The Pirates go into game 42 with the 5th best record in all of baseball and the 3rd best in the NL. They’re still flying under the radar because 1) the two better teams in the NL are in the same division, leaving the Bucs in third place and 2) the collapses of the last two seasons make people hesitant to believe they can continue the current success.

Here’s a few reasons not to worry and to jump on board with both feet:

The NL Central is the best division in baseball. (108-93, .538 Winning%)
The Pirates are 11-7 vs teams in the Central. (3-0 vs CIN, 3-2 vs STL and 4-3 vs MIL, 1-2 vs CHC)
The Pirates are winning on the road (11-9) as well as at home (13-8).

Still not convinced? Well, that’s very understandable. The Pirates have won more than their share of close game this season. Really good teams usually win more blowouts and are about even in close games.

1 Run games: 4-6
2 Run games: 11-2
3 Run games: 3-1
close games: 18-9

4 Run games: 1-5
5 Run games: 1-0
6 Run games: 2-1
8 Run games: 0-2
9 Run games: 2-0
blowouts: 6-8

My advise to you is to start drinking heavily sit back and enjoy the ride. Baseball is a lot of fun, especially if you don’t take it too seriously. Now go beat the Astros!

Links

Last month I went to a Georgia Tech baseball game with Mike Newman of Rotoscouting.com and Fangraphs. Mike had recently seen the West Virginia Power play and wrote up reports on Stetson Allie and Wyatt Mathisen.

Jason Grilli is striking out batters at previously unimaginable levels.

Russell Martin details pitch framing.

Recent moves:
Chris Leroux was Designated for Assignment and Bryan Morris called up from AAA.

Phil Irwin was called up today to take a turn for Wandy Rodriguez and his gimpy hamstring. Josh Harrison was optioned to AAA to make room. If I’m reading the tea leaves correctly, this move portends the activation of Brandon Inge from the DL when Irwin is sent back down.

Jeff Locke appeared to be nibbling a lot. Either that or he was just wild. It was kind of hard to tell from my seats. Speaking of which…

It was an absolutely gorgeous day today. jetBlue park is pretty nice.

Mark Melancon looked much stronger, striking out two.

Tony Watson showed no ill effects from his injury earlier in camp.

Vin Mazzaro was the big surprise of the day with five Ks in two innings.

On the offensive side, Garrett Jones hit a mammoth HR to center but everything else was quiet until the 8th. Somehow the Bucs scored four runs even though the only well-struck ball was a Pedro Alvarez homer that went over the bullpens and a grassy area in right field. A classic El Toro bomb.

It should also be noted that Russell Martin hit three hard line drives today but each one managed to find a glove.

Tomorrow it’s back to McKechnie to put the wraps on my trip. Look for a closing post on Monday or Tuesday.

Jeanmar Gomez may actually be useful as the #9 starter.

Mike Zagursky pitched his way to the minors.

Jason Grilli looked as good as last year. He’ll be fine as closer.

Mark Melancon appeared to be guiding his pitches instead if just throwing and trusting his stuff.

The bench has a better batting eye than the starters. Three walks and only five Ks today vs two and nine yesterday.

I took a lot of pictures of McKechnie Field and all of the renovations but those will wait till next week when I have full use of the internet. But here are a few to whet your appetite:

Jonathan Sanchez took the mound tonight looking to stake a claim to a spot in the rotation. 5 shutout innings with 4 Ks and only 3 baserunners should do it. Other than a two batters in the third, when he walked Lew Ford, then sent him to second on a wild pitch, Sanchez was in control the whole time. This wasn’t against minor leaguers either, as Baltimore had 7 regulars in the lineup.

Chris Leroux and Justin Wilson both solid in their relief stints.

The offense looked a lot like last year. Eight hits, but never more than one in an inning, and nine Ks. Starling Marte and Neil Walker both reached base twice. Travis Snider had two hits and two walks, plus made some tricky plays against the twilight sky.

On the bad side, Brad Hawpe had a hat trick and clearly disagreed with the umpire on both of his called strikeouts. Jose Tabata pinch hit for Hawpe in the ninth when the Pirates were trying to rally but missed a bunt sign and left pinch runner Alex Presley out to dry at second.

It would have been nice to win, but all-in-all there were a lot if positive things to take away from the game. I also got to meet Pat Lackey from Whygavs.com, who seemed to be having a good time. Which is really what it’s all about.

Some pictures:

Jonathan Sanchez warms up.

Pedro Alvarez watches Andrew McCutchen at bat.

Swing and a miss.

A great night for baseball.

Thursday Orioles @ Sarasota
Friday   Rays    @ Bradenton
Saturday Red Sox @ Ft. Myers
Sunday   Orioles @ Bradenton

Look for pictures and thoughts to be posted all weekend, assuming I can figure out why my wireless card isn’t working or the hotel has an ethernet connection available.

Not a big fan of the new beige exterior instead of what used to be a clean white finish, but that’s a minor detail. The big news is the new flip-down seats, which will be a godsend to anyone that spent any time in the old molded plastic ones. It will be great to walk around the entire park as well.

George Washington – U.L. Washington (SS)
John Adams – Babe Adams (P)
Thomas Jefferson – Jesse Jefferson (P)
James Madison – Art Madison (2B)
James Monroe – Craig Monroe (OF)
John Quincy Adams – Sparky Adams (2B)
Andrew Jackson – Grant Jackson (P)
Martin Van Buren – Andy Van Slyke (OF)
William Henry Harrison – Josh Harrison (3B)
John Tyler – Tyler Yates (P)
James Polk – Kevin Polcovich (SS)
Zachary Taylor – Carl Taylor (OF)
Millard Fillmore – Len Gilmore (P)
Franklin Pierce – Steve Pearce (1B)
James Buchanan – Steve Buechele (3B)
Abraham Lincoln – Brad Lincoln (P)
Andrew Johnson – Mark Johnson (1B)
Ulysses Grant – Mudcat Grant (P)
Rutherford Hayes – Charlie Hayes (3B)
James Garfield – Bill Garfield (P)
Chester Arthur – Dixie McArthur (P)
Grover Cleveland – Elmer Cleveland (3B)
Benjamin Harrison – Joe Harris (1B)
Grover Cleveland – Elmer Cleveland (3B)
William McKinley – Michael McKenry (C)
Theodore Roosevelt – David Ross (C)
William Taft – Jack Rafter (C)
Woodrow Wilson – Jack Wilson (SS)
Warren G. Harding – Hardie Henderson (P)
Calvin Coolidge – Duff Cooley (1B)
Herbert Hoover – Rich Sauveur (P)
Franklin Roosevelt – Rosie Rosebraugh (P)
Harry Truman – Shane Youman (P)
Dwight Eisenhower – Bill Howerton (OF)
John Kennedy – Brickyard Kennedy (P)
Lyndon Johnson – Bob Johnson (P)
Richard Nixon – Brian Bixler (SS)
Gerald Ford – Chance Sanford (3B)
Jimmy Carter – Steve Carter (OF)
Ronald Reagan – Bill Regan (2B)
George H W Bush – Bullet Joe Bush (P)
Bill Clinton – Clint Barmes (SS)
George W Bush – Guy Bush (P)
Barack Obama – Ken Oberkfell (2B)

If this was a 40 man roster, you be hard pressed to make a decent everyday lineup out of it.

Remember the Mike Morse/John Jaso three-way trade from a few weeks ago? I had a trade tree all drawn up but didn’t take the time to write anything or post it. Here’s the Athletics part of it:

Pretty sweet, huh? Fits on one page and is easily legible at a regular zoom. Plus it’s nearly symmetrical so it’s got a nice aesthetic quality too.

Apparently Billy Beane hates all of those fine qualities and only cares about trying to make his team better. What other reason could he have for including Brad Peacock in the Jed Lowrie deal, which linked it to the Dan Haren deal through Chris Carter, which linked it to basically every other trade he’s made since he became GM. (click to embiggen)

Start with 14 draft picks, make 23 trades that cycle through 47 players and you end up with 13-15 players still in the organization. My favorite part is the direct path from Mark Mulder to Dan Haren to Brett Anderson. Other teams dream of getting back an ace when they trade an ace. Billy Beane does it.