Results tagged ‘ Craig Monroe ’

Up and Down

Victory! The Pirates looked great tonight, after Ian Snell was done anyway. Snell got roughed up, despite pitching decently well in my opinion, and gave up 3 runs in 2 innings. The Pirates put up 4 in the second to take the lead, and then the rains came. The game was delayed for nearly an hour and a half, and the Pirates came back and played great ball. Sean Burnett pitched 3 innings surrendering one run but pitching well. Evan Meek, Jesse Chavez, John Grabow, and Matt Capps teamed up to finish the game and pitch 4 scoreless innings. The big story of these guys was Matt Capps. As many of you know, Capps blew the game for us last night. The Pirates had a 1-0 lead (should have been a 3 or 4 to nothing lead) in the ninth, and Matt Capps gave up 3 and took the loss. He was anxious to get back out there and get those thoughts out of his head. He did a lot of work earlier today with pitching coach Joe Kerrigan to fix some of his mechanical issues, and it paid off. He came on in the 9th with a 3 run lead and put instant butterflies in my stomach with a 5 pitch walk of the first batter he fixed. However he quickly righted the ship by getting two ground balls to Jack Wilson, the first a double play ball and the second to end the game. The Pirates took the game 7-4 and improved their record to 15-21. More importantly they earn a chance to win the series tomorrow as they send Zach Duke to the hill. Duke has been our most reliable pitcher this year and always pitches great in PNC Park. I’m definitely feeling a win of this series as we head to Washington for a 4 game set with the Nationals. 


Other notable performances tonight were from Delwyn Young and Brandon Moss. They both had 2 hits tonight. Young had the defining hit tonight, as his 2 run single in the 2nd inning put the Pirates on top and swung the momentum in the Pirates favor right before the rain started coming down. He looked good at the plate in 4 of his 5 at bats, and even stole a bag (okay, he was easily out, but it still counts). He’s been a great addition for the Pirates and I stand behind my statement that this guy should see more playing time. I’ll touch on that more in a minute here, but first I’d like to talk about Brandon Moss’s performance. Like I said, he had 2 hits today. He is really getting the good part of the bat on the ball in this homestand. It’s funny how much confidence can do for your game. Before the St. Louis series Moss just looked awful at the plate, and I’m sure he was feeling even worse than he was looking. He has that one big game and now he’s been one of our best hitters in the 4 games following that performance. We’re finally seeing the potential that this guy has been rumored to have now. This is huge for the Pirates. 


This all brings me to one point. The Pirates have 4 guys that get playing time in right field. And I, at one point, have said that all 4 of these guys should get more playing time there. Now that doesn’t make sense, you can’t alternate 4 guys at one position. So I guess now is the time for me to pick whom I want to see in right field and whom should immediately back that person. The problem is these guys have all looked really good this year. It’s a good problem to have. 

So when I’m making this decision, I pretty much immediately rule out Monroe and Hinske. Any mature bucco fan knows to do that. They are good players and can definitely contribute to the offense, but they most likely aren’t going to be with the team next year and they are both past their primes. There is no way either of these guys makes a significant impact past 2009, and the Pirates aren’t playing for 2009 right now. We are a team of the future and everything we do should be trying to strengthen our team 2 to 3 years down the line. So this all brings me to Delwyn Young vs. Brandon Moss. Such a tough call. You all know that I am a huge fan of Andrew McCutchen and would love to see him starting for the buccos today, but that’s just not going to happen. Between Moss and Young I’d probably like to see Moss get more playing time, just because of the power. Young could definitely be an above .300 hitter, but he doesn’t have much power. At most he’ll be a singles and doubles hitter who doesn’t steal many bases, which really doesn’t help us all that much. Brandon Moss might strike out more than average but atleast he has a good chance at hitting 20-30 home runs some day. This is what the Pirates need. We haven’t had a big power bat for a long time. Not saying that Moss can be a Brian Giles this year or even next year, but he definitely has a chance to be that player in the future and I think we owe him a shot. 

So final conclusion, I’d play Moss in right field primarily, and work in Delwyn Young had second once every couple weeks, then throw him into right field against lefties or just to give Moss a spell. I’d use Monroe as the primary pinch hitter against lefties and Hinske the primary against righties. It’s nice to have Hinske too because he can spell the LaRoche brothers at the infield corners. Again, this is a very good problem to have. I love the Pirates.

And I love you. Yes, you.  Have a great day. 

Impeccable Pirate Performance Pounds Padres

Now that’s a blog title right there. Dang, I’m awesome. 

Anyways, after a somewhat sloppy and painful loss last night, the Pirates rebounded with a great win tonight. The solid starting pitching just keeps on coming. Tonight Zach Duke was the star, going 8.1 innings giving up only 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 5. You can’t ask for anything more than that. After an extended game last night and a lot of work from the bullpen, it’s really good to get those guys a rest. The only pitcher needed was Evan Meek, who came in and amazingly through only 2 pitches to end the game. Here are the game notes besides what was already mentioned :
  • The Pirates offense collected 14 hits without Nate McLouth and Jack Wilson. The lineup featured all 3 offseason additions for the first time this year, with Monroe in left, HInske in right, and Vasquez at shortstop. Those three combined for 6 hits and 4 RBI. 
  • Freddy Sanchez got rid of any bad taste in his mouth from an 0-5 performance yesterday by collecting 3 hits and scoring 3 runs. He was back in the 2 hole in the lineup, I guess he likes it better there. We really need Nate back, it would be a huge blow for him to miss significant time. 
  • The Pirates got deep into the Padres bullpen for a second straight night. After starter Shawn Hill only made it through 2 innings (due to an injury, I assume) the bullpen used 3 pitchers to combine for the other 7 innings. Josh Geer through 4 innings giving up 7 hits and 5 runs, Eulogio De La Cruz went 2 innings giving up 2 runs on 2 hits, and Luis Perdomo had a perfect inning in the 9th. This should make the Padres push the limits on Jake Peavy tonight because they really need their bullpen to get some rest tomorrow. Let’s hope the Pirates can be patient at the plate and make Peavy throw a lot of pitches early, then touch him up in the middle innings. 
  • Looking at the standings, if the season ended today, the Pirates would be in a tie with these Padres for the wild card spot and would be playing a play-in game to earn a playoff bid, wouldn’t that be something? 
Tomorrow Ross Ohlendorf makes his 4th start, so far he’s been stellar, especially in his last start. Jake Peavy has not been Jake Peavy this year, and is sporting an ugly ERA of 5.13, he does however have 2 wins to accompany 2 losses. I’m feeling that that’s gonna be 3 losses this time tomorrow! 
In other and less exciting news, I got 3 more team t-shirts today from a friend who was in a Gabriel Brothers’ store in Altoona. He picked up Mike Aviles, Prince Fielder, and Ryan Zimmerman for me. This brings the total to 14 and I now can represent 12 different teams. However, the Aviles and Zimmerman shirts are XLs, and the Fielder one is small, so they aren’t exactly good fits. 
I can’t believe I just used the words “Prince Fielder” and “small” in the same sentence. 

11 Days Away

Alright we are now only 11 days away from opening night, when the Philadelphia Phillies begin their quest to defend their championship against the Atlanta Braves. As we approach the final week of spring training, the every day big league hitters are really starting to gear up and really start swinging the bats. I’m looking forward to looking around the league to see what happens in this last week of spring training, but I am even more looking forward to the end of spring training. It’s been going on forever, let’s get to the regular season already! Anyways, let’s get to some Pirates news.

The Pirates defeated the Atlanta Braves 5-2 last night. The big story here was Ross Ohlendorf. Ross pitched 6 scoreless innings, giving up 5 hits and striking out 3. His spring ERA is now down to 0.59, making him a lock for a spot in the starting rotation (at least he’s a lock in my book). He has looked terrific, being efficient and location all of his pitches extremely well. I’d love to see him in the 4th spot in the rotation, preceded by Maholm, Snell, and Duke, and followed by Karstens. The Pirates offense was provided by Craig Monroe, Nate McLouth, and Ryan Doumit. Let’s take a closer look at these three hitters, shall we??

  • Craig Monroe

    Craig Monroe has been stellar for his new team this spring. He’s hitting .302 with 12 RBI and 6 runs. Monroe is a lifetime .253 hitter, which is obviously not too good. He has had three 20+ home run seasons, but that’s in his past. Monroe is going to be nothing more than a pinch hitter and a situational player. I don’t know who will have the advantage between Monroe and Hinske. They will be two great players coming off the bench. Personally, I like Eric Hinske better, just because of his defense. Hinske, by the way, is a career .254 hitter. He had 24 homers in his first season, and hit 20 again last season. His defense is definitely superior to that of Monroe, but the way Monroe has looked this spring, I don’t see how you could look him over that quickly. It’s a good problem to have. If the Pirates do indeed record their 17th consecutive losing season, it won’t be the fault of the outfield.

  • Nate McLouth

    Nate McLouth, pretty much the single reason to watch the Pirates last year, had success out of nowhere. No one expected him to do that. The only reason he even became an every day player was because of his awesome performance in spring training last year. He is mimicking that success again this spring. He’s hitting .325 with 3 home runs and 8 RBI. The average is good to see. McLouth hit .276 last year. Don’t expect a .300 season from McLouth. I’m a little weary of his power numbers as well, I don’t see him hitting 26 homers again this year. If he stays healthy all year, he’ll probably eclipse 20. I would also say he’s not going to repeat his RBI number again (94). Hitting in the 3 hole, it’s a guaranteed minimum 75, with potential to get to 100. I’m thinking somewhere in the mid to high 80′s. With hitters Nyjer Morgan and Freddy Sanchez hitting in front of him, I’m not seeing many runners to be on base for Nate (at least until Andrew McCutchen starts leading off for the Pirates). Nate could very well make his 2nd consecutive all-star appearance, just because the rest of the club is so mediocre.

  • Ryan Doumit

    Ryan Doumit is one of the pillars that is holding the future together for the Pirates. He’s been showing good signs this spring as well. He is hitting .295 with 2 home runs and a .477 slugging percentage. Doumit is a rare catcher. He hit .318 last year, and it’s pretty rare to see a catcher hit that far above .300. His career average is .278. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Doumit’s average take a step backwards this year, but I definitely can see his power numbers rising. He hit a career high 15 homers last year. I expect Ryan to raise that number into the 20′s this year. This guy has great potential, and hitting in the clean up spot could warrant a legitimate chance to get to 100 RBI. Although his 69 ribs last year suggest otherwise. Maybe I’m expecting too much out of him, but I see Doumit as our best offensive player, so he’d better perform.

The Pirates play another night game tonight against the Rays at 7. Jeff Karstens will take the mound to try and boost his chances at making the rotation. We should be hearing word from manager John Russell soon about who the rotation will be. This is definitely a big start for Karstens. He hasn’t been great this spring, but has shown good signs and had some ups, enough to put him ahead of Virgil Vasquez, atleast. Personally, I’m rooting for Karstens. Let’s Go Bucs.


p.s. I upgraded my t-shirt collection yesterday by purchasing a Jason Bay shirt. That makes 13 shirts and 11 teams represented.

Holy @#%@%

Craig Monroe?! 3/3 with 3 HRs and 4 RBI??? Oh my goodness. I just got home and check out this box, and I’m at a loss for words. He nearly single handedly beat the Twins today. Wow… ridiculous. I don’t have any time to write more today, but I just had to write about this real quick, I’m just astonished. 

More coming later.
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