Morton muzzles first-place Marlins

Next step is better pitch efficiency so he can take games into the 7th or 8th

Great win. Well.. any win is a great win, right?

Krag--I say yes, any win a great win.

Do the Pirates or Marlins have a higher attendance?

JAL,

Regarding pitch efficiency, I'm thinking the rain delay kept him from going further.  91 pitches is 6 innings isn't that bad; I'd imagine that he goes 7 under normal circumstances.  He probably was throwing during the delay to keep his arm loose.

Gorzo loses 1-0.Complete game.5 H -1 unearned run-0BB-5K

A win is a beautiful thing, especially when it's against a 1st place team.  

Nice game by Charlie!  Nice shots by Moss and Vazquez.  AMac continues to play well too.  

In the Go Figure Dept--Pirates have played Marlins 4 times with the M's in 1st place and have 4 wins

Morton showed some nasty pitches.  If he can throw strikes, he can be very good.

Great job by Morton...how many MLB pitchers could withstand multiple rain delays and still put in 6 great innings? There is something here. Hanrahan I wouldn't be too worried about. Great stuff and Kerrigan has not had time to work much with him. I think you will see great things from him too. Karstens in the 9th....he hasnt pitched much lately....shakin off some rust (obviously) but he will be fine too. Capps was probably already out Marlin (the real fish) fishin' by the time this one was over.

Wake,

Pirates are 28th at 18,485 per game.  Marlins are last at 18,109 (don't think that includes tonight).

Wake

Don't know don't care

Altoona tied 3-3 top of 10.Tabata 3-5 .273 BA.Tabata on 2nd 1 out.

State College wins 11-3.7 doubles.Is this the same State College?

I'm wondering when it might be time for Gorzo to take Vasquez's spot in the rotation.

GCL Pirates win 5-2

Gorzellany tonight for Indy pitched 8 innings, 1 unearned run, 5 hits, 0 BB, 5 K.  He lowered his era to 2.87.  

Unfortunately he took the loss 1-0.

Hanrahan hit 97.I wonder if he has anymore?He and Hansen have the same problems and who knows maybe one or the other could go BACK to starting.They both used to.

Nice game, and nice to see Ramon Vazquez hit one out. If I recall, he hits them in bunches, so I would expect to see a few more before the end of the first half.

That second base ump Davidson is blind as a naked mole rat.

Moss was SO safe on that steal it wasn't funny. I also think at least one of Morton's walks was nothing more than blindness on the home plate ump's part.

Maz,

Hansen was always a reliever, even at St. John's.

Wow.,.Morton was impressive.could you imagine if maholm continued to struggle And got sent down.Snell,gorzo.maholm..my point is our depth is getting alot better.I love jones.        @maz..moss is a baller,hang on people we are moving n the rite direction.no one can deny it.to think millege is not even in the lineup.yessssso

So it is pretty close either way.  Everyone always rags on the Marlins fans for being terrible, but we are pretty close as well.

First place team? Lordy. Fish are playing .506 ball. Guess that's a first place!

That said, Morton, great game. Hanarhan has the arm power. Hope he picks back up his game. He got kinda rocked tonight, had it been a close game, my oh my!

Good win considering lost last night, blew in to florida this morning. Has Sanchez had two nights off in a row. Although he did PH in the xtra inning game vs Mets. Go Pirates, lets do this 5 nights a week outta 7, I like these easy wins! Karstens last pitch broke about 7 inches! That was a sweet strikeout!

David

Great win and then a great fireworks display in the backyard.

at least we can see parts of NH's plan in progress.  They are moving in the right direction and maybe a winning season in another 2 years.

PA is playing for Altoona.Still tied bottom of 11th.PA 1-3 with a double and 2 Ks.

I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT. I WAS WRONG (THUS FAR) ON Morton.  

In Neal We Trust......

It's early WhyStan, but he looks good so far.  Everything I read had him projected as a 4th or 5th starter, but a guy who can hit 95 consistently with his fastball, along with a 12-6 curve, seems to have a shot at being more than that.

Well, I know both Morton and Hanrihan had their trouble spots ... but anybody else out there like me GREATLY ENCOURAGED by the electricity of their stuff ... Morton was, most of the way, just plain nasty on the Marlins hitters ... Hanrihan didn't seem to have the movement ... but when its comin' up there at 96 mph ... it's about like the guy who can't field but can hit a ton. Might we call it the Delwyn Young Syndrome?

PiglegsRobinson

Blind as a naked mole rat. Somehow dispite my animal husbandry background that would not have been my first choice. LOL!!

What a interesting comparison!! :-----) He is as ugly as one also!

nationalzoo.si.edu/.../nmrfaqs.cfm

Go Pirates

David

WhyStan-There were MANY wrong on Morton.You are about the only one ..man enough to admit it.There was so much knee jerk to Nate's trade.Of course most of them also were mad about the Ohlendorf,Karstens,Tabata trade too.I put a question to this blog about the Bay trade.I asked if Moss and Andy's stats equaled Bay's...would that make the trade equal?Even though we gotTWO EXCELLENT defensive FOR ONE mediocre defensive player.I was told that Bay was better even though his offensive stats were equal AND Moss and Andy were BOTH better at their positions.

I might be alone on this one, but i have played with Morton on mlb 09 the show, and if they have his talent right, he will be a 1 or 2 starter. His curve is just absolutely filthy and being able to hit 94, 95 with his fastball constantly always helps

Straight out of the Natural movie, JR should take a Marlins jersey and put it over the Cubs and Brewers jersey.  This should work.

Maz,

That's really not the best analogy, since Moss and Andy take up two positions.  Based on production alone, I'd rather have Bay right now.  But that's without taking into account that Bay would walk after this season, Moss and Andy are still improving, and Morris might be the key to that deal anyway.  Still a good trade in my eyes.

Good win tonight, good outing from Charlie, nice to see Brandon with some pop.

We should be in the N.L. East IMO, and with how good we've been against them this year I really wish we were.

Maz- If they knew they were going to get Milledge and trade McClouth, then maybe they had something.  I just didn't like the idea of trading him.  Plus I had viewed Morton in the minors and my eyes told me he was a little above average, but nothing to salivate over.

It appears that they were going to make a move in the rotation prior to the trade.  

Since Ozzie Guillen from the White Sox has soured on Alexi Ramirez, anyone willing to take him to the PBC?

PiratesFanSince1960 -

Thanks for comments - I've always thought Naked Mole Rats would be an innovative name for a sports team. Most people think I'm making the name up when I talk about them. They think I am just looking for an excuse to say "naked".

Thanks for the facts page, now I can refer people to it to prove I'm not just being silly...well, I am being silly, but you know what I mean. They exist! (and they ARE almost completely blind like 2nd base umpire Bob Davidson).

Maz- I LOVED the Nady trade at the time, because I had seen Ollie in person :)

The bay trade I still don't like.  You need players that can take good closers deep to win in the playoffs (or get over .500 and beat the cubs and Brewers).

 Boston could have provided more on their end, like Bard or a toolsy player that plays MI.  I feel bad for Hanson in a way.  

We may not hit HRs,but we are 2nd in 2B and 1st in 3B.

RBI-6th

BA -3rd

hits-3rd  ..not bad considering how bad we were after the trades last year.

4th in quality starts

8th in pitching overall(we were dead last..last year)

why stan

I really wish the Pirates would've gotten Jed Lowrie in the Bay deal, we could've sent him to Indy to polish his game, then traded Jack in the offseason.

FSF-You mean if Bay has 30 HRs 140 RBI 150 H you would take that over...........20 HRs  140 RBI     220 H plus Moss/Andy's defense over one person's defense.I say it's at least equal because you have

TWO PLAYERS-ONE PLAYER AND I'm not even mentioning Hanson/Morriss.Also Moss/Andy-850,000 and Bay 7.4 mil.Bay is hitting .267.      

Here is something interesting:

Morton's last win before tonight was August 28, 2008 against the Florida Marlins.

Pirates are also 1st in the majors in pinch hits. I heard that earlier tonight on the radio broadcast. That's even with Monroe going 0-15 or whatever when he was with the club.

So, what is NH's best trade so far?  

Nady...McLouth....Morgan...Bay?

I have to go with the Nady deal given the upside of Tabata.  

Bay had a hot start but they have dropped him to 5th

BA in June .230

OBP June  .300 - OPS before June .920...now .700

3 2B in June.He is 3-31 in the last 7 games.It might be the AL pitchers are adjusting to him now.

my vote is for the Nady deal

Jaramillo-Paulino.We got rid of a cancer and Philly got rid of Paulino before ST ended.Philly got nothing.

Socal- I agree with you on the Nady trade being his best.  Paulino for Jamillio was good.  

Maz- Bay was nuclear hot in April, frigid in the last few weeks.  He'll be the all-star MVP.

Duke for Alexi Ramirez?

It's funny because all of his deals have been universally panned when they happened, the last one being the exception but reviews were definitely mixed on that one as well.  

Now, with the Bay deal still to play out and possibly the only exception, are there any of them that NH didn't get the better of?  And not just by a little either.  Are there any that you wouldn't make again?

The guy is getting it done.  

I agree.I like the deals he's made.

The Torres deal I would not have done.  I understand it was it was an unhappy at PBC deal, but everyone should have gotten a fresh start with Pirates, including Joey Bats (who has done what with the Blue Jays?)

Bay hasn't been having as good of a season as some would make it seem. He does have 70 RBI after tonight, but he's hitting in the heart of a very talented lineup, and at Boston where an average fly to left is a double, but he's only batting in the low .260s, which is currently Brandon Moss territory. He is a very good player, but the Pirates still won that trade if things keep developing the way they have been.

The so called experts are used to seeing a Pirates trade and the Pirates getting the worst of the trade. They are not used to the Pirates making competent trades and getting equal or greater talent in return.

Joey Bats is an OF now..254 BA 2 HRs 11 RBI in 126 ABs

I am beginning to believe that NH and FC may be better judges of talent than their predecessors (not saying much I guess). The Bucco rotation now includes Morton, Vasquez and Ohlendorf.  While it is still early, someone refresh my memory as to whether Littlebrain ever acquired someone for the starting rotation (excluding veteran free agents like Suppan) that did not have a 9.00 era after 3 starts. Plus we have Gorzo pitching better at Indy. Daniel McCutcheon is also respectable. Remember last year when we had to depend on Ty Taubenheim, Jimmy Barthmeier and Yoslan Herrara? (Where is Ross Baumgarten when you need him?). Our bullpen is respectable. If we can even get one of the the gang of Yates, Hansen or Hanrahan to pan out, we will be much improved. BTW - I say give Snell a few more outings at Indy and bring him back as a reliever. He can do outpatient at Western Psych.

I put it like this....throw all the trades in one bucket and watCh tonits game and you will see Advantage mAnagement...I am so happy and think we r real close.....

As to our trades, this article is spot on to me. I am again stunned how many support the Bay, Nady, Morgan, Mclouth and others trades for what we received. www.observer-reporter.com/.../07-03-09-Pirates-Column  Can be found in DKs links as well. Wilson apologized for what he said. All he ment like any good man apologizing to his wife (LOL :----) )... I am apologizing for telling you the truth OUTLOUD and should have never said a word.

I think we have blown it, and assued at least this year #17 and next year #18 with less than .500  WIth this years central division in disarray, we coulda contended had we kept Bay, McLouth. Can you imagine our bench with McClouth, Morgan, Jones, and others vs what we have? Last season if pitching had been in shape and done what was expected off season, with that hitting first half, we would have been in the hunt. Instead we made others in the hunt by GIVING AWAY players.

Go Pirates, Happy 4th and everything is debatable. Hope I am wrong about this season and next... David

Of course we are going to finish under 500 this year and next year.  The trades were the best thing that has happened to this team in 10 years.  We WOULD NOT have contended with Bay, Nady, and McLouth in the OF this year.  Stop with this blind optimism.  The team was 15 games under 500 when the bucs started trading players.  This team will finish with 65-68 wins again this season but we now have younger, more talented players especially in the rotation. Morton and Ohlendorf were very high prospects and each have a chance to win 10 games.  In addition to Maholm and Duke, the pirates have a chance to have 4 starters win at least 10 games which they havent had in about 15 years.

I have Blind optimism. TOOOOOO FUNNNYY...

That said, II would rather you correct than me.

But alas, I think you have the blind optimism.

We have simply failed as an organization. 17 years of less than .500 ball, yetI have blind optimism?  Big Title in today's paper: Morgan throttles 1st place Marlins! I have blind optimism? The fish are playing .506 ball. That is a first place team, ok I guess!

Giles, Kendel, Schmidt, Ramirez, Bay, Santiago, McLouth, Morgan, Nady. The talent that we have paid for, that has gone through this team is UNBELIEVEABLE both on the positive and negative.

We have harnessed almost no talent to be a continued all star performer. YET THE TALENT THAT has come through this team has had that all star potential... Somehow we are failing to generate leaders and winner. I have my opinions on that, but will not bore you the details. Our current trading procedure is getting rid of those who could be winners and leaders IMO.

Blind optimism. No, its total disgust in our organization management style, procedures, and current process. I live and die Pirates, before the Steelers and Pens. So if I upset you, sorry. Again,  I hope you are correct and I am wrong! Much rather say you are correct Oxy, than See I told you so Oxy. LOL!

But blind optimism you suggest I have. No, just a controlled raging, slow burning, inside the soul anger at how we have ruined a storied franchise and are creating a record of losing that MAY NEVER BE BROKEN!! I think our trades generally garnered us very little, andmy  blind optimism is suggesting our current management style IS NOT creating a winning program.

Go City of Champions and the Pirates

David "hope I am wrong, but doubt it" Jones

Even though we have all lived the past 17 years, NH and FC are on the hook for the past 2. The question is whether the Pirates are better off now than 2 years ago. I think the answer is yes, although they still have a ways to go.