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?

Sports Night In Pittsburgh

Tonight we have game 5 of the Pens Flyers series..... WE CAN DO THIS!!! I have complete faith in the Pens today that they will continue with the momentum they created in game 4.  Neal and Adams will be back in the lineup tonight and hopefully that translates into a few more goals and the ability to shut down the Flyers.  I am also hopeful that game 4 helped Fleury build some confidence and that will help him shut down the net tonight... lets all keep our fingers crossed and think "brick wall Fleury BRICK WALL"

I can feel it, its going to be a great night in the City of Pittsburgh, Pens will win this one 6-4 and the Pirates will also pull out a win tonight, 3-2.  Those are my predictions.....

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!

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Pirates Drop Opener 1-0

The Pirates lost their Home Opener today to the Philadelphia Phillies, but in my eyes it wasn't a total loss.  First off we didn't hit well.... but how could we? I don't think any team would have hit well against Roy Halladay today.  The man was spot on.  As a matter of fact I would have liked to see Halladay finish out the game and collect the complete game, but that's neither here nor there.

I saw a few solid things from our Buccos today.  First and foremost they hung in there.  Erik Bedard came out and also threw a solid game.  It seemed to me like his control was solid, his speed was decent and he kept the Phillies from knocking the ball out of PNC Park.  He went 7 innings and didn't give up the traditional 6th inning circus that plagues Pirate pitchers.

Also saw Neil Walker make several great snags on defense up the middle of the infield.  He did exactly what needed done and backed up shortstop Clint Barmes on a few shots that just got past him.  As a matter of fact he followed one of those grabs with a fantastic throw to first to get the runner out.

I noticed a few things I wasn't extremely happy with either but since I am feeling positive today I will leave those for another post.

Overall I think it was a solid start for the Pirates, would I have loved to see the win.... YES! But for now I will enjoy the fact that we played solid baseball.

Pirates Finalize Opening Day Roster

Well, its official.  The Pirates Opening Day roster is complete.  Some of the biggest discussions from recent weeks about the battle for those coveted last few spots left us all sitting in anticipation of what would happen.  The way the final decisions were made was sort of a disappointment, at least for me it was.  The Pirates ended up not having to make a decision.  Chris Leroux, a right handed pitcher fighting for one of those spots made the decisions for them when he strained a pectoral muscle during the Pirates preseason game with the Phillies on Tuesday.  This little mishap put him firmly on the 60 day DL.

This let the Pirates place pitcher Juan Cruz on the roster without having to bump a position player.  Matt Hague, Josh Harrison, and Yamaico Navarro all ended up on the roster instead of one of them having to start the season at Triple-A Indianapolis.

So is this a good thing for the Pirates?  Absolutely.  This allows them to keep 3 players that have the potential to generate some offense for a team that sorely needs any and all offense it can find.

Now I guess it's time to final look at Opening Day..... Pirates Vs. Phillies.   Erik Bedard vs Roy Halladay.  I know its crazy to be so excited over a team that hasn't had a winning season in..... forever, but I can't wait to watch!  Thursday at 1:35pm can't come soon enough, at least not for this Pirate fan.

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.