One hour to first pitch …
Game: Pirates (40-38) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (39-41)
Time: 7:07 p.m.
Site: Rogers Centre, Toronto
TV, radio: Root Sports, News Talk 104.7 FM
Weather: 76 degrees, clear
Here is the official live box score, and here are the lineups …
Pirates:
- Alex Presley, LF
- Chase d’Arnaud, 3B
- Garrett Jones, RF
- Andrew McCutchen, CF
- Neil Walker, 2B
- Lyle Overbay, 1B
- Matt Diaz, DH
- Ronny Cedeno, SS
- Eric Fryer, C
Blue Jays:
- Yunel Escobar, SS
- Eric Thames, RF
- Jose Bautista, 3B
- Adam Lind, 1B
- Edwin Encarnacion, DH
- Aaron Hill, 2B
- Juan Rivera, LF
- Jose Molina, C
- Rajai Davis, CF
Feel free to use this as a discussion forum, as always.
UPDATE 7:11 p.m.: Xavier Paul was just scratched from the lineup. No reason given. The new lineup is reflected up top. Diaz in at DH, Jones now in RF.
I admit I’m now greedy, I want a sweep
Did anyone see the Jagrwatch sign near the Joeybats dinger last night. Gianetty (The FAN am show) actually got the guy to call, priceless
PBC Nation – at the Trib
California – Bakersfield, San Francisco, UNION CITY, Los Angeles
Colorado – Ft Collins
Connecticut – Cos Cob
Florida – Palm Harbor, Orlando, Valrico, Gainesville, Daytona Beach (somewhat reluctantly, those past two, Dad always knows best..), Oviedo (see prior comment), Tampa
Georgia – Marietta
Germany – Leverkusen/Cologne
Idaho – Mountain Home, Coer d’Aline
Indiana – Indianapolis
Illinois – La Salle, Peru
Kentucky – Louisville
Japan – Tokyo
Louisiana – Slidell
Maryland – Arnold, Odenton
Massachusetts – Boston
Michigan – Kalamazooooooo ( al la, Pittsburgh goal scored by Mario Lemoooooooooooooo)
Mississippi – Biloxi
New Hampshire – not sure where
New Jersey – Chesterfield, Princeton, Roxbury
New York – New York, Smithtown
North Carolina – Asheville, Hickory
Ohio – Cincinnati, Columbiana, Westerville, Green, Hilliard
Pennsylvania – Downtown, Hopewell, Indiana, North Wales, Franklin Park, Forest Hills, Lansdale, Philadelphia, DuBois, Reading, Crafton, Arnold, Wexford
South Carolina – Duncan. Longs
Tennessee – Smithville
Texas – Tyler, San Antonio
Virginia – JAL, Hampton, Rescue, Richmond, Front Royal, Woodbridge
Washington – Seattle, Nine Mile Falls
West Virginia – Martinsburg
Wisconsin – Madison
69, which by the way was the over and under in wins for the PBC I think.
6/29/2011 6:04 PM
I vote for SWEEP, despite the fact I have a very good friend with very intimate ties to the Blue Jays! But she’s a good sport and will understand!
Lets hope we get good news on the Jagrwatch during the game.
I can see a great story coming with all of that
A question for the fanatics
If the PBC continues to play as we are, this will pretty much blow up any previous teams improvement from one year to the next. The Rays, I think hold the record, but they, much like the Cinci Bungles, had years of top draft picks
I think maybe some of the talent was there but the leadership was not
We’ve talked ad nauseum on the fact that a manager does not make a difference
I think the one difference is not Neil, nor Slick FC, its No 13.
Cripes the guy moved to the Burgh, he is all in
Thoughts?
Is this the best defensive OF the Bucs have fielded in, I dunno, 18 years?
Biz,
13 is definitely the tone-setter and has been from day one. He’s even sent messages up the ladder to the GM about who he wants on the roster (the types of players) and he’s had input in getting them (see Wood, B; Paul, X).
He’s made a difference. A big one.
As for Huntington, 42 players have played for this team this year. 42. Most in the majors (tied with the Dodgers). More than 80% of those players were brought in by Huntington. That’s pretty clear evidence that he’s done a good job bringing talent to this team that has been beset by a lot of injuries.
Think of him whatever you will… but it takes a long time to raise the dead as Syd Thrift once said. There’s something going on with this club.
Where exactly was the talent? Correia, McDonald, Karstens, Morton… all brought in by Huntington.
McKenry, (Snyder), Fryer, Overbay, Cedeno, d’Arnaud, Harrison, Tabata, Jones, XPaul, Diaz, Bowker… all brought in by Huntington.
Hanrahan, (Meek), Veras, (Beimel), Resop and others, all brought in by Huntington.
Not saying he’s the greatest, just putting out the facts.
Naje
I know this will tick you off
Too many bad deals early, its old news but still fact, opportunites, chips to spend
Too much disdain for players JW, Bay, Freddie, hell Bautista
Perry Hill, the choices for pitching coaches, keeping JR long past his shelf life
?
Tony Sanchez?
Granted NH has not openly tasted his foot for a while,
Slick hasn’t been a cars salesman either
Attendance is up, its easy to be cool when things are going ok
We’ll see, but far too early IMHO to annoint NH as GM of the century
That being said, June 29th, we have a new home, unstifled, we are excited about our club, wow
Too early to annoint Huntington, hidden vigorish?
Whats this draft class going to cost?
I guess I’m at the point where I expect things on the field, but I hope the FO has learned and will not screw things up, as in the past
Lets Go Bucs
Heck they even have the old theme song at PBC, someone is learning
Biz,
Not ticked off at all…
I think they’ve learned from their many mistakes. They may not be perfect, but they’ve learned.
You gotta sweep all that stuff away and just look forward. Huntington’s had some terrible deals yes, but you have to clean out the basement completely before rebuilding the foundation.
I’m not looking back anymore other than to say, yes, there were some very bad moves.
But there have been some very good ones. Hiring Hurdle is top of the list. And you just cannot deny that the team is winning with a few holdovers from Littlefield, many acquisitions from Huntington and even some organizational depth… where we’ve had NONE or precious little in the last two decades.
I can’t believe a couple of you guys are talking sweep with two games to play.
Take em one at a time people please.
Biz… as for the last couple of questions, not anointing NH as GM of the year, let alone decade or anything else… no way.
But what if this team, losers of 299 games in the last three seasons, wins 260+ games in the next three seasons? (Yeah, they’ll still have a losing record with him at the helm!)
And that point about what is this 2011 draft class going to cost is very important, especially when thinking about adding dollars to the payroll for this season’s club. Not making excuses in advance, but it’s a tricky situation for them.
Ok, Naje
Just explaining why I am not warm and fuzzy about the FO
And if you listen, the players draft and the payroll we have heard many times are two totally distinct buckets
IF NH is sharp, now is the time, if they are tired of losing, now is the time
Not twiddling the fingers, this appears to be an opportunity, at this current time
@MrB – I know, one at a atime, but am still ticked with the Bosox series, “Well we won 2 of 3″, crap, we stole one last night, I want em all, why not?
IMO with all the injuries, this is a pretty good lineup
Presley gets a swinging K with a good moving 2-2 pitch
Chase – fly to right center, he is now 3 for 17
Legent in Right, Zavier Paul a scratch, great play at first, a diving stop, Legend goes down 3 unassisted
Any predictions for how long a Pirates career for the following:
McCutchen
Tabata
Presley
Paul
Jones
Here are mine:
McCutchen: 10 yrs
Tabata: 3 yrs
Presley: 5 yrs
Paul: 3 yrs
Jones: 1 yr
@Bizrow – Because it makes you sound like the atypical ignorant, pompous Bosox fan…that’s why not.
Escobar up, lets hope Paul can cut down on the pitches
Broken bat single to first, Cutch guns him out trying to stretch it into a double, one down
Thames up 3-1 pitch grounded out 3-1
Joey Bats up, walked on a 3-1 pitch
Lind up, grounded up the middle on an 0-2 pitch, first and second
Encarnacion, DH, two dingers last night up
Popped to right on a 3-1 pitch, not clean, but 0-0 after 1
Toledo, Ohio, here
I’m thinking this is a good start, as Maholm has struggled lots in the first, he came out unscathed
Cutch leading off
A painted third strike swining
Paul is out with a hamstring
Vitamins, people!!! Or a couple of Irons and some aspirins
PRNW in a hole, 0-2, stike three called, off the plate a bit
3 Ks for Morrow
Overbay up, quickly in the hole 0-2, K’d on a sweet pitch low and away, taking
Nuttin-nuttin
MrB where do you get those smiles ; }
Bobby Toldeo
Welcome, that makes 70, I think
Hill up
Cedeno to Overpaid, one down
Rivera up
BWalk is not pleased with the called strikes from the past inning against the good guys BTW
A shot that caroms off the 3rd base bag, single
Molina up, to Chase, to PRNW to Overpaid, DP
After 2 no score
Decent inning pitch count wise, IMO from PM
Trib was timely on the Zavier Paul news via a tweet BTW
Diaz a lazy can of corn to center, first pitch, one down
RONNY – grounder to 2nd, two down
Morrow was a No 5 first round pick several years ago (2005?)
Fryer, grounder to third, 9 up 9 down
Bottom of 3
R Davis – popped up to the infield – he steals bases and was traded in the Matt Morris trade, I believe
Escobar – lazy flie to Cutch
Thames – PRWN to Overpaid
Good inning for PM
Elvis up
Working on a no-no here, Morrow that is
Grounder down the line, nice play by Lind, nice hustle by Elvis, Hurdle argues, 3-1 putout
Chase, hard grounder/shot off third basemans glove, Joey Bats, dribbles to left, first hit
Biz – Be sure to add the nose as in semi-colon, dash, right-parenthesis
or colon, dash right-parenthesis
The Legend
A cople of tosses to first, 3-0 to GJ
Smiles are easy, just need the code
Liner to 2nd, Chase sneaks back to first, two outs
Cutch grounder to 3rd, three down
Thanks with the smile help
But what? No button?
I’m lost but will check on :-}
Crap
;-D
Yes!!!
Bautista pops up, one down
Lind line drive double over GJ glove
Encarnacion – pop up, two down
Hill third to first, no score after 4
Oops, guess it doesn’t recognize that one
My bad…mis-typed the semi-colon for the colon
Any word on the Jagrwatch?
Gotta learn to multitask/multiworry
PRNW, a four pitch walk
Overbay gets a few boos
Obay, Obay, Obay !
Nice knock for Overbay.
Overbay singles in the hole betwixt 2 and 1, on a full count, PRNW scoots to third
Bucs/ducks on the corners
Neal tried to do a Popi with that slide.
Diaz up
Chopper off the place, JoeyBats throws PRNW out at the plate, not a good AB, IMO
Nice hit Ronny…Diaz makes me sick.
Baserunning is not looking too hot right now.
Ronny gets a rip to right center, Overpay scores, Diaz runs into an out, Ronny makes it to second, 1-0 good guys, Diaz got caught in a cutoff, crap
Does the ROOTS guy know that it is two out yet?
Fryer up, does he have a hit yet?
Fryer – O-H
Oh well. Looking forward to hit #1 for the former Buckeye.
Crap, he K’s
One nothing going to bottom of the inning
BTW – Pedro is 0 for 2 tonight with a K for Bradenton.
Pedro could do that up here, let me check if I remember
PM puts em down, still 1-0
The voicesofbaseball CD on the Gunner is great, he’s by himself, broadcasting and either has to go to get a cocktail or whizz, he excuses himself, silence and then pops back
Prince was the perfect last name for the Gunner
Wow. I forgot how awful Toronto’s stadium is. I guess it was a big hit when it was built, but I’m betting they wish they had a do-over.
Chase has looked a bit overmatched at the plate, so far, I think two of his hits are speed related
Welcome JuniataKid
Yeah, I remember paying 100 per seat canadian to see Nolan Ryan there, nuttin special
Presley?
Why was he not up here earlier, nice speed for the kid
Heck, he looks a bit like Sidney
I’m thinking PRNW is due for a rip
Thanks Biz.
Well, I’m not looking for anything here from Walker. They’ve already gotten Maholm his requisite one run.
Brew-crew losing again in NY
STL crushing the O’s again
Cinci won today 4-3
Houston losing again
No score in Chi town
Crap
Or not
Still due
Easy to miss that NW is hitting only about .220 over the last month with about a .610 OPS. Seems like he gets a bit of a pass, from myself included. I didn’t realize he is slumping so badly.
Good point JK, PRNW is not a 250 hitter
Expect and hope?
I wonder if Dejan is working on getting this site to be more dynamic. Doesn’t automatically reload, no avatars, no reply options… Not a great user experience. And on my Mac laptop, it takes FOREVER to load a Trib page. Works fine on the iPad though.
Crap, there goes Paul’s cushion…
Being that the Bucs K’d 10 times last night, and this dude k’s over 10 per nine, and already has 8, we are looking at around 14 K’s tonight. Dang! Thames just barelt went yard on PM.
First career homer for Thames. Kee-ripes.
Where is Diaz right now? The catcher we got for JoeyBats?
How was Bautista not out of the baseline there? He basically was in right field before touching the bag.
OK, first, Cutch doesn’t take second on a ball that bounced 10 feet from the catcher, then he gave up on that Thames homer that hit the top of the wall and bounced out. He couldn’t have made a leap for that ball? Would have been a highlight-reel catch, but why not give it a shot?
JK – I asked Dejan similar questions, he says not to worry
If the guy can build blog sites half as good as he writes, and the evidence is there on both counts,
Lets give him some time
After nice play, E #3 on Chase. Can’t give them more than 3 outs in this place!
Seems he fell off the face of the earth. Baseball-Reference says he signed with the Rangers organization this offseason, but he’s not played anywhere since 2009.
Pirates are getting some calls since Hurdle that Presley play at first base.
What is interesting is there are tons of folks sweating bullets right now over this game
This time last year, they would be watching the Foodchannel
I’m just sayin
Would it be too much for these guys to actually remember the Little League call of “two hands” when making catches. I understand that they are much better than the rest of us, but there are often times – as happen during the Boston series to Reddick – when balls pop out of mitts.
Well, I think D’Arnaud is pretty much assured of spending the rest of the summer in Indy once Alvarez comes back. He got lucky on that throw to second (Bautista was safe) then had another error right after that. I have high hopes for the kid, but he’s not ready yet. Next year, maybe he’s our starting shortstop.
Nevermind, don’t know how I missed it. Is in AAA for Texas. Hitting .351 in 19 games at Round Rock.
@Reading – yep. That’s what killed me about JR never going out there last year. You don’t have to go crazy every time, but I think you can plant a seed and maybe get the next call.
Well there goes 0-ferbay again.
Paging Steve Pearce…
Diaz saw that big meatball of a pitch and wiffed on it. Seems to have too big of a swing most of the time.
And there is K #10 for Morrow.
Anybody wander if Jagr has dumped Svoboda and went with Scott Boras for the agent. How long does he need to make up his mind already.
Cedeno did a head-first slide into first base on a no-throw. Never saw that before.
Any chance we can piece together all of our remaining catchers to make even one remotely average offensive catcher? These guys are the anchor of this team and it’s dragging them down – along with Diaz, Overbay, and more.
I like the Pirates’ strategy here. Strike out so much that the starter gets yanked for a high pitch count so you can get to the soft underbelly of the Jays’ bullpen. It’s almost diabolical.
Game over right there with this offense.
How does Davis score on that play? Where were the outfielders? Weren’t they charging?
67% extra base hits for the BJ’s and 0% extra base hits for the Bucs. Sor far in the series 5 homers for them, and 2 for us.
@JuniataKid, I think they were playing in Ottowa since it also took them forever to get to the ball. They almost collided with eachother as well.
Another tale of the game, Morrow – 10 K’s, PM – 1 K just now.
Let’s go offense, we need some runs now!
Lead off walk would be good right now.
Pedro walked in his 3rd at bat tonight and was lifted for a pinch runner. Hopefully that was planned and not any kind of problem.
Okay, at least we have a base runner on a 4 pitch walk.
Biz,
Good point on sweating bullets earlier. Who’d a-thunk it? I had this team pegged for about 95 losses.
GG is due!
Sorry GJ is due!
They likely got another call due to Clint earlier in the game.
Taillon dominant tonight, 1 hit in 3 innings. Alderson struck out the side in his inning. Bryan Morris two perfect innings (the Bay trade still has hope).
GFJ, and not in a good way.
Baserunning all night!!! Gahhh!
Come on 4-5-6. Pick Paul up for a change!
Rally caps, or whatever works, we are in this
Hell, turn to the food channel if it works
I like that smile
Lets do it!
Come on, Neil. Do something!
Wouldn’t you know it, the guy who has half the hits tonight is the only one not to strike out – Cedeno. Come on Overbay!!!
Can the baseball gods be nice to Diaz and reward him with his first homer of the season? We need it now.
Weak!!
oh well…
Any Jagr news yet?
Let’s at least get the series win tomorrow with good old Jeffy on the mound. I’d like to see him throw one of those 64 mph curves to wiff Joey Bats. Sleep it off offense, and get ‘um tomorrow. Night everyone!
Its been pretty quite on the #jagrwatch.
I’m thinking when Pedro gets back, Brandon Wood will be going bye bye … maybe before Pedro gets back? And is there any way Diaz sticks around much longer? He seems so punchless, and tonight when he grounded out to shortstop weakly to end the game I think it was like the second ball he’s pulled all year.
I certainly think Presley’s a better option than Diaz at this point … and maybe even Jones, who just can’t seem to put anything together consistently.
And forgive me if y’all have already covered some of these point above. I’ve yet to read. I KNOW: Bad boy!
Just wondering if lack of Jag news means he’s trying to get a bidding war going. If so, Pens will likely not play that game.
@Drew: No, there’s no bidding war. And I apologize to all for being out of touch here. I saw almost none of this game because of Jagr Watch. It’s going to make quite a story someday, trust me on that. And I mean the whole thing, the whole process. Just amazing.