On Saturday…

Indianapolis won in the 10th against Pawtucket, 8-7:

• Lastings Milledge remains red-hot: 4 for 6 with a double. He was also caught stealing.
• Shelby Ford and Larry Broadway each recorded two hits, including a homer apiece.
• Brad Lincoln started and once again did not pitch well: 5 innings, 5 earned runs, 9 hits, 0 walks, 1 K.

Altoona lost to Harrisburg, 7-2:

• No Curve player had more than one hit. Brian Friday and Jose Tabata doubled.
• Pedro and Gorkys both went 1 for 4.
• Jeff Sues pitched 2 perfect innings of relief and struck out three.

Lynchburg fell to Salem, 4-2:

• SS Chase d’Arnaud, possibly the most interesting player in Lynchburg’s lineup, [is likely out for the season with a thumb injury].
• Bryan Morris started and took the loss. 6.2 innings, 4 runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 2 K’s. His ERA is 5.89….
• Matt Hague went 2 for 4.
• Alex Presley went 3 for 5.

West Virginia lost in the 13th inning to Rome, 3-2:

• Rudy Owens started. 6 innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 0 walks, 5 K’s. Still waiting for his promtion to Lynchburg…
• Tony Sanchez went 1 for 6 but made two errors in the field. West Virginia made 5 errors as a team in the game.
• Calvin Anderson went 2 for 6.

State College was shut out by Staten Island, 2-0:

• Evan Chambers went 3 for 4. Ty Summerlin had the only other Spikes hit.
• Kyle McPherson started: 6.2 innings, 2 runs, 4 hits, 0 walks, 6 K’s.

GCL Pirates were victorious over the GCL Phillies, 10-7:

• Ronald Uviedo pitched 4 innings in rehab. 0 earned runs, 6 K’s, 0 walks, 2 hits.
• Gift went 0 for 4 but did walk once.
• Gerlis Rodriguez had a monster game: 4 for 4, 2 homers, a walk, and a stolen base.

©2009 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

Charlie Morton pitched seven shutout innings and continues to stabilize his position right in the middle–potentially higher–of the Pirates’ rotation. It wasn’t entirely smooth, though. He lacked command early on–I’ve talked about the late movement on all his pitches, and that seemed to mess with his control in the first couple innings (he left a couple of balls up, walked a few–including Zito–and seemed a bit confused out there). He improved as the game went on, though, racking up 6 K’s and only allowing three hits in his seven innings.

Barry Zito, not surprisingly given his 5.01 ERA coming into the game, pitched almost as well. The Bucs picked up a run in the first after a Cutch leadoff hit, a fielder’s choice, a Jones double, and a Doumit sac fly. After that, though, Zito caught fire and was unhittable during innings 2-6.

Jones, by the way, could not extend his home run streak tonight. The double in the first was his only hit of the evening.

Anyway, the Bucs scratched out another off Zito in the 7th via Doumit, Young, and Andy LaRoche singles. The 2-0 lead was good enough for the combo of Grabow and Capps, although Capps allowed singles to the first two batters he faced. Thankfully, he was able to recover for the save.

Back to the rain. This was kind of absurd. [Read these in-game updates from DK as the fiasco happened]:

8:29 p.m.: The umpire trembles at the first sight of a solitary cloud, and we have another rain delay. Fans are booing heavily.

8:30 p.m.: Tarp goes halfway on, then grounds crew pulls it back upon realizing … hey, there is no more rain. Crowd cheers.

8:31 p.m.: An official of the Pirates comes onto the field and orders them to put it all the way on. Crowd boos even louder.

8:33 p.m.: Not more than three drops of rain are falling, and sunshine is blanketing Downtown. But the grounds crew remains standing at the edge of the tarp, arms folded, as some in the crowd continue to taunt.

8:34 p.m.: That same Pirates official huddles with the grounds crew chief and another guy, presumably to discuss whether or not it is raining. Upon ruminating it a little further, they decide that it is not and order the tarp back off. Mock cheers.

8:37 p.m.: The umpires, currently safe from the Terrible Cloud in their locker room, still have not returned.

8:39 p.m.: The umpires bravely return to the field.

8:41 p.m.: Once they clean up all the bodies and other scattered debris from nearby skyscrapers, the game should resume imminently.

It was almost as brilliant to hear Bob Walk insist that it wasn’t raining on the TV broadcast.

One more thing. I wasn’t online during the game, but look what the (very reliable) Trib beat reporter [Rob Biertempfel tweeted] during the late innings:

Jack, Freddy reject contract offers. More $$ talks or trade talks?

That’s certainly not surprising, given reports this morning that the offers included huge pay cuts and the forfeiting of options. But in the middle of the game?

It could explain the very odd night Jack and Freddy were having up the middle–they looked very awkward on a few DP attempts and didn’t seem quite right. Did they run in to reject the offer during the rain delay or something? I don’t get it.

Giants 0, Pirates 2 / [Box] / 2009 Record: 40-50 / Next: Tomorrow, vs. Giants, 1:35

MVP: Morton (+.431) / LVP: Sanchez (-.076) / Most important play: Panda’s single in the ninth that gave the Giants a good shot to tie the game.

©2009 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

©2009 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

7:05–PNC Park, Pittsburgh

TV: FSN Pittsburgh, CSN

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Great news today: [MLB has completed its investigation on the age of Dominican phenom Miguel Angel Sano]. He’s officially 16 years old. Now teams are free to negotiate and sign the #1 international talent, and early indications have told us that the Pirates are the frontrunners.

On to the game tonight. Reports are that it’s going to be a sellout (fireworks night), so if you plan on going but don’t have tickets yet, hurry up. And that was before last night’s heroics, too.

Charlie Morton’s on the bump for the Bucs, and as usual I’m looking forward to watching him pitch. His last outing wasn’t very good, so hopefully he can rebound and put together a start similar to the one in Florida two weeks ago. It’ll be his second home start–the first was a loss to Zack Grienke and Kansas City.

For the Giants, it’s Barry Zito. He hasn’t been as bad this year, but is still struggling (he was pounded by offensively challenged San Diego last time out). He’s 0-2 against the Pirates.

A series win in front of big crowds behind some new talent (Morton, Jones) would be big for the Bucs coming out of the break.

Tonight’s lineups:

Pirates’ lineup:

1. McCutchen, CF
2. Sanchez, 2B
3. Jones, LF
4. Doumit, C
5. Adam LaRoche, 1B
6. Young, RF
7. Andy LaRoche, 3B
8. Wilson, SS
9. Morton, P

Giants’ lineup:

1. Winn, CF
2. Bowker, LF
3. Sandoval, 3B
4. Schierholtz, RF
5. Ishikawa, 1B
6. Uribe, 2B
7. Renteria, SS
8. Whiteside, C
9. Zito, P

Pirates vs. Zito:

• Sanchez: 1-5, 2B, BB, K
• Doumit: 0-3, K
• Adam LaRoche: 0-2, K
• Young: 1-3, HR, 2 K
• Andy LaRoche: 0-4, K

Giants vs. Morton:

• Winn: 1-2, 3B, BB, K
• Ishikawa: 2-3, HR, K

Weather:

Liveblog:

©2009 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

Since being called up from Triple-A after the Hinske trade, Garrett Jones already has seven home runs. He’s gone deep in four games straight, including [last night's walk-off winner in the 14th and a shot off Tim Lincecum in the first]. He’s batting third in the order at the moment, and for good reason.

The Jones situation isn’t entirely perfect, though. He’s not a young prospect just reaching the big leagues–he’s 28 years old and has only managed to crack the majors for 77 at-bats with the Twins in ‘07. His stats in Triple-A are pretty good, but they have to be taken with a grain of salt because he’s played there forever.

Obviously Jones is not going to keep up his absurd pace and he’s not the next uber-prospect coming out of the Pirates’ system. So far he’s been a great find, but try not to get carried away. I heard some guy call Rocco last night and say something like: “I’m not jumping on this guy’s bandwagon or anything….but he’s so good! He already has SEVEN homers! He has the perfect swing! Why didn’t we call him up sooner? This is just the guy the Pirates need to become competitive again!!”

O.K. then. I’d like to hear what somebody who IS jumping on the bandwagon has to say.

You know what, though? Since we’ll never find a better time to do so, let’s assume for the heck of it that the past week has not been a fluke. Say Jones will produce at a full-season rate of something like .270 with 20 homers.  Not earthshaking, but certainly good enough to crack the Pirates’ lineup.

The problem is, where do we put him? Jones is a somewhat capable outfielder (he can actually move pretty quickly despite his size), but the Pirates are assembling a massive logjam in the OF. McCutchen’s a shoo-in, Milledge should play every day when he gets here, and Brandon Moss/Delwyn Young ought to platoon in the other corner (Moss needs at-bats, and Young has the hot bat but plays poor D). Don’t forget about Gorkys Hernandez and Jose Tabata in the minors, either.

Guess what? Jones’ primary position isn’t even the outfield. It’s first base. Our first baseman is having a pretty miserable year, especially of late. He’s on the trading block and is a free agent at the end of the season. We don’t have a replacement ready. Steve Pearce? Moving Brandon Moss to first? Are you kidding? Even if Jones slows down and barely manages to hit above .250, if he can provide some much-needed power there is no reason to think he won’t play first base for the Bucs until [a REAL prospect] makes his way to town.

Photo: [Evan]

©2009 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

After a 45 minute rain delay, Jones homered, then Maholm and Tim Lincecum went to work. The Pirates did absolutely nothing on offense after the HR (so little that Beasley sent home Moss when he was clearly out by a mile with two outs in the 7th), but Paul Maholm was locked in. 8 innings, 1 run, and that run came because Freddy Sanchez dropped the ball on a perfect throw to second from Ryan Doumit that would’ve ended the inning. He didn’t strike out as many, but Paul outpitched Lincecum.

Both offenses were in a struggle/both bullpens were money after that. The Bucs used everyone except Donnie Veal (yes, that means Capps pitched a scoreless inning). Meek got the win, since he had thrown the most recent scoreless frame when Jones parked his second bomb of the night into the Allegheny river.

Giants 1, Pirates 2 / [Box] / 2009 Record: 39-50 / Next: Tomorrow, vs. Giants, 7:05

MVP: Maholm (+.350) / LVP: Tie: McCutchen/Wilson (-.204) / Most important play: the walkoff homer

©2009 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

Indianapolis defeated Pawtucket, 7-3:

• Tom Gorzelanny started and got the win. 6 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 3 walks, 6 K’s.
• Lastings Milledge had another nice game: 3-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs.
• Larry Broadway went 2 for 5 with a double.

Altoona was smoked by Harrisburg, 9-3:

• Pedro Alvarez, Jim Negrych, and Jose Tabata each had two hits. Tabata and Negrych both doubled.
• Brian Friday went 2 for 5.
• Michael Crotta was hit around: 4 earned runs in 5 innings on 11 hits.

Lynchburg lost to Salem in 15 innings, 8-4:

• Matt Hague went 2 for 7 with a double.
• Jose De Los Santos is 3 for 6 with a walk.
• Jeff Locke started and struggled. He only allowed 2 runs, but only got through 3 innings. 2 walks 2 K’s 3 hits.

West Virginia lost to Rome, 5-3:

• Quincy Latimore went 3 for 5.
• Gabriel Alvarado started: 6 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 2 K’s.
• Austin McClune tripled.

State College fell to Staten Island, 4-2:

• Evan Chambers went 1 for 4 with a double.
• Jason Erickson started: 3 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 5 K’s.
• Ricardo Paulino pitched five innings of relief: 4 hits, one run, two walks, 2 K’s.

GCL Pirates doubled up the GCL Yankees, 4-2:

• Gift Ngoepe went 2 for 3 with a double, walk, and stolen base.
• Sandobal Septimo pitched four scoreless innings and picked up the win. He allowed 2 hits and struck out 4.
• Wesley Freeman went 0 for 4 with a K.

©2009 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

©2009 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

7:05–PNC Park, Pittsburgh

TV: FSN Pittsburgh, CSN

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Finally, a Gameday post! It’s been a whole week!

The Giants roll into PNC Park as the wild card leaders–mostly thanks to their stellar pitching. Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Randy Johnson anchor a rock-solid staff. Even Jonathan Sanchez got into the mix last week, tossing a no-hitter against San Diego. That, and [their third baseman is a stud nicknamed Kung-Fu-Panda].

Tim Lincecum is lights-out and was the NL starter in the All-Star game. He struggled on Tuesday, but that was against the AL all-stars. These are the Pirates. His small stature and unorthodox delivery make him one of the most fun pitchers in the league to watch–not to mention the fact that he has the potential to rack up double-digit K’s or flirt with a no-hitter every time he takes the mound. I hope he cut [his hair] since Tuesday, though.

The Pirates are keeping Paul Maholm at the top of the rotation, despite Zach Duke’s terrific first-half. The Bucs’ last win came when Paul last pitched, and they need him to pitch like he did in last year’s second half if they want to dig out of this 12-under .500 hole.

If that’s not enough to get you down to the ballpark, it’s Beach Towel night! And Rocco will be doing a live show in the HOF club after the game–which I’d highly recommend staying for if you’re headed to the game tonight.

Tonight’s lineups:

Pirates’ lineup:

1. McCutchen, CF
2. Sanchez, 2B
3. Jones, RF
4. Doumit, C
5. Adam LaRoche, 1B
6. Moss, RF
7. Andy LaRoche, 3B
8. Wilson, SS
9. Maholm, P

Giants’ lineup:

1. Rowand, CF
2. Winn, RF
3. Sandoval, 3B
4. Molina, C
5. Renteria, SS
6. Uribe, 2B
7. Aurilia, 1B
8. Torres, LF
9. Lincecum, P

Pirates vs. Lincecum:

• Sanchez: 2-3, HR, K
• Doumit: 2-3, 3B
• Adam LaRoche: 1-3, HR
• Wilson: 1-2, BB

Giants vs. Maholm:

• Rowand: 2-10, 4 BB, K
• Winn: 3-14, 2B, K
• Molina: 2-6, 2B
• Renteria: 4-6
• Uribe: 1-6, 3B, K
• Aurilia: 6-20, 3 2B, HR, BB, 3 K

Weather:

Liveblog:

©2009 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve said time and time again that trading either one of these guys would be a bad idea, so extending them would naturally be great news, right? Maybe.

Wilson and Sanchez both have 2010 options. They’re reasonably expensive options, but nothing absurd that the Pirates can’t afford to pay or anything. They’re both 31 years old. Would it make sense to keep both aging infielders around longer than 2010?  Initially, I’d say no, but who do we have behind them? Chase d’Arnaud, currently in single-A? Jim Negrych/Brian Friday at double-A? Shelby Ford and Brian Bixler (hitting .176 and .253 respectively) at triple-A?

When you throw in the fact that both Jack and Freddy play stellar defense (vital for a young, ground-ball oriented pitching staff), both could be willing to take less money as part of a package deal (according to the article), and that neither really has a replacement anywhere close to Pittsburgh, this makes plenty of sense.

Of course, there are the trade implications. This could be a ploy by the front office to lessen the backlash if they do end up trading Fred/Jack; after the trade they could say “we wanted to keep them around so we offered them an extension, but they turned us down…”  It could imply to teams that there is no urgency to trade them (giving the Bucs more leverage), although I don’t really see why you’d have to offer extensions to prove that point.  If Jack and Freddy don’t accept the extensions within the next 10 days or so, they’re still right in the middle of trade speculation.

But the interesting thing here is that the Pirates are leaving the decision in the hands of the two 31-year-old infielders. Sure, we don’t know the specifics of the extensions or if they’re reasonable or not–but if Fred and Jack sign on the dotted line, they’re Bucs for the forseeable future. We’ve heard Nate and Nyjer both say they didn’t want to leave–they wanted to stay in Pittsburgh and turn things around with the current group. Now that decision lies in the hands of Wilson and Sanchez instead of the Pirates.

©2009 Raise the Jolly Roger. All Rights Reserved.