Pirates Prevent Sweep, Achieve Record

At least the Pirates pulled one game out of the series, it could have been worse.  Burnett had a horrible outing during his loss but there were absolutely some bright spots in this series.

Pirates Prevent Sweep, Achieve Record

What do you guys think?

Pirates Take Series From Phillies

This past Easter weekend Pittsburgh showed Philly a little something..... on the ice and on the diamond.  Not only did the Penguins beat the Flyers but the Pirates..... yes the Pittsburgh Pirates after dropping their home opener took the last 2 games of the 3 game series from the Phillies.

Lets be honest did the Pirates look like they could win the World Series? No, but what gave me more hope than I already had (and as you all know a few weeks ago I declared we will have a winning season) was that they continued to fight and won both games by coming from behind.  Yet another positive take on this is that they faced some pretty dominant starting pitching and yet came out on top.

I also liked what I saw from our entire pitching staff.  The guys that came in for relief threw some great innings to carry on solid outings from the starting rotation.

I was also impressed with a few young guys who came through in clutch situations, Matt Hague, Alex Presley, and Yamaico Navarro.  Although Hague's Major League debut was nothing to brag about, his pinch hit appearance in a sticky situation allowed him to single in a game tying run.  Presley hit an RBI broken bat single that scored a game winning run, and Navarro stood strong in the batters box and didn't swing at pitches that weren't good.

I should mention that Pedro Alvarez also finally got a hit.... it happened to be a beautiful homerun which temporarily made me forget how strongly I feel against him being in the big league right now.  It was nice.....

If these young players can continue to step up when needed and can get a bit more backup from the rest of the team we may have some seriously exciting games on our hands this season. This very well could have been a horrible start to the season but I think the Pirates showed that they aren't going to just lay down and let everyone walk all over them, they are going to put up a fight!

For more articles on the Pirates click here!  (yes this is a shameless self promotion!)

Can The Pirates Finish Over 500?

I was sitting here this morning reading all the current happenings in the Pirates world and got to thinking about whether or not they have a legit chance at ending the insanely long losing streak they are on.  I have been saying they will, as a matter of fact I posted it in a previous post on here, but the last few days I haven't been so sure.  Maybe that's just the disappointed fan in me that is afraid to expect anything good out of the Pirates anymore.

I think maybe what has really disheartened me this week is the fact that the Pirates organization is sticking with Pedro Alvarez on opening day.  He is NOT getting any better.  If he comes on strong and hits everything thrown his way then I will eat my words happily but I just can't see that happening.  Through March 27th he was hitting a horrible .135.

I completely understand that sending him down to Triple-A might give him a false sense of confidence if he has success but, how is having him continue this massive slump in the majors going to help at all?  I would think it would crush whatever mental strength he has left.  Maybe a little false self confidence will help.

I'm getting off topic here, I wanted to talk about the Pirates finishing over 500.  Even with this doubt floating around in my brain today I am sticking with my decision to say YES, they can.  I think that all the injuries last year that allowed some young guys to get big league experience is going to benefit them this season.  Guys like Alex Presley, Michael McKenry, and Josh Harrison (who hasn't officially made the roster yet) can take what they learned and help generate a few more defensive plays, hits, runs, and wins.

I also think the addition of Bedard and Burnett is going to generate at least a few more wins.  Were they the best available guys to help the Pirates.... no. But are they going to help them..... Yes.  They bring some experience that the Pirates just don't have.  If nothing else maybe they can help some of the rest of the pitching staff step up their game a little.

The Buccos may not finish the season by winning the World Series, however I do think they are going to finally end that horrible losing streak, even if its only by a game or two.

Will we see Pedro on opening day?

After 2011 Pedro Alvarez really needed to come into Spring Training and show the Pirates that last year was a slump that he has worked his way out of.  From what I have seen so far he is still knee deep in slumpville.  Pedro is batting a .148 over 12 games with 11 strikeouts, the only bright spot in that is he has hit 2 homeruns. 

He hasn't been completely aweful defensively but when you look at what some of the guys who could take over at third base are doing during Spring Training you can't help but wonder why the Pirates would have him on their opening day roster.  He would be better off starting the season in Triple A Indianapolis working on getting that batting average up.  Lets be honest here folks the Pirates need bats in their lineup.  Thats not going to change over night so they really need to go with the better bat here. I really don't see Pedro stepping onto the field on opening day.

I have already mentioned several times I really like what Matt Hague brings to the plate, literally and figurtively as well as Josh Harrison.  Harrison already has a little experience with the Buccos, having started several games at third last season (among other locations) and while he wasn't brilliant, I will still take him over what I am seeing out of Alvarez.  Plus Harrison brings more of a threat on the basepath, he might generate an extra look from opposing pitchers and catchers, I like that too.

Just over 2 weeks left till opening day.