WHY THE RED SOX COLLAPSED
The Boston Globe has a story ripping the Boston Red Sox organization and blaming their collapse on three pitchers who didn’t seem to care anymore.
Tag » MLB
PIRATES WORST FINISH EVER
When Pirates fans gather at Piratesfest in December wearing their “I Was A Pirates Fan Before It Was Cool” T-shirts, many of them we’ll be trying to hang their hats on that wonderful, heady time when their Buccos were in first place.
Dejan Kovacevic of the Trib has the numbers for you.
So, once again, the Pirates have pulled off an epic failure within the epic failure of having 19 consecutive losing seasons and they managed to turn having a Major League Baseball team into a source of aggravation and misery.
But, don’t you worry. The Pirates are going to spend more money on payroll next year and, because they were in first place for an hour and a half, you can bet that there are free agents-to-be out there who will be dreaming about playing at PNC Park.
MONEY BALL OR STEROID BALL?
Billy Beane looked a lot more like a genius when “Money Ball” was written than he does now as the “Money Ball” movie is about to come out.
Was it all about his new methods of evaluating players or was it all about steroids?
A good case can be made that it was about the steroids.
SCOUTING NUTTING
JOE BUTLER METRO INDEX
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011
Hope to Hear From You
Where have you gone Mr. Bob Nutting? Everything was peachy on the day when the Pittsburgh Pirates were 51 and 44 and in first place. Since that great day in July, the Pirates have gone into a non-recoverable swoon. On September 20, their record is 68 and 86. That means the once popular Buccos have gone 17 and 42 since that wonderful day in July. This is just a shade over .250 baseball. Mr Nutting, you went into hibernation way too early. A multitude of Pittsburgh Pirate baseball fans would like to get an explanation of what has happened the last 70 days. Maybe from Coach Clint Hurdle and his staff, maybe from G.M. Neal Huntington, and probably from you Mr. Nutting. I remember seeing an interview with Bob Nutting when the Buccos were playing well in early July and telling everyone that the organization is looking good and how positive the atmosphere was at PNC Park but now Mr. Bob Nutting has pulled a David Copperfield on the Pirate fans and disappeared. I think the fans of Pittsburgh need some sort of explanation of what has occurred. The Pirate team batting average is a weak .242, just the same as the bad 2010 season. They are getting crushed in game recently by scores of 15 to 1 and 14 to 3. It looks to me like the team wants the season to end in a hurry. They are lucky to get 70 wins. As a the old slogan goes “Hope to hear from You!”
HATS OFF TO BUD SELIG
You would think that the Idiots Who Run Baseball would be OK with that.
Nope.
No, Joe Torre, the new Vice President of Hats, wanted “consistency.”
He and the IWRB may also have wanted to maximize sales of the special black hats that the Mets were ordered to wear for the game.
Not that they would allow money to play a part in their stupid decision.
STINKING PIRATES RAISE TICKET PRICES
The Pirates stink.
They’re 15-29 since the All Star break.
They’re 11 games under .500 and 18 1/2 games out of first place.
They’re three and a half games ahead of the fifth place Cubs and I’m betting they’ll finish fifth.
And, oh, by the way, they’re a month away from finishing their 19th consecutive losing season.
Other than, that, things are looking up. I hear they spent a lot of money on draft picks the last two years and they’re going to be really good in 2016.
You really can’t blame the Pirates for realizing that they couldn’t wait until they reached the magic number of .500 before raising ticket prices. They know that that could easily take another 19 years.
The most amazing thing that I will read today is that there are actually people out there who are willing to pay $225 for a seat behind home plate at PNC Park.
The timing, as usual, is delicious. The Pirates have lost two in a row to the worst team in baseball and they’ve struck out 27 times in those two games.
Here’s the best part: There’s a real good chance that the Pirates are going to be worse next year. It would be unrealistic to expect their starting pitching to put together another first half like one they put together this year.
Maybe they’ll finally get those 30 home runs out of Pedro Alvarez.
Or maybe he’ll be in Indianapolis hitting .250 and striking out every four at bats.
Where are all the people who were calling me a partypooper a month ago?
If/when you start feeling good about this team again next year, let this season be a lesson for you.
In Major League Baseball it’s all about the 162.
The Pirates ultimately succeeded in doing what they’ve done for the previous 18 years. They became a source of misery for and an embarrassment to the city.
Meanwhile, do you know where I can get one of those “I was a Pirates fan before it was cool.” T-shirts?
GOOD SIGNING FOR PIRATES MAYBE NOT FOR TABATA
The Pirates made big news for doing what they’re supposed to do again.
They signed Jose Tabata to a long term contract.
This isn’t something they or anybody else should be celebrating. It’s what teams are supposed to do with good young players.
Right now, Jose Tabata is a 23 year old outfielder who’s hitting .267. He looks like a guy who can play in the Major Leagues for a long time. Whether he’ll be a star is another issue.
Tabata is guaranteed $15 million through 2016, so money should never be an issue in his life. (Of course, unless someone does him a favor and assassinates Hugo Chavez, he won’t be guaranteed anything if he puts his money in a bank at home in Venezuela.)
Tabata’s problem may be that he’s banking on the Pirates being a contending team. Lots of players, who have signed for lots of money have been made miserable by playing in Pittsburgh.
He says he made the commitment because he likes the city and the fans. That’s nice, but the fans are nice everywhere and there are a lot of nice cities that field contending teams every year.
Let’s see how happy Tabata is in 2014, if the Pirates’ are on their way to their 22nd consecutive losing season.