Definition Of Home Field Advantage

Wow. That's the only word that comes to mind right now. Wow.  I'm writing this at 9:20 PM, on Sunday, Buctober 6th, 2013.  I just got home from PNC Park, where I witnessed the best crowd I've ever seen (having been to Steelers games at Heinz Field and Penguins playoff games at the old Civic Arena).  From 2 1/2 hours before first pitch, to long after the final out, the people of Pittsburgh were all hands on deck.

The game was scheduled for a 4:37 first pitch. Naturally, I arrived at the stadium at 2:15.  I walked across the Clemente Bridge, tipped the saxophone guy, and grabbed a free "#WeBelieve" sign.  I, along with a few hundred others, waited about 15 minutes for the stadium gates to open. At 2:30, when they finally opened, many fans sprinted inside in order to get the best standing room and bleacher spots.   The Cardinals were still out taking batting practice, and some fans went down to the front row to get some early taunting in.  As we walked in, each fan was given a black rally towel complete with "Raise The Jolly Roger".

The ballpark was packed by 4:10.  There was a mix of booing and "Let's Go Bucs" greeting the Cardinals as they were introduced.  As soon as PA Announcer Tim DeBacco said "Aaand for your Pirates" the crowd leapt to their feet, screaming and waving their towels.  Likable players like Jeff Karstens, Michael McKenry, and AJ Burnett drew loud applause, but the big noise came for the starting lineup. Few got a louder ovation than manager Clint Hurdle, who was greeted by a bowing-down Pirate Parrot.

Pirate ace Francisco Liriano cruised through the first inning, drawing cheers for each strike, and standing ovations for each out.  PNC got rocking early when Marlon Byrd hit a single with men on 2nd  and 3rd, giving the Pirates a 2-0 lead.  Liriano would play with fire throughout the day, and eventually he gave up two runs to tie the game, off of a 2 RBI single by Mr. October, Carlos Beltran.  Those runs were controversial, however, because shortly before Beltran's single, Jon Jay was called safe at third on a play where he should have actually been called out.  Liriano, along with the fans, bounced back and got out of the inning.  The fans went bananas as Liriano walked off the field, as they knew it would be his last inning.

The fans chanted the pitcher's name again (KEL-LY KEL-LY), although it didn't seem to rattle Joe Kelly like it rattled Johnny Cueto on Tuesday.  Joe Kelly did his job superbly.  The problem was,  he wasn't very efficient.  The Pirates got his pitch count up, and we won the game getting hits off of their bullpen.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, a sacrifice fly scored McCutchen to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. That didn't last long, as Carlos Beltran led off the 8th with a home run to tie the game.  Once again, the crowd stayed in it through thick and thin.  Trust me, I've been to some tough losses. Take September 20th vs. the Reds. We blew a three run lead in the 9th.  After that, half the crowd left and the rest were dead silent. Tonight was the polar opposite.  After Mark Melancon let up that tying home run, the fans stood up and cheered louder.  And it worked.  Melancon got out of the inning with no further damage done.

What the Pirates did in the bottom of the 8th inning is what made this night unforgettable. That inning along was a rollercoaster of emotions.  Andrew McCutchen led off with a double, only to be thrown out at third on a ground ball off the bat of Justin Morneau.  That was a depressing blow to the rally, but Marlon Byrd came through with a single that moved pinch runner Josh Harrison to third.  Pedro Alvarez came up to bat, so Cards manager Mike Matheny decided to play some chess.  He brought in lefty Kevin Seigrist, because Pedro tends to be worse against left handed pitchers.  Pedro took matters into his own hands.  He threw the statistics out the window, and lined a single to left, scoring Harrison to give the Pirates the lead.  Russell Martin followed that up with a single to up the lead to 5-3.   No exaggeration, I felt the floor beneath my feet shake as the crowd went wild.

When Greg Brown yelled "It's Grilled Cheese Time!" as closer Jason Grilli trotted out for the ninth, the sea of black was pulsating.  My ears may still be ringing in fact.  Grilli didn't let a leadoff single by Matt Adams get to him.  He got the next three outs in short order.  The fireworks shot off, "New Pirates Generation" was blasted over the PA, and the crowd went nuts. It's something I don't think I'll ever forget. We stayed to hear some TBS guy interview Pedro, but we couldn't hear it.  We walked the winding path down the rotunda, as a loud Lets Go Bucs chant was shared by the thousands exiting the ballpark.  The Clemente Bridge was essentially a victory parade. Everyone was in good spirits waiting in line to get their car.  Pittsburgh collectively smiled.

Why The Pirates Are So Good This Year

The Blog is officially back from Summer break.  We left off at the beginning of June. The Steelers were distant memories, the Penguins were still in shock from their playoff loss to Boston, and the Pirates were holding their own in the NL Central.

Since then, the Pirates have gone from "holding their own" to being one of the best teams in baseball. As I write this, at 6:30 on August 22nd, they sit in 1st place in the NL Central, one game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals and two games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds.  The Buccos sport a record of 74-52. They need just eight more wins to ensure their first winning season since 1992.

The past twenty seasons have been filled with disappointment.  At the end of each year, naturally, the fans look for places to assign blame. At the end of each of the past four seasons, fans and media have consistently ripped on Neal Huntington, the Pirates' general manager.  People complained that he didn't do enough at the trade deadline to set the team up for success, and they ridiculed his offseason moves.  There's no telling how this season will end for the Bucs, but one thing is for sure: Neal Huntington has done all that he could.  Here's a look at how he set these 2013 Pirates up for success.

Lets start with his offseason moves.  There were two gaping holes in the roster: catcher and starting pitcher.  First, they went out and signed free agent pitcher Francisco Liriano.  Liriano was once a highly successful pitcher, although he hadn't performed well over the past couple years.  Huntington and the Pirates' staff saw potential in him, and they signed him.  This story took a weird turn, when, on Christmas Day, Liriano broke his (non-pitching) arm while playing with his kids.  They reworked the contract, and eventually settled on a new one.  The injury ended up costing Liriano the first month of the season.  He made his Pittsburgh debut on the mound in early May, and impressed early on.  Since then, he has established himself as the staff ace, and forced himself into National League Cy Young discussions, with his 14-5 record and 2.53 ERA.

Another major offseason acquisition was catcher Russell Martin.  The catcher position was one of the biggest weak spots for the Pirates in 2012, with Rod Barajas as their No. 1 catcher.  He struggled mightily offensively and defensively, recording outs on only 6% of attempted steals against him.  Martin was coming off of an off year with the New York Yankees, and expectations weren't very high.  Martin was one of the biggest surprises this year for the Bucs, posting a .248 batting average, .350 on-base percentage, and 11 home runs.  He has been no stranger to clutch hitting, racking up four walkoff hits so far this season.  Defensively, he has been one of the best catchers in the NL, throwing out 27 batters so far, causing base runners to think twice before stealing.

There was one big trade in the offseason.  When the trade was announced, many were unenthusiastic.  It looked like we would break even, if we were lucky.  Over the past 5 months, the trade proved to be one of the most important moves to ensure success in 2013. The Pirates traded their elite closer, Joel Hanrahan, and infielder Brock Holt to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for reliever Mark Melancon, and prospects Ivan de Jesus, Jerry Sands, and Stolmy Pimentel.  First of all, trading Hanrahan meant dropping his salary, which allowed the team to re-sign Jason Grilli, who would become the closer in place of Hanrahan. Grilli became the agreed-upon best closer in the NL, posting 30 saves through the end of July.  Mark Melancon moved into the setup role (pitching the 8th inning, to set up for Grilli), and quickly became one of the best relievers in all of baseball, posting a .93 ERA over 58 appearances.  Stolmy Pimentel and Jerry Sands have been progressing with AAA Indianapolis.  This trade was so instrumental to the Pirates' success this season.

You can credit the farm system, for bringing up great prospects like Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, Pedro Alvarez, Gerrit Cole, and others.  You can credit manager Clint Hurdle for working his confidence magic yet again with this team.  But GM Neal Huntington deserves one heap of credit.  After last season's failure, he went out and made several moves to boost this team to an elite level.  Now buckle up, and lets watch this team finally fight for a playoff spot.

Don't Panic... yet

It's April 7th, and the panic is already on.  We're only one week into the six month journey that is baseball season, and people have already written off the Pirates.  I'm not saying there's no reason to do so.

This has been a very disappointing start.  One win, five losses to start the year.  The total inability to get hits, let alone runs.  A series loss to the divisional rival Chicago Cubs, and a sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  It wasn't pretty.  The Bucs wasted two beautiful pitching performances by AJ Burnett.  They wasted a surprisingly decent showing by Jonathan Sanchez.  Today's loss to the Dodgers marked the first time this year where the pitching staff did not give them a legitimate chance to win.  The offense took a step forward, with Andrew McCutchen crushing the team's first home run of 2013.  Hits weren't quite as scarce as before.  People seemed to be getting better quality contact.  But still, there's not much good to take out of the first six games of the season.

But amid all of the widespread depression among the Pirates community, I'm about to say why it is absurd to panic just yet.  Here's why:

Pitching is the foundation for success.  It is absolutely the most important thing for a winning baseball team to have.  The Pirates have it.  AJ Burnett has turned in two top-notch starts.  Wandy Rodriguez delivered a handling of the Cubs' lineup.  Even Jonathan Sanchez turned in a quality start, pitching through six innings allowing three earned runs.  The bullpen has performed well, with Jared Hughes succeeding in both of his outings, Tony Watson getting out of a bases-loaded situation unscathed.  The pitching is certainly there.

The obvious, glaring issue with this team is the hitting.  The team collectively has hit below .200.  Until today, there were zero home runs, and only two doubles.  The only player to have two hits in one game was Starling Marte, and they were both singles.  Alvarez isn't looking good, if you know what I mean.  However, you should wait before hitting the panic button.  Look at last year's season.  We started in a very similar fashion, with excellent pitching and extremely bad offense.  But they pulled through.  Eventually (May 25th to be exact) the offense lit up.  And don't be fooled, the Pirates have some serious weapons.  Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Garrett Jones, Neil Walker, and Starling Marte make for a formidable core.  If something, anything, can spark this offense, it could easily light on fire once again. It's not a lack of talent, at least I don't think so.  It's something intangible.

This bodes well for the Pirates because it means things could turn around at any moment.  Today we could hit this horribly, but as soon as tomorrow we could have a big day at the plate.  I'm not saying it will turn around tomorrow.  I'm saying that it could turn around tomorrow.  And there's no reason to say it won't be tomorrow.  They face the Arizona Diamondbacks, who play in a very hitter-friendly ballpark, which could be just the thing to get this offense going.

I'm not pretending that this first week hasn't been bad.  All I mean to say is that the potential is there to pick things up any day now.

Pirates Batting Order

There are 25 days until Opening Day for the Pirates.  Over two weeks into Spring Training, we already have a good idea of what the team should look like.  Here's what I (not necessarily Clint Hurdle) think the batting order should be.

1.  Jose Tabata, RF
2. Starling Marte, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, CF
4. Garrett Jones, 1B
5.  Pedro Alvarez, 3B
6. Neil Walker, 2B
7. Russell Martin, C
8. Clint Barmes, SS
9. A.J. Burnett, P

1. Tabata has the skills to be a good Major-League player.  As he showed last year, he lacked some of the motivation and effort.  If he gets it together, he should make the lineup.  He is in the leadoff spot over Marte because Marte is known to be more of a free-swinging type of player, which is not ideal for leadoff.
2.  Marte is speedy, and has some power, but isn't a true home run guy.  Perfect for the 2-hole.
3.  No brainer.  McCutchen played every game last year in the 3-spot, putting up a .327 average.  He got 195 hits, including 29 doubles and 31 home runs.  Don't change a thing.
4.  I have Jones batting cleanup not because he is a better power hitter than Alvarez, but because Alvarez has NEVER played well in the 4-spot.  Most of his notorious slumps can be traced back to being put there.
5.  Being in the 5-spot gives Alvarez a chance to clear the bases with his mighty power, but without some of the pressure of the cleanup spot.
6.  Not much debate here.  Walker is a solid hitter, but without very much power.  Easily better than the two below him.
7.  Martin is coming off of a poor season with the Yankees, but, hey, so was A.J. Burnett last year.  The only reason I didn't put him in the 2-hole is because the bottom of the lineup needs more stability.
8.  Not much thought here.  The worst hitter in this group of eight, although he showed signs of life at the end of last year.