Raul Chavez?

On the same day that the rumors began to fly that veteran backstop Raul Chavez might get the nod to stay in Pittsburgh over Ronny Paulino when Ryan Doumit returns to the lineup,Chavez may have cemented his job with a 3 RBI night in the Pirates 5-2 win over the Astros.
Chavez broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth with a two run single that scored Adam LaRoche and Xavier Nady and sealed the win and added an insurance run in the 8th with a sacrifice fly to Houston centerfielder Michael Bourn that scored LaRoche.
The remaining Pirate RBI's went to LaRoche (4th inning single) and Nate McLouth (5th inning single).
Zach Duke improved to 3-4 on the campaign with an excellent outing that saw him last for 7 and two third innings and allow just two runs on seven hits.
Duke struck out two and walked the same amount for the game.
Damaso Marte was brought into the game to finish the 8th and Matt Capps whiffed 2 Astros in the ninth to earn his 12th save of the year with a flawless inning.
The series rubber match is tonight at 7.

Pitching Matchup
Houston:Brandon Backe (4-6, 4.54 ERA) at Pittsburgh:Paul Maholm (3-5, 4.74) 7:05

Bullpen Notes

Roy Oswalt does not seem to have the same stuff as in the past.
Oswalt picked up the loss in the second game of the series and it seems like his velocity is down a bit.
Just that alone explains some about his troubles this season.

The draft is today and it seems like Pedro Alvarez is the Pirates guy.
I still think that Pittsburgh would like to see Tampa take Tim Beckham to avoid a difficult choice,but Tampa may select Buster Posey instead.
Alvarez gives the Pirates front office a chance to show the fans that there really is a plan to win and not just make money.

The top recruit of the incoming class for Maryland's basketball program has asked for his release to transfer.
Gus Gilchrist asked and was given permission to transfer in another sign of the struggles of the Terrapin program over the last few seasons.
The 6'9 Gilchrist was expected to plug the hole left by James Gist next season and comes on the heels of another recruit JUCO transfer Tyree Evans.

And finally a note on Elizabeth Schulze bobblehead night on Saturday from the Hagerstown Suns.
I think this is a different scenario than with Nora Roberts bobblehead last season.
Roberts put backsides into seats that would not be there on any other occasion.
Will Schulze (the conductor of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra) do that?
I doubt it.
And that my friends (and other readers) is why you have promotions in the first place.

Maybe back later with a quick thought on the Pirates and (maybe) Indians first round picks in the draft.

Photo Credit
Duke:Don Wright-AP Photo

Wanderful and the Doc hits PNC Park

Well,so much for that.
Houston's Wandy Rodriguez,who was the leagues worst starter on the road last season,baffled the Bucs for six innings and led the visiting Houston Oranges (er,Astros) to a 2-0 win over Pittsburgh.
Houston scored the only run that they would need in the first when a tough,but catchable ball deflected off the glove of Xavier Nady.
This continues a trend of balls that Nady misplays and turns out to be the game difference.
The Pirates loaded the bases in the sixth,but Adam LaRoche's soft liner was snared by Miguel Tejada and the Pirates would fail to get another runner on first base for the remainder of the game.
Battlin Bob's guy Phil Dumatrait was the tough luck loser to fall to 2-3.
Dumatrait allowed the only two runs in 6 innings on 7 hits,fanned four and walked three and generally pitched reasonably well.
Battlin Bob and I discussed Dumatrait last night and according to the Battler,I am one of the few that has not been impressed by the lefty.
To me,his stuff is not good enough to get away with the amount of hitters that he walks and sooner or later that will catch up to him.
Hope I am wrong.
The series continues tonight-weather permitting.

Pitching Matchup
Houston:Roy Oswalt (4-5 5.45 ERA) at Pittsburgh:Zach Duke (2-4 4.41 ERA) 7:05

Bullpen Notes

Roy Oswalt is my favorite pitcher pitching today and he has struggled a bit this season,but his record vs the Pirates is tremendous-11-5 with a 2.52 ERA and his last 8 starts is even better- 5-0 with a 1.84 ERA.
Here is hoping for a good Oswalt outing,a no decision and Pittsburgh then smacks the Houston bullpen around.

Two of my favorite teams worlds collided last night in Pittsburgh as New Jersey Devil play by play man Mike "Doc" Emrick threw out the first pitch before the game at PNC Park.
Doc also spent an inning with another favorite,Lanny Frattare in the TV booth,so I guess he had to suffer through an inning with Greg Brown on the radio side as well.
Emrick is town for tonight's Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals and is a known Pirate fanatic.

Ryan Doumit is rehabbing at Altoona and word is that when Doumit returns to the lineup that Joggin Ronny Paulino could be the catcher going to Indianapolis not veteran warhorse Raul Chavez.
I like this move,Chavez is much more suited to the backup catcher role and Paulino sure has not shown anything this season to deserve to stay.

In another dig at the opposition,number two premium network Showtime picked up Inside the NFL after the shows long-time network and clear industry leader HBO dropped the show after 31 years.
Showtime is owned by CBS,so expect a CBS guy to fill the Bob Costas position on the show.
I have a feeling that it could be Gus Johnson.
Maybe then we can hear voiceovers from Johnson screaming at the top of his lungs about Jacksonville's 24-6 win over Houston being the greatest 24-6 game ever played every week.

Until next time
Photo Credits
Rodriguez-Don Wright-AP Photo
Emrick and the Parrot-Bruce Bennett-Getty Images

Michaels comes off bench to slug Bucs to win

Adam Wainwright controlled the Pirate offense for most of the game before 2 walks loaded the bases for pinch hitter Jason Michaels,who then blasted a grand slam home run (2) to tie the game at 4.
The Buccos would then score the game winner in the next inning on a slow roller to the outfield by Jason Bay that scored Nate McLouth from second with two outs.
The homer by Michaels was his second of the season,but first with Pittsburgh.
Michaels continues to show his value in the 4th outfielder/pinch hitting role that he did so well in Philadelphia before Cleveland attempted to use him as an everyday player.
Franquelis Osoria (3-1) picked up the W in the 5-4 win with an inning and two thirds of scoreless relief,while Matt Capps pitched the ninth to grab save number 11.
Tom Gorzelanny lasted 6 innings in a no decision performance allowing all 4 Cardinal run on seven hits,walking three and striking out two.
A better outing than his recent ones for Gorzo,but still far below expectations.
The Pirates return home for a nine game homestand that starts tonight vs the Houston Astros.

Pitching Matchup
Houston:Wandy Rodriguez (1-1 2.89 ERA) at Pittsburgh:Phil Dumatrait (2-2 3.52 ERA) 7:05

Bullpen Notes

If form continues tonight,look for a big night with the sticks from the Pirates.
Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez is one of those pitchers that pitches great at home and horribly on the road.

Interesting note on the Cleveland Gladiators that I found yesterday when linking for my Aunt Becky's picture.
Check this player out on the team.
Seems like a cool guy,even if he does spell his name wrong.

TSN has their off season look at the New Jersey Devils here.

Until tomorrow

Photo Credit
Michaels;Jeff Roberson-AP Photo

Oooh...that Snell

Ian Snell continued his string of poor performances,didn't record an out in the fifth inning and picked up his fifth loss in a row (2-5) in a 7-4 loss to the Cardinals.
Jose Bautista's second inning double staked Snell to a 1-0 lead,but in the second,Snell was ripped for all the runs that St.Louis would need in a five run fifth and he would give up another run in the 4th before being pulled in the 5th without retiring a batter.
Snell's line of 4+ innings,6 runs,8 hits,3 whiffs and 2 walks earned him the deserved loss.
The Bucs would add singles runs in the 5th (Freddy Sanchez sac fly),6th (Nate McLouth hit by pitch) and the 8th (Another Bautista double).
Bautista finished with three hits on the day and had a solid game for the third baseman.
I have no idea about what could be wrong with Snell.
I have a pretty good idea about the root of Tom Gorzelanny's troubles (Injury),but Snell does not really look much different than last season other than some control problems that flare up from time to time.
The play of the game was made by a Cardinal as Rick Ankiel dove toward the wall to grab a ball over his head that was crushed by Xavier Nady.
The catch cost Pittsburgh one run for sure and might have been worth even more runs than that.
One awesome catch for sure and the above shot does not do it justice.
Pittsburgh finished the road trip tonight at 8 before returning home for a 10 game homestand.

Pitching Matchup
Pittsburgh:Tom Gorzelanny (4-5 7.38 ERA) at St.Louis:Adam Wainwright (5-2 2.86 ERA) 8:00

Bullpen Notes

On his radio show,Pirate GM Neal Huntington offered a thought on sending Gorzelanny down to AAA Indianapolis in the future to attempt to deal with his 2008 woes.
To me,his problems are not mechanical,they are physical and Gorzo would better served with a shutdown of at least 2 weeks,if not a month.

Jack Wilson has been a last minute scratch from each of the last two games with leg problems.
Just a thought,maybe tonight should just be another rest night before the return home for the homestand.

I have always rooted against the Baltimore Orioles (OK,I despise them) and I think Peter Angelos is a known schmuck,but their plan to bring back the "Baltimore" on their road jerseys is a great one.
The marketing strategy of the Orioles being the Baltimore/Washington team went out the door when the Nationals arrived and this is a move that the Baltimore fans have wanted for years.
Good move.

And finally here is a picture of my favorite Aunt,Becky with her long
time hero Bernie Kosar at a recent Cleveland Gladiators game in Cleveland.
Kosar owns part of the Arena league team and it is very smart to use his celebrity as a way to get Browns fans to sample the indoor game by using the opportunity to meet the Cleveland legend,get an autograph and a picture.
I have tried to get into Arena ball a few times and have always wound up disappointed,perhaps a future visit to meet Kosar (and therefore watch a game live) might do the trick to hook me as a fan.
Of course,I would be torn on which team to root for-the Gladiators with the Kosar ownership or the Columbus Destroyers,which has some Ohio State connections.

Until next time
Ankiel:Tom Gannom-AP Photo
Kosar & Becky:Russ Heimberger

I'm not living here in Allentown

Last Thursday,we made our first trip to a Triple A Park and visited Allentown Pa and the brand new Lehigh Valley Ironpigs.
Of course,the real reason that we visited there was the visiting Indianapolis Indians,as this is the closest visit that the AAA Pirate affiliate gets to us this season.
Last season,we saw every Pirate farm team play except Indianapolis and we hope to change that this season.
The ballpark was terrific and not overly difficult to find.
Coca Cola is the sponsor of the park and their logo is literally all over the place.
Our tickets were comps as a friend of ours is friends with a member of the Lehigh Valley front office and they were terrific!
We were in the first row behind only the luxury area and we were close enough to umpire the game!
Lehigh Valley has the area directly behind home plate sold to businesses and high spenders much like you would see on television from the major league parks and you know what?
I think I liked our seats even better as we did not have to worry about seeing over anyone for the course of the game.
Upon entering the park,Kurt Landis (current GM and former GM of the Hagerstown Suns) walked up to me and complimented me on my Bernie Kosar jersey and as he got close,he must have recognized me from somewhere as he said "you look familiar".
I told him that he knew me from Hagerstown and then he nodded his head like "that's it".
Lehigh Valley is like a huge Hagerstown facility with all the modern comforts.
I guess a better way to say it is this-If you saw Hagerstown with Landis as the boss,you can see his fingerprints all over Lehigh Valley.
It was amazing to see what can happen when a team cleans up the stale acts (Sunsations),has some money to spend on promos (t-shirts,soft baseballs and other gimmicks tossed out often between innings throughout the game),hires a professional sounding person to run the between innings mic work and keeps the mascot to appearances without overkill.
It would be somewhat unfair to the Hagerstown Suns to totally compare them to the Ironpigs,the budget and facilities are completely divergent,but the Suns could take a few lessons from the old boss.
One more note to the Suns-when Lehigh Valley throws things into the crowd,they cover the entire facility,not just one narrow strip of the park because the less than hustling Sunsation only feels like walking by one grandstand.
The worst part of the in game experience is all the pig stuff going on,the name is bad enough,but the pig calls and miscellaneous things referring to the name got real old real fast.
Suns and Keys may be dull names,but they are not awful ones.

Now onto the reason that we went-the Indianapolis Indians.
We brought things to sign,but we remembered the words of a collector that told us that"AAA is the hardest place to get things signed because most of the guys there are miserable".
We did Ok,but not great and now if asked about AAA,I would add this-"The younger guys are still Ok,but the veterans are usually unhappy".
We managed to get all the prospects there except for Andrew McCutchen and I saw him signing for others down the right field line,so it wasn't an attitude issue.
Neil Walker signed and I told him that he signed in Hagerstown for me a few years back and he groaned "Hagerstown".
I then said "it is pretty bad ,isn't it"? and he replied "easily the worst".
I can see it now-Hagerstown "Easily the worst"!
Walker is always terrific and so was the newest Indian Brian Bixler,who signed everything and kept his uniquely legible signature as well.
Steve Pearce came from the other end of the dugout to sign and so did Nyjer Morgan,who I had never gotten before and both were very gracious.
The only former big leaguers that signed were Matt Kata (for others,I had nothing) and Josh Wilson (I had none,Ryan had one for someone else).
Craig Wilson showed no interest (that sucked,I really wanted my fave Buc from the years he was there) and a group of former big timers walked by as well that included John Van Benschoten,Jonah Bayliss and T.J.Beam.
Beam was too bad for Ryan,he had a refractor card of Beam that was numbered 1 of 200.
Bayliss completely ignored fans like they had leprosy.
But Bayliss (and his 6+ ERA) continued to have bad karma as he came into the game to pitch the ninth and allowed the tie to be broken by allowing three runs and picking up the L.
But Van Benschoten was not finished as he was in the stands charting and I had been told by a local collector that the previous day Bryan Bullington (called up that day) and Ty Taubenheim were charting and both signed late in the game without any trouble.
JVB was sitting about a row behind us and one section down,so we knew where he was and between the ninth inning,Battlin Bob did me a favor (he was closer to the aisle) and said he would get him.
JVB refused,acted poorly to the Battler and refused to sign.
I was not there,so you can read Battlin Bob's take on this here,but I would like to apologize to Bob for the ridiculous actions of the pitcher.
That would have been me,if you hadn't volunteered and I am sorry that you were treated so poorly.
One thing that I forgot about until the game started was the northeast fans.
I had forgotten just how annoying the Philly/New York fans are.
Loud,obnoxious know it alls that have zero concern for anyone else there except them.
The Southern fans might not be as knowledgeable,but they sure are easier to get along with!
As far as the game goes,Lehigh Valley scored 3 runs in the 8th to win 8-5.
Craig Wilson drilled a pinch hit homer in the top of the 8th to tie the game and then Jonah Bayliss blew it.
Neil Walker had 2 hits and so did Brian Bixler.
Andrew McCutchen had 1 and Steve Pearce did not play.
The I-Tribe has too many guys for the outfield/first base spots with McCutchen,Pearce,Morgan,Kevin Thompson,Adam Boeve and Wilson to give them all the PT that they need.
We will be back next year for the I-Tribes visit,but we will avoid the town of Allentown.
What a bad city to drive in.
Nothing but one way streets that seem to connect you to nowhere.
Awful.
But this trip is not bad,if you go straight to the park and out and don't try to shortcut your way out of the park.
We did and paid the price going almost 20 miles out of the way until we got back on track.
A for the Ballpark,A for the game management crew,F for finding your way around.

Back tomorrow with Pirates-Cardinals and a special pic as well.

Photo Credits-Ryan Heimberger

Pirates crush Cardinals 14-4

The Pittsburgh Pirates scored 4 runs in the first inning and 5 more in the third to gain control of their game vs the Cardinals 9-0 and cruised to a rain filled 14-4 win in St.Louis.
Xavier Nady cleared the bases with a first inning double to score 3 of the first inning runs and was singled home himself by Jose Bautista to give Pittsburgh the lead that they would never surrender.
Luis Rivas hit his first career Grand Slam (3) to salt the game away in the third.
Rivas must think his job is in jeopardy and is trying to save it with his recent power surge,in any case his spurt at least makes him a little easier to take in the lineup as it appears that Jack Wilson has injured himself again.
The Buccos added two more homers,both of the two run variety with Freddy Sanchez (2) connecting in the fifth and Ronny Paulino (2) slugging a sixth inning shot.
The Paulino homer was especially funny as Rick Ankiel kept circling himself around the ball like it was a routine fly,almost corkscrewing himself into the turf before looking astonished to see the ball disappear over the fence.
Paul Maholm pitched very well in getting the W and improving his record to 3-5.
Maholm allowed just 1 run and 4 hits over six and two thirds,whiffing 5 and walking NONE!
Very nice to see that.
The series continues today at 2 before concluding on Monday night.

Pitching Matchup
Pittsburgh:Ian Snell (2-4 5.46 ERA) at St.Louis:Braden Looper (6-4 5.05 ERA) 2:15

Bullpen Notes

An interesting article in the Los Angeles Times on Rollin Stewart.
Stewart would be better remembered as the guy in the rainbow wig that always showed up on televised games in the 70's and 80's.
Stewart now serves three life sentences for a hostage taking incident in 1992 and says that he"despised sports" and was never a fan.
After reading the article,it seems like Stewart needs to be in some type of facility for a long long time.

Our man in Japan,Brandon Siefken asks us to post this prediction.
I am hesitant to do this as it exposes Brandon to future ridicule,but as requested.
"The Reds are going to the World Series".

The Post-Gazette is reporting that the Pirates prefer Pedro Alvarez by a slim margin over Tim Beckham as their first pick in Thursday's draft.
Pittsburgh is hoping that Tampa takes Beckham to make their choice easy.
I know how they feel,I was just in that exact spot yesterday!

I have the pictures of Allentown now and will try to get my thoughts on our visit the next time I get a chance.

Until tomorrow
Maholm:Tom Gannam-AP Photo

Pirates Mock draft 2008

Here are the results of today's mock draft for the Pirates at Minorleagueball.com

Round 1: (2) Tim Beckham SS Georgia High School
Round 2:(48) James Darnell 3b South Carolina
Round 3:(79) Nick Mardone LHP Kentucky High School
Round 4:(114) Austin DiCharry RHP Texas High School
Round 5:(144) Brandon Miller C Georgia High School

The five players were all in the top 101 players rated by Baseball America.
I am very pleased with this draft,although the two high school pitchers could be tough signs as Mardone is a Scott Boras client and DiCharry might want second round money in order to pass on his scholarship to the Texas Longhorns.

Photo Credits
Beckham:AFLAC Classic
Darnell:Jeff Blake-Thestate.com