Be Like Tike

Saturday, August 4th, 2007 by Adam Wagner

Back in the Cellar

The Pittsburgh Pirates (44-63) dropped back into their rightful place in the cellar of the NL Central by losing 13-4 to the Cincinnati Reds (46-64) Friday night in a game that I had the misfortune of attending. It was obvious right off the bat, or off the Reds’ bats, that Ian Snell did not have it tonight as he gave up four runs in the first inning, leading to a six earned run in five inning performance by the once ace of the staff. With that said, the defense behind him was pretty terrible and the offense was not much better and the offense could not get runs effectively off of a scrub pitcher. More notes after the jump.

Jason Bay is simply not a major league baseball player at this point. Something is obviously wrong with him and Pittsburgh is clearly not the place for him to fix it. This is getting more and more obvious every day and Friday night may have been the last straw for me. His inability to catch a simple fly ball in the fifth inning was, quite simply, one of the worst defensive plays that I have ever seen. He simply didn’t know where it was coming down. Even worse, though is the way that he strikes out or pops out in any key situation. He simply goes to the plate, does his failure routine, and nonchalantly walks back to the dugout. The least the guy could do is show a little heart. He needs the Rickie Weeks treatment.
It’s nice to see Ian Snell get into it with Jim Colborn. Thank God that Snell is refusing to listen to the idiot pitching coach who simply messes up young starters. It is nice to see that one player on this team trusts his own ability to that extent (even though Snell called himself bad after the game).
Don’t believe any rumors that Walt Jocketty will become the Pirate CEO. There’s no way that such a move would occur.
Just to rip Jason Bay a little more, in the fourth inning the Pirates obviously had Matt Belisle’s number. Freddy Sanchez lined out hard and Adam LaRoche doubled hard. Then Bay popped out. The next batter, Ryan Doumit, launched a two-run home run into a very similar place to where Adam Dunn had hit his solo shot an inning earlier. Belisle did not get an easy out for the rest of the inning and every ball was hit hard. Only Bay failed to rifle the ball somewhere.
Going back to the defense, the worst play (even worse than Bay’s) came in the sixth when a grounder went into the area between the mound, first, and second. Adam LaRoche fielded the ball, but pitcher John Grabow did not bother to get to the bag, leaving LaRoche standing there holding the ball and looking stupid. It appeared as if LaRoche had a few words for the pitcher after the play transpired.
Even Jack Wilson got in on the disappearing glove act, as he tried to do one of his trademark “slide/catch the ball/throw when he can really just shuffle, bend over, and throw” plays and the ball took a hop right by him. I wonder what was more embarrassing for the player, Bay’s play or Wilson’s.
The Tigers, however, should still be interested in Wilson as the player whom he would probably replace, Neifi Perez, tested positive for a banned supplement, suspending him for 80 games.
Apparently the Tigers and Pirates had a deal put together that would bring Jair Jurrjens or another young pitcher along with a middling outfield prospect (meaning Brent Clevelen) to the Pirates for Jack Wilson with the Tigers assuming the shortstop’s entire monstrosity of a contract. The deal reportedly only broke off after the Pirates asked for a major league player instead (possibly Craig Monroe, who would fit the whole swing-and-miss motif). Doesn’t Littlefield get that when you can dump a huge contract and get a very good young pitching prospect into your extremely depleted farm system in return that you do that trade? Nope, he just wants more mediocre major league players instead of pitchers that could actually grow into something.
Jack Wilson has waived his limited no-trade clause to six teams, including the Tigers. No one is quite certain if the veteran SS has cleared or even been put on waivers yet. I would assume he has, if he has waived his no-trade clause, though. His time in Pittsburgh may be coming to a rapid close, perhaps for the Jurrjens-Clevelen deal.
Yes, Mr. Littlefield, the Reds’ second baseman (you know, the guy with the three RBIs last night and the .324 batting average) is, in fact, the player you threw into the Kris Benson deal.
Coutlangus . . . sexual activity or pitcher for the Reds. Discuss.
Ian Snell can not pitch in the first inning right now, which is very odd considering that in the first half he would come out extremely fired up and usually breeze through the first three hitters. I think it may be that he is trying to convince himself that he and his team are not losers right now instead of that they are winners.
Jonah Bayliss is still the worst pitcher in baseball.
According to mlb.com, the Pirates’ elimination number is 41, tying them with Florida and Washington for the lowest in the National League.
The only problem with that is that they are not winners. Seriously. Friday’s game was one of the two or three worst times I have had at PNC Park. The game was just that ugly.
Maybe Matt Morris will improve on his NL-leading three complete games tomorro night and the Pirates will finally be able to score some runs off of a mediocre starter (Bobby Livingston this time). Or maybe it will be just like tonight. Either way, I’ll be there again.
The Pirates are now 3.5 games out of the last overall place in baseball. We’re coming for you, Tampa Bay!