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Greetings from Cleveland, where I’m celebrating my brother’s 40th birthday. Cleveland is pretty near Pittsburgh, and the two cities allegedly have a similar rust belt vibe. The two major differences between the cities, baseballwise, are as follows:
- The MFY’s are in Cleveland for the weekend, so the hotel where I’m staying is teeming with Yanqui fans.
- The Indians don’t suck.
Since I’m flying back tomorrow, I’m posting the KTE a little early.
I figured that for my first KTE, I’d choose a weak team that’s far under the radar, and the Pirates have not disappointed. April 27, seven games out of first. These guys are pretty bad.
Their first lefty bat off the bench? Doug Mientkiewicz. Yes, that Doug Mientkiewicz.
These are not Willie Stargell’s Pirates.
On that note…
Monday’s projected matchup: I. Snell vs. J. Santana.
Snell has been the Pirates’ best pitcher this month, with a record of 2-1 and an ERA of 4.45. Santana has been the Mets’ best pitcher this month, with a record of 3-2 and an ERA of 3.12.
The Pirates undeniably have some fine young arms, and Snell’s may well be the finest. He has a mid-90’s fastball and was among the league leaders in both innings pitched and strikeouts last year, and went 9-12 for a team that didn't average nine wins out of every 21. His ERA+ was a strong 116. Like Santana, he is a fly ball pitcher. Like Santana, when he gets beaten it’s often by home runs. He’s an excellent pitcher with a strong upside.
He ain’t Johan Santana.
Tuesday’s projected matchup: T. Gorzelanny vs. O. Perez
Don’t make plans to wake up early on Wednesday morning. It’s gonna be a long game.
Gorzelanny, last year’s ace, would have been a fine candidate for Frayed's “Aces Down” thread. He’s off to a horrendous start - currently 1-3 with an 8.46 ERA. He gave up seven walks in the course of losing his last start. This was the most given up by any Pirate pitcher since June 23, 2006 when seven walks were yielded by – you guessed it – Oliver Perez. For the season to date, he’s given up 22 walks in 22 1/3 innings.
At least until this year, Gorzelanny was known for a mid-90’s fastball, a good change, and – surprisingly enough – good control.
Wednesday afternoon’s projected matchup - Z. Duke vs. M. Pelfrey
Duke was a left-handed rookie phenom in 2005, going 8-2, 1.81 and finishing fifth in ROY balloting, but he hasn’t done very much since. 0-2, 5.34 this year. When his curveball breaks, he’s tough on left handed hitters.
It’s a little early, so these matchups are still uncertain. However, one pitcher who the Mets will definitely not be seeing this week is Matt Morris, whose release was announced about an hour ago. He’d gone 0-4 with a 9.67 ERA. Manager John Russell told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, “Matt Morris just did a pathetic job for us this year. We looked into a couple of other options, including shifting Matt to the bullpen and sending him off on an ice floe. However, there really isn’t any space – even in our bullpen – for a 33 year old pitcher with an arm that’s basically held together with Bazooka bubble gum, and there are no ice floes on the Monongahela River in April. So we just offered him his walking papers. Plus about ten million dollars. All in all, it’s a pretty good deal for a guy who hasn’t gotten ahead of a batter since sometime in 2005.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly what he said. I think he said something about Matt Morris being a true professional.
Replacing him in the rotation is left-hander Phil Dumatrait, who allowed one earned run in four innings in relief of Morris yesterday. Replacing Dumatrait is prospect John Van Benschoten, who was called up from the Indianapolis Indians. Van Benschoten had reconstructive surgery on both shoulders in 2004, so that Bazooka bubble gum that was holding together Morris’s arm won’t go to waste.
As far as position players, the X-man is off to another fast start, and was NL Player of the Week for the first week in April. He’s currently on a 14 game hitting streak, and batting .340 with 23 RBIs. Leadoff hitter and CF Nate McLouth started off very hot, but has cooled off a bit. McLouth is hitting .327 on the season, with a .405 OBP. He’s been caught stealing in three out of five attempts.
The original plan behind the plate was to have “catcher by committee”, with offense-first Ryan Doumit and defense-first Ronny Paulino splitting the catching duties roughly 50-50. Paulino isn’t off to a bad start, but Doumit has batted .359/.391/.609 and has taken over the starting job.
The rest of the team has been brutal. Adam LaRoche’s OPS+ for the month is 14. You read that right. Fourteen.
Who’s hurt?
SS Jack Wilson. I’m too lazy to look up his backup’s name again. It’s something like Bill Bixby, and he’s playing with Bill Bixby-like skill at bat and in the field.
The Pirates miss Jack Wilson.
Also, OF Chris Duffy
The X-avier factor
Former Mets
X Nady
Tyler Yates
Doug Mientkiewicz
Former Pirates
Oliver Perez
Nelson Figueroa
Rick Peterson. The BBRef article on Rick Peterson begins “Pitcher Rick Peterson was picked by the Pittsburgh Pirates.” Try saying that ten times, fast. He never made it to the big time as a player, but was the Pirates’ bullpen coach for a bit in the mid-80s.
Ralph Kiner. If he ever gets into the HOF as a broadcaster, it’s not going to be in a Pirates cap.
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