God The Pirates Suck!!

[SteelerFan87]

Ok, so I guess you guys lost some games to the Yankees, or something. (I don't really know. I try my best not to listen to ESPN's constant Yanks vs Sox blabbering) Let me tell you how I've spent the last few days, baseball-wise. My Buccos lost game 2 of a series against Arizona (clearly they must be our big interleague rivals, right up there with Yankees/Mets and Cubs/White Sox, I'm just wondering when the Dbacks moved to the AL...) due to a horrible managerial brain fart. The next day, I was at the game as Randy Johnson looked like the old Big Unit (Probably more because of the Pirates' "hitters" than anything Johnson did) and as Paul Maholm entertained the fans with yet another lesson of how to suck as a pitcher. But, I had reason for optimism! We had a series with the newest residents of the NL Central cellar, the Cardinals! And to make things even better, their starters for the 1st 2 games were Adam Wainwright and Kip Wells! Sure, Zach "wtf happened to me??" Duke was pitching for the Buccos the first game, but the next 2 would have our 2 pitchers who are actually better than a tee!

Well, here's what happened in the 1st game (AKA, the worst baseball game I've ever seen) The Pirates had the bases loaded in the first 2 innings! Wainwright looked like he was TRYING to make us win! But, both times the Buccos managed to say "no thank you sir!", stranding SIX MEN ON BASE, and only getting 1 RUN! In the 4th, Wainwright loaded the bases for us again, but once more, the Buccos would have none of that! In this duel to see who could lose the game more spectacularly, Zack Duke proved Wainwright had nothing on him, and sure enough, the Pirates lost 9-4. Yesterday in game 2, the Buccos made Kip Wells look like the ace we'd always hoped he would become. Today's game wasn't on TV, but the Pirates lost again. Next up on the Pirates' NL Central nose-dive, the Cincinnati Reds! Well, at least I know Griffey will have a few big games for my fantasy team...

:mad: :icon_hang :(

:icon_axe: <-- Me meeting Bob Nutting

[SamBam39]

ummm OK....sorry...I guess!

[Bases Loaded]

Sounds like its pretty tough to be a pirates fan... don't worry though, your team has a lot of... potential.

[Fully Tilted]

Seriously.....WTF happened to the "Duke"? He had a fantastic rookie season--I believe he was called up mid-way through the 2005 campaign--and hasn't been good since.

[Redsoxfan57]

I admire your resolve to continue to admit your a Pirates fan. It certainly can't be easy. Definitely can't accuse you of being a bandwagon fan....probably because your bandwagons broke down.....anyway thanks for keeping us updated on the Buccos. :blink:

[babalu87]

Its the owner
Always is, always will be.
If the owner isnt dedicated to winning nothing else matters.

See also:
Arizona Cardinals
Cincinnati Bengals
Boston Bruins

[Major A$$hole]

When I saw the thread title I thought "Oh goodie! Another sex thread."

[SteelerFan87]

Seriously.....WTF happened to the "Duke"? He had a fantastic rookie season--I believe he was called up mid-way through the 2005 campaign--and hasn't been good since.

I don't know. For some reason, all of our young pitchers come up, are spectacular for a year, and then fall apart in their 2nd (and sometimes 3rd) year, and are then traded and all of a sudden they're good again. Perfect example: Oliver Perez. Of course, his period of suckage was caused (or at the very least, helped along) by our manager and pitching coach screwing around with him. Jim Tracy is a retard. Perez's rookie year, people were calling him the next Randy Johnson, then Tracy comes in and somehow gets the idea that Perez "isn't a strikeout pitcher", and tells him not to throw as hard. Plus they told him not to pitch in winter ball, which he's always done, so he showed up to spring training out of shape. Then our pitching coach Jim Colborn starts changing his mechanics. Perez was so confused his command suffered, and since he wasn't throwing as hard, it was batting practice for opposing hitters. We traded him to the Mets, and the first thing they said was "wtf are you doing? Throw harder!" Now look at him. His fastball is back up to the high 90s, and he was great in the playoffs last year and so far this year.

And that's what happens to half of our young pitchers. The other half have major arm surgeries. Examples: Dave Williams, Bobby Bradley, Sean Burnett, John van Benschotten, Bryan Bullington, Brad Lincoln (our 1st round pick last year). All of them were prized pitching prospects. Bradley never made it to the majors, Williams did for a little while, I'm not sure where he is now, Burnett, Bullington, and van Benschotten were all great in their first stint in the majors and are now pitching great at AAA, but probably won't be called up any time soon. At least not unless Maholm continues to suck for another month. And to think, we could have traded HIM to the Braves for LaRoche, instead of 24 for 24 closer Mike Gonzalez.

:(

[TITAN126]

When I saw the thread title I thought "Oh goodie! Another sex thread."
Great minds think alike. :icon_supe

[The Gooch]

The Pirates suckititude is a sore spot with me, I wore a Pirates cap throughout high school. It's a damn shame that such shitty teams are wasting that great park, name and colors.

When I'm king, awful sports ownership will be treated as a worse crime than murder.

[soxin07080910]

name 6 guys on the pirates without cheating...can it be done?

[Fully Tilted]

name 6 guys on the pirates without cheating...can it be done?

Sure...

Paul Maholm
Ronnie Paulino
Jason Bay
Freddie Sanchez
Salomon Torres
Ian Snell


Do I get a star?

[soxin07080910]

you get 2 stars

[Fully Tilted]

And that's what happens to half of our young pitchers. The other half have major arm surgeries. Examples: Dave Williams, Bobby Bradley, Sean Burnett, John van Benschotten, Bryan Bullington, Brad Lincoln (our 1st round pick last year). All of them were prized pitching prospects. Bradley never made it to the majors, Williams did for a little while, I'm not sure where he is now, Burnett, Bullington, and van Benschotten were all great in their first stint in the majors and are now pitching great at AAA, but probably won't be called up any time soon. At least not unless Maholm continues to suck for another month. And to think, we could have traded HIM to the Braves for LaRoche, instead of 24 for 24 closer Mike Gonzalez.

:(

I think if you guys can hold on to Snell and Gorzelanny, you'll have a couple of viable pitchers to build a rotation around.

I didn't understand the Mike Gonzalez trade at all. IIRC, there was no closer waiting in the wings was there? He was NASTY--but just didn't get enough opp's (as you noted above).

He is having shoulder issues in ATL if that is any consolation.

BTW- For what it's worth, I know we bump heads a lot here, and other places but I do appreciate that you're not a bandwagon jumper and have stuck by the Pirates. I've been a Celtics fan since the early '90's (read: Completely missed the Bird/McHale/Parrish era) so I'm familair with rooting for once-great sporting franchises).

[Fully Tilted]

you get 2 stars

I love stars!

[SteelerFan87]

I think if you guys can hold on to Snell and Gorzelanny, you'll have a couple of viable pitchers to build a rotation around.

I didn't understand the Mike Gonzalez trade at all. IIRC, there was no closer waiting in the wings was there? He was NASTY--but just didn't get enough opp's (as you noted above).

He is having shoulder issues in ATL if that is any consolation.

BTW- For what it's worth, I know we bump heads a lot here, and other places but I do appreciate that you're not a bandwagon jumper and have stuck by the Pirates. I've been a Celtics fan since the early '90's (read: Completely missed the Bird/McHale/Parrish era) so I'm familair with rooting for once-great sporting franchises).


Well, when Gonzo got hurt at the end of last year, Saloman Torres stepped in and was pretty good as a closer, so they figured he'd be the guy when they traded Gonzo. Torres has been pretty good (other than a couple blown saves he had in a row) but I'd still prefer Gonzo. We had been grooming Gonzo to be the closer for a few years, and when he was finally ready (and dominant), we traded him. Torres, like I said, has been good, but his greatest strength has always been that he can pitch a ton of innings and actually gets better the more he's used. Not exactly the job description of a closer. As for Gonzo's injury, it's no consolation to me. I was a big Gonzo fan, and I wish him the best.

And yeah, out of Snell, Gorzelanny, Burnett, van Benschoten, Bullington, Duke, and Maholm, we SHOULD be able to develop a pretty good rotation, if just half of those guys reach their potential.

[SteelerFan87]

name 6 guys on the pirates without cheating...can it be done?

Psh. I can name 9.

Jose Bautista
Chris Duffy
Freddy Sanchez
Jason Bay
Ryan Doumit
Xavier Nady
Adam LaRoche
Jack Wilson
Shawn Chacon

AKA, our probable batting order for today.

[Bases Loaded]

Little Freddy bats third?

I'm sorry, man :(

Of course, if LaRoche didn't completely melt down I'm sure he would be in that spot.

[Redsoxfan57]

What the ownership has done to the Pirates is horrible. I remember in the old days when the Pirates were one of the premiere teams in the league...now there pretty much in the same boat as the Royals where they are relying on their farm system to turn things around for them. One of the other reasons why is that fact you have owners like Steinbrenner of the skankees who seems to be able to buy whoever he wants and smaller market teams cannot be as competitative.....

[SteelerFan87]

Little Freddy bats third?

I'm sorry, man :(

Of course, if LaRoche didn't completely melt down I'm sure he would be in that spot.

Freddy is an RBI machine. He may not hit alot of HRs, but he hits a ton of doubles and has done very well batting 3rd.

[Bases Loaded]

While money is some of the issue, they could take a page from the Red Sox' book, especially in a good baseball town like Pittsburgh. That is, put together a good team with a lot of money and watch the attendance rise. Then, jack the ticket prices every year as the attendance continues to rise and eventually be out of the red.

John Henry tried it in Florida, failed and sold off the team, then came to a great baseball town and Boston. He repeated the same strategy, and it worked. If Henry can make it work, anyone can.

[Bases Loaded]

Freddy is an RBI machine. He may not hit alot of HRs, but he hits a ton of doubles and has done very well batting 3rd.

Yeah, I'm probably just jealous that we got rid of him :icon_hang he is the reigning batting champ.

[SteelerFan87]

What the ownership has done to the Pirates is horrible. I remember in the old days when the Pirates were one of the premiere teams in the league...now there pretty much in the same boat as the Royals where they are relying on their farm system to turn things around for them. One of the other reasons why is that fact you have owners like Steinbrenner of the skankees who seems to be able to buy whoever he wants and smaller market teams cannot be as competitative.....

Yeah, sad thing about our farm system though, we only have 2 legitimate hitting prospects above A, because Littlefield has been so obsessed with drafting pitchers. They're catcher/3rd baseman Neil Walker, who's hitting in the high .280's and has some power, and CF Andrew McCutcheon, who has been called our best hitting prospect since Barry Bonds. Walker is in his 2nd year at AA, and McCutcheon his 1st. Other than them, we have a ton of career minor leaguers, and Brad Eldred, who crushes the ball at AAA all the time but can't seem to learn how to hit a major league curveball.

[SteelerFan87]

While money is some of the issue, they could take a page from the Red Sox' book, especially in a good baseball town like Pittsburgh. That is, put together a good team with a lot of money and watch the attendance rise. Then, jack the ticket prices every year as the attendance continues to rise and eventually be out of the red.

John Henry tried it in Florida, failed and sold off the team, then came to a great baseball town and Boston. He repeated the same strategy, and it worked. If Henry can make it work, anyone can.


Yeah, I've always maintained that while the economics of baseball is what will keep the Pirates from ever being equal to the Yankees, Red Sox, or any other big market teams, it is the stupidity of our owners that has caused our 14 (soon to be 15) consecutive losing seasons. People here are desperate for a winning team. If they just spent, say, $80 million one year and had a team that could be a legitimate contender, PNC Park would be full every single day, and they would make all their money back. Then they could raise the prices and still make a profit. But they won't do it because they know they can spend $40 million, have a few fireworks nights or bobblehead nights, and they'll get good enough attendance to make some money.

[Patriots4ever]

Look on the bright side.

Yankees W-L is 21-26
Pirates W-L is 20-27

[SteelerFan87]

Look on the bright side.

Yankees W-L is 21-26
Pirates W-L is 20-27

Hahahahahaha!

Thanks, I needed that.