Manny's Marauders

Pirates spank the cubs, Complete sweep

2010-05-07T07:40:00.003-04:00

brian burres pitched another great game for the bucs last night againest an all righty cubs team, the pirates got on randy wells early and often in the game and he was gone by the 3rd inning. All in all the pirates had a good game and that what i like to see is a team grtting on top and not allowing the other team to get back in it

Buccos win 4-2

2010-05-05T22:43:00.004-04:00

The bucco won there second straight game Wednesday as they beat the cubbies 4-2 off a great pitching performances by Charlie Morton and the bucs bullpen. Steve Pearce looked good defensively but did not get a hit, while Ryan church homered for the second straight game. All in all it was a good win for the pirates who go for the series sweep tomorrow versus randy wells

Pirates Fall to Dogers 9-3

2010-05-02T19:32:00.004-04:00

The Pirates lost again sunday to the dodgers who seem to carry a magic stick. everything that could of went wrong did and the pirates really never got any breaks. But let's not just blame luck, with counts like 2-0 and 3-1 the pirates grounded balls to third and nothing was really hit hard even though the season is young the pirates have to find an identity and stick to one lineup for more than a series. the next opp is the cubs on tues Let's Go Bucs

Pirates lose 5-1

2010-05-02T08:01:00.002-04:00

The pirates lost last night game making it now a 2 game slide against the dodgers, jeff kartens will start tomorrow and hopefully can get the buccos to tie the series, overall the hitting last night in my mind did not take full opportunity of what they were given. milledge continues to struggle in my mind and the team as a whole has to take advantage when there ahead in the the count

Can't wait till opening day

2010-03-18T23:25:00.003-04:00

Just got my opening day tickets from school and cannot wit till the pirates play the dodgers April 5th plus I'm going that Thursday so it good to be me right now I'm so excited i just can't wait

MLB 10: The Show Comes out Today

2010-03-02T10:30:00.002-05:00

I personally can't wait for the Show to come out and start playing this game. Graphically you can't beat it and gamplay is awsome. I will be starting a pirates chise and will randomly be posting final scores and other cool things that happen such as cpu trade proposal and other such things.

Tony Sanchez makes the top 100

2010-02-23T15:08:00.003-05:00

According to Baseball America which released there top 100 prospects today listed Sanchez as there 79th best prospect in the game and in my mind he should be higher. according to scouts he's already defensively to be in the major league and so far he he's hitting pretty well down in the minors.

Joel hanrhan shut down

2010-02-20T08:17:00.001-05:00

The Pirates have shut down what seem to be a sure thing in the bullpen this spring and that is former closer joel hanrahan. The righty,28, was shut down with an elbow strain that will make him unavailable until may or June. This will make an roster spot open that wasn't before and could be interesting to see who john Russell put into the bullpen but my guess would be the loser of the 5th spot battle but could be interesting to watch

.....And Baseball Begins

2010-02-18T15:29:00.003-05:00

Now that spring training has officially started , you can say the pirate season begin today. I think one of the biggest stories this spring is who is going to be the 5th starter and how will Jeff clement do in the spring and will it be enough to be the starting First baseman. To me this is just a precursor to an exciting season for many reason. this season will be the year were the team will pretty much stay together the whole year and to me a big year for Andy laroche and lastings milledge to prove all the Pittsburgh haters who put down the pirates. Who doesn't get pumped up for spring training and the baseball season and remember anything is possible

Giles inks deal with Dodgers

2010-02-09T16:43:00.002-05:00

Former pirate all-star Brian Giles signed a minor league deal with the dodgers on Sunday probably to be n left handed bat off the bench if he make the team. We all remember Giles for his cluch hit and the show he put on in left Field. But over the past several seasons with the padres he has been on the decline including a dismal 2009 campaign were he batted .191 and had a .577 OPS and a .277 OBP but still a had a good BB/K of 0.81 and 14.6 O-Swing So he still can have some value off the bench.

Who's going to be rocking Phil?

2010-02-04T20:00:00.005-05:00

I was just thinking recently about the departure of Adam Laroche and do you know what i will miss the most? Some people might think his second half greatness or his first half slumps but the thing i will miss most is his 2009 walk up music, that's right Phil Collins "in the air Tonight" and i was thinking of which new pirate could take it over. My best guess is Jeff clement because he plays first and it's been popular with 1st baseman most notably Adam Dunn. It would be a nice way to introduce himself to the fans by getting them pumped with the classic rock ballad, i mean seriously, who doesn't like the song and it has now become a part of the pirates

Who Am I?

2010-02-03T21:38:00.010-05:00

-I played for the pirates from 1946 to 1953
-in 1947 I hit 51 Hr
-I had an OPS over 1.000 3 times in my career
-In only ten seasons i hit 369HRs and 1015 RBI's
-I was elected to the hall of Fame in 1975

Answer: Ralph Kiner

Baseball America's top 30 for the Buccos

2010-02-02T17:47:00.004-05:00

1. Pedro Alvarez
2. Jose Tabata
3. Tony Sanchez
4. Brad Lincoln
5. Chase D'Arnaud
6. Starling Marte
7. Tim Alderson
8. Zack Von Rosenberg
9. Rudy Owens
10. Gorkys Hernandez
11. Colton Cain
12. Victor Black
13. Jeff Locke
14. Quinton Miller
15. Bryan Morris
16. John Raynor
17. Ramon Aguero
18. Robbie Grossman
19. Hunter Strickland
20. Jarek Cunningham
21. Daniel McCutchen
22. Jordy Mercer
23. Evan Chambers
24. Donnie Veal
25. Brett Lorin
26. Neil Walker
27. Brock Holt
28. Brian Friday
29. Josh Harrison
30. Danny Moskos

For all you neil hunington haters out there, 25 out of 31 players named on this list were drafted or brought in by Neil Hunington-including 7 out of the top ten in only two years. A lot of the top 30 came from last years draft including #3 tony sanchez, #8 zach von Rosenberg, and colton cain, victor black, evan chambers, and brock holt. To me this is a good sign of things to come i mean in only two years the people NH has brought in are showing up in prospect list and are being reconized as good prospects in what i think is a underrated farm system i'm glad to see jeff locke and gorkeys hernadez get some good press because of all the bad publicity they got for being part of the McClouth trade

No respect for the Pirates

2010-02-01T18:37:00.003-05:00

I was looking over a lot of articles this morning about the "Pirate Sale", mainly ones by Bob Smizik and Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and i was disgusted with the lack of respect they give to the pirates organization. They continue to blame the current management and ownership on the mistakes of the one before them. All they talk about is how much we don't spend on free agents well, to tell you the truth, that what we should be doing. The pirates are not one player away from going to the world series they are a young group of players with a lot of potential and need time to grow as a team. they slam the pirates every chance they get with them not signing "big name" free agents that would make the team "better". Their two favorite teams in town the steelers and penguins(because they're winning) are who they want the pirates to look up to in the way of spending. Well if that there example then they are actually proving the pirates write. First the steelers, they sign maybe one free agent a year if that and basically spend there money on re-signing the players they have and they can do this because they are one of the best drafting teams in the NFL, well if I'm not mistaken that's what the pirates are currently doing by drafting well and infusing the farm system with talent and when the time comes to resign these players they will and in turn will raise the payroll. There other example is the penguins, who up until the past few years ] had the lowest payroll in hockey and one,if not he worst, team in the NHL but the built the team up through the draft and now resigned there top players with multi-year contracts and since there winning, sign free agents and now have a pretty big payroll, hmm that sounds like the pirates plan also. On the opposite side of the spectrum you have the mets who have one of the biggest payroll's in the national league and in my opinion are worse off then the pirates. To end my rant i will leave the people who still don't believe me with something to chew on, how do you know that they will come in here in doing the "right" thing and resurrect the pirates or will they just sign free agents to big money contracts and trade away prospects for big names to please the moaning minority who just cares about payroll and in turn ruin the franchise, in my mind you having to give nutting and co. a chance for there plan to work and don't blame them for past blunders

Off Topic Pirate News

2010-01-31T21:48:00.003-05:00

According to a report by PastaPadre new pirates pitcher Brendan Donnelly will not be featured in any of the Baseball games coming out this year(MLB 10 The Show. mlb 2k10) because he crossed the picket line and was considered a replacment player during spring traing in 1995, and because of this he was barred from the barred from membership of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Other players that are not included are Matt Herges, Ron Mahay, Jamie Walker and Kevin Millar

Fun Times at Piratefest

2010-01-31T10:07:00.004-05:00

Yesterday my brother and i went to the piratefest held at the David L. Lawrence Convention center. we had a good time and a lot of fun because of all the things you could do. First off i actually got to play Press your Buck but lost and i ending up getting 12 free tickets to pirate games during 2010 season. Plus an added bonus we learned that Cutch plays Codmw2 on the PS3 and also heard about pranks pulled on Garrett Jones and an unknown pitcher from the nationals. All in all it was fun and interesting to hear what management and the player think about various subjects

Off to Piratefest Tomorrow

2010-01-29T23:13:00.003-05:00

I will be headed to piratefest tomorrow and will give you up to date news if anything happens

Why do the Newspapers put the pirates down?

2010-01-28T17:14:00.004-05:00

I was reading a few blogs and comments from today after last night announcements that Pedro Alvarez was only pirate that was on the top 50 pirate list and how they were only ranked 18th in the farm system rankings on ESPN. A lot of comments were about how the pirates were spreading lies about the farm system and how they just put on a show, well, in my mind this has no merit. First off this is only Neil Huntington 3rd season with the club and already turned one of the worst farm systems into a competitive one,plus this year draft was ranked near the top because of our middle level picks were we spent more than anybody in the draft and since most of these picks were out of high school there not going to really be ranked real high compared to players coming out of college or who have been in the minor leagues. Plus to me tony Sanchez proved enough to be in the top 50 were they basically said right now defensively could play in the MLB. On a side note if you go by the espn team rankings, alvarez is only number 35 overall so with him that low i think that shows how deep our farm system is because we are number 18 without a top 30 prospect

Jackson, Claggett Clear waivers

2010-01-27T16:25:00.003-05:00

Today both Steven Jackson and Anthony Claggett both cleared waivers and will be sent down to AAA, also both will be invited to spring training as non-roster invitees. I think this is the best thing that could have happened for he bucs who probably didn't want to lose either of them and they will add more depth at the pitching postion in the pirates system

Maz gets a Statue

2010-01-27T11:43:00.004-05:00

Bill "Maz" Mazeroski is getting his very own statue in front of PNC Park this coming season. The hall of famer who spent his entire 17 year career with the pirates was of the best defenders of all time at any position and will always be remembered for hitting the game-winning hr against New York's Ralph Terry to win the 1960 world series. The statue will be unveiled at the piratefest this weekend.

The X-Man is a Cub

2010-01-26T16:56:00.002-05:00

Xavier Nady, 31, Signed a 1 year 3.3 million dollar deal with about 2 million in incentives the former Pirate hit 12 hr and 42 rbi's in two seasons with the yankees after moving on from the buccos. He is recovering from Tommy John surgery which limited his 2009 campaign but he did have a strong 2008 so we will have to see how he heals for the cubs. Nady was traded along with Damaso Marte in the highly critized( by espn) trade that gave us Jose Tabata, Karstens, McCutchen(daniel), and Ross "The Boss" Ohlendorf wich i think looking back really worked out in our favor

Piratefest Coming this Friday

2010-01-25T16:20:00.002-05:00

The Pittsburgh Pirates are holding PirateFest this year at the David L. Lawrence Convention(like every year) starting Friday Jan.29 i will not e going Friday but i am going Saturday from 10:00Am-8:00Pm. i go every year because of the great time i have with my brother while we are there you. First, they have events planned throughout the whole day including Q & A with Neil Hunington, John Russell, the a few members of the pirates. They give away free stuff and have mini-games were you can win prizes. during the time this year i will be taking photos and giving updates through the day for all the people who couldn't make it this year. for anybody that wants to know the adult tickets are $14.00 and the 14&under are $12.00, hope to see you there

The Answer Is..........

2010-01-24T08:22:00.002-05:00

The answer is todd ritchie who in 2001 set the all-time pirates record with most consecutive losses to start a season with eight. the year he also had a 4.47 ERA, had 11 wins with 15 losses. that year also marked his last year with the pirates because in the offseason we trade him and lee evans for josh fogg, kip wells, and sean lowe.

Question of the Day

2010-01-23T08:17:00.003-05:00

Who Hold's the Pirates Single-Season record for most consecutive losses by a pitcher to start off a season?

leave answers in the comment area, answer will be posted tomorrow

Ankiel reaches deal with Royals

2010-01-22T09:47:00.005-05:00

According to MLB Trade Rumors the royals and free agent outfeilder Rick Ankiel have agreed to terms on a one-year 3.25 million dollar deal with a 6 million dollar mutal option. With the contract he got i'm glad the pirates didn't go after him for that price especially since it probably would have been a platoon role plus the salary to me is overpriced for Ankiel i'm glad we got Church and Dotel for roughly a million dollars more.