With the Pirates’ Spring Training underway, it begins yet another baseball season and the hopes of a winning season for the Bucco Faithful. However, with virtually the same roster as the team they finished with last year, there is little hope for a different showing. Pirates’ management has expressed that in order for the team to play well, the younger players such as Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss and the starting rotation need to show they belong.

Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny are both players coming off a pretty bad year, but the potential they showed in 2007 is what the Pirates hope to see this year. Paul Maholm is coming off a great season which earned him the “ace” title for the Pirates after securing a 3.71 ERA. Paul Maholm has been named the only player in the Pirates’ rotation with a guranteed spot while the other four spots will be duked out between Zach Duke, Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny, Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, Daniel Mccutchen, and perhaps Phil Dumatrait when he becomes healthy enough.

The Pirates starting lineup for the 2009 season will likely look like this…

• LF Nyjer Morgan
• CF Nate Mclouth
• RF Brandon Moss
• 3B Andy LaRoche
• SS Jack Wilson
• 2B Freddy Sanchez
• 1B Adam LaRoche
• C Ryan Doumit

but depending on the players’ Grapefruit League showings, anything is up for grabs.

Spring Training begins with the biggest additions of Eric Hinske, Ramon Vasquez, Craig Monroe, Donald Veal, and Virgil Vasquez. Donald Veal and Virgil Vasquez will both be competing for a place in the bullpen while Monroe, Hinske, and Vasquez will be fighting for positions on the Pirates’ bench.

The Pirates play the Phillies tomorrow which opens up the Grapefruit League Schedule. The games is set to begin at 1:05 P.M. ET and is a home game at Mckechnie Field. Slated to pitch in the game will be Chris Bootcheck for the first inning and followed by Matt Capps, Donald Veal, Romulo Sanchez, Ronald Uviedo, Juan Mateo, Craig Hansen, Evan Meek and Jesse Chavez. Lefty Jamie Moyer will make the start for the Phillies. Pirate broadcaster Tim Neverett will be on the air for the first time as the Bucco announcer.

The Pittsburgh Pirates won a wild game on the road in Cincinnati as they beat the Reds 6-5 on Tuesday evening.  The Pirates and Reds played 11 innings and it came down to the final out before anyone could actually breath.  It was a back and forth game the entire game and the Pirates were lucky to come out on top if you ask me.

Jack Wilson and Nate McLouth delived rbi’s in the top of the 11th inning for the Pirates.  Wilson had a rbi triple while McLouth had a rbi single for what would be the game winning run.  Adam LaRoche, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jason Michaels, and Jose Bautista all had one rbi in the game to go along with Wilson’s and McLouth’s rbi’s.  Offense came through when they needed to and they were the mvp of this game.

Pirates starting pitcher Zach Duke tossed five innings and gave up six hits and one run to get the no decision.  Duke pitched pretty good but only lasted five innings.  Denny Bautista, John Grabow, and Tyler Yates all pitched in relief before Damaso Marte gave up two runs in the eighth inning.  Matt Capps gave up one run even though he picked up the win in the game to improve his record to 2-3.  Romulo Sanchez got his first save of the season as he pitched the bottom of the 11th inning.  Sanchez didn’t make it easy on himself however as he did give up one run in the inning.

In the end it was the Pirates coming out on top which is always good to see.  Now can they win the rubber match on Wednesday?  Pirates Blog

The Pittsburgh Pirates were able to come away with a 3-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.  The Pirates scored single runs in the first, fifth, and seventh innings of the games and then held off the Nationals late in the game.

Ian Snell picked up his third win of the season and is now 3-6.  Snell threw six innings while giving up six hits and one run.  Snell struckout six batters and walked three in his six innings of action.  Damaso Marte, Tyler Yates, and Matt Capps all threw one inning of scoreless relief after Snell left the game.  Capps earned his 16th save of the season in the game.

Jason Bay got the scoring started for the Pirates in the first inning when he doubled and scored Nate McLouth.  Onto the fifth inning where Ryan Doumit hit a solo home run for the Pirates second run.  In the seventh inning it was Xavier Nady who singled to right field to score Freddy Sanchez.

Good win for the Pirates who will go for the series win on Thursday against the Nationals.  What do you think Pirates fans?  Do they get the series win?

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The Pittsburgh Pirates got in the head of Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Randy Johnson and the Pirates went on to defeat the Diamondbacks by the score of 5-3.  Doug Mientkiewicz slowly got into the batters box very slowly against Johnson and that really upset the ”Big Unit”.  Johnson started walking towards home plate as both benches emptied but nothing came of the altercation except Johnson being upset.

With the Big Unit upset, the Pirates took full advantage of his wildness on the mound.  Taking three walks five walks and error by Johnson they were able to score some runs and win for the second game in a row.

Luis Rivas had two rbi for the Pirates while Jack Wilson, Xavier Nady, and Jose Bautista all had one rbi in the game.  Good job by the offense putting up five runs in the game.

On the mound it was Zach Duke throwing six inning and picking up the win as he improved to 4-4 on the season.  Duke only allowed five hits and two runs in the game as he had a pretty good outing against a good Diamondbacks offense.

Damaso Marte gave up one run in relief but then Tyler Yates and Matt Capps finished things up.  Capps recorded his 15th save of the season as well.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates got by the Houston Astros by the score of 4-3 on Thursday evening.  The Pirates got off to a good start in the first inning with three runs, and then scored another run in fifth inning and made sure those were enough runs even though things got crazy in the ninth inning.

With the Pirates up 4-3 in the ninth inning with two outs, the Astros had runners on third and first but Matt Capps was finally able to record the final out when Hunter Pence flied out to center.  Capps was shaky but did his job and picked up his 13th save of the season.

Paul Maholm had a great start as he pitched eight innings to pick up the win.  Maholm is now 4-5 on the season after earning the victory.  Maholm allowed eight hits but only three runs scored in the game.

Jason Michaels had a three run home run in the first inning and than Jason Bay had a rbi triple in the fifth inning to account for all four of the Pirates runs.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates got a good pitching performance by Zach Duke as they beat the Houston Astros 5-2 on Wednesday night.  With the win the Pirates tied the series at 1-1 with the rubber match being Thursday night.

Duke tossed 7 2/3 innings while giving up seven hits and two runs.  Ty Wigginton took him deep for a solo home run in the first and then Carlos Lee had a rbi single in the sixth inning.  Duke will take that kind of quality start every time he takes the mound.  With the win he is now 2-5 on the season.

Damaso Marte recorded the last out in the eighth inning after Duke left the game and then the closer Matt Capps came in to get his 12th save of the season.

Raul Chavez had a two run single in the fourth inning and then a sacrafice fly in the eighth inning to lead the Pirates with three rbi in the game.  Adam LaRoche had a rbi single in the fourth inning while Nate McLouth had a rbi single in the fifth inning.

The Pirates will try to win the series as they battle the Astros on Thursday night.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates were dead at the plate against St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright for the first seven innings but then they exploded for four runs in the seventh inning as they went on to beat the Cardinals 5-4.

Jason Michaels provided the big hit in the seventh inning as he smoked a grand slam to get the Pirates on the scoreboard.  Jason Bay then added on the game winning run in the eighth inning with a rbi single.

Franquelis Osoria ended up getting the win in the game while Matt Capps recorded his 11th save of the season.  Pirates starting pitcher Tom Gorzelanny pitched six innings and gave up seven hits and four runs to get a no decision.  Lanny was lucky that he didn’t get a loss in the game, he should thank the offense for scoring some runs late in the game.

It was a good win for the Pirates any way you look at it.  They are now three games under .500 at 27-30 and need to keep on winning.  Pirates Blog

The Pittsburgh Pirates had no problems on Thursday night as they defeated the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 7-1.  The Pirates had good innings in the third, fourth, and fifth innings as they scored six of the the runs in the middle of the game.

Xavier Nady and Jason Bay both hit home runs for the Pirates.  Nady a solo shot in the fifth inning, and Bay a two run shot in the fourth inning.  Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, and Jason Michaels all had one rbi in the game for the Pirates.  Everyone did a pretty good job keeping the pressure on the Reds pitching staff.

Phil Dumatrait pitched seven innings and only allowed two hits and one run as he picked up the win.  Dumatrait is now on the season.  John Grabow pitched a scoreless ninth before Matt Capps pitched the ninth inning. Capps did give up a solo home run to Brandon Phillips in the ninth inning.

In the end it was a good productive win for the Pirates as the improved their record to 25-28.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates completed a three game sweep of the San Francisco Giants on Thursday afternoon with a 5-4 win.  The Giants had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning but the Pirates held on for the win which improved their record to 15-19 on the season.

Starting pitcher Paul Maholm lasted six innings as he gave up six hits and four runs.  Franquelis Osoria, John Grabow, Tyler Yates, and Matt Capps all pitched in relief of Maholm and did a great job.   The Pirates bullpen only gave up two hits as they pitched three innings.

Ryan Doumit led the Pirates with two rbi in the game.  Nate McLouth, Jason Bay, and Adam LaRoche all had one RBI in the game as well.  Some nice production up and down the lineup for the Pirates.

The Pirates are now 15-19 on the season after the three game sweep of the Giants.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates scored three runs on Wednesday night and that was enough to beat the San Francisco Giants and Barry Zito.

Phil Dumatrait earned the victory over the Giants and improved to 1-1 on the season.  Dumatrait pitched  5 2/3 innings while giving up three hits and no runs.  Tyler Yates, Damaso Marte, and Matt Capps all pitched in relief of Dumatrait.  Capps was the only reliever to give up runs as he gave up one earned run on three hits.  Capps still picked up his seventh save of the season however.

Xavier Nady had two RBI for the Pirates as he had a two run home run and grounded into a double play to score another run.  Nady was all the offense had and for that matter all the needed against the Giants.

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