Blogs

CINCINNATI — Another reason I love Ian Snell as a pitcher: In the top of the fifth inning today, Pirates catcher Humberto Cota was hit on the arm by a pitch from Reds righty Kyle Lohse. In the bottom of the inning, with the bottom of the Reds’ order coming up, the first batter was [...]

ST. LOUIS — I think Joe Paterno is on to something. As punishment for a recent late-night brawl which involved a few players, Paterno will make the entire team clean up the trash at Beaver Stadium after every home game this season. Considering the Nittany Lions draw 110,000 for every game, that’s a lot of [...]

PITTSBURGH — Who will be the Pirates’ new No. 5 starter? Shawn Chacon would seem to be a good bet. He pitched just as well as Tony Armas did in spring training. But Chacon “lost” the battle for the spot because Armas did nothing in the spring to lose the job he was signed to [...]

CHICAGO — You’re probably tired of reading about the Pirates’ lack of run production. I’m tired of writing about it. Yet, there it remains — the most frustrating aspect of this season so far. “It’s the one thing right now that is holding our ballclub back,” manager Jim Tracy said today. So let’s get into [...]

CHICAGO — Two leftover thoughts that did not make it into my story in today’s Tribune-Review about the No. 2 spot in the batting order: &#149 Tracy said it sometimes is better to bat a talented young player second rather than eighth. That’s what Tampa Bay seems to be doing by using rookie Elijah Dukes, [...]

MILWAUKEE — During a discussion about holds and other changing stats in baseball this afternoon in Jim Tracy’s office at Miller Park, someone mentioned the GWRBI, which was boxscore lingo for game-winning run batted in. GWRBI was an official stat from 1980-88, but was discontinued because it was awkward and kind of a cheap stat. [...]