Pirates at Milwaukee, 7:05 p.m. 08-23-08

Good luck Gorzelanny.

The Pirate announcers say vary positive things about Moss.

I call him Kars, shows nice promise.

Welcome back Matt.

Lets back this team going into the closing weeks giving the newcomers at all levels anticipation and drive to get here soon.

And a big Happy Birthday(Feliz Cumpleanos) to ANDURY ACEVEDO, shortstop for our Gulf Coast League leading Baby Bucs.  

Andury is the youngest active player in our minor league system and turned EIGHTEEN today.

Good.Maybe now Duke can go down and do the same thing.I read in the game story today that  Andrews said  Duke just doesn't have that "explosion" that he should have.Well,maybe because his stuff just isn't that good?!?!Anyone ever think of that??I know Duke's a good guy and works hard and everyone in the organization wants him to succeed,but '05 was a long time ago.He's had three consecutive bad seasons and just doesn't seem more than a No. 5 starter,at BEST.

Looking over the roster, the Pirates should have a pretty interesting bullpen next season.  They will have lots of competition and power arms.  And with the added competition for starting rotation slots, some of those starter candidates may be moved to the bullpen.

CL  M.  Capps  R

SU  T.  Yates  R

SU  J. Grabow L      will return?

MR  C. Hansen R

MR  S. Burnett L

D. Bautista R   will return?

E. Meek R  -should be ready

J. Chavez R -  at Indy:  68ip  1.11whip  70/20 k/bb

R. Sanchez R  -at Indy:  51ip  1.19whip  29/16 k/bb

J. Davis R

T. Beam  R

D. Davidson L -too many bbs at Altoona

J. VanBenschoten R

Beam or Hansen to go down? If not, outside chance of Yates getting DFA'd?

Please don't show any list with JvB having any chance of sticking next season. He's proven awful.

If anyone wants to watch it through MLB.tv, there's a five-day trial period (even though they charge the credit card, later you can get a refund). Also, it's US$ 19,95 for the rest of the season, plus radio for the playoffs. If you live outside the US, Canada, Japan and Korea, you can also watch the playoffs.

If you only want the MLB.tv for the season though, you have to cancel it at the end of the year.  They'll auto-charge you every month even during the off season if you don't proactively cancel it.  I made that mistake when I ordered it while I was away at college.  

Haven't seen the line up yet.I hope Doumit is on it.If Gorzilla is on and the LaLa brothers show up to play maybe we steal one along with Maholm tomorrow.A shout out to Doug Dirts wife and hope she is better soon.BTW I live in Iowa so for a change i get to watch while my friends out east don't.Anyway keep up the posts cuz you guys are the best fans.GO BUCS

Sandlot W : Sanchez has borderline location,and his delivery is completely overdon.Way too many moving parts. Nothing against the guy,but keep your fingers x-d that he isn't in the bull pen next year.That will mean there hasn't been much improvement.

Aramis Ramirez (remember him) 2 homeruns 6 RBIs today as the cubs win and lower the Pirates elimination number to 13 and put them 21.5 games back.

After the Nationals and Mariners, the Pirates should be the third team eliminated from post-season contention officially. Although we all know that happened awhile ago.

Tonight's Live Betting lines

Brewers -250

Pirates +230

Over/Under 9

Las Vegas really likes to bury the go go buccos, another monstrous moneyline for the opposing teams.

Ben State: "If you only want the MLB.tv for the season though, you have to cancel it at the end of the year.  They'll auto-charge you every month even during the off season if you don't proactively cancel it."

Now there's an opt-out when you're signing up.

That's a really weak starting lineup.  I tire of this blog's eternal pessimist crew (you know who you are), but this is no way to boost Gorzo's confidence.  He's got to feel he has to throw a shutout to win this one.

@PAMT--I am not letting go of this sorry to everyone else....

@LION43--No apologies necessary I am exactly the same way. It was fun debating with you. We both have our opinions and we defended them no right or wrong.

@Everyone else--PAMT thinks we are all idiots. he posted the <PASTE comment on the previous thread.

@PAMT--<Who are the idiots cheering at these games still? Fans are so delusional they are so caught up with Pedro Alvarez they fail to see that the bar has been lowered that much. This team is not worthy of support, stop giving these guys free passes, they embody none of the qualities that make pittsburgh sports team special.

**Ah I think almost everyone in this community (that you just called idiots) are cheering for this ballclub. Nice. You have 6 friggin posts to this blog and you have offended nearly every PBC blogger .

While most if not all here are angry, upset and dismayed some even disillusioned but we are still fans.

Some of us have children that cheer wildly for their hometown team. Most have never seen a winner here and they still cheer, and I serioulsy doubt you want to consider calling our kids idiots.

Just a wee small suggestion...

You may want to post a sincere apology for the idiots reference.

Dave Sveum?  Typo for, or related to:  Dale?

Yikes, thats the weakest lineup all year.

Moss hitting third?

Sheesh!

I'd bat Doug third, not Moss.

You know, alot of scouts are former managers and coaches who have been fired cause they sucked. The only job they could get after that was as a scout.

Keep that in mind when you hear them rave about the swings and supposedly great strike zone judgement of Andy and Adam Laroche.

@JH--I did a quick google and could not find anything but  I am generally wrong about this and everything else....

BillyKidd -

Your'e a good man, my friend. Don't blow a fuse. Ignore the trolls. They want attention and you are feeding that appetite by letting it get to you. You can never get anywhere with a troll because their motivation is irrational. Whenever you see those posts, just hit "PGDN" key. You will live longer. Now, call up Baywatch and order a pizza. Maybe he'll deliver it this time. :)

@G-Man--thank you for being the voice of reason. And to everyone else sorry for the rant.

Now BAY. Where's my Pizza.

@JP--Good point. Isn't Dave Littlefield a scout for the Cubbies?

Wow, I wonder if it's a sign of addiction when you ask the group instead of Google.  

Dale Sveum is the 3rd Base Coach for the Brewers according to Wikipedia.  At least as of Oct. 2007.  

I must say I'm enjoying the group even though my Dylan knock-off this morning resulted in a rather profound silence.  It (the group) is a well balanced collection of off balance people.  

Buc fans can't seem to shake Aramis Ramirez. Even if we had not given him away, he would be gone by now via free agency, so except for being a commentary on the sad state of the Bucs in making that deal, it is a moot point.

We sometimes think we are the only team that ever makes bad trades. True, we have made more of them than most everyone else, but we need to move on.

Hey there--sometimes an off-lineup does well.  May Gorzo show the confidence to trust his pitches.  Pirates have an alarming record of pitchers who look very good one season and then falter after that.  Time for someone to show the bad season was the aberration, not the good season.

Hey whatcha getting on that pizza?I'm kinda partial to calzones.Think we can get a calzone in the race?

great job by nyj to once again screw up on the bases. when will someone teach him how to STAY ON BASE.

Feels like a Steelers night.  

Also feels like an Arby's night.

Only the Pirates could get a lead-off double followed by a single and not score a run.  Boy, have we seen this a lot in the last 16 years!

Steelers on TV in 2 minutes.  Sigh.

@AlexandreGiesbrecht

@Ben State

Fellas,

does anyone know how to 'get around' the blackout issue with MLB.tv? It used to be as easy as putting in a 'friends' zip code during the sign up process, however, now it appears to focus on your credit card 'billing address'...Not sure if you fellas were aware of this or not, however, MLB now blacks out EVERY game of your hometeam, whether it be on the road or at home - it really sucks & makes the service almost useless - any idears out there on how to get around this????

Top of the 4th.40 pitches after 3 innings.Braun goes 2nd deckLala brothers both strike out looking.New nickname for them."Stand and Look.Hope things pick up.Wonder if Kidd got his pizza?

@Concerned Chris...

I don't know if it's picking up on your billing address the IP address of your computer.  

concerned,

it appears that your ips zipcode is the default for any blackouts

i can not get the buccos if they are playing in chicago,cincy detroit or clevland eveywhere else is fine

I like that - LaLa brothers :p

I doubt I will ever understand giving 3B to lil La - He has done NOTHING in the majors to show he was even near Bautista in talent & to run that flintstone glove of his out there everyday....that move seemed to simply be a move of NH wanting every position to be filled with 'his guys' & we all know how that works out.....DL did the same thing as well-not saying it isnt a good move, however, to simply make the move to rid yourself of a previous player's guy just doesn't make any sense.....Maybe lil La will someday hit his weight (although at 235+, it might be difficult) - my only hope is that lil La & big La don't BOTH start next season on sabbatical or the bucs might set a record for losses in a season where they will shatter the record for consecutive losing seasons.

@indianafanatic

So a 'proxy server' may help solve this issue? Thanks for the heads up :)

Well it's 6-0 still in the 4th.Almost 100 pitches,3 walks and Hansen coming in.Gorzo  only had 4 walks in 7 starts in AAA.

Gentleman

As I am a fairly new poster to this site, the last thing i want to to be called is a troll. Now you have my permission to slap my trollness out of me if it should raise it's ugly head.

Besides I had to turn off the mlb because it was too painful to watch.

The only caveat to that happens to be every time I do that they come back to win

Indiana F -- You have to be pretty extreme to be a troll.  I don't know if there's a formal definition anywhere, but it's basically a poster who makes outrageous statements just to get a reaction from the group.  Consistent name calling qualifies and so does provoking constant flame wars.  We have a couple of candidates but no rlm's.

Potential postgame comments from John Russell:

"Well Gorzo threw the ball a little better."  

I can see it coming now.  July 4th against the Brewers (his last start in the bigs) 4.2 innings, 11 hits, 8 runs, 7 earned, 4 walks, 4 k's, 2 HR's allowed.

Tonight: 4.2 innings, 7 hits, 6R, 6 earned, 3BB, 3 K's, 1HR allowed.

Be glad those of you who are blacked out.  I am so sick of watching this team in Milwaukee or anywhere on the road.  The lead announcer is annoying enough calling Freddy Sanchez.....Freddy SONchez as in S (the word "on") and then chez.  Its Sanchez not Sonchez.  

Go Reds!  Braves are at 57 wins and so are the Giants.  We could jump into a tie for 6th place in the draft tonight.  Why not bring the whole Bradenton team up, it can't be any worse since we are playing for the draft anyway.

Off to see the rest of the fun.  36 more days until the misery ends for another year.

Hey Paul,

How's the Torres deal working out for Mr. Huntington?

I second that comment on pronouncing Freddie's last name.What's even more annoying is when the camera is on the other team's dugout and they're laughing like a buncha yots at a bachelor's party at the expense of the Pirates.Let JR show that to the boys.Maybe big La might even show a little anger! Side note tonight: all 3 pitchers-Suppan,Shouse,and Torres are ex Pirates.

Excellent, good to hear some common sense on this blog

Another one for the good guys, Gorzo how much did we miss you

And is there an even close second to the worst non pitcher on the Pirates. I mean Andy LaRoche has to be 1a and 1b. Unreal

PAM-T

let me get you a knife so you can cut the sarcasm.

Gorzo stunk up the place, but to be fair he isn't the only one flaming out

So hey the cubs lost too so it wasn't a total loss tonight

The consenus seems to be everybody must go except doumit and nate.

But what else do we have except our frustration

Don't forget the sausage races

Yeah that announcer Brian Anderson needs to do a little research, he's butchered Freddy's name for two years.  His co hort Bill Schroeder has always been entertaining (and pronounces his name correct I might add, Anderson must not listen to him or something). When D. Sutton was with him,  I actually enjoyed Brewers broadcasts somewhat.

Well we get to see CC twice next week so keep the losses piling up.  Keep on making those offseason plans guys, its been mailed in since August 1st.  Only thing now is no one else cares either because kids are going back to school, skyblast is over, and the other sports are beginning or soon will begin.  Bring on all of the Cubs, Brewers, Dodger and Cardinal fans.  They'll make PNC feel like a home game on the road for these clubs.  Not all is lost, those fans will buy Fam-A-lee packs and help our attendance numbers despite outnumbering the Pirate fans by a 2 to 1 margin.  What a great outlook we have for our team.  Some are saying 2010, I doubt it myself.  One more year of this team staying intact will get us a 100 loss season in 2009.  Oh what fun that will be.  

7-14 since 8-1.  Well on our way to the 9-19 I predicted for August and 4th in the draft by the end of the season.

Reds just took the lead.  Last place is ours in 3 innings or so.  Congratulations, bet we don't get out of the cellar this time.  We're there to stay for the final 36 days.

Yep we certainly have no use for Torres in our bullpen, we have the best pen in baseball.  The one guy who still lives in Pittsburgh despite being traded from Pittsburgh and wanted to stay in Pittsburgh, we let him go for next to nothing and he has 25 saves now.  Anyone in our bullpen have 25 saves and an ERA right around 2 and a half?  That would be a NO, we have 30 saves as a team.  NICE!!!

When Harry Caray was still around we used to write to him c/o the Cubs with names that were very Polish or Russian just to hear him try to pronounce them.Hey I live in Iowa all we ever get is Cubs or Cardinal games

FSN knows this team mails it in during September.  They are only covering 13 out of the final 26 games for the month.  At least they do their research.

With Harry, it was kind of a signature and it was humorous.  This guy is none of the above, very dry and just doesn't know how to say Freddy's name.  Drives my kids nuts. One of them is in preschool and he knows how it is pronounced.  Maybe Mr. Anderson reads the Post Gazette and will get it right on the telecast tomorrow, we'll be watching.

Hey I guess I did not miss much, had to go to a family function and had to run to the car to try and listen in.

BAY--still no ZA...I am calling Cestones in MtL. Lol.

I guess with that lineup not much Could have been expected.

Exceptionally frustrated but I am not giving up or in.

@Bucsfan--<One more year of this team staying intact will get us a 100 loss season in 2009.  Oh what fun that will be.

** Not much left to blow up if you consider that based upon recent popular belief that Jack Wilson is going this fall. They can't dump Freddie, certainly Nate and Ryan are sticking around and it is pretty much a given that they will be looking to completly overhaul the Pitching staff around Malholm.  

My guess is that there will be competions at 3rd, at least 2 outfield spots dependent on where they place Nate, SS if Jack goes, possbibly and probably 1st as well and up to 4 positions on the hill and a revamp of the pen...Can't blow it up much more than that. I only see 3 safe position players Nate Freddie and Ryan  

@ConcernedChris

Have you tried putting a different address than your billing address? Maybe that will work. If you put an overseas address, you can watch every game, even the playoffs. If anyone wants (and, of course, if it works), I can give a number of real Brazilian addresses, with no blackouts.

I think this blackout stuff is just stupid, something really anachronistic, especially in this Internet world. And those in Pittsburgh are blacked out only for home games; there are Zip codes in which up to four or five teams are blocked, so one misses even some road games.

Billykidd,

Yep very true by intact I mean as is.  It will only get worse if and when Jack goes.  I doubt there are any plans to keep what veteran players we have like Gomez, Doug, and Jason M, and certainly not Rivas.  

I love a quote from Huntington I read tonight about call ups.  He said something to the fact that we are calling guys up to give JR the weapons needed to help win games in September.  The guys that could have helped us win some games against playoff teams in Aug and Septmeber were traded in July.  NEWSFLASH

The blackout policy is also one of the things that will be looked at in the next owners meeting.  It was brought up in the last meeting.  Here is a link to what was said before the last meeting:

www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php

and where we are now:

www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php

The owners also discussed the problem of blackouts in cities that are considered part of a major-league team's market, even though fans in the city are not able to watch that team regularly on television. DuPuy said he wanted to collect more data and that the issue will not come to a vote until the next owners' meeting in November.

www.recordonline.com/.../article

Thanks for the info, BF80. I hope they really revise the blackout policy. It doesn't make a difference for me, but it is really stupid and it jus shows how the league is always satisfied with the status quo.