Record after Series: Pit (34-36) Bal (34-34)
Game 1 (L 9 - 6) Tough one to lose (you'll hear that again). Top of the order killed us in this one, as Freddy Sanchez and Nate McLouth went a combined 0 for 9. With the way Sanchez is playing right now, there's no reason to bat him leadoff, even though I must concede it did work earlier in the season. Doug Mientkiewicz and Jason Michaels, two members of the Pirate's unusually strong bench, came up huge in this one. Michaels delivered a clutch Home Run to keep us in it, though the 2008 White Flag-to-be Franquelis Osoria, would render it useless. Thanks Luke Scott. In other notes, Phil Dumatrait couldn't throw a ball over home plate after the 3rd inning and just about lost the game. Sean Burnett didn't do much better. An assist also goes to the Bucco offense, who went something like 5 innings without a hit after putting Brian Burres on the ropes early on.
Game 2 (L 8 - 7) Tough one to lose (common theme here, eh Lanny Frattare?). Top of the lineup does marginally better for itself in this one, 1 for 8 total, with a Sanchez homer. The Pirates also get long balls from Xavier Nady, Adam LaRoche and Jose Bautista. LaRoche and Bautista were the unlikely (unlucky) almost-heroes here. Not much else nice to say about this one, especially from the pitching perspective. The bullpen fails again, though this time it's John Grabow and Matt Capps, both of whom gave up hugely deflating home runs.
Game 3 (W 5 - 4) A feel-good win if there ever was one, lightning actually struck thrice in this one, but Capps, thankfully, was able to wiggle his way out of it. This was a showcase for Jason Bay, as he went 2-3 with 2 walks, a double and a stolen base. Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera, despite his best efforts to injure every Pirate position player in the starting lineup with a fastball to the neck, somehow made it through 6 innings in this one, with Paul Maholm mostly cruising on the other side. Maholm pitched well, the only blemishes being a couple of home runs. The Pirate bullpen held up relatively well in this one, despite Capps' best efforts to screw it up again, and the Bucs were able to putt it out.
Series Record: 8-10-5. The Bucs lose the series, their 10th loss this year.
1 Big Point: Most glaring in this series, I thought, was the Pirate pitchers being unable to throw strikes. Not just in clutch situations, not when they were ahead of the count, just anytime. The walks are killing this team, and it's plausible that the Pirates would be above-.500 with better control. Several of this team's pitchers have lackluster control, and when you compound that with a low strikeout rate, the recipe for losing baseball games is nearly complete, without even figuring in the offense.
Next Up: at Chicago White Sox (38-31)
Showing posts with label Doug Mientkiewicz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doug Mientkiewicz. Show all posts
Monday, June 16, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Game Review 6/9 W 5-3
Well I got my wish. I wanted a split, and the Bucs did it the hard way. They even showed a little bit of bite to them on the way. The Bucs move out of last place, if only momentarily, with the win. Two games below .500 with a sub-par Washington Nationals team up next.
This game seemed marred with controversy. Most folks are talking about the Randy Johnson, Doug Mientkiewicz scuffe, but I'd also point to the missed call on Mark Reynolds' double. As I mentioned yesterday, I was afraid he was starting to heat up. That's now confirmed. What I don't understand is why ballparks, PNC included, are allowed to have walls that are not clearly marked with the bright yellow line.
I realize I'm arguing for the enemy in this case, but I'm sure the day is not too far off when the Pirates are bitten by the beast as well. I also realize that a fan reached over the wall to catch the ball, but I still think the "highlite stripe" would be a good idea on the top of the fence there at the Clemente wall.
It was refreshing, for once, to see the other team make more mistakes than our team. Especially against the better teams in the league, it's been the Pirates that have choked in the field this year. With their 4 errors on Monday, the DiamondBacks sure shot themselves in the foot, and lost a winnable game. All that said, it felt good to get away with one.
Hopefully yesterday's game brought about some growing up from our young Bucs, and I think games like this often do. Much has been said about the talking that went on, so I won't go into it much further, but I do think that Mr. Johnson should be more careful with his words. Saying that someone "would be on a stretcher" if he cared, is not very nice. Not professional of him either. Maybe he has some growing up to do too.
This game seemed marred with controversy. Most folks are talking about the Randy Johnson, Doug Mientkiewicz scuffe, but I'd also point to the missed call on Mark Reynolds' double. As I mentioned yesterday, I was afraid he was starting to heat up. That's now confirmed. What I don't understand is why ballparks, PNC included, are allowed to have walls that are not clearly marked with the bright yellow line.
I realize I'm arguing for the enemy in this case, but I'm sure the day is not too far off when the Pirates are bitten by the beast as well. I also realize that a fan reached over the wall to catch the ball, but I still think the "highlite stripe" would be a good idea on the top of the fence there at the Clemente wall.
It was refreshing, for once, to see the other team make more mistakes than our team. Especially against the better teams in the league, it's been the Pirates that have choked in the field this year. With their 4 errors on Monday, the DiamondBacks sure shot themselves in the foot, and lost a winnable game. All that said, it felt good to get away with one.
Hopefully yesterday's game brought about some growing up from our young Bucs, and I think games like this often do. Much has been said about the talking that went on, so I won't go into it much further, but I do think that Mr. Johnson should be more careful with his words. Saying that someone "would be on a stretcher" if he cared, is not very nice. Not professional of him either. Maybe he has some growing up to do too.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Game Review 6/8 W 6-4
The Pirates take their first game of the four game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. I'll be honest, I'd be real happy with a split of this series. The Pirates have to be going through a four game stretch against opposing starting pitchers like they haven't gone through this year. Possibly like they won't go through again this year either. Just look at the stats for Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, Doug Davis and Randy Johnson.
Mark Reynolds has to drive the D'Backs fans crazy. The guy is more streaky than a pet-store window. Hopefully they get out of town while he's just getting hot. I'm not sure what the big fuss about Chris Young is. He hits some home runs and is young, but he looks to have a lot of holes in his swing. For the first time in a long time, I can say I like our outfield better than theirs.
I also think they've rushed Max Scherzer. The guy's gonne be crazy good, but this isn't the year. Especially not with their starting rotation. They probably won't need a long man very often, so you have to wonder if he wouldn't be better off getting a regular turn in AAA. Seems to me he's got some control issues to work out.
Every time I think about the Pirates lineup I get excited for Andrew McCutchen. Come to think about it, there's not much that doesn't make me excited about Cutch. Assuming he can hold down hitting leadoff, we can move Freddy Sanchez to the second spot, and Jack Wilson will FINALLY have no reason to show his face batting second. In all honesty, I think that gives us a huge advantage over what we have now. Even putting McLouth second in the order would be a huge step up from Sanchez/Wilson, McLouth/Sanchez or McLouth/Wilson.
I also wonder what management is going to do with Adam LaRoche. I was much in favor of trading for him from the Braves, even at the expense of a guy like Mike Gonzalez, however I can now understand why Atlanta made this trade. I would be curious to find out if LaRoche had this same early season slump problem in the minor leagues. I'd imagine LaRoche's trade value has dropped significantly in his time with the Pirates, since this is now turning into an annual problem.
While I may be getting ahead of myself here, the Pirates seem to be falling in love with veterans again. Doug Mientiewicz is a fine first baseman, but offensively he lacks quite a bit of what Jose Bautista has. It now seems as though the Bucs learned their lesson, and can stick with Jose Bautista for a while. I predict a similar outcome with Ronny Paulino. Raul Chavez is nothing more than a AAAA player. I mean, the guy hit .221 last year in AAA and .255 the year before in AA. And now, all of the sudden, because he has a decent arm and "handles pitchers extraordinarily well" he is better than Ronny Paulino? Has Paulino played poorly enough to get sent to the minor leagues?
Most fans (and apparently management too) say yes. I disagree. If you look at Paulino's stats from the last week he was with the club, here's what he hit: .357 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI in 14 AB's. So what happened? Paulino promptly went down and has hit .700 in 10 AB's with 2 doubles and 2 HR's since his demotion. I'm not suggesting he would have done this in the majors, but it sure would be nice to have that bat on the bench right about now. Especially since Chavez really hasn't been all that great defensively, consider in roughly 10 games he's had 2 passed balls, 2 wild pitches and an error. Paulino's stats are these: 30 games, 1 passed ball, 8 wild pitches and an error. The only place Chavez looks better is on wild pitches, which are on the pitcher, and not the catcher! It's also been proven that CERA (catcher's ERA) is not indicative of anything, so there goes that idea. Paulino may be lazy, he may not be playing to his capability, and he may not be a good catcher. But he is a better option than Raul Chavez.
Mark Reynolds has to drive the D'Backs fans crazy. The guy is more streaky than a pet-store window. Hopefully they get out of town while he's just getting hot. I'm not sure what the big fuss about Chris Young is. He hits some home runs and is young, but he looks to have a lot of holes in his swing. For the first time in a long time, I can say I like our outfield better than theirs.
I also think they've rushed Max Scherzer. The guy's gonne be crazy good, but this isn't the year. Especially not with their starting rotation. They probably won't need a long man very often, so you have to wonder if he wouldn't be better off getting a regular turn in AAA. Seems to me he's got some control issues to work out.
Every time I think about the Pirates lineup I get excited for Andrew McCutchen. Come to think about it, there's not much that doesn't make me excited about Cutch. Assuming he can hold down hitting leadoff, we can move Freddy Sanchez to the second spot, and Jack Wilson will FINALLY have no reason to show his face batting second. In all honesty, I think that gives us a huge advantage over what we have now. Even putting McLouth second in the order would be a huge step up from Sanchez/Wilson, McLouth/Sanchez or McLouth/Wilson.
I also wonder what management is going to do with Adam LaRoche. I was much in favor of trading for him from the Braves, even at the expense of a guy like Mike Gonzalez, however I can now understand why Atlanta made this trade. I would be curious to find out if LaRoche had this same early season slump problem in the minor leagues. I'd imagine LaRoche's trade value has dropped significantly in his time with the Pirates, since this is now turning into an annual problem.
While I may be getting ahead of myself here, the Pirates seem to be falling in love with veterans again. Doug Mientiewicz is a fine first baseman, but offensively he lacks quite a bit of what Jose Bautista has. It now seems as though the Bucs learned their lesson, and can stick with Jose Bautista for a while. I predict a similar outcome with Ronny Paulino. Raul Chavez is nothing more than a AAAA player. I mean, the guy hit .221 last year in AAA and .255 the year before in AA. And now, all of the sudden, because he has a decent arm and "handles pitchers extraordinarily well" he is better than Ronny Paulino? Has Paulino played poorly enough to get sent to the minor leagues?
Most fans (and apparently management too) say yes. I disagree. If you look at Paulino's stats from the last week he was with the club, here's what he hit: .357 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI in 14 AB's. So what happened? Paulino promptly went down and has hit .700 in 10 AB's with 2 doubles and 2 HR's since his demotion. I'm not suggesting he would have done this in the majors, but it sure would be nice to have that bat on the bench right about now. Especially since Chavez really hasn't been all that great defensively, consider in roughly 10 games he's had 2 passed balls, 2 wild pitches and an error. Paulino's stats are these: 30 games, 1 passed ball, 8 wild pitches and an error. The only place Chavez looks better is on wild pitches, which are on the pitcher, and not the catcher! It's also been proven that CERA (catcher's ERA) is not indicative of anything, so there goes that idea. Paulino may be lazy, he may not be playing to his capability, and he may not be a good catcher. But he is a better option than Raul Chavez.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
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.
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.
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