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Operation Shutdown · 11-12-2003, 02:59 PM

Week 9
The Pirates return home this week and start off with a three game series against the first place Cubs who are 31-19 and whom the Pirates are 4-5 against this season. The Cubs have one of the best starting rotations in all of the majors with Mark Prior (6-2 1.81), Joe Kennedy (6-4 3.44), Jon Garland (2-5 5.15), and rookie Luke Hagerty (3-0 2.10). Their lineup isn't too bad either, with Dave Kelton (0.277 16 50), Sammy Sosa (0.257 7 22), and Mark Bellhorn (0.283 11 30) leading the way.

Game 52: Pirates 4 Cubs 2 Glove Day at PNC Park
Lopez pitched a heck of a game giving up just two runs in seven innings for the win. Hagerty gave up four runs in six innings for the loss. The eventual winning runs for the Pirates came when Xavier Nady hit a two run homerun in the fifth inning. Mann pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 13th save of the season. Mark Corey tore his bicep muscle after getting Sosa to ground out in the eighth inning. He will be out for the rest of the season.

Mark Corey was placed on the 60-day DL and the Pirates signed MR Mike Williams to take his place on the 25 man roster.

Game 53: Pirates 2 Cubs 4
VanBenSchoten had a decent game, giving up three runs in 6 1/3 innings, but still picked up the loss. Thomson only managed to last four innings, and gave up two runs, one of the earned, but did not get the win. The win went to Cruz who pitched a scoreless 5th inning. The Cubs added one insurance run in the top of the 9th, but it proved to not be needed as Ohman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save. Sammy Sosa smashed two homeruns in the game for a total of 663 career homeruns.

Game 54: Pirates 3 Cubs 1
Dave Williams outdueled Mark Prior, as he gave up just one run in 6 2/3 innings for the win. Prior gave up three runs in 6 1/3 innings, despite giving up just three hits and walking just two batters. The winning runs came in the sixth inning when JJ Davis hit a two out two run homerun off of Prior. Mann gave up a hit and walked a batter but held on for the save in the ninth, his 14th of the season.

Series Recap: Once again exactly what the Pirates needed, as they managed to win two out of three really close games. Now they're just 2.5 games back of first place.

The Pirates remain home for a three game series against the Cardinals who are 27-27 and whom the Pirates are 2-1 against this season. The Cards have a decent starting rotation with Jason Simontacchi (2-3 4.10), Jimmy Journell (4-4 3.20) and Rick Ankiel (2-4 2.97). Their lineup though is the driving force of the team with Albert Pujols (0.309 14 40), Jim Edmonds (0.255 7 18), and Scott Rolen (0.306 8 20). Pitchers Tyler Johnson and Dan Haren will miss this series on the DL.

Game 55: Pirates 7 Cardinals 3 Fireworks Night at PNC Park
Bullington finally found his groove again, pitching a complete game and giving up just three runs for the win. All three runs came by homerun, as Tejada hit a solo shot in the fifth and a two run shot in the seventh. Journell gave up six runs in 4 2/3 innings for the loss. Butler, Davis, and McDougall all homered for the Pirates.

Game 56: Pirates 1 Cardinals 2
Burnett continues to improve as he gave up just two runs, one of them earned, through 6 2/3 innings but got no run support as he picked up the loss. Hawksworth did great giving up just one run in 7 1/3 innings for the win. Crudale pitched a scoreless ninth despite giving up a hit for the save.

Amateur Draft
The Pirates don't select until 27th this year in the draft. The first five picks this year went as follows:
1st - NYM - RF Victor Vega - Brilliant in hits homeruns and walks, a definite for sure prospect, with below average range and a gun for an arm.
2nd - MIL - 2B Wayne Stampley - Good in hits and brilliant in homers and taking walks. He has average range and above average fielding abilities.
3rd - ANA - 1B Leo Sanchez - Also good in hits and brilliant in homers and taking walks. Slightly below average range but with an excellent glove.
4th - DET - CF Jack Howell - Only average in getting hits but brilliant in homers and taking walks. He has pretty good range in the field and an average arm. Also has decent speed on the basepaths and he knows how to choose his spots to run.
5th - HOU - 1B Eric Green - Good in hits and taking walks and brilliant in homeruns. Below average range in the field and excellent glove work. No speed to worry about at all.

The Pirates selections went as follows:
1st - SP Daniel Jaquez - Not a whole lot available this late in the draft so the Bucs stuck with their proven record of drafting good young pitching prospects. This guy is 3.5 stars and is average in avoiding hits and good in avoiding homeruns and walks.
2nd - SP Frank Lafollette - Absolutely nothing available with the hitters, so we picked up this guy who is also 3.5 stars and average in avoiding hits and homers and good at avoiding walks.
3rd - CF Art Wilcoxson - Average in hits, poor in homers and fair in walks
4th - MR Antonio Pacheco - Average in avoiding hits and homers, good in walks
5th-7th - computer picked LF Gary Westhoff FAA, MR Luis Lopez FGA, and RF James Johnson FPF

May Wrapup
The Pirates struggled a bit this month but still finished the month above 0.500 at 15-12 to put their overall record to 31-25, just 2.5 games back of the first place Cubs. Burnett had a really good month going 2-2 with a 1.59 ERA and Lopez continued his strong season with a record of 3-1 and a 2.92 ERA this month. Meanwhile the rest of the starters struggled with ERAs above 4, especially Williams who went 1-2 with a 5.82 ERA. Bobby Hill continued to get on base for the Bucs, hitting 0.318 and with a OBP of 0.386 this month. JJ Davis also did well hitting 0.316 with 6 HRs and 20 RBIs. McDougall really had a poor month hitting just 0.173 with 1 HR and 11 RBIs.

Boston still has the best record in all of baseball, with a record of 35-20, and they lead the east by 4.5 games over the defending champion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Cleveland has held on to their lead in the central with a record of 32-23 and lead by 5.5 games over the White Sox. Anaheim and Texas find themselves tied in the west with a record of 32-22, and with Seattle 4 games back. In the NL, the Phillies are up 4 games on the Marlins, with a record of 33-22. In the central, the Cubs hold a 2.5 game lead over the Pirates with a record of 33-22. Lastly, in the west, the Padres have really stepped things up, and with a record of 31-24, they lead the Diamondbacks by a 0.5 game.

The BOM awards went to Cleveland's 1B Travis Hafner who hit 0.385 with 13 HRs and 28 RBIs, and Colorado's 1B Todd Helton who hit 0.352 with 11 HRs and 30 RBIs. The POM awards went to Toronto's Roy Halladay who went 4-1 with a measly 0.86 ERA, and San Francisco's Jesse Foppert who went 3-1 with a 0.79 ERA.

Forgot to list the transactions last month, so I'll do both months here now:
The Mets picked up supposedly five star CF Kevin Thompson from the Yankees in return for 3 star prospect 2B Joe Jianetti and 1 star prospect SS Corey Ragsdale.
The White Sox picked up 2.5 star SS Rich Aurilia from the Phillies in return for 3.5 star prospect SP Heath Phillips and 1 star prospect 2B Leonardo Luna.
The Cubs picked up 2.5 star CF Jackson Melian from LA in return for 2.5 star SP Steve Smyth.
The Expos got 2 star C Juan Brito from the Royals for 2 star prospect 2B Greg Thissen, 2 star prospect 3B Kiki Fisher, and 2 star prospect 1B Larry Segovia.

Game 57: Pirates 10 Cardinals 0
Lopez continues his stellar season, pitching a complete game shutout while giving up just five hits while walking two and striking out nine batters. Simontacchi got shelled as he gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings for the loss. The Pirates had seven doubles and one homerun as part of the sixteen hit and 10 run pounding of the Cardinal pitching staff.

Series Recap: The Bucs just keep picking up two wins out of every three games, and if they can keep it up, should be good for the postseason. The Cubs lost two of three and the Bucs are now just 1.5 back.

Around the league, on Monday KC's Larry Bigbie hit for the cycle becoming the 6270th player to do so. Also on Monday, St. Louis had good news and bad news, as southpaw Tyler Johnson injured himself in the game and was discovered to have bone chips in his shoulder and will miss the next nine weeks. The good news was that Albert Pujols smashed three homeruns in the game, helping the Cardinals to the victory. On Wednesday, Cincinatti fans got bad news as it was discovered that ace John Koronka will miss the next five weeks with a pulled rotator cuff muscle. On Thursday, even more bad news, this time for Philly fans as Brett Myers will miss the next five weeks with a strained tricep muscle. The last of the bad news came on Saturday, when it was announced that Arizona's Kurt Ainsworth will miss seven weeks with a strained elbow ligament.

11-12-2003, 02:59 PM	#11
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Week 9 The Pirates return home this week and start off with a three game series against the first place Cubs who are 31-19 and whom the Pirates are 4-5 against this season. The Cubs have one of the best starting rotations in all of the majors with Mark Prior (6-2 1.81), Joe Kennedy (6-4 3.44), Jon Garland (2-5 5.15), and rookie Luke Hagerty (3-0 2.10). Their lineup isn't too bad either, with Dave Kelton (0.277 16 50), Sammy Sosa (0.257 7 22), and Mark Bellhorn (0.283 11 30) leading the way. Game 52: Pirates 4 Cubs 2 Glove Day at PNC Park Lopez pitched a heck of a game giving up just two runs in seven innings for the win. Hagerty gave up four runs in six innings for the loss. The eventual winning runs for the Pirates came when Xavier Nady hit a two run homerun in the fifth inning. Mann pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 13th save of the season. Mark Corey tore his bicep muscle after getting Sosa to ground out in the eighth inning. He will be out for the rest of the season. Mark Corey was placed on the 60-day DL and the Pirates signed MR Mike Williams to take his place on the 25 man roster. Game 53: Pirates 2 Cubs 4 VanBenSchoten had a decent game, giving up three runs in 6 1/3 innings, but still picked up the loss. Thomson only managed to last four innings, and gave up two runs, one of the earned, but did not get the win. The win went to Cruz who pitched a scoreless 5th inning. The Cubs added one insurance run in the top of the 9th, but it proved to not be needed as Ohman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save. Sammy Sosa smashed two homeruns in the game for a total of 663 career homeruns. Game 54: Pirates 3 Cubs 1 Dave Williams outdueled Mark Prior, as he gave up just one run in 6 2/3 innings for the win. Prior gave up three runs in 6 1/3 innings, despite giving up just three hits and walking just two batters. The winning runs came in the sixth inning when JJ Davis hit a two out two run homerun off of Prior. Mann gave up a hit and walked a batter but held on for the save in the ninth, his 14th of the season. Series Recap: Once again exactly what the Pirates needed, as they managed to win two out of three really close games. Now they're just 2.5 games back of first place. The Pirates remain home for a three game series against the Cardinals who are 27-27 and whom the Pirates are 2-1 against this season. The Cards have a decent starting rotation with Jason Simontacchi (2-3 4.10), Jimmy Journell (4-4 3.20) and Rick Ankiel (2-4 2.97). Their lineup though is the driving force of the team with Albert Pujols (0.309 14 40), Jim Edmonds (0.255 7 18), and Scott Rolen (0.306 8 20). Pitchers Tyler Johnson and Dan Haren will miss this series on the DL. Game 55: Pirates 7 Cardinals 3 Fireworks Night at PNC Park Bullington finally found his groove again, pitching a complete game and giving up just three runs for the win. All three runs came by homerun, as Tejada hit a solo shot in the fifth and a two run shot in the seventh. Journell gave up six runs in 4 2/3 innings for the loss. Butler, Davis, and McDougall all homered for the Pirates. Game 56: Pirates 1 Cardinals 2 Burnett continues to improve as he gave up just two runs, one of them earned, through 6 2/3 innings but got no run support as he picked up the loss. Hawksworth did great giving up just one run in 7 1/3 innings for the win. Crudale pitched a scoreless ninth despite giving up a hit for the save. Amateur Draft The Pirates don't select until 27th this year in the draft. The first five picks this year went as follows: 1st - NYM - RF Victor Vega - Brilliant in hits homeruns and walks, a definite for sure prospect, with below average range and a gun for an arm. 2nd - MIL - 2B Wayne Stampley - Good in hits and brilliant in homers and taking walks. He has average range and above average fielding abilities. 3rd - ANA - 1B Leo Sanchez - Also good in hits and brilliant in homers and taking walks. Slightly below average range but with an excellent glove. 4th - DET - CF Jack Howell - Only average in getting hits but brilliant in homers and taking walks. He has pretty good range in the field and an average arm. Also has decent speed on the basepaths and he knows how to choose his spots to run. 5th - HOU - 1B Eric Green - Good in hits and taking walks and brilliant in homeruns. Below average range in the field and excellent glove work. No speed to worry about at all. The Pirates selections went as follows: 1st - SP Daniel Jaquez - Not a whole lot available this late in the draft so the Bucs stuck with their proven record of drafting good young pitching prospects. This guy is 3.5 stars and is average in avoiding hits and good in avoiding homeruns and walks. 2nd - SP Frank Lafollette - Absolutely nothing available with the hitters, so we picked up this guy who is also 3.5 stars and average in avoiding hits and homers and good at avoiding walks. 3rd - CF Art Wilcoxson - Average in hits, poor in homers and fair in walks 4th - MR Antonio Pacheco - Average in avoiding hits and homers, good in walks 5th-7th - computer picked LF Gary Westhoff FAA, MR Luis Lopez FGA, and RF James Johnson FPF May Wrapup The Pirates struggled a bit this month but still finished the month above 0.500 at 15-12 to put their overall record to 31-25, just 2.5 games back of the first place Cubs. Burnett had a really good month going 2-2 with a 1.59 ERA and Lopez continued his strong season with a record of 3-1 and a 2.92 ERA this month. Meanwhile the rest of the starters struggled with ERAs above 4, especially Williams who went 1-2 with a 5.82 ERA. Bobby Hill continued to get on base for the Bucs, hitting 0.318 and with a OBP of 0.386 this month. JJ Davis also did well hitting 0.316 with 6 HRs and 20 RBIs. McDougall really had a poor month hitting just 0.173 with 1 HR and 11 RBIs. Boston still has the best record in all of baseball, with a record of 35-20, and they lead the east by 4.5 games over the defending champion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Cleveland has held on to their lead in the central with a record of 32-23 and lead by 5.5 games over the White Sox. Anaheim and Texas find themselves tied in the west with a record of 32-22, and with Seattle 4 games back. In the NL, the Phillies are up 4 games on the Marlins, with a record of 33-22. In the central, the Cubs hold a 2.5 game lead over the Pirates with a record of 33-22. Lastly, in the west, the Padres have really stepped things up, and with a record of 31-24, they lead the Diamondbacks by a 0.5 game. The BOM awards went to Cleveland's 1B Travis Hafner who hit 0.385 with 13 HRs and 28 RBIs, and Colorado's 1B Todd Helton who hit 0.352 with 11 HRs and 30 RBIs. The POM awards went to Toronto's Roy Halladay who went 4-1 with a measly 0.86 ERA, and San Francisco's Jesse Foppert who went 3-1 with a 0.79 ERA. Forgot to list the transactions last month, so I'll do both months here now: The Mets picked up supposedly five star CF Kevin Thompson from the Yankees in return for 3 star prospect 2B Joe Jianetti and 1 star prospect SS Corey Ragsdale. The White Sox picked up 2.5 star SS Rich Aurilia from the Phillies in return for 3.5 star prospect SP Heath Phillips and 1 star prospect 2B Leonardo Luna. The Cubs picked up 2.5 star CF Jackson Melian from LA in return for 2.5 star SP Steve Smyth. The Expos got 2 star C Juan Brito from the Royals for 2 star prospect 2B Greg Thissen, 2 star prospect 3B Kiki Fisher, and 2 star prospect 1B Larry Segovia. Game 57: Pirates 10 Cardinals 0 Lopez continues his stellar season, pitching a complete game shutout while giving up just five hits while walking two and striking out nine batters. Simontacchi got shelled as he gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings for the loss. The Pirates had seven doubles and one homerun as part of the sixteen hit and 10 run pounding of the Cardinal pitching staff. Series Recap: The Bucs just keep picking up two wins out of every three games, and if they can keep it up, should be good for the postseason. The Cubs lost two of three and the Bucs are now just 1.5 back. Around the league, on Monday KC's Larry Bigbie hit for the cycle becoming the 6270th player to do so. Also on Monday, St. Louis had good news and bad news, as southpaw Tyler Johnson injured himself in the game and was discovered to have bone chips in his shoulder and will miss the next nine weeks. The good news was that Albert Pujols smashed three homeruns in the game, helping the Cardinals to the victory. On Wednesday, Cincinatti fans got bad news as it was discovered that ace John Koronka will miss the next five weeks with a pulled rotator cuff muscle. On Thursday, even more bad news, this time for Philly fans as Brett Myers will miss the next five weeks with a strained tricep muscle. The last of the bad news came on Saturday, when it was announced that Arizona's Kurt Ainsworth will miss seven weeks with a strained elbow ligament. __________________ "And Shepherds we shall be, For thee, my Lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand, Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee, And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti."