Well, the Pirates had a week that was quite contrary to most weeks this season so far. First of all, they went .500. That’s rare. Second, they actually lost the game after the Tuesday Pirates Rant™ (making them 5-2 following Rants™ this season and 12-32 in all other games) and then actually won 3 of 5 the rest of the week. That’s even more rare. Anwyay, despite the hot streak (and yes, a week of .500 ball this season qualifies as a hot streak), there were as many negatives this week as any of the season.
Bad
* Where to begin...hmm...how ‘bout we start with the manager saying the poor performance is in no way, shape, or form his fault? Yeah, that’s a good place to start. Yes, Jim “Jose Hernandez is as important to this team as Craig Wilson despite being worse in every way and much much older” Tracy says he doesn’t “hit, field, throw or catch” and is therefore not to blame for this crappy team. That’s right, Jim “Jeromy Burnitz may be old and suck, but by god I’m going to play him every day” Tracy.
* Another fun thing that happened this week was Craig Wilson blowing a gasket (relatively speaking...he’s as mild-mannered as they come) when talking about how he knows he’s going back to the bench when Sean Casey comes off the disabled list despite being about 100 points better in every offensive category than Jeromy Burnitz.
"I'm not real excited about it," Wilson said. "I think everyone here wants to play, and sitting on the bench is not really an opportunity to play. You want to go in there and play. Not one at-bat. The whole game. You want to play."Neither are Pirate fans, Craig.
…
"Obviously, if I wasn't starting when everybody was healthy, I won't be starting again. Am I happy about it? No, not at all."
* The Pirates once again proved that they’re actually not capable (mentally or physically, not sure which) of winning three games in a row. A week after they blew a 6-0 lead against the Reds in their quest for their first 3-game win streak of the year, they blew a 4-0 lead to the Astros in the 9th inning alone. I could mention that Jim Tracy sent Oliver Perez (more on him later) out to pitch the 9th inning even though he had already thrown 120 pitches, and I could mention that he brought Mike Gonzalez in to rescue Perez in the 9th even though he’d thrown two innings about 15 hours before in the previous night’s 18-inning affair...but I won’t. Because Jim Tracy doesn’t hit, field, throw or catch, and therefore he’s got nothing to do with this.
Good
* Any list with “good” and “Pirates” in it has to first focus on the tear that Jason Bay is on at this moment. Bay had hit HR’s in six consecutive games, the most in the majors since 2002. If I’m not mistaken, Bay’s batting average had actually fallen into the .250s a few weeks ago, but then he started seeing the ball. And by “seeing the ball”, I mean he’s now batting .306 with 16 HR’s...ten of those coming in the last two weeks or so.
* Since the pitching coach (Colborn, whom I actually like) skipped his turn in the rotation a couple of weeks back for more side sessions and adjustments, Oliver Perez has come back with three solid starts...one decent one, one good one, and one masterpiece...at least it was a masterpiece (8 innings of shutout ball) until Jim “Grady Little” Tracy sent him back out for the 9th. This is very encouraging. He was getting worse with every start until he was skipped, and now something seems to have clicked. It’s still too early to see if Ollie V.2004 has returned for good, but being that the same sort of “click” seemed to happen right before the season started in 2004 (when he suddenly went from erratic to dominant), maybe there’s reason for optimism. He still can’t find the 3-4 mph on his fastball that he misplaced over the winter of 2004, but it’s a start.
* After starting 3-17 against their division opponents in the NL Central (yes, 3-17), the Bucs have actually won 6 of their last 8, including series wins against the Reds (missing a sweep by blowing a 6-0 lead) and the Astros (missing a sweep by blowing a 4-0 lead). It’s far too little, far too late, but hey...their win pace is up to 58 for the season! Woohoo!
Blog
A quick rundown of my favorite bits from my favorite Pirates blogs...
Charlie at Bucs Dugout states the obvious, which is that Tracy not only deserves his third of the blame (along with the management and players, who do indeed royally suck), but a little more as well.
Jim Tracy has been, if anything, worse at his job than most of the players, so his attempts to distance himself from the Pirates' performance are misguided as well as cowardly.Billy at Romo Phone Home tells the worst sports columnist in America to, well, shut up.
Pat at Where is Van Slyke? has a picture perfect rant about the 5-4 loss to Houston on Sunday. And while we're at it, Bones at Honest Wagner pitches in by calling out Tracy for calling out Mike Gonzalez after that same loss.
And finally, in this post, Bucco Blog a) goes into massive detail about the 5-4 loss (as he does for every game), b) shows screen caps of the “Posse De Perez” fan club that has begun to congregate for Ollie Perez’ starts, and c) points out that the Pirates last had a 3-game sweep in July 2004. Ggh.
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