More Loose Change

Pitcher's turn. Again, here's how the Pirate pitching stats would look if multiplied by four, representing the end of the year's stats.

Snell 8 W, 12 L, 4.84 ERA, 96 BB, 152 K in 231 IP
Duke 8 W, 8 L, 4.23 ERA, 76 BB, 80 K in 221 IP
Maholm 8 W, 20 L, 5.03 ERA, 80 BB, 152 K in 215 IP
Gorzelanny 12 W, 16 L, 6.64 ERA, 124 BB, 96 K in 163 IP
Dumatrait 4 W, 8 L, 4.39 ERA, 100 BB, 112 K in 164 IP

Capps 40 S, 2.61 ERA, 12 BB, 48 K, in 83 IP
Grabow 12 W, 4 L, 1.33 ERA, 16 BB, 80 K, in 82 IP
Marte 12 W, 0 L, 4.15 ERA, 20 BB, 96 K, in 87 IP
Osoria 8 W, 4 L, 4.88 ERA, 24 BB, 44 K, in 125 IP
Yates 8 W, 0 L, 3.05 ERA, 68 BB, 44 K, in 83 IP

As with the offensive projections, these need to be taken with a block of salt. These aren't good for a whole lot, besides illustrating how awful the starting rotation has been to this point. As further proof, take a second look at those relief win-loss totals. These will obviously not end up near what they look now. Here are the average projections. Again, these are produced using three fourths of the player's career averages, then adding that number to the results thus far.

Snell 10 W, 11 L, 4.53 ERA, 83 BB, 164 K in 207 IP
Duke 10 W, 11 L, 4.21 ERA, 64 BB, 98 K in 209 IP
Maholm 10 W, 16 L, 4.73 ERA, 77 BB, 136 K in 208 IP
Gorzelanny 12 W, 13 L, 4.84 ERA, 95 BB, 121 K in 190 IP
Dumatrait 2 W, 12 L, 6.67 ERA, 87 BB, 87 K, in 141 IP

Capps 18 S, 2.83 ERA, 11 BB, 49 K, in 71 IP
Grabow 5 W, 3 L, 3.41 ERA, 22 BB, 62 K, in 65 IP
Marte 5 W, 2 L, 3.49 ERA, 27 BB, 74 K, in 68 IP
Osoria 2 W, 5 L, 4.88 ERA, 25 BB, 43 K, in 98 IP
Yates 4 W, 3 L, 4.32 ERA, 46 BB, 56 K, in 72 IP

Similarly to the hitters, these projections can give us a pretty good idea of where the Bucs are heading (barring injuries to any of these players of course). One other interesting bit of information revealed here is that the combined record of these pitchers would be 60-75. Fifteen games below .500 is about where this team was expected to be by most experts.

If these projections are anywhere close to being a reality, and they should be, the Pirates will not be a buyer at the trading deadline. Based on John Grabow's career year up to this point, both he and Damaso Marte should be traded. This would hold especially true should Sean Burnett show he belongs in the Major Leagues. Should this happen, expect the Pirates to get some sort of a left handed reliever in return since they have nobody left in AAA, and none of the guys in AA seem relatively close to ready either.

On the plus side, it certainly seems as though the starting rotation is destined to put up some major innings soon.

My 25 cents.

With the year just over a quarter of the way complete, let's take a look at how the 2008 Pirates figure to end the season. As always, take these projections with a grain of salt (especially Nate McLouth's and Adam LaRoche's).

R. Doumit .350-20-60 in 412 AB
A. LaRoche .207-20-80 in 580 AB
F. Sanchez .260-4-84 in 692 AB
J. Bautista .228-16-68 in 508 AB
B. Bixler .171-0-8 in 304 AB
J. Bay .258-27-72 in 604 AB
N. McLouth .306-48-144 in 692 AB
X. Nady .309-20-144 in 648 AB

Nobody but Jose Bautista looks to be spot on in all 4 categories. I'd love for Ryan Doumit's average to stay close to .350, but otherwise I'd say 20 hr's is not out of reach for him. LaRoche's average figures to creep up, but the rest of his stats look ok. Freddy Sanchez has some work to do, though I was pleasantly surprised about his RBI totals. Brian Bixler we know won't be around much longer, much to Paul Meyer's chagrin for some odd reason. Bay looks on track, save maybe for his RBI totals, which should be higher by the end of the year than 72 I hope. McLouth will fall to earth at some point, bringing his numbers down a bit, and I don't expect Xavier Nady's average or RBI totals to be close to where they are now.

Based on career averages, let's project where the Pirates players are more likely to end up. All I'm doing is taking career norms and multiplying by 3/4, then I'll add those numbers to what the player did in their first quarter of the year.

R. Doumit .273 - 18 - 64 in 463 AB
A. LaRoche .253 - 24 - 86 in 550 AB
F. Sanchez .292 - 6 - 74 in 613 AB
J. Wilson .264 - 7 - 42 in 467 AB
J. Bautista .237 - 15 - 61 in 511 AB
J. Bay .275 - 32 - 93 in 585 AB
N. McLouth .276 - 26 - 74 in 500 AB
X. Nady .284 - 19 - 92 in 556 AB

As you can see, these are relatively realistic. The biggest determining factor, besides injuries, will be whether or not the Pirates decide to trade Nady. If they do, his batting average could stay near .300 (traditionally Nady has fared well in platoons), but the RBI total will come way down. A Nady trade could positively affect McLouth because he would figure to drop a few spots in the order to third. A speedy Andrew McCutchen getting on-base in front of Sanchez and McLouth will only help RBI chances. Add in Nate the Great's ability to hit in clutch situations and you may have a recipe for a 100 RBI season from a player that spends half the year in the leadoff spot.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at the pitchers.

The Curse is Broken! Bucs Win 7-6.

It would figure that in order to finally win a game against the Cubbies, it wouldn't be an easy contest. As it turned out, we needed Nate the Great to do something - well, great. Most know we here at The White Flag consider Carlos Marmol to have the best stuff of any reliever in our division. He had it today, and so did McLouth. This win could prove to be ginormous. Tomorrow, the Bucs go for their third straight series win. They'll send Phil Dumatrait (1-1 3.96) to the mound against Jason Marquis (1-3 5.26).

Marquis is just the type of pitcher the Pirates seem to have trouble with. He's as mediocre as they come, in the same vein as Brett Tomko and countless others. In fact, looking at his baseball-reference page lists the following players as most similar, among others: Joel Pineiro, Gil Meche, Armando Reynoso, Kris Benson, Adam Eaton, Jaret Wright, Ted Lilly, Mark Clark, Rodrigo Lopez, Pedro Astacio, Todd Stottlemyre, Jason Schmidt, Vicente Padilla, Jack Wilson (?!), Sterling Hitchcock, and Kip Wells. Now if that's not enough to convince you of the mediocrity, consider the fact that almost half of them have played for the Pirates during the Streak at some point. That should do the trick.

I'm telling you, one of the other Central teams could make a killing by just signing Marquis, Tomko, Matt Belisle, Rich Hill and Doug Davis. We'd never win a game against them. However the Pirates normally do well against ace pitchers. Today was no exception. Good thing we've got Carlos Zambrano's number!

Pirates Win the First Series (Part 3)

After an awesome Pirates win today, it got me thinking about the lineup. Jack Wilson should be back soon, and though Ryan Doumit won't be back on the field for a month or so, Ronny Paulino still has to be considered an above average offensive catcher. We won't get into his defensive shortcomings (not today, at least). The offense should still be potent enough to keep the Bucs around the .500 mark. Hopefully, that scenario won't deter Neil Huntington & company from dealing Jason Bay and/or Xavier Nady for a top pitching prospect. Here's a detailed look at the Pirates' offense compared to the Cardinals and the Cubs.

Name...........AB....D....T....HR....RBI....BB....K....AVG....OPS

N.McLouth.....161...13...2....11....33.....21....21...304....1.007
F.Sanchez.....160....9...0.....1....21......6....22...250......603
X.Nady........153...14...0.....5....34.....14....28...320......894
J.Bay.........142....6...0.....8....17.....30....32...268......872
A.LaRoche.....132....5...0.....4....16.....19....40...197......624
J.Bautista....127....8...0.....4....17.....12....36...228......682
R.Doumit......103....8...0.....5....15......5....14...350......955
R.Paulino......67....4...0.....0....13......7....13...224......577

R.Ankiel......147....9...0.....7....21.....20....28...293......876
S.Schumaker...147....8...1.....2....13.....17....17...286......755
A.Pujols......143...10...0.....8....27.....41....15...357....1.097
T.Glaus.......140...14...0.....2....26.....26....28...264......786
Y.Molina......126....6...0.....2....14.....15.....5...302......770
R.Ludwick.....112...11...2.....8....25.....14....34...330....1.077
C.Izturis.....108....5...0.....0.....7.....13.....6...250......643
A.Kennedy.....106....3...1.....0....13......9....17...283......666

D.Lee.........168....11...1....10....29.....19....23...310......943
R.Theriot.....152.....7...1.....1....11.....20....17...329......816
K.Fukodome....148....11...2.....2....16.....27....26...324......892
A.Ramirez.....136....12...0.....6....26.....25....27...294......934
G.Soto........131....13...1.....7....29.....24....34...321....1.018
M.DeRosa......129.....7...0.....3....22.....22....30...287......810
R.Johnson.....121.....6...0.....1....17......9....19...256......674
A.Soriano.....113.....6...0.....6....18......7....20...257......767

I only took the top 8 players from each team based on at-bats. Notice that McLouth and Bay possess the Pirates top threats to reach via walk. Other than those two, the Pirates are a free swinging offense that has been lucky thus far. That luck will run out eventually, probably starting with Xavier Nady, if they don't start taking more pitches out of the strike zone. The Pirates, for far too long have coveted power hitters without an eye for the strike zone. Rich Aude, Brian Hunter, Freddy Garcia, Brant Brown, Chad Hermansen, Alex Ramirez, Jose Hernandez (twice), Carlos Rivera, J.J. Davis, Brad Eldred, I could go on forever. These guys each struck out around 3 times as often as they walked in the minor league career. Various Pirate GM's actually have labeled several of these guys as the future face of the organization at one time or another!

Actually, a superstar who struck out three times as often as they walk (like the guys I just mentioned) while still in the Minors comes along, on average, once every 5 years. In the whole major leagues. Yet our braintrust, if that's what you want to call it, thought we had one of those guys every year. Unfortunately, Dave Littlefield has left us with plenty of left overs. We'll call them Brad Corley's. Xavier Nady strikes me as more of a Brad Corley than an Albert Pujols. Speaking only about their betting eyes of course. Nady is a free swinger, just like the rest of the Pirates. Winning baseball takes patience. Especially for a Pirates fan - and especially from the Pirates offense.

1-0 So Far (Part 2)

Part two of the comparison will focus on the relievers. There are not many big names in the bullpens of the NL Central. Unless you count Kerry Wood and his 2003 season, that is. Let's see if we can make some sense of this.

Name............IP......W.......L.......H.......BB......K.......ERA

J. Grabow.......18......2.......1.......15......4.......16......1.50
D. Marte........20......2.......0.......16......5.......24......4.58
T. Yates........18......2.......0.......13......16......8.......3.00
F. Osoria.......27......2.......1.......41......6.......9.......5.60
M. Capps........18......0.......0.......14......3.......10......2.55

R. Franklin.....20......1.......1.......17......8.......9.......1.80
J. Isringhausen.17......1.......4.......20......8.......12......7.02
K. McClellan....19......0.......1.......18......5.......16......2.79
R. Flores.......10......1.......0........8......7.......9.......1.86
R. Villone......15......1.......1.......11......10......14......3.52

C. Marmol.......24......1.......0.......10......6.......32......1.13
M. Wuertz.......20......0.......0.......16......6.......11......3.60
B. Howry........19......0.......2.......28......2.......13......5.79
K. Wood.........19......2.......1.......11......3.......17......3.79
S. Marshall......9......0.......0.......8.......7.......5.......4.15

Several points to make. First, I have no doubt that Piniella will destroy Marmol's arm, if not by the end of this year, then definitely by the middle of next season. Kind of reminds me of the situation the Tigers were in a couple years ago with Zumaya. It's almost as if the temptation is too great for the manager. You've got a guy that throws way too hard to give anybody at the plate a chance, so you bring him in during every close game and sooner or later, he blows out his arm. As much as I hate the Cubs, Marmol is fun to watch, and I really don't want to see that happen to him. Here's to hoping Lou gets smart.

Second, notice the Pirate relievers' record. 8-2. Not bad. This obviously demonstrates the fact that Bucs have come back to win several games in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings. The IP's are a bit inflated due to all of those early season extra innings games. It's a shame the rotation didn't hold up its end in the beginning of the year, we could be in 2nd or 3rd place right now, well above .500.

Thirdly, the comparison of innings pitched leads me to believe the Pirates may just have the best rotation of all three of these teams. Before you laugh, hear me out. I honestly doubt the Cardinals can stay afloat with the talent and track records of the players they're going to have to count on to get to the trading deadline in a position of "buyer". The Cubs seem injury-prone, though they may get lucky, and they surely have the offense to get to the playoffs. As I already mentioned, the Pirate relievers have more innings pitched because of the crazy extra inning contests. Also, the inevitable Matt Morris effort added what amounts to be an extra 3 innings per every 5th day. Luckily, that's now out of the equation. Couple that with the addition of an effective (for a 5th starter) Phil Dumatrait and the hopeful rediscovery of form for Gorzo and Snell, and you have a solid staff, without the flash of a Zambrano or Wainright.

Contrary to my belief before the season started, I now wonder aloud that the Pirates may actually end up with an above average bullpen this year. How, I don't know. The stats don't lie, and compared to their counterparts, are actually quite favorable early in the year. And we finally have a manage that seems to know how to use John Grabow. Either that or he learned to pitch. I guess time will tell...

The Big 6 (Part 1)

The next 6 games should determine a lot. Not just about the Pirates, but about the National League Central Division. The Cardinals are fighting with the Cubs for 1st place, and though it's only May, there are reasons to believe that this could be the outcome of the Central at the end of the season. On paper, the Cardinals hardly look impressive. On paper, the Cubs look awfully impressive. On paper, the Pirates look, at least up until the last week, like a badly balanced check book. All kinds of zeros in the wrong places, and huge numbers where there should be small ones (like, ERA's for instance).
Let's take a moment to compare the Pirates to the Cardinals and the Cubs.

Name.............IP.....W....L....H....BB....K....ERA

Z. Duke..........49.....2....2....61...18....16....4.04
I. Snell.........48.....2....2....54...21....30....4.53
P. Maholm........41.....2....3....44...15....27....4.79
T. Gorzelanny....35.....3....3....32...29....21....5.97
P. Dumatrait.....30.....1....1....31...15....22....3.86

A. Wainright.....58.....3....2....46...13....39....2.95
T. Wellemeyer....48.....3....1....41...16....42....3.56
B. Looper........47.....5....2....49...11....20....4.21
K. Lohse.........44.....3....2....49...15....18....4.87
J. Pineiro.......33.....2....2....35....9....14....4.05

C. Zambrano......62.....6....1....53...16....43....2.03
R. Dempster......49.....4....1....29...23....36....2.76
T. Lilly.........45.....3....4....42...16....39....5.24
J. Marquis.......34.....1....2....43...15....21....5.08
R. Hill..........20.....1....0....13...18....15....4.12

So what's the huge difference? Walks! Our pitchers either need to miss more bats or quit throwing the ball out of the zone. The Pirates have pitchers that can be successful in this division. This proves it. Especially considering Gorzelanny and Snell have both competed well below expectations. If one of them, most likely Snell, can develop into a legitimate ace, based on the starting pitching we should be able to at least contend for the division title. More to come...

5/11 Doubleheader

Today's rainout is being rescheduled as a doubleheader tomorrow. The Bucs will start Phil Dumatrait, the 26 year old waiver claim who has stepped in admirably for the not-so-admirable Matt Morris. Through two starts I think we've seen a good bit of why Dumatrait can be successful. He throws low 90's heat from the left side and can be deceptive. He has also been erratic at times, but seems capable of being the 5th starter.

In the second game the Bucs will give a spot-start to 28 year old former No. 1 pick John Van Benschoten. I remember Van Benschoten as the guy we picked instead of Casey Kotchman, Jeremy Bonderman or David Wright. I suppose it could be worse, the Cubs could have let Mark Prior slip to us.

This actually brings up an interesting point. As busy as Dr. Andrews has been with Pirate pitchers, does Mark Prior have us beat in terms of arm surgeries? I bet it's close.

Getting back to Van Benschoten, I say there's a decent chance he sticks with the team for a while this time. I've always liked the guy, but you can't argue with the track record shoulder surgeries have. Maybe he can be one of the few to overcome one. It's about time someone in this organization came back from arm trouble and does ok. Let's hope Johnny V is it.

Speaking of shoulder issues, not even the spectacular outing Tom Gorzelanny had the other night can change my mind about his shoulder. There's something wrong in there, and his 88 mph heat may have kept the Braves off-balance, but I don't think he's healthy. The back problem also raises my eyebrow. I say it's very possible he caused his back strain by overcompensation. Mechanical problems or not, he's not the same finger-flipping bobblehead we saw last year. Though he does still look an awful lot like Sloth. HEYYY YOUUU GUUUUUYS!!!!

Bay, Nady...Going, going, gone?

DThe Pirates, today traded for former Phillie and Indian Jason Michaels. This move, as far as I can tell, solves two problems. One potentially, and one presently. Presently, the Pirates bench is much improved. Michaels offers some much-needed experience, as well as some pop that the Bucs did not have with Nyjer Morgan, who has been sent down.

I have a feeling that the Pirates also made this move in order to cover for the possible trade of Jason Bay and/or Xavier Nady. As well as Andrew McCutchen is hitting, the Pirates have to admit he probably will not be ready for a full-time gig in the majors this season at age 21. It's also safe to assume they will not keep McCutchen in AAA if he keeps up that OPS of 1.400. Even though they both bat right-handed, a platoon would still possibly be best for the youngster.

I don't think the Pirates will trade Bay or Nady within the next 2 months. I would be very suprised if anything went down before July. Most teams consider themselves still in contention (including our lovable losers), don't know what they need, or don't know what they have. Most of the time, teams are going to wait as long as possible in order to keep their options open. The Pirates, no doubt, are in a couple of the above boats and won't get their best available trade offer for Bay or Nady until July. Expect them to do better than the usual 2 relief "prospects", but don't expect a top 100 prospect either. Wait, they did fire Littlefield. Ok, maybe we can get lucky.

In other news, the Pirates organization has won another prestigious award. Awesome. Plus, I'm sure the press was free, which is always a huge selling point to the ownership.

Giants @ Pirates 5/7/08

Going into this game I was concerned about Barry Zito dominating the Bucs and gaining the confidence necessary to fully regain his starting job. Yes, you read that correctly. See, the Pirates can’t hit awful pitching. They can leave perfectly capable pitchers like Brett Myers wondering what went wrong. They even held their own against Johan Santana. I wouldn’t be surprised if they lit up Brandon Webb for 8 runs but they can’t hit awful pitching.

A perfect example can be seen in the Nationals’ series. The starting pitchers the Pirates faced were Odalis Peres, John Lannan and Matt Chico. Not exactly Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. If one were to ask most GM’s which of those three they would take the unanimous answer would be 23-year-old John Lannan. After all, he was entering the game 2-2 with a 2.64 era. Anyway, the Pirates drop 2 of three. Take a wild guess which one of these pitchers the Pirates roughed up for their only win. Now you see why Zito concerns me.

Luckily, the Pirates had Phil Dumatrait. A former 1st round draft pick, Dumatrait was once the focal point in the Red Sox deal for former flash in the pan Scott Williamson. He came to the Pirates after being placed on waivers by the Reds this off-season after getting his first cup of coffee in the bigs which ended up being extremely forgettable. While to this point he has been the best off-season acquisition (time will tell but I believe that Marino Salas will ultimately be the best player the Bucs picked up this off-season), one would hardly confuse him with the dominant pitcher that the Bosox believed they had drafted back in 2000. Fortunately, Dumatrait was facing the pathetic San Francisco Giants.

Dumatrait gave the Bucs nearly 6 inning of shutout ball while striking out five and only walking one. Xavier Nady provided the entire offense with a 2-run homer off of Zito in the 4th and a rare run producing GIDP in the 8th. In reality, those were the only stories of the game. I’m happy to get the win but the only thing to really take away from this game is that while our beloved Buccos may be bad, The San Francisco Giants are much, much worse. Brian Sabean had one decent year as a GM in 1997 when he traded Matt Williams for Jeff Kent and Julian Tavarez. Since then he had just been riding the Bonds express while doing just enough to keep his job thanks to the occasional brain dead GM offering one sided deals that he couldn’t refuse (Hello Littlefield’s Schmidt for Vogelsong and Rios masterpiece) and Bonds turning into a superhuman. I’m reaching out to San Francisco fans here. We know how you feel and maybe we can help each other. Keep the faith and perhaps someday the Bucs will be playing the Giants in the playoffs.

The Month that Was: April '08

Ahh April. It's the time of hope all across the country. The winter weather is starting to subside and all major league baseball teams are essentially tied for first place. As Pirates fans, we had no idea that our team had already peaked on the last day of March with the heroics of Xavier Nady. Now as I sit here looking at a 13-19 record, I am reminded of a month ago when hope was the word of the day when describing the 2008 version of our baseball club. Some of you may ask "Duckworth, why now? It's May 7th. Even you have paid your rent by now. Why so late on the inaugural monthly review?" Well, we didn't think to start a blog until yesterday and I had a day off which happened to fall on Cinco de Mayo and Buck Night so I said screw it and drank too much. You're lucky I do this at all.

By the first of April, we had worked ourselves up into frenzy about the upcoming baseball season. I have no idea why I continue to ignore all of the clues. There were no significant moves in the off-season, the new regime was preaching patience and rebuilding, and our new manager is our former 3rd base coach that was actually fired by the team at one point in time. Still, when they started talking "accountability" and acquiring power arms I couldn't help but take notice. Eventually, it became like every other season. I would talk about their chances and start playing the "what if" game. By the time I was sitting on the couch eagerly awaiting the first pitch on opening day I was certain that we had four 20 game winners and an unstoppable powerhouse lineup. Who cares? This is what opening day is all about. Would you have listened to a Rockies fan on April 1, 2007 if he/she said that the season will end in Denver that year? No. So why not us?

It didn't take long for reality to set in. I think it happened right around the 12th inning of the home opener when Evan Meek turned into the right-handed, no-bat Rick Ankiel. I watched in horror as my beloved Buccos dropped winnable games. Worst of all, I watched Mash Morris pitch the team out of games before Nate McLouth even had the chance to lead off.

That said I would be lying if I said that there was nothing to enjoy about April. Xavier Nady is playing like a man who plans to be in the pennant race this year… with or without the Pirates. Nate McLouth surpassed the expectations placed on him after a decent spring and has provided the Pirates with the most stable CF option since Kenny Lofton’s brief tenure. Have you notice we seem to win more games with Ryan Doumit behind the plate than Ronny Paulino? Not a coincidence. Even “Erratic Evan” Meek had some outings that weren’t abysmal.

That list makes me want to believe that our failure franchise may me turning the corner. Unfortunately, I only allot myself three instances of misguided optimism a season and we still have our inevitable dominant late May stretch and the draft with a new regime ahead of us so I don’t think I’ll be cashing in one of those chips right now. There are many holes on this team. Only two guys on the bench (Mientkiewicz and Paulino) have any right being in the majors, Gorzo seems destined for an appointment with Dr. Andrews, Ian Snell has been okay but nowhere close to expectations and Maholm, Dumatrait and Duke can range from capable to Morris-esque on any given night.

Keys to Improvement:


-Adam Laroche needs to leave his annual April swoon in April. I loved the homerun tonight and hopefully he can keep it up.

-Better starting pitching. Duke and Maholm have shown flashes this year but need to stop hitting their Josh Fogg self destruct switch so often.

-The return of Jack Wilson. Jack, if you ever read this, we’re sorry. Pirates’ fans have been torn on you for years. I even suggested at the beginning of the season that you should be traded if you have another decent year. I was wrong. We all were wrong. You don’t even have to hit when you come back. I guess we all just took the unbelievable glove work of #2 for granted.

-Freddy and Bautista turning it around. No one is worried about Freddy. The man can straight up hit and is extremely underrated on defense. As for Bautista, I hope he can bottle what he did against the Nationals. He can be great and I think he really works at his craft. Hopefully it will all come around for him.

-Fan cynicism. Hey, I’m as guilty as anyone. When I attended the Matt Morris’ swan song/Gorzo’s obscene bobblehead game I had a girl in front of me that continued to give me the finger and tell me to stop complaining about the state of our team. Granted, she was from Philadelphia and was wearing black nail polish which means she has no valid opinion but maybe she was right. I was kicking back, drinking beers and watching baseball with my homies. Life could be a hell of a lot worse.

"Consistency is the Key"

It was the summer of 1997, I remember it like it was yesterday. I stepped foot onto my first high school football practice. We all gathered into a big circle as Coach Tim Krysiak began his opening season speech about the upcoming year. "Consistency is the key," he said to us. That year we pulled out a strong 0-10 showing. We went on to win 5 games total the following two years before I quit. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Every year, like that 15 yr old kid in us, we line up our vehicles in the parking lot awaiting the first pitch of the new year. Then, like in practice, we tune in our TV's endless nights hoping for change. What exactly are John Russell and the Pirates orginization doing much different from my favorite Coach K?

I value the hard work Sean Burnett has put into this orginization after multiple surgeries. I also have to give a nod to John Van Ben. for his triumphant return, but lets be honest with each other. Are we really excited about the fact that two top draft picks, be it from different years, have made it to the majors once again? Or are we excited about thier level of play since thier return?

Looking into a bullpen once filled with Rule 5 draft pick Evan Meek and this years white flag Franquelis Osoria, it feels like Thomas Ian Nicholas is trotting onto the field when thier numbers are called. I dunno whether to celebrate or cry while my PTSD from the last 15 years succombs my brain. Thier play has been average at best, but like every Pirate pitcher in years past, we'll wait and pray to a God who I swear thinks we don't exist.

Meanwhile, lets focus on the batting order. While I agree with Russell's decision to drop McLouth in the order tonight, he didn't drop him far enough. Now batting for your Pittsburgh Pirates, number 38 Jason Bay. While 6 home runs in the month of April is admirable, we're still left with the fact he's posted 11 RBI's this season and I don't care how many times he walks. If he wants to be a sissy and never swing at the ball unless the bases are empty, then why is he in the 3 hole?

Doumit steps in next. It sucks he can't catch everyday, enough said. Nady's 2 RBI's put him ahead in the NL RBI lead by one. Well done. What a 5 hitter is supposed to do. Adam Laroche...well he hit another dong tonight. Just enough to keep you hoping for the opening year slump to end, but I'm not sold. He's still batting below the Mendoza line while Bautista, after the series of his career, was batting behind the Pirate killer. It makes my head hurt.

Duke's stellar outing proves what we all know through basic baseball knowledge. Keep your team in the game and your offense will try and win one for you. I guess it was Duke's turn to earn his job for another month. I swear they must draw straws in the locker room every week.

I haven't given up yet. But after losing 3 of 4 to our nations capital, if we don't pull out a series and we're already down by one when Barry Zito is scheduled for his return to the rotation tommorrow night I might have to check myself into a psychiatric ward. Worse yet go to the horse track and gamble a lot of money because I suck. I will inevitably lose all the money I take with me and that might numb the pain of being a Pirates Fan.

Nate the Great?

After reading today's article in the Post Gazette about Nate McLouth, several things jumped out at me. First off, while Nate is having a heckuva season, I'm still a bit skeptical. I don't think McLouth's a 4th outfielder, but let's face the facts. We're Pirates fans, we've seen this before. Several times. The rise and fall of Adrian Brown, Tike Redman and, more recently Chris Duffy, makes it seem as though this was meant to happen. The only question should be whether we're dreaming and this is really the second half of the season (in which case, like Brown and Redman, we can assume McLouth hits the usual .200 come next spring) or when he will have the unavoidable hamstring-followed-by-a-shoulder injury, which will no doubt reduce McLouth to a machine that takes the first 2 strikes and then whiffs wildly at the third.

By the way, has anybody noticed how many players Dave Littlefield was just plain wrong about? Counting McLouth, I'd say roughly half of our roster contains players in capacities Mr. Littlefield thought were impossible. Of course, a large helping hand was thrust forth by Jim Tracy, too. Let's look at the difference in personnel here:

Ryan Doumit c - Right Field, anyone? First base?! He can't be a Major League catcher! No way!

Freddy Sanchez 2b - Remember when it was Freddy or Bobby Hill for pinch hits? Thank God Wigginton sucked so badly.

Chris Gomez ss - Ok, you're right. This one is typical Littlefield. Though I doubt Littlefield/Tracy would have ever tried anyone else at short in Jack's absence.

McLouth cf - See article above.

Ian Snell sp - I still remember when the light bulb came on. Futures Game, thanks!

Matt Morris released - With Littlefield, he'd still be here to bontribute his share of 30 losses for the year.

Zach Duke sp - Perfect example of Jim Colborn's excellent instincts. Maybe Zach will never be "The Duke", but atleast he has a slider again.

Phil Dumatrait sp - Finally getting a chance, despite not being one of our #1 picks. How did this happen?

Doug Mientkiewicz util - It takes some big ones to tell a 35-year old gold glove 1b he should try some new positions. He'd be platooning at first with Littlefield. On second thought, maybe he should still be.

Ronny Paulino bench - Thanks to Jeff Manto, we still haven't fixed that step-in-the-bucket stance of his. Atleast his confidence is back

John Van Benschoten rp - Relief pitcher? Why? He's a #1 pick! Ahh, I can hear it still.

Sean Burnett rp - See above.

Jack Wilson ss - "Well we had a similar situation a few years ago with Aramis Ramirez, where he was able to avoid the DL, he just kept pinch-hitting for a month or so, he ended up fine. Just ask the Cubs." - Probable Littlefield quote.

Tyler Yates rp - A guy that can throw 98? Why would Littlefield want him?

While this is all speculation of course, the above hints at where the future was heading. I like the new management, believe it or not, and do think we're heading in the right direction. Not in the "you take a right, then a left and it's right there - you can't miss it" sort of way. More of a hopeful kind of way.

Intro to The White Flag

Well after months of contemplation (and 15+ years of the Pirates losing), we've decided to do it. We've finally had enough of bending over and taking the McClatchy and Nutting soft-serve. The name pretty much sums it up. The White Flag. We've now endured season after season of losing, bad decisions, bad personnel moves, bad...well just plain bad. Bad everything.

So rather than turning a new page, or giving the new management some time to prove themselves, we have decided it is time to "go big or go home". We're gonna let everything hang out and hope that if nothing else, we can spark some more interest in the lovable losing Pirates.

The White Flag has several meanings. In addition to the aforementioned losing streak, we would also like to commend the following pitchers for being the White Flag of the Pittsburgh Pirates for the last 15 years. Here are the nominations:

1993: Mark Petkovsek
1994: Blas Minor
1995: Jim Gott
1996: Steve Parris
1997: Dave Wainhouse
1998: Todd Van Poppel
1999: Jose Silva
2000: Jeff Wallace
2001: Omar Oliveras
2002: Ron Villone
2003: Brian Boehringer
2004: Ryan Vogelsong
2005: Ryan Vogelsong
2006: Victor Santos
2007: Tony Armas Jr.

Each one of these names should bring back a certain ire to any Pirates fan, along with the constant notion of "why?". At any rate, those 15 names represent a whole bunch of worthless as far as I'm concerned, and I'm happy to debate the early stages of 2008's White Flag (think Meek, Osoria, Morris).