Pirates @ Rockies : 4.29.11 - 5.1.11

Series: Pirates @ Rockies, Coors Field, Denver, CO

TV, radio: Root Sports, WPGB-FM (104.7).

Facts/Reaction: I started to write this blog post before the final game against the Giants had ended and in the reason I stopped was because the Pirates were up 1-0 and Jeff Karstens had cruised through the first part of the lineup in innings 1 and 2.  Then it happened...for the second time in this series, the Pirates became the Pirates again.  So far this year, they have done a good job of not looking like a bunch of 8 year olds who have never played baseball before.  Sure they haven't played great defense for most of the year, but they also haven't look lost out there.  Tuesday night against the Giants was a different story entirely as the bullpen threw away Charlie Morton's good outing with a 10th inning so poor that I actually laughed.  The 10th inning started with a flare base hit that somehow got through the legs of Matt Diaz when he tried to make the catch.  Actually he didn't try and make the catch, he knew full well he wasn't getting to the ball and instead of breaking down and keeping it in front of him with no runners on, he gets lazy and a single turns into a double.  After a great play by Lyle Overbay to throw the runner out at 3rd on a sacrifice bunt attempt, Joel Hanrahan's pickoff attempt ends up in shallow right field and the runner advances to 3rd.  With a speedy runner at 3rd, Hanrahan got the next batter to hit the ball on the ground directly at a drawn in Neil Walker.  Instead of staring the runner back and realizing he has all kinds of time to throw the runner out at first, Neil proceeds to give the runner at 3rd a quick and albeit worthless look back and then LOBS the ball to 1st.  In doing this, he allows the runner to score the go ahead run in the top of the 10th inning.  Looking back a runner is not only something that one learns in little league but also is something a professional making millions of dollars to play a game needs to do in order to allow his team (which is lacking in talent to begin with) to succeed.  The fundamentals and having a general grasp of the game of baseball are what wins the extra 10 games a year for a team.  The Pirates have an overall lack of talent, but that is not the only thing keeping them from being a competitive ball club.

I almost forgot to address what happened in Thursday game that made the previous paragraph possible.  Instead of being long winded how about ESPN's play by play with a little commentary from yours truly.  Without further adieu...

Top of the 3rd : Pirates leading 1-0

- M Fontenot singled to center.

- E Whiteside continues to bat after dropped foul ball by first baseman L Overbay. (Yeah that's right folks, the defensive first basemen that we are paying 5 million this year camps under a foul ball 5 feet from the 1st base bag in foul territory and then proceeds to drop it.  Great.)

- E Whiteside hit by pitch, M Fontenot to second. (Free bases kill you, especially after a dropped pop up)

- R Vogelsong sacrificed into fielder's choice to first, M Fontenot to third, E Whiteside to second. (Overbay's second "error" of the inning, he fields the bunt and instead of getting an out at first tries to make up for his missed pop up and throws the ball to 3rd late.  Bases Loaded.  No Outs.)

The rest is a double scoring 2 runs.  A pop out.  An intentional walk. A fielder's choice on a double play that doesn't get turned scoring another run and then lastly but certainly not least Ryan Doumit attempting to throw out a runner at second and chucking it into the centerfield allowing another run to score.  At the end of the inning 2 errors and 4 runs on 2 hits.  Excellent.  Let's go Bucs.

Pitching Probables:

Friday, April 29 - Kevin Correia (3-2, 3.48 ERA) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (3-1, 2.67 ERA)

Saturday, April 30 - Paul Maholm (1-3, 3.90 ERA) vs. Jason Hammel (2-1, 3.80 ERA)

Sunday, May 1 - Charlie Morton (2-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Ubaldo Jimenez (0-1, 6.75 ERA)

Stats and Matchup: The Pirates had a ton of trouble with the Rockies a few weeks ago at home.  The Rockies took 3 of 4 from the Pirates in their first home series of the year.  However, that series was the beginning of the Rockies 7 game winning streak and now the Rockies are 5-5 in their last 10 games and have struggled to score runs batting .223 over that span.  The Pirates will also face two starters that they didn't see in the first series in Jason Hammel and Ubaldo Jimenez.  We all know about Ubaldo and his dominance in the first half of last season going 15-1 with a 2.20 ERA and 113 K's.  Hammel on the other hand is lesser known.  He has won 10 games in each of the last two seasons and this year is 2-1 with a 3.80 ERA with 2 of his starts coming in the hitter friendly Coors Field.  Hammel is also the brother of a guy I work with so I will be paying special attention to this game.  Hopefully he pitches well and then the Pirates win the take the lead after he leave the game.  A win for everyone involved.

Prediction:  West coast series' are always hard to get a handle on and this one is no difference.  With the debacle that was game 3 of the Giants series fresh in the teams mind there is a good chance that Game 1 will be a struggle.  However, the Pirates got to Chacin in his last start against them and this time he has Kevin Correia opposing him.  Correia is familiar with the NL West from his days pitching for both the Giants and Padres and he happens to be the best pitcher.  If the Pirates can win Game 1 I think that they could win Game 2.  All and all I say a surprising 2 of 3 from the NL West leading Rockies is in order.  Raise the Jolly Roger.

Ryan Vogelsong...?

So as I sit at home today, sick with intestinal distress (yeah, not good) I realized that the Pirates were going to play an afternoon game against the Giants and that more importantly it would be televised.  When I turned on the pregame a few minutes ago, I was surprised to discover that one Mr. Ryan Vogelsong would be making his first start in over 5 years against the Buccos today.  Many of you may remember Vogelsong as Charlie Morton before Charlie Morton was Charlie Morton.  Vogelsong had amazing stuff and was billed as the next young Pirates ace.  However, all of us know how that story ended.  Vogelsong was used as a starter for only a year and went 6-13 with a 6.50 ERA in 26 starts.  The next year he was moved to the bullpen and then the year after that he was on his way to pitching in Japan.  Now he is back and had his contract purchased early this year by the Giants when Barry Zito got hurt.  I don't know what to think about today's game, but I have this funny feeling that he is going to pitch really well against his old team.  Hopefully I'm wrong and he lives up to everything I know him to be.  Let's Go Bucs.

Fundamentals = Wins, the Pirates lack fundamentals and therefore cannot win.  I know there are many other reasons, namely talent, for their lack of success but no team wins without doing the simple things you learn as a kid playing little league. End of story.

Pirates vs. Giants : 4.26.11 - 4.28.11

Series: Pirates vs. Giants, PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA

TV, radio: Root Sports, WPGB-FM (104.7).

Facts/Reaction: The Pirates improve their home record to 3-6 after taking 2 of 3 from Washington Nationals over the weekend by getting a few good pitching efforts from Jeff Karstens and Paul Maholm.  The Pirates are now 10-12 and yesterday became the 12th team in the National League to double digit wins.  The Pirates claimed Brandon Wood this week from the Angels and Wood looks to start over after a terrible 5 year stint in the American League West.  Wood started his tenure with the Pirates off in style by doubling in 2 runs in yesterdays 4-2 win over the Nationals.  Hopefully Wood can relax and play to the potential he had when the Angels drafted him in the first round way back in 2003.  The Pirates can honestly do no worse than Ronny Cedeno and Josh Rodriguez so really, what's to lose.

Pitching Probables:

Tuesday, April 26 - Charlie Morton (2-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Matt Cain (2-1, 3.46 ERA)

Wednesday, April 27 - James McDonald (0-2, 10.13 ERA) vs. Juan Marichal (26-9, 2.43 ERA)

Thursday, April 28 - Jeff Karstens (2-0, 3.94 ERA) vs. Gaylord Perry (23-13, 3.20 ERA)

Stats and Matchup: The Pirates meet the World Champion Giants for the first time this year and look to win their second series at home.  Luckily, it looks like the Pirates will miss Giants ace Tim Lincecum during the series which can't be anything but a good thing.  As far as matchups go it is kind of hard to determine anything since the Giants aren't sure who they are throwing in games 2 and 3.  However, Garrett Jones is a career .333 hitter against game 1's starter, Matt Catt.  It's about time that Garrett breaks out and has himself a good series, so I am going to make him my breakout performer.  On the Giants side, just about the entire team has killed James McDonald in their careers with the best of them being Pablo Sandoval who has a .429 average against McDonald.  Also, Sandoval is on my fantasy team so hopefully he plays well, scores all of San Francisco's runs and the Pirates win all three games.

Prediction:  The Pirates look to continue their winning ways (1 game and 1 series) by winning their series against the Giants.  It is hard to get a reading on the series when the San Francisco's starters for games 2 and 3 are TBA.  With that in mind I think that the Pirates can win game 1 and beat Matt Cain on Tuesday.  Some of their hitter have had good success against him and honestly, he has never impressed me because his fastball is flat and he leaves his curveball up in the zone way too often.  Anyways, if they beat Cain in game 1 they should have no problem with the TBA twins in games 2 and 3.  Therefore, they should sweep the series and leave on their West Coast swing with an even 6-6 record at home.  Honestly, I think the Pirates will win 1 of 3 games and finish their current home stand 3-3.  Anything better would obviously be awesome.  Even though the Giants are currently 10-11, they are still the defending champs and these are still the Pirates we are talking about.

Pirates vs. Nationals : 4.22.11 - 4.25.11

Series: Pirates vs. Nationals, PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA

TV, radio: Root Sports, WPGB-FM (104.7).

Facts/Reaction: The Pirates return home after a road trip with mixed results.  They took 3 of 4 from the NL Central leading Reds and then were shut out in the first two games of their series against the Marlins in South Florida.  Now with a team that only won 17 road games all of last season (I know I bring that stat up all the time but geez how terrible is a 17-65 road record) a road trip in which you return home from after going 3-4 has to be considered an somewhat of a success even though the feeling leaving Cincinnati is much different than the one that Pirates have now after being swept in Miami.  The other problem has to be that they were shut out twice on the road trip and from the last few games they played at home (1 run in 2 games against the Brewers) there isn't much hope for a bump in offensive production from playing in the friendly confines of PNC Park.

Pitching Probables: 

Friday, April 22 Monday April 25 - Jeff Karstens (1-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Livan Hernandez (2-1, 2.88 ERA)

Saturday, April 23 - Kevin Correia (3-1, 2.48 ERA) vs. Jason Marquis (1-0, 3.26 ERA)

Sunday, April 24 - Paul Maholm (0-3, 4.30 ERA) vs. John Lannan (2-1, 3.43 ERA)




Stats and Matchup: The Pirates look to improve on their record at home as they take on the Washington Nationals.  The Pirates are 1-5 at home this season and have have yet to play a good game in from of the home crowd.  Coincidentally the Pirates were also 1-5 against the Nats last year with their only win coming on September 3rd in Pittsburgh.  On Saturday night the Pirates will face Jason Marquis who is 11-6 in his career against the Bucs with a 3.57 ERA in 22 starts.  Although Marquis has had great success against the Pirates, some Bucs have done pretty well against him.  One such player is Ryan Doumit, who is a career .357 hitter with 1 HR and 3 RBI in 15 AB.  After a hot start to the season, the Pirate bats have cooled off considerably in the recent weeks.  The Buccos now have no regular starter hitting over .300 and 6 of the 8 regulars are hitting at or below .261.  The only position players above that line are Jose Tabata who has struggled mightily in his past few games and Chris Snyder who only has 18 AB on the season.  Oh boy...sounds like the same old Pirates.

Prediction:  The second road trip of the season got off to a positive note for the Pirates by taking 3 of 4 from the Reds in Cincinnati.  With a great deal of momentum the Pirates cruised into Miami and promptly got their tails handed to them by the Marlins scoring a total of zero runs in the first two games of the series.  So far this season it seems that the Pirates have struggled to carry momentum from series to series and therefore have struggled to put together any sort of winning streak with their longest being just 2 games.  I truly believe that this home stand, against the Nationals and the World Champion Giants, will tell us a lot about the type of team the Pirates will have this season.  The Pirates desperately need to play well in front of the "faithful" at PNC Park.  This group of Pittsburgh Pirates really isn't that bad.  Sure they aren't scoring runs as I stated above, the entire team is in a slump.  That won't continue.  Cutch is going to break out, Tabata will get it back and most importantly Alvarez will begin to hit for an average that is above his current weight.  The Buccos need a good showing in these next 6 games to prove to themselves and their fans that the6 games to prove to themselves and their fans that they are actually worth paying to see on a regular basis.  As for a prediction, I think the Pirates will take 2 of 3 from the Nationals this weekend.  They know they have some work to do in proving themselves to the die hard and casual fan alike and I think they take the first step against the Nats.  I guarantee a victory on Saturday night.  I know this because statistics don't lie.  The Pirates are 12-1-2 in weekend night games, coming on days before the summer solstice when the promotion is either a bobblehead or figurine.  That's what I call a sure thing.

Pirates @ Marlins : 4.19.11 - 4.21.11

Series: Pirates @ Marlins, Sun Life Stadium, Miami, FL

TV, radio: Root Sports, WPGB-FM (104.7).

Facts/Reaction: Well let me say this...there are many times when it comes to sports that I am just flat out wrong.  Normally, I have predicted that my team will win more games, series or championships than they actually do.  A few days ago I said that the Buccos would win only one game in their series with the Reds if they were lucky and as they travel to South Beach to play the Marlins they are 3-1 on the trip after winning their series against the Reds.  Let me tell you, being wrong never felt so good.

Pitching Probables:

Tuesday, April 19 - Paul Maholm (0-2, 2.33 ERA) vs. Josh Johnson (2-0, 1.35 ERA)

Wednesday, April 20 - Charlie Morton (2-0, 1.64 ERA) vs. Ricky Nolasco (1-0, 4.05 ERA)

Thursday, April 21 - James McDonald (0-1, 7.47 ERA) vs. Chris Volstad (0-1, 5.59 ERA)

 

Stats and Matchup: The Pirates are 7-3 on the road this season and have won all three road series.  Last year the Bucs won 17 games and 4 series on the road.  Last season the Pirates played 8 games against the Marlins and were 2-6.  I am not sure why they struggled so much against the Fish but then again they were 57-105 so really there weren't many teams that they didn't struggle against.  As far as match ups go, Paul Maholm comes to mind and specifically his matchup against Hanley Ramirez.  Now I know Hanley is really good and rakes against just about everyone, but against Maholm he is a career .375 hitter with 2 HR and 2 RBI.  On the Pirates side the one to watch has to be Matt Diaz against the Marlins starting pitching staff.  If you remember Diaz spent the last 5 seasons with the NL East Atlanta Braves and during that time he killed Florida pitching to the tune of a .376 average with 10 HR, 10 2B and 28 RBI in 42 career starts.  The Pirates face all right handed pitchers and normally Jones gets those starts, however, Jones has struggled against Florida in his career hitting only .139 in 10 career games.  I look for Diaz to get at least 1 start in the series and any pinch hitting opportunity that arises.

Prediction:  The Pirates beat the highest scoring team in baseball over the weekend by scoring runs in bunches and more importantly all be it surprisingly by pitching lights out with complete games from both Morton and Correia.  They won't need pitching quite so good to beat the Marlins but will need a great outing from Maholm in order for the Pirates to beat Josh Johnson and the Marlins in Game 1 of the series.  Taking into account the lack of success the Pirates have had against the Marlins in the past few years and the fact that Josh Johnson will most likely beat the Buccos in Game 1, I think the Pirates win 1 out of 3 in South Beach and return home to face the Nationals on Friday with a 4-3 record on the road trip.

Pirates @ Reds : 4.15.11 - 4.18.11

Series: Pirates @ Reds, Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati, OH

  

TV, radio: Root Sports, WPGB-FM (104.7).

Facts: First off, how Great is the name of the Reds Stadium.  "Great American Ballpark" just sounds like a place where America's Pastime should be played.  Moving on...the Reds come off a series in which they took 2 of 3 from the Padres in San Diego.  The Pirates come off a home stand in which they lost 5 of 6 and 4 in a row.  Quite frankly, they can't hit.  Period.  Once again the Pirates pitching gave them a chance to win and all they could do was muster 3 hits while striking out 11 times.  Paul Maholm went 7 innings while giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and striking out 6.  Great outing by Maholm.  Honestly, I don't think anyone thought the Pirates offense would be this bad or that their pitching would actually be this respectable.  Moreover, I hate the Brewers and can't stand when they win, let alone when they beat the Pirates.  Lastly, the Pirates scored a grand total of 20 runs in 6 games while being completely shut out (almost) in the 2 game series against the Brewers.  Zero runs in back to back games.  Zero freakin' runs.  OK, one freakin' run.  Hopefully the Buccos find a way out of this rut soon before they get too far under .500.

Pitching Probables:

Friday, April 15 - Charlie Morton (1-0, 2.08 ERA) vs. Bronson Arroyo (2-0, 2.08 ERA)

Saturday, April 16 - James McDonald (0-0, 5.56 ERA) vs. Edison Volquez (2-0, 5.82 ERA)

Sunday, April 17 - Doug Drabek (22-6, 2.76 ERA) vs. Mike Leake (1-0, 6.75 ERA)

Monday, April 18 - Kevin Correia (2-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. Sam LeCure (0-0, 2.25 ERA)

Stats and Matchup: OK, Doug Drabek, circa 1990, when he won the NL Cy Young Award as a member of the Bucs will not be starting Sunday against the Reds but the Pirates haven't named their starter yet so I figured that a 48 year old Drabek could do just about as well as anyone that Pirates plan to throw out there.  Now moving on...let's get this out of the way, the Reds are good.  Really good.  If you look below at some of the ERA's of their pitchers you wouldn't think that this would be a team with a record of 8-4 that currently sits atop the NL Central.  But when you look at the bigger picture, it really has nothing to do with the pitching.  It has everything to do with the Reds offense.  They are currently 1st in runs scored, 3rd in batting average, 3rd in on-base percentage and 6th in slugging percentage.  That is one stout offense.  In addition to that, the Reds have only committed 6 errors.  Many say that pitching and defense wins championships but apparently offense and defense wins games in April.

Prediction:  Honestly, the Pirates have shown me nothing in the past 6 games to show me that they can score enough runs to be competitive let alone actually win a game.  So with that being said I don't see the Pirates winning anymore than 1 game in Cincinnati.  The Reds just flat out score runs and the Pirates just don't.  Also, even though some of the Reds pitchers look to be vulnerable, the Pirates aren't exactly the 1927 Yankees.  Not too much to be scared of in their lineup currently with McCutchen struggling, Pedro benched and Walker leading the league in strikeouts.  Oh well, the Pirates will be lucky to be 7-9 by the time the series against the Reds ends.

Pirates vs. Brewers : 4.12.11 - 4.14.11

Series: Pirates vs. Brewers, PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA

TV, radio: Root Sports, WPGB-FM (104.7).

Facts: No facts today, because let's be honest, I hate the Brewers.  I hate everything about them.  I hate that they untuck their shirts when they win games.  I hate that they act like they have won something when actually they have won just about as much as the Pirates have recently.  I actually dislike Ryan Braun more than any other MLB player.  More than A-Rod, more than anyone.  Now, I also hate the Brewers because for the last few years they have absolutely owned the Pirates.  Up until last year the Pirates had lost 22 consecutive games in Milwaukee, now I know these 3 games are in Pittsburgh but c'mon, 22 games in a row.  That equates to no victories from May of 2007 until April 2010.  Also, last year you may remember this abomination at the hands of the Brewers.  All that embarrassment and the Brewers general jackassery makes me hate them and that's why I hope the Pirates can find a way to at least take 2 of 3 from them.

Pitching Probables:

Tuesday, April 12 - Kevin Correia (2-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Shaun Marcum (1-1, 4.22 ERA)

Wednesday, April 13 - Kevin Correia (2-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Shaun Marcum (1-1, 4.20 ERA)

Thursday, April 14 - Paul Maholm (0-1, 2.19 ERA) vs. Randy Wolf (0-2, 7.20 ERA)

 

Stats and Matchup: Take a quick look at the stats of the 3 Pirates starting pitchers that I have listed as probable's above.  They have a combined ERA of 1.85 with 3 wins and 5 quality starts.  Doesn't sound like a team that should be 5-5 but the Pirates lost Maholm's great start in Chicago and a Charlie Morton start just a few nights ago.  It seems that the pitching either has a great start and then a crappy bullpen or the exact opposite as we saw in the Pirates 14 inning victory against the Rockies where the bullpen went 11 1/3 innings without allowing a run.  Needless to say, if the Pirates are going to continue to play .500 baseball they will need at least decent starting and relief pitching because they aren't going to score a ton of runs.  Speaking of runs, Jose Tabata has to be the player to watch in this series.  To date he is hitting .342 with a hit in all 10 games this year.  Also, Tabata has scored 11 runs in those 10 games and has an OBP of .457.  Now there is no way that Tabata can keep up this high level of production but so far, Hurdle's decision to make Tabata his leadoff hitter is proving to be the right one.  I look for Tabata to have a good series and also to get his first triple of the season.

Prediction:  There are so many reason why I want the Pirates to play well against the Brewers in this series and most of them I have already laid out in my "Facts" section above.  With that being said I think the Pirates will/can win tonight against Marcum.  The reason I feel that way is with Correia on the mound and none of the Pirates having a single at bat against Marcum the game will remain low scoring.  I think Correia will be good enough for the Pirates to get the win.  As the series moves on, I actually think that the Pirates could win both games 2 and 3 because neither Randy Wolf nor Chris Narveson does anything for me.  Game 1 of the series has now been cancelled and both teams will push their Game 1 starters back to Game 2.  I now like at worst a split in the series because I think the Bucs can get to the soft throwing Randy Wolf.  However, he is 8-3 with a 4.35 ERA in his career against the PBC.  With all that being said, I still think the Pirates exercise the demons and earn at least a split with Milwaukee, righting the ship in a way as they then head to Cincinnati to face the division leading Reds.

Rapid Reaction: Rockies Series

Well I was completely wrong in just about every way possible when it comes to the opening home series against the Rockies.  While Opening Day was beautiful and had all the makings of a great day day for baseball, the teams error ridden performance made the game hard to watch from the 2nd inning on.  In game 2, the Buccos got behind early and looked to be down and out after Ross Ohlendorf left the game in the 3rd inning with shoulder pain.  Ross was placed on the DL yesterday and will miss at the very least his next two starts.  Hopefully the Pirates don't allow Daniel McCutchen to make those starts and give the opportunity to a guy that actually has some upside, say Brad Lincoln, Rudy Owens or even Justin Wilson.  Anyways, the Pirates were able to fight their way back into the game with the help of a scoreless 11 1/3 innings from the bullpen.  Jose Tabata hit his first home run and also doubled in the winning run in the bottom of the 14th for the win.  The last two games of the series were eerily similar in the sense that both James McDonald and Charlies Morton had decent outings that were lost by the bullpen in the end.  Charlie Morton struggled a bit in the 1st inning with his control but was able to rebound for his 2nd good start of the season.  His final line: 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 5 BB and 1 K.  The BB/K ratio is obviously concerning.  I think this is in part because Charlie is now pounding the zone with his sinker and getting a lot of outs without having to rely on his breaking stuff to strike guy out.  Although you would like to see him get more K's, it is nice to know that if he has to pitch a game where K's are needed, he has the stuff to do it.  On the other side of the coin, he can pitch to contact and still get people out.  McDonald on the other hand gave up 4 runs in the 1st inning, only to right the ship and eventually leave the game with the lead.  However, Mike Crotta's disasterous 7th inning gave the game away.  Crotta entered the game with 2 outs in the 7th and a runner on 1st base and gave up a single and 3 walks all while only throwing 7 strikes out of 21 pitches.  The end of the series had the same feeling as the beginning, disappointment and the Pirates were only able to take 1 of 4 from the Rockies.  The series also showed us that the Pirates are really struggling to hit right now.  Both Neil Walker and Pedro Alvarez have struck out 14 times, which for Pedro isn't too surprising because we know that he can be pretty feast or famine.  Also, he is known as a slow starter, but a .195 average with 14 K's and no home runs is a bit worrisome.  Walker on the other hand is a contact guy and needs good control of the strike zone to be successful.  His average is still at .300 but the K's are a big deal and he MUST learn to limit them if he is going to be a go 2 hitter.  McCutchen is struggling a bit but I am not too worried about him.  He is such a natural hitter and player that he will still get his throughout the season, although he has yet to steal a base, which I am a bit concerned about but that could be partly because he hasn't been consistently on base.  The lone bright spot seems to be Jose Tabata.  Tabata is hitting .342 with 11 runs scored, 2 home runs and 5 stolen bases.  He has also hit safely in all 10 games this season, pretty good stuff.  Anyways, the team is 5-5 and look forward to a day off tomorrow before the 3 game set against the Brewers to finish the home stand.

Opening day, centerfield by john fogerty playing on the speakers, 63 degrees and sunny...wow I love baseball, let's go bucs!

Pirates vs. Rockies : 4.7.11 - 4.10.11

Series: Pirates vs. Rockies, PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA

TV, radio: Root Sports, WPGB-FM (104.7).

Facts: The Pirates return home to the friendly confines of PNC Park with their first back to back road series victories since, wait for it...August 2007.  Whoa.  With a road trip that successful (by any teams standards) the Buccos look to begin their home slate against the Rockies in a similar fashion.  The Rockies are coming off a three game sweep of the Dodgers in Denver earlier this week and are 3-1 on the season with one of their games being snowed out, hah.  The Rockies pitching staff has been pretty good in the early going with both Jorge De La Rose and Jhoulys Chacin putting up quality starts in which they did not allow any runs.  However, Ubaldo Jimenez has been placed on the 15 day DL after suffering a cracked cuticle during his first start.  Not sure how some dead skin at the base of your fingernail effects how you grip the ball, but whatever...a guy that went 15-1 in the first half last year is going to miss his scheduled start against the Pirates, I'll take it.

Pitching Probables:

Thursday, April 7 - Paul Maholm (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Esmil Rogers (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Friday, April 8 - Ross Ohlendorf (0-0, 6.00 ERA) vs. Jorge De La Rosa (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

Saturday, April 9 - Charlie Morton (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. Greg Reynolds (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Sunday, April 10 - James McDonald (1-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

Stats and Matchup: The Pirates took 4 of 6 from the Cubs in Wrigley and the Cardinals in Busch on their first road trip and now come home to face the NL West leading Rockies.  The Rockies wield a potent lineup from top to bottom with weapons like Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton and Chris Iannetta.  Out of all of those guys, the one I am most concerned about is Todd Helton.  Now I know what you are saying, "Todd Helton is old and washed up, and CarGo and Tulo are monsters."  Well I agree that each of those two are monsters but, the 37 year old Helton is a career .357 hitter against the Pirates with 109 hits in 81 games.  So yeah, he is going to get on base.  But then again, Tulowitzki has a career .444 average against the Bucs with 44 hits in 26 games, so he too is going to get on base.  Basically, our starters can shut down those two guys, I think we have a pretty good shot of winning some ball games.  Paul Maholm has the most experience against the Rockies but none of it is particularly good.  He is 1-6 with a 7.11 ERA in 8 career starts when facing Colorado.  Although that doesn't bode well for his start tomorrow he is 30-23 at PNC Park with a 3.89 ERA and besides he is going to be pitching in front of a capacity crowd (including yours truly) so he should be just fine.

Prediction: The Pirates look to transfer the momentum from their 4-2 road trip to their home opening series against the Rockies.  I think that Thursday is going to be a really fun game with a ton of energy both from the team and the sellout crowd.  With that being said, I think that the Pirates will be able to win Game 1 again Esmil Rogers as he makes his season debut.  Game 2 looks to be a struggle, partly because De La Rosa is good and partly because I just don't trust Ross Ohlendorf yet.  He needs to focus on throwing strikes with his fastball so that his other pitches are even moderately effective.  Game 3 should be interesting for no other reason than seeing Charlie Morton make his home debut.  If he goes out there and pitches lights out, the crowd will go absolutely bonkers.  If he struggles, look for a healthy amount of boos and a quick exit for Charlie.  Finally, Game 4 will feature the best pitching matchup as long as James McDonald's stamina is where it needs to be so that he can work more effectively and deeper into the game.  However, even if he is effective, the Pirates offense is going to have a tough time scoring runs again Chacin who is really coming into his own in this his second season.  (Note: I just realized that Chacin was born in 1988.  Holy crap he's 21 and has been in the league since he was 19 or 20.  That can't be right.  Maybe it is.  Oh well, he's probably 30 anyways and just faked his birth certificate.)  Regardless, he is good and I think that winning the final game of the series will be tough.  I say that Pirates take 2 of the first 3 and then will have to fight to win game 4 but in the end will earn no worse that a series split with the Rockies while taking their season record to 6-4.

Road Trip Reaction

I was talking to a guy at work today about the Pirates and he makes the following comment, "the Pirate's should be 6-0 right now and at the very least 5-1."  After he walked I way I thought about how insane he sounded.  The Pirates won back to back road series for the first time since August 2007.  Yes 2007.  How could a 4-2 road trip against two NL Central combatants be a bad thing at all?  Did they give away a game against the Cubs by blowing a 3 run lead in the 8th inning?  Yes.  Did they steal the next game from the Cubs in the top of the 9th with a 75 foot single that drove in 2 runs?  Yep.  All in all they had an outstanding road trip in which the teams assumed weakness, their starting pitching actually was the shining star.  Take today's game for example and my thoughts from my series prediction, "Chris Carpenter on the mound in game 3 is pretty much a no win in my eyes."  Well Kevin Correia came out made me eat my words by out dueling Carpenter throwing 7 shutout innings in which he struck out 3 and scattered 5 hits.  Correia is now 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts this season, both being on the road.  Correia has been a welcome surprise up to this point and I look forward to him getting the opportunity to pitch in front of the home crowd.  A 4-2 road trip is awesome and winning the final game of the series should give the team some good momentum going into the home opener tomorrow.  Hopefully the Pirates can keep up their good play and build on the recent success at home from last year when they went 40-41.