Results tagged ‘ Ross Ohlendorf ’
The Andrew McCutchen Era, Game 1
It couldn’t have been a much better day at the ballpark for me today. I got up excited for the game. I then took a shower and went to my closet to grab my Nate McLouth shirt. I went downstairs, grabbed some tape and a sharpie, and made this :
Of course, everyone there loved it. I got countless laughs and compliments on it. Anyways, I went down near the bullpen with it and tried to get Andrew to sign it. He was standing outside the dugout talking to his family so I ran over there to try and get him, but by the time I got over there he had returned back to the dugout. I ran over near the dugout and held it up, Nyjer Morgan saw it and laughed. Then McCutchen looked near me, but then looked away. I’m not sure if he saw it or not. I am pretty sure he caught a glimpse of it when running out of the dugout to stretch out and I think he was going to come back and sign it, but then the security guard kicked us out, which frustrated me. Anyways, I returned to my seat (in right center field) to watch the game. We went nuts when McCutchen ran out, everyone in our section was loving him. He didn’t get much action defensively today, only recording one put out, but he looked dang good out there. Anyways, Ross got out of the inning with a 0 on the scoreboard and the Pirates went in to hit. Andrew was penciled into the leadoff spot today.
First At Bat: McCutchen fell quickly to 0-2 against Mike Pelfrey. He then took a couple of balls and lined a low fastball up the middle for his first big league hit in his first big league at bat. A loud roar from the crowd ensued. Here are some images of his first at bat (from MLB.TV, I left my camera at home on accident).
The Pirates would bat around and score 4 runs in the first inning. However, Ross struggled and gave up 3 runs the next half inning, making it a time game.
Second At Bat: McCutchen then stepped in to lead off the top of the 2nd. He worked the count to 2-2 and then got a fastball belt high on the inner half of the plate that he drove to right center field. The ball was given a long ride, but fell into the glove of Carlos Beltran just short of the warning track. It was nothing but a routine fly ball in the end, but it really had everyone in the stadium holding their breath. The next inning was quiet, and McCutchen’s third at bat would lead off the 4th inning.
Third At Bat: Andrew led off the inning the way you love to see any lead off hitter start it off, with a walk. The walk was on 4 pitches. Andrew would come around to score and the Pirates put 4 more on the board in the inning, and Andrew would lead off the 5th inning as well.
Fourth At Bat: This at bat really made me happy. It turned out to be a groundout to shorstop, but Andrew’s hustle put a smile on my face. As soon as the ball came off his bat, Andrew buried his head and ran as hard as he could to first. He was out by a half step, and really took Alex Cora by surprise.
You just don’t see major leaguers hustle like that anymore, and I hope that’s something we get used to seeing from McCutchen. That alone will make him a fan favorite.
Fifth At Bat: Andrew’s fifth at bat of the day was his first one with runners on base. Jason Jamarillo started the inning by grounding out, and then Ramon Vasquez singled and stole second. Hinske then popped out, and Andrew came to the plate with a runner on second and 2 out. Andrew fell behind 0-2 in the count quickly but took an 0-2 splitter left up in the zone and drove it into right field for his first big league RBI.
It was a beautiful piece of hitting and good enough to earn him a 1.000 RISP for his career so far. I think I was cheering louder than anyone else in the park after that hit, I was expecting a much louder ovation but it just didn’t happen, so I might’ve made a fool out of myself. Right after he got the hit, he went ahead and stole second without a throw. He got a great jump and really showed off his speed, the catcher never had a chance. We’ll bee seeing a whole lot of that in his career, this guy is going to be a phenomenal base stealer.
McCutchen finished his day up with his sole put-out in the 8th inning on a fly ball hit by Omir Santos
The Pirates won the game 11-6, Steven Jackson got his first career win as Ross Ohlendorf didn’t pitch the required 5 innings to earn the victory. Despite all the hupla about Andrew McCutchen, today’s best players were Jason Jamarillo and Ramon Vasquez, who combined to go 6/8 with a run and 5 RBI. The Pirates did a great job today to ease the tension left after the McLouth trade. McLouth will be in the starting lineup for the Braves tonight and I will definitely be watching his performance tonight. We’re all cheering for you Nate!
The Pirates improved to 25-28 and are playing great baseball right now, they’ve won 3 in a row and just swept the New York Mets. It’s safe to say I’m really excited for our series with Houston this weekend. Tomorrow we face our killer, Mike Hampton, but something tells me this time is going to be different. Let’s Go Bucs!!
3 in a row!
The Pirates defeated the Washington Nationals today in game one of their four game set. It started nicely, had a rough patch near the middle, but quickly was turned back around and the Pirates cruised to victory. Ross Ohlendorf had a nice couple of innings before getting into trouble and giving up 5 runs in the 5th. His line wasn’t pretty in the end, but he earned the victory.
Ross had the offense solely to thank for his victory tonight, which is not something we’ve said very often this year about the Pirates. They got those 5 runs back in the half inning directly after Ross got into that trouble. It was highlighted by Jack Wilson, who had a 2 RBI double in the inning. Jack ended up being 4-4 with a walk. He also made a sparkling play at shortstop earlier in the game, ranging deep into the whole and making an unbelievable throw to gun out Ryan Zimmerman (who had 2 hits tonight and is well on his way to making my bet of over 7 hits in the series come true). Other notables on the offensive side of things tonight were Craig Monroe, who hit a 3-run blast in the 3rd inning, and Brandon Moss, who had a pinch hit RBI double in the 6th.
The bullpen did decent work tonight after Ohlendorf’s 5 innings were complete. Jesse Chavez pitched 2.2 scoreless innings and was helped by Tom Gorzelanny’s strikeout of Adam Dunn to end a threat in the 7th. John Grabow then came on and gave up one run in the 8th. He gave up 2 hits and struck out one. Matt Capps then finished off the game and struggled some more. He surrendered an earned run off a hit and a walk. His command is off and it’s becoming such a common occurrence that I really think Greg Brown needs to stop saying the words “un-Capps-like”. This really isn’t good news for the Pirates, we really need to win the games we deserve to win because we might not get as many chances as we would like. It’s terrible to earn a win and then have your closer blow it in the ninth. Let’s hope Capps get his stuff together.
One thing I am really confused about is why the Pirates haven’t used Donnie Veal at all recently. They entered the ninth up 6 runs and used Capps tonight. This is one day after they entered the 8th and 9th innings yesterday leading by 7 runs. The Pirates failure to use him in these situations tell me that there is more to it. Either he is not healthy or there is something up with his mechanics/delivery that they don’t like. Let’s just hope he figures out what he needs to figure out and gets back out there to get some innings logged. He could be a good pitcher someday but he has to get experience to get there. He can’t go to the minors because he’s a rule-5 draft pick the Pirates picked up from the Cubs. I don’t know, only time will tell if Donnie Veal was worth a call up to the majors out of spring training.
The Pirates are now 17-21 and have won 3 straight as well as 5 of their last 7. They are playing great and taking advantage of weaker competition, which is what good teams do. Let’s hope they can keep up their successes tomorrow as they face Shairon Martis tomorrow. Martis has actually been very good for Washington this year, earning 5 victories, which is almost half the Nationals total wins. Jeff Karstens goes for us, so we might need another double-digit run total to win again tomorrow.
LET’S GO BUCS!
Just Like I Planned It
Well I made my predictions for today’s game yesterday, and I was mostly right. Sure, Ross did much better than I predicted and Nate did much worse, but I absolutely nailed Jack Wilson’s line. I said he would go 3/4 with 3 singles and an RBI, and guess what he did? 3/4 with 3 singles and an RBI. Pretty amazing stuff by Jack and I. Anyways, Ross Ohlendorf made another very strong start. He went 6 innings giving up only 2 hits and striking out 5. Ross’s only baserunners were on a single Colby Rasmus who was appropriately picked off and Skip Schumaker who homered. The Pirates offense came from all over the lineup. RBI’s came from Nyjer (2), Adam LaRoche (who crushed the ball tonight), Brandon Moss and Jack Wilson. Just another great baseball game played by the Pirates tonight. Let’s hope this keeps going.
Staying Alive
Well the Pirates finally ended their 4 game losing skid with a win over the Reds tonight. I was there, sitting in the bleachers:
The Pirates won the game 8-6 after a shaky 9th inning from Matt Capps, who gave up 2 runs and came a mere pitch away from losing the lead, but he got out of it and the Pirates improved to 12-11. A lot of the offense came in the first inning when the Pirates posted 4 off of Micah Owings. Late runs were added on by Brandon Moss (RBI single) and Nyjer Morgan (going from first to third on a wild pitch then scoring on a sac fly). Ross Ohlendorf pitched well again despite giving up a 3 run homer to Alex Gonzalez. Sean Burnett and John Grabow did good work to post scoreless innings and help the bucs get the win.
I think I’ve decided not to sit in the bleachers again this year, but I’ve discovered that that’s where most of the “fans” go who are only there to drink and because they have nothing better to do. Some of them think they know everything about baseball and they start talking to their friends and people around them about it, but in reality everything they are saying is wrong. This really ticks me off and it’s really hard for me not to correct them out loud in front of everyone, which I often end up doing. Anyways, here are some of the dumb comments I heard today from the bleachers:
- “Andy LaRoche, yeah, he came in a trade from the Braves last year”
- “There have only been like 3 home runs to ever make it to the river”
- “Chris Dickerson is going to go 0/5 tonight” -after he had just hit a single 3 minutes beforehand.
- “Who the hell is Delwyn Young?”
There were other comments that I just can’t remember right now, but some of them were pretty dang bad and it really frustrates me, although it does make me feel like one of the better Pirate fans in Pittsburgh, which I really believe I am. And of course, the constant heckling of left fielder Chris Dickerson got annoying after a couple of innings and I applauded when the drunk fan doing it was escorted out of our section.
The Pirates go for the series win against the Reds (it would be our first win against a division opponent) tomorrow as the send Jeff Karstens to the hill to face Johnny Cueto. Let’s go bucs!
Make-Shift Happens
Well there’s a candidate for creepiest picture ever taken…
Anyways, the Pirates, yet again, proved me wrong again today. They defeated the Padres again and put up an amazing 8 runs on the board with one of the worst looking lineups I’ve ever seen. Jake Peavy wasn’t good, giving up 5 runs, he’s been struggling all year, and the bullpen just got tanked again. That Padres staff is in terrible shape. I mean I don’t know if there is a worse collection of pitchers in the majors right now. Giving up 21 runs in 3 games to a Pirates lineup that doesn’t have Ryan Doumit or Nate McLouth in it? Dang. And it’s not like their offense is good enough to compensate either, Adrian Gonzalez is really all by himself there. They scored a total of 9 runs in this series and yet again made the Pirates pitching staff look great.
Now I’m not going to take the 3 pitching performances of this series very heavily, you really can’t tell much when you’re facing a mediocre lineup like the Padres, but hey, any time you go out there and post 3 quality starts in a row against a big league lineup, you’re doing something right, and they’ve been doing something right all month. This staff just keeps on going good, and we’re winning because of it. The Pirates actually look like a good team, not just a team who is getting lucky and on a little hot streak that is bound to end soon. I honestly think this team has a shot at playing good baseball for a long period of time, and who knows, maybe they will break the streak this year.
So looking at this series, the Pirates outscored the Padres 21-9 and took 2 of the 3 games, winning their 3rd series of the year. Their series record is now 3-1-2, and they are a game and a half out of first in the NL Central. Unbelievable stuff.
Lack-Luster Lineup
I’m gonna skip all the funny stuff and get right down to business. Look at this lineup the Pirates are sending out today:
- Nyjer Morgan (CF)
- Ramon Vazquez (2B)
- Brandon Moss (LF)
- Adam LaRoche (1B)
- Eric Hinske (RF)
- Andy LaRoche (3B)
- Robinzon Diaz (C)
- Brian Bixler (SS)
- Ross Ohlendorf (RHP)
Frying The Fish
A terribly ugly night in Pittsburgh has never brought more smiles to baseball fans than it did last night. Ross Ohlendorf toed the rubber after having a pretty bad start last Wednesday, and he was incredible. He went 7 innings and struck out 5, all while not surrendering a single run. The Pirates notched their league leading 4th shutout of the year, and (thanks to a bunch of rainouts) made the lead on ESPN’s bottomline. Feels great. However, the pattern this year is that the Pirates follow up a game like this with a terrible one. If this continues, Jeff Karstens will get hit early and often, be taken out after 4 innings or so, and the Pirates will collect less than 5 hits. It’s ridiculous how this has been happening this year, but let’s hope we can end the streak and win again today. The matchup is Jeff Karstens vs. Anibal Sanchez.
Big Ross Ohlendorf Doing Work!
The swing…
The ball heading to the river
Game 8 vs. Astros: Recap
Well I don’t have much time and my hands are pretty numb from being cold all night, so we’ll make this quick.
Game 4 @ Cardinals, Pre-Game
Alright well I’m a little late here because I just got home, but here are today’s lineups :
Pirates lineup:
- Nyjer Morgan (LF)
- Freddy Sanchez (2B)
- Nate McLouth (CF)
- Ryan Doumit (C)
- Eric Hinske (1B)
- Brandon Moss (RF)
- Ramon Vazquez (3B)
- Jack Wilson (SS)
- Ross Ohlendorf (RHP)
Cardinals lineup:
- Skip Schumaker (2B)
- Colby Rasmus (CF)
- Albert Pujols (1B)
- Chris Duncan (LF)
- Ryan Ludwick (RF)
- Khalil Greene (SS)
- Yadier Molina (C)
- Joe Thurston (3B)
- Chris Carpenter (RHP)
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.
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