February 4, 2011

2010 Picture Series: Opening Day

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Next up on the list on my picture series from last season is Opening Day when I ventured down to my hometown ballpark to watch the Pirates battle the Dodgers on April 5, 2010.

Duke vs. Manny - Opening Day 2010

As you can see from the picture, I was able to capture the ball in-flight for a marquee matchup between Pirates starter Zach Duke versus Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez. Duke was effective enough through five innings of work to pick up the victory in a Pirates 11-5 blowout.

Garrett Jones blasted two home runs, leading me to proclaim that he was on pace to hit 324 bombs for the year. Obviously, he fell well short of that mark and ended up with a total of 21 big flys on the year. As for Duke, it was his last Opening Day as a member of the Pirates after being dealt to Arizona in November. Manny only played part of the season with Los Angeles after he was signed off waivers by the White Sox in August.

But for one golden afternoon, the Pirates had it all. Home runs, effective pitching, a blowout victory, as perfect weather that you could ask for in April in Western Pennsylvania and I ran into Franco Harris on the concourse after the game. All in all, it was a spectacular day.

I remember listening to the Buccos faithful on the radio during the drive home and them stating that this year would be different and the losing would finally end.

Ah, you have to love Opening Day.

 

January 13, 2011

2010 Picture Series: Spring Training Trip

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Hall of Fame second baseman Rogers Hornsby has a magnificent quote about what to do during wintertime with no baseball.

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” —Rogers Hornsby

Well when the snow’s falling down, there’s no better way to spend the day then looking back to warmer, better days. Today, I’ve decided to reflect on my time in Florida last March for spring training.

A perfect sunsplash day in Bradenton

A friend and I flew down to Florida in mid-March to see a Tigers game in Lakeland (he’s a Tigers fan) and a Pirates-Yankees game in Bradenton. That was the plan anyway. A two-day long downpour of rain washed out the Tigers game the day after we arrived and suddenly we were stuck in a state that was pretty much useless to us for what we had traveled there to see.

Thankfully, the rain ceased on day three and the sun came out just in time for us to enjoy the Pirates-Yankees game. A picture is worth a thousand words, at least that’s how the saying goes. I don’t think I’ll get to a thousand on this post, but maybe 500.

As you can see from the picture, it was a perfect day for baseball in Bradenton at McKechnie Field. C.C. Sabathia took the mound for the Bronx Bombers against Charlie Morton of the Pirates. I don’t recall his exact line that day, but I know Morton pitched well. He definitely fared a lot better than his counterpart as the Pirates hit CC around the park, including a couple bombs out of the park. I remember saying to my friend that afternoon, what a boost it would be for the Pirates rotation if Morton caught on and put together a decent year. Oh, if only we had known where his season was headed (2-12, 7.57). Who would have known that his four shutout innings with one hit allowed that day would be his best outing of the season? Morton picked up the win and Sabathia was handed the loss after the Pirates scored three off of the big guy.

The Pirates offense ruled the day as they looked like Bombers out there more than New York. The Bucs hit five home runs, including two by free agent pickup Bobby Crosby. In 61 games in the regular season, Crosby would only hit one home run yet he hit two on this day. Aki Iwamura homered too, I actually laughed when I looked the boxscore up and saw his name. Delwyn Young hit a long ball as well, though his biggest homer would come later in the summer when he hit the first home run off of Stephen Strasburg in Washington. And yes, the Pirates were led that day by the trio of Morton, Crosby and Aki. Three players that had promising seasons in front of them, but ended up in Triple-A, traded and cut after being sent to the minors, respectively. Wow, only with the Pirates.

The Pirates picked up the victory that afternoon, 10-5, to move to 4-7 overall that spring. As a Pirates fan over the past two decades, a meaningless win over the Yankees in spring training is strange to watch. You have players taking All-Stars like Sabathia deep as other future Hall of Famers like Derek Jeter struggle against a team that you know in your gut will lose more than 100 games in the upcoming season. So you take the game in as only you can, by savoring the moment like it’s Game 7 of the World Series and acting like an obnoxious fan throughout the game. Hey, sometimes spring training and a single game in the middle of 162 is all we have as a Pirates fan these days.

I plan on booking my trip to spring training soon for more games this March to see how the Pirates are looking heading into the 2011 season. Here’s hoping the rain holds off this year for the duration of my short trip. I cannot wait to fly south and feel the warm sun on my skin and hear the crack of the bat again. Caught Looking’s picture series reflecting on the 2010 season will continue next week with a look at Opening Day. And according to this post, a picture is worth 720+ words.

 

December 13, 2010

What if Cliff Lee signed with the Pirates?

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Speculation is that highly sought free agent pitcher Cliff Lee will make a decision early this week on which team to pitch for in 2011 and beyond to be said team’s ace for years to come. It’s basically down to two teams: Rangers or Yankees. But there have been reports that a third “mystery” team could be involved in talks, though it’s unlikely Lee would end up signing with this unknown team. Well, that kind of talk gets my mind thinking (never a good thing), and I thought what if my hometown Pittsburgh Pirates surprised everyone and signed Lee to a long-term deal? Hey, I can dream at least. Caught Looking enters my dreamland to see what the future would hold for a Cliff Lee-lead Pirates club…

Lee holds a press conference Tuesday afternoon to stun the baseball world with his announcement that he signed a six-year deal worth $146 with the Pittsburgh Pirates that includes a player option for a seventh year. The presser sends shock waves through the country as pundits wonder when the Pirates came into the Lee sweepstakes, and where did they suddenly get the money for the left-handed ace?

Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington is quick to tell media members that this is the move that will help put them over the top.

“We are serious about building a championship-caliber ballclub here in Pittsburgh. We actively pursued multiple starting pitchers this offseason with Correia and Olsen, and we felt that by adding Lee for the next six years gives us the move we have been looking for to make that next step and compete for a championship.”

Lee explains to a hoard of reporters that the Pirates came out of nowhere to sweep him off his feet.

“I honestly didn’t hear from Neal and the Pirates front office until about a week ago, but they brought me in and surprised me with the deal they laid on the table. I love what they are building here and the way they’ve gone about it. This team has a lot of young, talented players that are on the cusp of doing great things. Pittsburgh is a great town with a fantastic ballpark, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my career here. The Yankees and Rangers made very enticing offers, and this was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, but ultimately I felt that Pittsburgh is where I’m supposed to be.”

Columnists and experts around the country bash Lee in print and the internet throughout the rest of the offseason. Meanwhile, Lee mania officially hits the Steel Town as the Pirates see an immediate increase in season tickets, advertising, merchandise sells, etc. Lee’s number 37 jersey easily becomes the Pirates top-selling jersey.

The Pittsburgh Baseball Club opens its 2011 season at Wrigley Field on April 1 with an afternoon game against the Cubs. Lee is on the mound for the Pirates and looks in midseason form on his return to the NL, blanking the Cubs through 7.0 innings of work while striking out eight batters in a Pirates 4-1 victory. Six days later, Lee is on the hill in PNC Park for the home opener in front of a frenzied, sellout crowd the likes of which has not been seen in Pittsburgh for years. Lee mows down the Rockies with a four-hit shutout, and second-year slugger Pedro Alvarez hits two home runs, one into the Allegheny River, as the Bucs cruise to a 7-0 win.

The Pirates hover around .500 through April and May as Lee goes 7-2 with a 2.58 ERA in the first two months. They sit at 35-36 on June 17 when the Bucs travel to Cleveland for an interleague series with Lee’s former employer. Lee starts the first game of the series and has a no-hitter through five before finishing with 8.0 stellar innings and one run allowed to propel the Pirates to a 5-1 win. Lee’s brilliant performance against the Indians was the beginning of a three-game sweep to push the Pirates over .500 as Correia continued his surprising season by blanking the Tribe through seven innings of work the next night. The sweep turns the Bucs red-hot to finish the first half, going 12-6 through their next 18 games to take a 50-42 record (good for second place, 2 games behind the Cardinals) into the All-Star break, which is the first time the Pirates have taken a winning record into the break since 1992.

Lee’s return to the National League has proven to be a success as he owns a 12-4 record with 2.74 ERA in the first half, good enough to start the game for the NL. Lee tosses two scoreless innings in his brief work in the All-Star game. The NL goes on to win its second straight All-Star game with a 7-4 victory over the American League.

With the Pirates playoff aspirations the talk of Major League Baseball at the break, the Pirates fall into a rut to start the second half. The offense goes into a coma as the Bucs struggle to provide Lee any kind of run support. They scuffle back to .500 with a record of 56-56 in early August and fall eight games back in the NL Central. With the playoffs not looking like a realistic possibility, the fans now hold hope that this will at least be the year they can finally end their years of futility and pull out a winning season.

The Bucs enter the month of September one game above .500 with a 69-68 record. Thanks to two wins in the week by Lee, the Pirates bring their record to 74-70 as they desperately try to hold on to this winning season. The city of Pittsburgh gets behind the team hoping to see the end of the record losing seasons streak. Attendance is the highest it has been since PNC Park opened in 2001, and the near-sellout crowds in September show how far this team has come.

With the division out of reach thanks to a hot month of August by Albert Pujols and the Cardinals, the Pirates play .500 ball for the majority of the month and continue to countdown their own “magic number” to a winning season.

On September 23, 2011, with the Pirates hosting their last three-game series of the season against the Reds, they sit at 81-75 and need just one more victory to clinch a winning season. As fate would have it, Lee just happens to be starting for Pittsburgh that Friday night as a sellout crowd watches in anticipation. Lee pitches as if it was Game 3 of the ALCS, fanning 14 Reds on the night for a three-hit, one run complete game victory for his 20th win of the season. It’s the franchise’s first 20-game winner since John Smiley in 1991. Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker and Alvarez all go deep for the Pirates as the celebration starts early in a Pirates 12-1 rout. The win halts the franchise’s losing streak at 18 straight seasons and the Pirates celebrate like they have just won the pennant. Lee is given the key to the city prior to Saturday night’s game, and the Pirates finish the season with two more wins to end with an 84-78 record.

Lee is awarded the NL Cy Young award, the second of his career, with a 20-8 record and 2.89 ERA while leading the Majors in complete games and strikeout-walk ratio. Alvarez comes into his own in his second ML season as the Pirates premier power bat with 37 home runs, 42 doubles and a slash line of .272/.352/.528. McCutchen excels in his third season becoming the newest member of the 20-30 club after belting 26 home runs and swiping 31 bases in his first All-Star year. The rotation seems to have fed off of Lee all year as well. Correia turns out to be another solid pickup in the offseason as he finishes his surprising year with 14 wins and a 3.80 ERA. James McDonald and Paul Maholm each picked up 10+ wins, which rounds out a rotation that exceeded anyone’s wildest expectations.

The Pirates use 2011 as a stepping stone in the right direction and are ready to take the next leap forward. 2010 No. 1 draft pick Jameson Taillon arrives in 2012 and teams with Lee to become one of the best 1-2 punches in the game. The Pirates roll through a weak NL Central to finish 92-70 for their first division title since ’92. After defeating the Braves in the NLDS for a very late dose of revenge, the Pirates meet the Phillies in a NLCS battle of the Keystone state. Lee faces the pitcher the Phillies got to replace Lee years ago and defeats Roy Halladay in a pitching duel that goes down as an instant classic. The Pirates advance to the World Series for the first time since 1979 and meet the New York Yankees. Lee shows the Yankees what could have been if he had signed in the Bronx. He wins all three games he starts in the Fall Classic to lead the Bucs to their sixth world championship by defeating the Yankees in seven games.

Not even two months later on December 21, 2012, Earth spins off its axis, skips out of orbit and flies into the sun promptly ending the world.

 

December 10, 2010

Winter Meeting thoughts

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In another life long ago, I worked in minor league baseball and was fortunate to attend a few winter meetings (Dallas in 2005 and Orlando in 2006). It’s a surreal experience for any baseball fan to suddenly be there in the midst of baseball personnel at every turn. Let me tell you what pretty much goes down as I remember it.

There’s a main hotel lobby that is the hub of everything. You stand there and look around to see famous reporters like Peter Gammons and Ken Rosenthal, agents like Scott Boras, managers like  Jim Leyland, front office executives and even some players. Barry Bonds made a splash was he unannounced made an appearance into the hotel in Orlando back in ’06. A friend and I would hang out in said lobby at night and rub elbows with reports and other baseball dignitaries while being an earshot of any rumor that Peter Gammons is hearing as well. MLB.com would have a remote set up in one of the hallways, which has now been joined by MLB Network. It’s truly a cool experience for fans. Anyway, just a brief recap of what I remember from ’05 and ’06. Here are some thoughts on the most recent meetings that just finished up from Orlando.

  • So much for that rough economy last year that limited teams’ spending. The Nationals are single-handedly trying to stimulate the economy themselves. Werth signs for $126MM, plus the Nats are in the hunt for Cliff Lee and Carl Pavano. Say what you want about the deals, but the Nats are suddenly willing to spend money to compete.

  • At this point I’m fairly certain Scott Boras would be able to negotiate a seven-year deal worth $22 million for me at my current job. Who thought we would see so much talk on seven-year deals to players in their 30s?

  • Here’s an intriguing thought—even though I do think Lee will eventually sign with the Yankees, what if he does decided that he loved Texas enough to accept their deal over the Yanks. How much of a blow would that be to New York? A team that has done pretty much nothing to this point in the offseason. Plus, they are still waiting to hear if Andy Pettitte is coming back, and the Red Sox just went out and made the biggest splash (or splashes) by acquiring Adrian Gonzalez via trade and signing free agent Carl Crawford and are considered the frontrunners for catcher Russell Martin. Lee signing anywhere else but New York would be a disaster for the Yankees at this point.

  • The Orioles were certainly active in deals by trading with the Twins for shortstop J.J. Hardy and infielder Brendan Harris, and picked up slugger Mark Reynolds in a trade from Arizona. That’s all great for the O’s, but if you saw this team in 2010 they need pitching. Though they did just sign Koji Uehara and just offered reliever Kevin Gregg a two-year deal so that’s a start.

  • The Royals apparently have a liking for ex-Braves. Melky and Francoeur in one week? How will the Braves recover from losing these two studs?

  • It’s really discouraging as a Pirates fan or a fan of any small market team to see the big boys go out and sign Carl Crawford, Cliff Lee and other big names and then see the Buccos pull in guys like Scott Olsen, Kevin Correia and Matt Diaz. The Pirates were definitely active at the meetings, but ugh. Olsen and Correia may just be an upgrade to Zach Duke, who was dealt to Arizona for Cesar Valdez earlier this offseason.

There you have it as the winter meetings conclude for another year. The next question this offseason is who will Lee sign with and when?

 

October 13, 2010

50th Year Anniversary of Maz’s epic home run

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Fifty years ago today Pirates Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski hit a championship-clinching solo home run in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 to defeat those Damn Yankees 10-9 in the game and 4-3 in the 1960 World Series. It’s still the only Game 7 walkoff home run to win a World Series.

Almost forgotten around baseball these days (go to MLB.com, there’s zip on the front page about today being the 50th anniversary), Maz’s home run that day continues to be remembered forever in Pittsburgh. Just last month, the Pirates unveiled a new statue right outside the stadium of young Maz’s jubilation as he rounded second base with his hands in the air. A piece of Forbes Field wall that reads the 406 FT distance has also been preserved and used as part of the statue.

And every year on October 13, a group of avid followers meet in Oakland, where part of the Forbes Field wall remains today, to listen to the original broadcast from that game. I couldn’t make it today, but I promise to make that next year, if not one of these years soon. With the current state of the Pittsburgh Baseball Club the way it is today, it’s almost amazing to me that a moment like Maz’s home run happened in Pittsburgh. Those special moments don’t happen very often at all, but I often wonder if this city will see a World Series again or even a postseason appearance. I know, it’s a frightening thought for a Pirates fan or even general fan of baseball history, but it is what it is right now.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has done a remarkable job all year covering different aspects of that series and Game 7, and here’s the link to enjoy all of their coverage from today and 1960. I know I will.

We Had ‘Em All The Way!

 

September 24, 2010

1960 World Series Game 7 tape found

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Here’s a neat event that doesn’t happen very often. The television broadcast of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, which was thought to be lost forever, was discovered in, of all places, Bing Crosby’s wine cellar in San Francisco. This was of course the game best known for Bill Mazeroski’s series-clinching home run to give the Pirates a championship over the New York Yankees.

Of all people though, how did Bing Crosby have it? Well Crosby was actually a part owner of the Bucs from 1946 to 1977, and he hired a company to record the game while he traveled out of the country in hopes that he wouldn’t jinx the team. The broadcast has now been converted to DVD, and MLB Network plans to show the game in its entirety sometime this offseason. The game was believed to only survive two radio broadcasts and photographs, but now the video has come out of nowhere. I was a big fan of MLB Network replaying classic Series games from the 1950s last offseason, and I absolutely cannot wait for this.

Plus, the game will be played with the broadcast of Pirates announcer Bob Prince. “How sweet it is!”

 

September 10, 2010

Ross Ohlendorf’s hardluck season

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Over the next couple of weeks I will be breaking down different players’ seasons with the 2010 campaign quickly winding down. Yesterday, I wrote about Evan Longoria‘s 30 2B/20 HR feat and today I want to talk about the only side of the spectrum—the hard luck 2010 for Pirates pitcher Ross Ohlendorf.

In 2009, Ohlendorf enjoyed a semi-breakout year where he posted an 11-10 record with a 3.92 ERA in 29 starts. Hey, for the Pirates to get that from a second year pitcher who came over in a trade, that’s f’n spectacular. This year, however, Ollie has been victorious in exactly one game. He’s 1-11 on the season despite a decent ERA of 4.07. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that wins as a top stat to define a pitcher is clearly overrated. There are plenty of other factors that go into wins for a starting pitcher that they don’t have any control of throughout the game—how many runs your offense scores behind you, how did the defense play, etc. But 1-11? That’s pretty unlucky, even historically unlucky.

Consider this. Since 1901, Ohlendorf is only the second pitcher in MLB history to make at least 20 starts, sport an ERA under 4.50 and record one win in a season:

Rk Player W GS ERA Year Age Tm G CG L IP
1 Ross Ohlendorf 1 21 4.07 2010 27 PIT 21 0 11 108.1
2 Jack Nabors 1 30 3.47 1916 28 PHA 40 11 20 212.2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/10/2010.

Ah yes, remember those great days of Jack Nabors of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1916? The poor guy went 1-20 despite a 3.49 ERA. Ouch. He only pitched three seasons and finished 1-25 in his career. Talk about tough luck. But that’s it. Ross matched a dubious feat only seen one in over 100 years of baseball. Boy, it’s fantastic to be a Pirates fan! Ugh.

To make matters worse, Ohlendorf’s season took a scary turn on July 28 when he took a line drive from Troy Tulowitzki‘s bat off his head against the Rockies. Amazingly enough, he suffered no concussion and return to the mound five days later. He pitched four more effective starts (0-2, 2.45) before leaving August 23′s game against the Cardinals after just two batters due to a muscle strain in his right shoulder, effectively ending a season he wishes he could forget.

Heading into that Aug. 23 game, Ohlendorf had pitched solid over his last 10 starts. Since June 22, he posted a 2.35 ERA (53.4 IP/14 ER) while recording his only win of the season. One win during that stretch of pitching that including seven quality starts is insane. Nothing went right for him this season.

Of course some people (mostly sabermetric gurus) will argue that his xFIP of 4.98 suggests he’s been a bit lucky this year and his ERA could easily be higher, but the bottom line is that it’s not higher. His BABIP was up almost 30 points from last year from .265 to .293 so you could argue that he was unlucky on the balls hit into the field and it could have even been lower. Moreover, he exited eight games this year after allowing only two earned or less. His ERA may have been lower than what it should have been, but he was equally unlucky in how his team played behind him in the win column.

The 2010 season was one that Ross and the Pirates will love to move on from because his luck would appear to have nowhere to go but up for next reason…right? I sure hope so anyway.

 

August 9, 2010

Pedro Alvarez

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On Saturday night I followed the Pirates-Rockies gamecast online while official scoring a game for a local collegiate Prospect League team. The Pirates held a comfortable three-run lead as a I left our game…or so I thought. While driving home, I tuned to the game on the radio station and was disappointed, but not shocked, that the game was in extra innings and the Pirates were down two runs.

“Here we go again,” I thought. Pirates blew another one in front of a sellout crowd nonetheless. I actually turned the station for a couple of minutes too disgusted to listen. Well, something pulled at me to turn it back on for the bottom of the 10th. Andrew McCutchen had doubled, two outs were made and Garrett Jones drew a walk to bring Pedro Alvarez up as I pulled into my driveway. I hurried to turn the TV on as soon as I entered the door to my house. PNC Park appeared on my screen just moments prior to Alvarez depositing Huston Street‘s 0-1 pitch into the porch above the Clemente Wall for a walkoff 8-7 Pirates victory. I about lost it right there in my living room

I’m not going to sit here today and say that these Pirates rookies are different from the past ones—I can hope, but I don’t know if they are. But Alvarez is the best hitting prospect since Barry Bonds and he continues to prove himself on the field. They need to continue doing that if anything is ever going to really change, but I haven’t been this excited about the future status of the Pirates than right now. Somehow this kid makes it easier to believe. I will say that I think his three-run walkoff blast is easily the greatest moment in PNC Park history and probably the top moment in the last 18 years of the franchise. It was the “Pedro has arrived” moment. And it’s unbelievable to see.

And you thought I was excited? Check out the radio call below. I absolutely love how Steve Blass loses it and screams over Greg Brown’s call. “OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD…”

 

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