OnlyBucs

17323131240F323A382F5D0 wrote: Ho hum just another hit for Cruz and Madris

Where the hell is Suge????
Game thread was rolling just fine without me. But I was having some problems with my fingers so I just layed in bed and watched

032522373E3225333B500 wrote: Ho hum just another hit for Cruz and Madris

Where the hell is Suge????
Game thread was rolling just fine without me. But I was having some problems with my fingers so I just layed in bed and watched
Glad you were watching

Was thinking it would have been a shame if you missed this one!

795B48555653545B784F5959553A0 wrote: 1. So much fun tonight on so many levels.



2. I love seeing the MLB Network spend so much time on the Pirates. They just did about 10 minutes on Cruz.



3. Cruz is an absolute freak of nature.



4. I don't always agree with Harold Reynolds, but I do tonight. He must have just said five times to the Pirates ... LEAVE HIM ALONE. And I couldn't agree more. PLEASE Pirates don't rest him every other day and don't stick him in LF. Just LEAVE HIM ALONE and let him do his thing.



5. I love beating the Flubs into submission.



6. I haven't felt this good about the young talent in this organization in a long, long time. There appears to be quantity and quality.



6. However, there is still a terrible dearth of starting pitching. I don't see much on the way either. If this team is going to maximize its window with all of this young talent, they have got to find or develop some starting pitching. Here's a crazy idea, why don't we SPEND MONEY this offseason to acquire legitimate MLB starting pitching. It's going to be a crying shame next season if this positional talent really blossoms, and the offense is really good ... but they have to spend every game trying to overcome a group of AAA starting pitchers.


Carolina

Your point 6 is exactly why I want the Pirates to use their #36 pick in this years draft and draft Rocker if he is still there. He would be close to major league ready.

If Keller has truly turned the corner; we could have a solid rotation of Contreras, Keller, Rocker. Round it out with Brubaker, Thompson until Priester, Burrows, Bolton are ready. Or maybe add one Free Agent starter. Nutting could do that without even breaking a $70M payroll!

Great to see this much enthusiasm or the board. WE DeSERVE IT!

So Possum, did you watch any of the game?

184E584C435949424F586A4D474B434604492A0 wrote: The future is so bright we all will need to wear shades 


Now, now, don’t get carried away.  It’s not possible to compete in Major League Baseball with players earning the minimum.  A team can’t expect to succeed without a near-total roster of veterans, especially several of whom are very expensive free agents.


While you are 100% correct a game like last night makes people forget that.

While the two recent exciting victories cannot chase away the fact that the team remains 12 games under .500, they were exciting victories, and possibly so much more.



Suwinski smashes 3 solo home runs and rescues the last game of the Giants series after the Giants tied the game 3-3 in the top of the ninth, and did so off of Bednar. Heroic game from Suwinsk; a player who no one was talking about or clamoring to see at the major league level when the Pirates broke camp in April. As I've noted in several posts, Suwinski, like Reynolds, looks like a ballplayer.



Yesterday was similarly magical. Cruz, who many were damning the Pirates nearly everyday for not having him on the major league roster since the beginning of the season, arrives and demonstrates that is a multi-talented player. While he displayed some super human abilities, I sure hope that folks also allow him to fail, like he undoubtedly will on many occasions, and that folks accept the good (sometimes great), with the bad. I am also looking forward to seeing him play tonight, with the anticipation of how he may perform.



Madris's arrival on the same day and game also seemed fitting.

The prospect that everyone wanted to see coupled with a player that I admittedly didn't pay any attention to until this spring training. Madris strikes me as a player who is the glue who could help a team stay together; a solid contributor in the mold of Al Oliver. And, if yesterday is any indication of his future performance, the Bucs should send Mitchell back to AAA today to learn to play 1st base, as there won't be any room for him in the OF with Suwinski, Reynolds, Swaggerty, and Madris (and Cruz or Peguero?).



And, although I was watching the games on TV and was not at PNC, the last 3 games were really great to watch because there were more fannies in the seats, and those that were there seemed to be cheering for the Bucs to prevail. It would be great if PNC again started to breath some excitement rather than appearing as a moribund mausoleum as has been true for so many of this year's games where you could hear the cheer of an individual fan rather than a constant rumbling din of expectation and excitement.



The last 2 games, like the much unexpected sweep of the Dodgers, gives me hope that tomorrow could be better and more exciting than yesterday, and that the excitement will last for more than a day or a game.



Go Bucs!

Paid attendance last night was only 11,312. I thought there would be more for Cruz's debut but it weas a Monday night and his arrival was not known until the day before. It will be interesting to see if attendance begins to climb. Although fans who want to see Cruz will have to deal with Shelton's "frequent rest policy." That could impact attendance as fans who want to see Cruz may have to wait until the lineups are announced or else just take their chances.

I think we all need to be prepared to find out that Cruz "needed a rest" either tonight or tomorrow.

With respect to last night's attendance, while 11,312 is not world beating, 13 times this season the Pirates have drawn less than 10,000, and another time it was only 10,004. This is also the announced attendance, and clearly, quite a few season ticket holders have chosen not to show or have been unable to off-load their tickets for many of the games. When the cameras have scanned the Park, PNC has looked virtually empty during some games.



Conversely, when the camera scanned the Park last night, there appeared to be more folks in the seats than usual for a night game. And, regardless of the actual number of fans, those who were there appeared to be engaged in the game. Good to see and hope that we can see and hear more of that as the season continues.