Now that’s more like it! The last couple weeks, the Pirates were playing relatively well, and, though there’s always something to rant about when Jim Tracy’s your manager and Dave Littlefield’s your general manager, I was feeling a bit guilty about ranting too hard when things were going better. Well what a week it’s been! Nevermind the fact that the Buccos have lost 6 of their last 7 (all at home)...this has been an amazing week all around.
Bad
* Well, as stated above, the Pirates lost 6 of 7 at home this week, dropping their home record from a respectable 17-13 to 18-20. Granted, that’s better than their 8-25 road record, but still. The awe-inspiring week was capped off by an amazing loss to the Diamondbacks yesterday afternoon. After falling behind 4-0, the Buccos battled back, getting homeruns from Jose Bautista and Jeromy Burnitz (yes, Jeromy Burnitz) and tying it in the 8th at 4-4. In bottom of the 9th, they loaded the bases with no outs. If somebody makes contact with the ball, they likely win. The next three batters struck out. In the bottom of the 10th, the leadoff hitter got a double. Jim Tracy then decided to waste an out by bunting the runner to third. Granted, Ronny Paulino (the baserunner) is one slow dude, and granted, if he’d been allowed to actually swing the bat, Jose Hernandez would have probably managed to somehow hit into a triple play (hard to do with just one runner on), but that’s just a big waste. A pop-out and ground-out later, the Bucs had wasted another opportunity. Not surprisingly, the D-backs won it in the 11th, to the disappointment of the 5,000 or so fans at PNC Park.
* That, though, probably wasn’t the low point of the week. The low point likely came the day before, when Jim “I’m not the one who throws, hits, or fields, so it’s not my fault” Tracy struck again. As schizo Ollie Perez was matching Twins stud Johan Santana pitch for pitch on Sunday (it was a 1-1 tie in the 8th), Jack Wilson (who was screwed out of a Gold Glove last year) failed to make what would have been a phenomenal play in the top of the 8th, giving the Twins a baserunner. The next batter bunted, and Ollie couldn’t handle it cleanly. After a single and a hit batsman, a 3-run double cleared the bases and effectively ended the game. The Twins scored three more in the 9th just for good measure. Here’s Where is Van Slyke? with a nice summary:
Ollie jammed Castillo and the ball kind of blooped out in front of Jack, who couldn't get to the ball in time to catch it on the fly. He hurried a slightly off mark throw to first, which Casey came off the bag for (it was a pretty weak effort on the stretch). It might not have mattered, as Castillo can move pretty good. In all honesty, at first I thought Jack let the ball play him a bit, which resulted in it falling in. After seeing it a couple more times, I don't know if there's anything else he could've done. He was coming in pretty hard and Castillo hit the ball with some major top spin or something because the thing dropped out of the air like a rock about 10 feet quicker than it looked like it should've. Maybe Jack COULD'VE made the play, but I think it would've been impressive even for him. There's no way anyone can say he SHOULD'VE made it. Enter Jim Tracy:Judging by the disaster that was the following game, the bus is speeding up as it reaches the cliff.I've seen that play be made.
In public, calling out his Gold Glove caliber shortstop. The guy who shows up every day and plays harder than anyone. I don't think a manager should ever call out a anyone's effort in public like that, but he should especially never (ever, ever, ever, ever) call out the effort of a guy like Jack Wilson. Jack's response:
Wow, he said that? That's his opinion. I did my best to make that play. It was a jam job, a soft line drive and I'm going full bore for that ball. About the only chance you have on that play is if the third baseman can get to it.Tracy (this and the rest of the quotes are from the PG article, the first one linked) continued:It's extremely unfortunate that Oliver Perez has to take that loss, because he matched one of the best pitchers in the game. When you're involved in a 1-1 game, you cannot afford to have the kind of mistakes that allow extra hitters to come to the plate. That's exactly what happened and, in my opinion, it's the reason we got beat.The other players who saw the play, the guys who have PLAYED THE GAME, something that Jim Tracy values so highly, saw something different. Jose Castillo:Very hard play. When you're running and a hop comes in like that, it's not easy to throw.Oliver Perez:Tough play (hey, the guy doesn't speak much English... remember the commercial with the cookies last year?).Luis Castillo:He's going to his right, and the ball hops on him like that ... that's hard. Jack Wilson's one of the best shortstops in baseball, and it's still tough for him. I have good speed, too, so he's got to hurry.That first noise you heard, that was Jack Wilson getting tossed under the bus. The second noise? The wheels coming off of the bus and the thing going over the cliff in flames.
So when I was reading that Bill James biography last week, I was reminded of one of his measures, the Pythagorean Record. Basically you take the squares of your runs scored and runs allowed, and the proportion of those numbers gives you what your win % should be. Baseball Prospectus has said that comparing your Pythagorean Record to your actual record is at least a primitive way of judging how good your manager is. It’s definitely primitive, as good/bad luck, good/bad closers, etc., all have something to do with your record. But nontheless...
The Pirates have been outscored 348-321 for the season. That suggests that, after 71 games, their record should be 33-38. It’s 26-45, a difference of 7 games. SEVEN. For the season, the Pirates are on pace for 59 wins. Their Pythagorean record suggests 75 wins. Being that they have a good closer, that suggests something else. Ask a Pirates fan who’s watched most of the games this season, and they’ll say it’s the manager. Of course, ask the manager, and he’ll say it’s the players. And of course, since the general manager hired both the manager and the players...oh, nevermind.
Good
Nothing good comes to mind. Let's see...rookie Jose Bautista is playing well, and Ollie Perez has gone from “terrible” to merely “inconsistent”. That’s about it. The best moment of the week came today, when a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contained the tile “Randa Returns to Kansas City,” causing every cynical, hardcore Bucs fan to go “Sweet! They traded Randa!” Of course, that “best moment” only lasted about 1 second, or however long it took to actually click on the article and find out that it’s about Randa returning to Kansas City to play against the Royals, not rejoin them. It was a great 1 second, though.
Actually, one other good thing happened. Apparently Jason Bay is now #3 in voting for the All-Star Game, meaning that if the standings hold, he’s a starter. That’s really cool. That makes his trade value even higher! Sorry, couldn’t help it.
Blogs
Whenever you have a week this bad, you know the blogs have come up with some good stuff.
Charlie from BucsDugout has a nice essay at IrateFans (get it? Irate? Pirate minus the P?) about Moneyball and the Bucs’ approach as compared to other, actually successful teams:
For the last several years, the Pirates have tried to rely on cheap youngsters while avoiding bottoming out, which has left them with approximately the same weird mix of okay young players and bad, pointless veterans in every season. Their recent history has resembled the plot of a magical realist novel: the details change, but the cycle is the same, and in the end, time hardly matters. Brian Giles leaves after his mediocre supporting cast fails to get the Pirates to the playoffs; Jason Bay leaves after his mediocre supporting cast fails to get the Pirates to the playoffs; and then, if we’re very lucky, the same thing will happen to McCutchen. The evidence — available elsewhere on this site — suggests that this arrangement is a very profitable and happy one for the Pirates’ owners. For the fans, it is awful.
I’ve seen no evidence that the Pirates have a plan to break this cycle — except, that is, for the state of the farm system, which indicates that there could be far worse times ahead, and that’s hardly a point in Littlefield’s favor. At any rate, the Pirates are unlikely to get to the playoffs any time soon. If they do, it’ll probably be in 2008 or so, following a rather nice influx of talent to Pittsburgh from the Cam Bonifay administration. In 2008, the Pirates have some small chance of winning a weak division and being swept in the first round by some vastly superior team, like the Dodgers. But even that chance seems remote. And it’s really, really doubtful that it’ll happen for several years after that. Littlefield hasn’t come close to putting an A’s-caliber core together to make the Pirates a really competitive team. In fact, he has hardly even tried.
Pat from Where is Van Slyke? rants about the debacle that was yesterday’s D-backs game (can you tell he's my go-to poster about debacles?):
So we're now looking at five guys who had a chance to bring home the winning run from third base, three of whom had their opportunity with less than two outs. That's a failure of epic proportions right there. It's disgusting, despicable, and disheartening (there are your "Killer D's" for 2006 right there McClatchy, shove those stupid "Doumit, Duffy, Duke" bobbleheads right up your ass you stupid clown). I would question Jim Tracy's decision to leave Torres out for the 11th, given that Torres has been doing his best Brian Blowringer/Rick White impression recently and he gave up 2 hits in the 10th, but it can't be Tracy's fault. He doesn't make mistakes. Besides, it's not like we were going to score anyways, because if we didn't do it in the 9th or 10th it was never going to happen.
Bones from Honest Wagner has great news! Dave Littlefield won his first-round match in the Worst GM tournament in impressive form!
Enraged by a disrespectful #2 seed and well rested after a first round bye, DL, the Royce Gracie (mid-90s version) of Worst G.M.s, triangle choked Kevin Towers to the tune of a 134 to 15 tapout. Now the blood-soaked DL looks to rip apart Bill Bavasi to advance to the finals, where he'll face the winner of Jim Bowden and Dan O'Dowd.
Being that the tournament is being run by a fan of the team that had the good sense to fire Jim Tracy in the last 12 months instead of hiring him, I’d say Littlefield’s got some good mojo going here.
Billy at Romo Phone Home responds to a ridiculous quote from Jim Tracy so I don’t have to:
Lest you think that the health of the pitching staff this season has been one area in which the Pirates have been blessed by good fortune, our esteemed field general would like you to know the truth:
The Pirates are the lone team in the National League to use only five starters all season, a run that will end tomorrow when Wells rejoins the rotation. The Seattle Mariners are the only team in the American League to have used five. "We've done a terrific job in that regard," Tracy said. "A lot of that has to do with the way we've handled these pitchers."Oh, and the nice weather we have had this season, with relatively few rainouts? We did that too.
Until next week, when the Pirates are recovering from being swept by the Royals...
MAN, am I bitter right now. Wow.
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