Blogs

LOS ANGELES — The Pirates will make four separate trips to California next season to play the Dodgers, Giants, Padres and Athletics. It’s an annoying travel snafu that has plagued the Pirates often in recent years. “Every time we did it when I played, we always hit at least two (California) cities on a trip,” [...]

Delwyn Young was exactly where he’d always wanted to be … sort of. “This is the first time I’ve ever been in the (visitor’s) dugout at Dodger Stadium,” he said Monday afternoon. Young is a SoCal native, from his laid-back attitude to his rabid fandom for USC — Yeah, he made sure to remind me [...]

Doug Mientkiewicz remembers the support he got from folks in Pittsburgh last season, when his wife Jodi battled a life-threatening heart ailment. “I had people pull me over in my car and say, ‘If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.’ That means a lot,” Mientkiewicz said before tonight’s Pirates-Dodgers game. “It [...]

Delwyn Young is out tonight due to lower back spasms and tightness.  He first felt it in the ninth inning last night in Houston, when he grounded out as a pinch hitter. “It just locked up on me,” Young said. “Everything was fine, but then the closer I got to first base, the harder it [...]

HOUSTON — This afternoon’s game against the Astros wraps up a stretch of 16 straight games against NL Central teams for the Pirates. So far, they’ve gone 1-14. Tomorrow, the Pirates will play the first of seven against NL West teams when they face Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers are the only NL team [...]

HOUSTON — Delwyn Young, hitless in his past 22 at-bats, is not in the starting lineup again. He had two hits Sept. 1, which snapped an 0 for 16 slide. Over the past 16 games, Young’s batting average has dropped 42 points to .269. “It’s the combination of a lot of things,” manager John Russell [...]

HOUSTON — Steve Blass hit two holes-in-one yesterday during the annual Pirates alumni golf outing at Greensburg Country Club. The first ace was hit with an 8-iron at the 154-yard, par-3 15th hole. Blass did it again with a 7-iron on the 175-yard, par-3 seventh hole. After the second shot went in the hole, Blass [...]

Here’s another dismal stat in a season that’s been full of ‘em …. According to the folks at Baseball-reference.com (one of the most indespensible sites on the ‘Net), the Pirates have played 19 games – the most in the majors – in which their starting pitcher worked at least six innings, allowed three or fewer runs and was charged with a loss.

CINCINNATI – The Pirates are on the verge of reaching a milestone, the 10,000th home run in franchise history. Garrett Jones bashed No. 9,999 last night. The first was hit by Fred Carroll on May 2, 1887 off Lady Baldwin of the Detroit Wolverines. On the list, there are a couple of famous names (Kiner [...]

CINCINNATI – Neal Walker was caught off guard by his promotion to the majors. “I had no idea until after (Monday) night’s game,” he said this afternoon in the clubhouse at Great American Ball Park. Walker and Virgil Vasquez were called up from Triple-A Indianapolis today, the first day major league rosters were allowed to [...]