Bucs snap losing streak and start a new one.

In old news,the Pirates salvaged a win in Cincinnati Sunday,defeating the Reds 6-3 .
I didnt get to see the game,due to the Hickory DH,So I will let the above link tell the story.
Home Runs from Jason Bay,Jack Wilson and Brad Eldred.
Zach Duke got the win to move to 1-0 and Salomon Torres earned his 4th save.

The Bucs dropped their home opener at the "Frozen Tundra" of PNC Park to the St.Louis Cardinals 3-0.
The Pirate offense was,in a word, anemic as they only managed 3 hits off of Braden Looper (BRADEN LOOPER??), Ryan Franklin and Jason Isringhausen.
Only Chris Duffy's double was an extra base knock.
Ian Snell looked great for the 2nd outing in a row.Snell allowed only 1 run over his 7 Innings,fanning 3.
Hard to believe that just two years ago,the Pirates thought his future was in middle relief.
IMO-Snell has the highest ceiling of the 4 Bucco young starters.

Assorted Notes;

Still cannot believe that the Pirates have a policy on not talking to bloggers.
I know that DL and the organization arent always thrilled with the criticism they get,but not allowing speaking on the record with anyone isnt going to help them any.
Look at Athletics Nation-Billy Beane doesnt just tolerate them,he EMBRACES them!
Beane gives long interviews multiple times with them every year and thats BILLY BEANE,not minor league players.
A great recommendation to Athletics Nation-BTW.
Whether you are a Oakland fan (I am a casual one),Billy Beane guy or just interested in small market baseball-AN is always a great read.
The Pirates once again are way behind the curve here,why am I not shocked?

Good to see baseball has been thinking smart for a change in moving the upcoming Angels-Indians series to Milwaukee and only charging 10 bucks a seat for any seat in the house!
Smart move and this is the second time that the Tribe has played home games in Milwaukee.
The other?
In Major League 1,Milwaukee County Stadium was used as "Cleveland Stadium".

I asked about some members of the Pirate system that remained in Florida to our "Unnamed Hickory player".He was more than helpful and "Unnamed Crawdad" chimed in a few of of these
as well..

Brandon Williams-pitched extremely well and was either the last or next to last player cut from the Crawdad roster.Both players referred to Williams being "Very Disappointed" and both seemed to be surprised,he wasnt on the roster. For what I was told,Williams might be the 1st pitcher to join Hickory,once the inevitable roster shuffling starts..
Disclosure-I sat with Brandon last year during my visit to Williamsport and came away VERY impressed with him as a person.
I have never had a player thank me for asking him to sign something.During our evening of watching the game,I knew I had to have him sign something,so I asked him to sign the Crosscutter logo card,since he wasnt in the set.
He signed it and thanked me for asking.
As the game ended,I thanked him for tolerating me and my questions about him and the Cutters.
His response? "Shawn,you guys (I was with Ryan,the ever-present Battling Bob ,my lovely wife and daughter) are the reason we are here and the reason we get paid to do what we love".
I was floored and I am a huge Brandon Williams mark to this day because of how he carries himself.

Austin McClune- Played very well also and came close to starting in Hickory.
I asked about McClune and commented that he wasnt the typical Ed Creech pick.High school and toolsy.
McClune played very well and came close to making the team,but due to his age,it was decided to keep him in EST and start him at State College.
Hickory is a College player dominated team at this point for sure.
The youngest Crawdad is 20 yr old Bradley Clapp.

Miles Durham-Neither of the "Unnamed Crawdads" had much to say about Durham either way,so must not have been all that memorable.
I began to ask about Justin Byler,but got sidetracked.

If you like the links for the Pirate Minor league profiles-It is the work of Wilbur Miller.
Wilbur does a great job and I encourage you to check his work out.

On the next two days (off days!),I hope to get quite a few things pounded out here.
If all works well,I hope to have the Crawdads report from their Hagerstown visit finished,top 10 Indians prospects up and my Opinions,Critiques and solutions for the Hagerstown Suns organization ready to go!

Photo credit-Gregory Shamus/Getty Images