OnlyBucs

4D606D7C7B6A7D3D3E0F0 wrote: For anyone not watching the game, O'Neil Cruz just hit a titanic shot into a stiff wind that would have been a grand slam, to straight away centerfield. Hit just under the 400 sign. That's the good.



Here's the bad and the ugly all at the same time...in typical mid-season base running fashion, the Pirates managed to get two guys thrown out at the plate on the same play. That's right...on a 400 foot bomb to straightaway center field, the runners on second and first were BOTH thrown out at the plate.



Only the Pirates...
Not surprised. Cora should have been fired last year.




The Pirates have become the '62 Mets.

0C5A4C58574D5D565B4C7E59535F5752105D3E0 wrote: Monday's my regular day off, so I'm actually watching the game today while I do my taxes. Williams looked OK. Offense looks horrid. Maile impressed me with a nice throw to catch a guy stealing second base.



Apparently, the Pirates are literally giving away free tickets to kids for April and May home games. All well and good. Good for them. But sheesh, if this doesn't illustrate the writing on the wall, I don't know what will. Maybe the brass is finally realizing that zero World Series wins in four decades, zero penants in the same amount of time, zero division titles in 28 years, and four winning seasons out of the last 27, isn't a good formula for making and retaining fans.



There's a very simple formula to getting butts in seats...win. Hey Bob, if you're reading this, it's a nice gesture. But people don't care about your pierogi races, guessing what's in the mystery chest, Buccaroos ask the Bucs, Francisco Cervelli's dating advice or whatever gimmick you're doing this year to replace that, catching hot dogs and t-shirts out of an air gun, or fireworks. Do you hear me? WE. DON'T. CARE. We care about winning. We want a team that we can reasonably expect to win every night, that gives us reasonable hope of seeing a World Series win in our lifetimes. That's it. That's what we want. You can give EVERY ticket away for free, and as long as the team is losing, people aren't going to come.


Well said.  I've felt like Pirates games are akin to a church carnival with all of the distractions between innings.  Baseball is secondary.  Half the people are barely aware a game is being played, yet everyone is on the edge of his/her seat when the pierogis race.  I'm so disgusted by what a ball game at PNC Park has become.


I get the church carnival atmosphere but there is one thing that helps make that possible. That is all the sponsors that support and pay for the pierogi races, hot dog and t-shirt guns etc. Hey Pennies needs all the money he can get so he can deposit it in the FNB of Wheeling What I dislike so much is on Friday t-shirt nights or when there is another give away there is always a big sponsor's logo on the item. Of course that stuff never costs Pennies anything it all falls on the sponsors.

292122150326010E600 wrote: For anyone not watching the game, O'Neil Cruz just hit a titanic shot into a stiff wind that would have been a grand slam, to straight away centerfield. Hit just under the 400 sign. That's the good.



Here's the bad and the ugly all at the same time...in typical mid-season base running fashion, the Pirates managed to get two guys thrown out at the plate on the same play. That's right...on a 400 foot bomb to straightaway center field, the runners on second and first were BOTH thrown out at the plate.



Only the Pirates...


I just told one of the guys next to me that this could spell trouble having the bases loaded and no outs. After that fiasco was over I turned to the guy and said "See what I mean". I could not believe my eyes. Nothing to do but laugh!!! You are right any other day that ball that Cruz hit is long gone .

Cruz and Craig to AAA. RHP Blake Weiman and Cs Delay and Pabst to minor league camp.

Cruz is going to be a very interesting player. The 400 foot double to centerfield sounded so solid when he hit it. That reminds me when some reporter said that the ball coming of the bat of Willie Stargell sounded so much different than other players. I don’t want to compare Cruz to Stargell, but there are just some players that when they connect with a ball it has that different sound.

5C50510A030A020F08170D3A0 wrote: Cruz is going to be a very interesting player. The 400 foot double to centerfield sounded so solid when he hit it. That reminds me when some reporter said that the ball coming of the bat of Willie Stargell sounded so much different than other players. I don’t want to compare Cruz to Stargell, but there are just some players that when they connect with a ball it has that different sound.
True. Whenver you see a game in person or even sometimes watching on TV, you occasionally hear a distinctive loud sound when a ball is hit. A guy gets his pitch and hits it perfectly. It can happen for anyone but usually is an infrequent occurrence. But then you have those few special players who quite often get "their pitch" (i.e., it's the pitch they expected and set up for) and they have the good mechanics to get the fat part of the bat on it with good bat speed. Certainly Stargell and Clemente. They could use a few prospects to hit the ball like that.

7D5C547D565E390 wrote: Monday's my regular day off, so I'm actually watching the game today while I do my taxes. Williams looked OK. Offense looks horrid. Maile impressed me with a nice throw to catch a guy stealing second base.



Apparently, the Pirates are literally giving away free tickets to kids for April and May home games. All well and good. Good for them. But sheesh, if this doesn't illustrate the writing on the wall, I don't know what will. Maybe the brass is finally realizing that zero World Series wins in four decades, zero penants in the same amount of time, zero division titles in 28 years, and four winning seasons out of the last 27, isn't a good formula for making and retaining fans.



There's a very simple formula to getting butts in seats...win. Hey Bob, if you're reading this, it's a nice gesture. But people don't care about your pierogi races, guessing what's in the mystery chest, Buccaroos ask the Bucs, Francisco Cervelli's dating advice or whatever gimmick you're doing this year to replace that, catching hot dogs and t-shirts out of an air gun, or fireworks. Do you hear me? WE. DON'T. CARE. We care about winning. We want a team that we can reasonably expect to win every night, that gives us reasonable hope of seeing a World Series win in our lifetimes. That's it. That's what we want. You can give EVERY ticket away for free, and as long as the team is losing, people aren't going to come.


Well said.  I've felt like Pirates games are akin to a church carnival with all of the distractions between innings.  Baseball is secondary.  Half the people are barely aware a game is being played, yet everyone is on the edge of his/her seat when the pierogis race.  I'm so disgusted by what a ball game at PNC Park has become.


I get the church carnival atmosphere but there is one thing that helps make that possible.  That is all the sponsors that support and pay for the pierogi races, hot dog and t-shirt guns etc.  Hey Pennies needs all the money he can get so he can deposit it in the FNB of Wheeling  What I dislike so much is on Friday t-shirt nights or when there is another give away there is always a big sponsor's logo on the item.  Of course that stuff never costs Pennies anything it all falls on the sponsors.




Absolutely, these non-baseball activities are a money grab. I realize other organization's do these things but once, just once, I'd like to go to a game where the game is actually the central reason for everyone being there.

257365717E64747F726557707A767E7B3974170 wrote: Monday's my regular day off, so I'm actually watching the game today while I do my taxes. Williams looked OK. Offense looks horrid. Maile impressed me with a nice throw to catch a guy stealing second base.



Apparently, the Pirates are literally giving away free tickets to kids for April and May home games. All well and good. Good for them. But sheesh, if this doesn't illustrate the writing on the wall, I don't know what will. Maybe the brass is finally realizing that zero World Series wins in four decades, zero penants in the same amount of time, zero division titles in 28 years, and four winning seasons out of the last 27, isn't a good formula for making and retaining fans.



There's a very simple formula to getting butts in seats...win. Hey Bob, if you're reading this, it's a nice gesture. But people don't care about your pierogi races, guessing what's in the mystery chest, Buccaroos ask the Bucs, Francisco Cervelli's dating advice or whatever gimmick you're doing this year to replace that, catching hot dogs and t-shirts out of an air gun, or fireworks. Do you hear me? WE. DON'T. CARE. We care about winning. We want a team that we can reasonably expect to win every night, that gives us reasonable hope of seeing a World Series win in our lifetimes. That's it. That's what we want. You can give EVERY ticket away for free, and as long as the team is losing, people aren't going to come.


Well said.  I've felt like Pirates games are akin to a church carnival with all of the distractions between innings.  Baseball is secondary.  Half the people are barely aware a game is being played, yet everyone is on the edge of his/her seat when the pierogis race.  I'm so disgusted by what a ball game at PNC Park has become.


I get the church carnival atmosphere but there is one thing that helps make that possible.  That is all the sponsors that support and pay for the pierogi races, hot dog and t-shirt guns etc.  Hey Pennies needs all the money he can get so he can deposit it in the FNB of Wheeling  What I dislike so much is on Friday t-shirt nights or when there is another give away there is always a big sponsor's logo on the item.  Of course that stuff never costs Pennies anything it all falls on the sponsors.




Absolutely, these non-baseball activities are a money grab.  I realize other organization's do these things but once, just once, I'd like to go to a game where the game is actually the central reason for everyone being there. 
That's it in a Nut(ting)shell, Doc. All teams do these things. They do them to enhance the ballpark experience in addition to the game itself. But the Pirates do it to entertain fans despite the actual game for which minimal effort is made.

4B666B7A7D6C7B3B38090 wrote: Monday's my regular day off, so I'm actually watching the game today while I do my taxes. Williams looked OK. Offense looks horrid. Maile impressed me with a nice throw to catch a guy stealing second base.



Apparently, the Pirates are literally giving away free tickets to kids for April and May home games. All well and good. Good for them. But sheesh, if this doesn't illustrate the writing on the wall, I don't know what will. Maybe the brass is finally realizing that zero World Series wins in four decades, zero penants in the same amount of time, zero division titles in 28 years, and four winning seasons out of the last 27, isn't a good formula for making and retaining fans.



There's a very simple formula to getting butts in seats...win. Hey Bob, if you're reading this, it's a nice gesture. But people don't care about your pierogi races, guessing what's in the mystery chest, Buccaroos ask the Bucs, Francisco Cervelli's dating advice or whatever gimmick you're doing this year to replace that, catching hot dogs and t-shirts out of an air gun, or fireworks. Do you hear me? WE. DON'T. CARE. We care about winning. We want a team that we can reasonably expect to win every night, that gives us reasonable hope of seeing a World Series win in our lifetimes. That's it. That's what we want. You can give EVERY ticket away for free, and as long as the team is losing, people aren't going to come.


Well said.  I've felt like Pirates games are akin to a church carnival with all of the distractions between innings.  Baseball is secondary.  Half the people are barely aware a game is being played, yet everyone is on the edge of his/her seat when the pierogis race.  I'm so disgusted by what a ball game at PNC Park has become.


I get the church carnival atmosphere but there is one thing that helps make that possible.  That is all the sponsors that support and pay for the pierogi races, hot dog and t-shirt guns etc.  Hey Pennies needs all the money he can get so he can deposit it in the FNB of Wheeling  What I dislike so much is on Friday t-shirt nights or when there is another give away there is always a big sponsor's logo on the item.  Of course that stuff never costs Pennies anything it all falls on the sponsors.




Absolutely, these non-baseball activities are a money grab.  I realize other organization's do these things but once, just once, I'd like to go to a game where the game is actually the central reason for everyone being there. 
That's it in a Nut(ting)shell, Doc. All teams do these things. They do them to enhance the ballpark experience in addition to the game itself. But the Pirates do it to entertain fans despite the actual game for which minimal effort is made.




Right, the between-innings stuff serves as a distraction from the poor effort that goes into the baseball operation, not as an added feature to the game.

643224303F25353E332416313B373F3A7835560 wrote: Monday's my regular day off, so I'm actually watching the game today while I do my taxes. Williams looked OK. Offense looks horrid. Maile impressed me with a nice throw to catch a guy stealing second base.



Apparently, the Pirates are literally giving away free tickets to kids for April and May home games. All well and good. Good for them. But sheesh, if this doesn't illustrate the writing on the wall, I don't know what will. Maybe the brass is finally realizing that zero World Series wins in four decades, zero penants in the same amount of time, zero division titles in 28 years, and four winning seasons out of the last 27, isn't a good formula for making and retaining fans.



There's a very simple formula to getting butts in seats...win. Hey Bob, if you're reading this, it's a nice gesture. But people don't care about your pierogi races, guessing what's in the mystery chest, Buccaroos ask the Bucs, Francisco Cervelli's dating advice or whatever gimmick you're doing this year to replace that, catching hot dogs and t-shirts out of an air gun, or fireworks. Do you hear me? WE. DON'T. CARE. We care about winning. We want a team that we can reasonably expect to win every night, that gives us reasonable hope of seeing a World Series win in our lifetimes. That's it. That's what we want. You can give EVERY ticket away for free, and as long as the team is losing, people aren't going to come.


Well said.  I've felt like Pirates games are akin to a church carnival with all of the distractions between innings.  Baseball is secondary.  Half the people are barely aware a game is being played, yet everyone is on the edge of his/her seat when the pierogis race.  I'm so disgusted by what a ball game at PNC Park has become.


I get the church carnival atmosphere but there is one thing that helps make that possible.  That is all the sponsors that support and pay for the pierogi races, hot dog and t-shirt guns etc.  Hey Pennies needs all the money he can get so he can deposit it in the FNB of Wheeling  What I dislike so much is on Friday t-shirt nights or when there is another give away there is always a big sponsor's logo on the item.  Of course that stuff never costs Pennies anything it all falls on the sponsors.




Absolutely, these non-baseball activities are a money grab.  I realize other organization's do these things but once, just once, I'd like to go to a game where the game is actually the central reason for everyone being there. 
That's it in a Nut(ting)shell, Doc. All teams do these things. They do them to enhance the ballpark experience in addition to the game itself. But the Pirates do it to entertain fans despite the actual game for which minimal effort is made.




Right, the between-innings stuff serves as a distraction from the poor effort that goes into the baseball operation, not as an added feature to the game.
Wow, you are now beginning to sound like our distinguished friend from Ohio. AKA Shedman