. More after the jump:
-Youman is a player who probably should have had more of a chance coming out of spring training. He has stayed with the organization by always pitching well, but has never pitched well enough to be labeled a true prospect. He could be a solid back of the rotation option for Jim Tracy if Zach Duke’s injury proves to be for real.
-Speaking of Zach Duke’s injury, he feels that he needs to go see Dr. James Andrews and is doing so on Friday. Players come back from the esteemed Dr. Andrews with recommendations of surgery. Apparently, Duke feels as is there is something seriously wrong with his arm; wrong enough that he is ignoring what the Pirates’ trainers told him and seeking a second opinion with a man who is becoming better at cutting Pirates’ arms open than Jack Sparrow.
- Salomon Torres’ demanding of a trade comes at the perfectly wrong time for the Pirates, who must realize that his value is at its lowest possible point right now. If Torres is telling the truth about Dave Littlefield promising to rent out his baseball academy and then failing to do so, this story simply seems like more underhanded and cheapskate dealing on the part of the Pirates and Dave Littlefield and surely does not bode well for the franchise’s future in Latin America. Also at hand, however, is Torres’ rehabilitation, which is lasting longer than he feels it should be. The Pirates should just let him rehab over the break and then install him as the temporary closer before the deadline, simply to showcase him and see if they can get anything of value for him. If not, oh well. The righty will be a decent pitcher out of the bullpen, probably, as Matt Capps will be the closer for the foreseeable future.
-On the topic of Capps, the Pirates’ promotional department has made maybe the dumbest video ever for Capps’ introduction. They were obviously trying to channel Mike Gonzalez and the energy that he brought to the mound every time he came in, but instead the video simply portrays Capps as a country-loving hick who happens to be a closer. The biggest problem with the video, however, is that Capps and Gonzalez are very different kinds of closers. Gonzo was a dominant closer, likely to strike out the side with 95 mph fastballs. Every time the southpaw came to the mound, a save was virtually guaranteed. Pirates’ fans could carry themselves with a little bit of cockiness at PNC Park when Gonzo came on in a save situation. Capps throws strikes and makes guys get out, but doesn’t dominate by any means. It is not invigorating and exciting to watch Capps pitch, and some video of a bunch of cows butts isn’t going to help that any. Capps comes on to do a job, while Gonzo came on for a show. Pittsburgh fans aren’t stupid and realize this. They don’t need a show (obviously the Pirates think otherwise, sorry, but I’m still sore about Saturday) and know what’s happening on the field. Treat them as such.
-Yovanni Gallardo clearly does not like pitching out of the bullpen. His stuff was fantastic, but he was putting pitches in very hittable spots and, therefore, leaving himself vulnerable to the hits that the Pirates continued to get, leading to Gallardo landing the loss and the Pirates winning the ballgame. As a manager, you don’t put your newest toy back in the bullpen unless you bring him up there and leave him there. Gallardo is a much better starter than reliever, even though he may someday be a legitimate closer candidate.
-Gallardo’s hardest throw seemed to come on his error in the fifth, when he fielded Youman’s sacrifice bunt and threw the ball high and to the right of second base, allowing both runners to be safe.
-Matt Kata is painful to watch play, but Rickie Weeks in the field is almost as painful. He’s just awful, as there was one ball early in the game that skidded off of the pitcher’s mound which Weeks, despite still being in a spot where he could play it, made no effort to grab.
-Notice that the Pirates’ and Brewers’ record are nearly invertible, as the Pirates now have a 36-47 benchmark and the Brewers have a 48-35 record.
-The whining of the Brewers after the game is unfair. They simply played a bad baseball game. It happens once in a while. Just watch the Pirates for a season.
-The LIVE concert was awful. The band didn’t seem to have any energy and the crowd wasn’t very excited to see them play. Bringing in a bunch of mid-30 something local guys is not the way to excite the crowd. The Pirates should try to bring in a legitimately big, legitimately “now” act. Maybe then, more than 20,000 people would stick around to see the band (that’s a very conservative estimate; it seemed like a lot more people walked out, but my friends and I got in a debate and decided that 20 was a safe estimate with 15,000 being the potential low). Of course, the fireworks were the most important event as there were cars lined up on Sixth Avenue to watch it. One man was so enthralled that he brought popcorn along in his car and just sat there, munching it, watching the fireworks. It’s just too bad the Pirates can’t charge admission to see their fireworks, or else they surely would. Just imagine, the Nuttings may even be able to build a new lift at Seven Springs if that happened . . .
-I have allowed my bitterness to sidetrack me. The basic message: Game ugly but good, concert just awful.
Leave a Reply