Dynasty Pirates 2003

Operation Shutdown · 09-29-2003, 11:34 PM

Okay, hopefully joncarlos doesn't get upset as he already has a dynasty Pirates league going, and well every time I start a new solo league I like to be the Pirates, mostly cause I'm from Pittsburgh, but also because it definitely presents a challenge. I'm using TotalMinors rosters and starting in 2003 with arbitration and minor league option years enabled. I'm using normal trade difficulty and neutral trading preference. I know this is usually the easier settings to have it on, but this is going to be the first time that I ever try to run my team using talent only. I made a couple of edits to my coaches to at least give me some chance in trying to develop a good team. Nothing drastic, just made sure each coach was at least average. Also, I'm gonna attempt to adhere to the 40-man roster rule, as well as the option year rule. Obviously since there is no Rule V draft, if a player is in AAA and is not placed on the 40-man roster after 5 seasons, he will automatically be released from my team, unless he is a veteran over 30 years of age. It's gonna take me some time to track down the draft years of all the prospects on my team and to also determine how many option years the players that are on the 40-man roster have remaining. Once I get this done, I'll post who is on my 40-man roster, my 25-man roster and any cuts that I've had to make to get my roster to that level.

chambertrain · 09-30-2003, 12:03 AM

What trade level difficulty are you going to use?

Operation Shutdown · 09-30-2003, 01:08 AM

I'm using just normal for now, though I may end up changing it to at least favor prospects.

Operation Shutdown · 09-30-2003, 01:34 AM

Okay, it took me some time to get through all of this, but with the help of a great website I found (www.sports-wired.com), I was able to find out who needed to be on my 40-man roster based on the number of years that they had been playing some sort of professional ball. I believe the rules are that after playing 5 years of professional baseball, you must be placed on the 40 man roster or be subjected to the Rule V draft. For my purposes, if a guy was not on the 40-man roster after 5 years, it was just assumed that he was picked up by someone, unless he was over the age of 30, and so I released that player or made room for him somehow on the 40-man roster. First, I'll give a list of the transactions I made, and then list my 25 man roster, and then the 40 man roster. The amount of option years remaining for that player will be to the left in parenthesis if the player has any years remaining.

First of all, I released Aaron Holbert, Tomas De La Rosa, David Doster, John Wasdin, Julian Tavarez, Matt Guerrier, Bobby Bradley and Nelson Figueroa to make room on the 40-man roster.

I then promoted Jim Mann from AAA to the 25-man roster to fill Julian Tavarez's spot in the bullpen.
I then traded 1B Kevin Young to Florida in return for MR Marc Wilkins and then promptly released Marc Wilkins from my 40-man roster. I made that move to both free up some salary and to make some extra room on the 40-man roster.
I then promoted 1B Carlos Rivera from AAA to the 25 man roster.
I then traded Mike Williams to Florida for RF prospect Jeremy Hermida. Hermida still has 4 more years of eligibility before he needs to be put on the 40-man roster. I made this move to free up more room on the 40-man roster, and mostly cause I really don't like Williams all that much as a player. I then named Jim Mann my closer, although that will probably change throughout the course of the season.
Lastly, I promoted Mark Corey to the 25-man roster.

So the 25-man, and 40-man roster are as following. (*means on 40-man)

SP Kris Benson
SP Kip Wells
SP Josh Fogg
SP Jeff Suppan
SP Jeff D'Amico
MR Joe Biemel
MR Brian Boehringer
MR Mark Corey
MR Dennys Reyes
MR Scott Sauerbeck
MR Solomon Torres
CL Jim Mann

C Jason Kendall
C Humberto Cota (1 year)
1B Craig Wilson
1B Randall Simon
2B Abraham Nunez
2B Pokey Reese
3B Rob Mackowiak
3B Aramis Ramirez
SS Jack Wilson
LF Brian Giles
CF Kenny Lofton
RF Reggie Sanders
RF Matt Stairs

*RF JJ Davis (1 year)
*CF Tony Alvarez (1 year)
*1B Walter Young (3 years)
*SS Jose Castillo (2 years)
*C J.R. House (2 years)
*C Ryan Doumit (3 years)
*1B Carlos Rivera (1 year)
*SP Mike Gonzalez (2 years)
*MR John Grabow (2 years)
*MR Duaner Sanchez (1 year)
*SP Ryan Vogelsong (1 year)
*SP Brian Meadows
*LF Manuel Ravelo (3 years)
*CF Jeremy Harts (3 years)
*LF Shawn Garrett (3 years)

Dave Williams, Mike Lincoln, and Pat Meares will start the season on the 60-day disabled list, meaning that they neither need to be included in the 25-man or the 40-man roster.

Well, there's the opening day lineup of the Pittsburgh Pirates. I expect many changes to come through the course of the season, and many of those changes will more than likely be the dumping of as much salary as possible so I can be "financially flexible" heading into next year. Overall this year, I think the pitching staff is fairly average, nothing really outstanding, but yet no real glaring weaknesses, except for maybe the lack of a true closer and the lack of a #1 staff ace. I'll probably post tomorrow what the lineup will be and will start simming as well. For this first year, I'll probably do a week at a time and do a short write-up and summary of each week.

EDIT: One thing to change. I decided to promote C Humberto Cota to the 25-man roster instead of 1B Carlos Rivera. Rivera remains on the 40-man roster with one year of options remaining. Craig Wilson will also be first baseman, not catcher.

joncarlos · 09-30-2003, 01:51 AM

Good stuff. Don't worry, I won't be mad at all!!! I love reading about my Bucs! Looking forward to a good long run for the Buccos

Operation Shutdown · 09-30-2003, 02:04 AM

Okay, screw it, I'm not tired right now, so I decided to stay up and get my lineups and stuff together. I've uploaded the league pages to the following site. 2003 Pirates Dynasty I'll start simming the games tomorrow sometime.

Operation Shutdown · 09-30-2003, 02:08 PM

The Pirates have announced that the price of tickets to this seasons games will be a very cheap and respectable $7. McClatchy also announced the addition of a new GM Chris Chatham, and have announced that Dave Littlefield will remain on for at least this season and will serve in capacity as Assistant GM and scouting director. Also, Manager Lloyd McClendon announced today his starting lineup and his pitching staff. By some miracle, Lloyd has given up his fascination of strongly favoring lefty/righty matchups, and has announced that he will play the best player for every lineup, regardless if there is a lefty or a righty starting that day. The lineup will go as follows

CF Kenny Lofton
C Jason Kendall
LF Brian Giles
3B Aramis Ramirez
1B Craig Wilson
RF Reggie Sanders
2B Pokey Reese
SS Jack Wilson

The starting rotation will be as follows:

Kris Benson
Kip Wells
Josh Fogg
Jeff Suppan
Jeff D'Amico

The bullpen will consist of Dennys Reyes, Brian Boehringer, Salomon Torres, Joe Biemel, Mark Corey, and Scott Sauerbeck, with Jim Mann rounding out the pen as the closer.

The bench players consist of:

C Humberto Cota
1B Randall Simon
2B/SS Abraham Nunez
2B/3B/OF Rob Mackowiak
1B/LF/RF Matt Stairs

Week 1:
The Pirates first week consists of a 3-game series in Cincinatti, and a 3-game series in Philadelphia.

Game 1: Pirates 4 Reds 5 (11 innings)
41959 people showed up for the Reds opening day at the new Great American Ballpark, and not one of them left disappointed. The Pirates entered the ninth inning with a 2-1 lead, thanks to a two run homerun in the top of the fourth inning by Reggie Sanders. Matt Stairs added two more runs in the top of the ninth with a homerun off of Scott Sullivan. In the bottom of the ninth, Pirates closer Jim Mann gave up three runs off of two hits and three walks in only 2/3 of an inning. Boehringer then came in to finish off the ninth. Boehringer then pitched a 1-2-3 10th inning, and started the 11th inning and gave up a walk. Sauerbeck then came in and was only able to get two outs, before giving up two hits, and the eventual game winning hit. (Sorry I don't know who got the hits and who scored because I forgot to turn on the game logs). Starter Kris Benson went 8 innings giving up only one run. The win went to Kent Merker and the loss to Brian Boehringer.

Game 2: Pirates 3 Reds 5
The Pirates once again got on the board first with a 3-run homerun by Aramis Ramirez, scoring Jason Kendall and Brian Giles, in the top of the first inning. The Reds answered with one run in the bottom of the second with a solo homerun by Jason LaRue with two outs. Then again in the bottom of the sixth inning, with two outs and Adam Dunn on first, Jason LaRue tied the game with his second home-run of the day. The Reds then took the lead in the bottom of the seventh with Barry Larkin hitting a solo home-run to lead off the inning against reliever Brian Boehringer. The Reds then got an insurance run when pinch hitter Jacob Cruz singled home Adam Dunn off of Brian Boehringer. Reds closer Scott Williamson pitched a perfect ninth inning, getting Reggie Sanders to strike out and pinch hitters Randall Simon and Abraham Nunez to ground out. Starter Kip Wells went 6 innings, giving up three runs. Brian Boehringer once again picked up the loss giving up two runs in 1 2/3 innings. Reds starter Danny Graves went 8 innings giving up 3 runs for the win, and closer Scott Williamson picked up the save.

Game 3: Pirates 2 Reds 5
Nothing too exciting happened in this game. Jason Kendall got both of the Pirates RBI's, singling home Kenny Lofton each time. Austin Kearns, Ken Griffey Jr., and Aaron Boone each had homeruns off of starter Josh Fogg. Fogg gave up five runs in six innings for the loss and Brian Boehringer managed to actually pitch two scoreless innings this time around. Reds starter Chris Reitsma went 8 innings giving up two runs for the win, and Scott Williamson picked up his second save of the year.

Series Recap: Overall the Pirates offense has been about average, as well as the starting pitchers. The bullpen has two losses and one blown save to its credit already this year. This is going to be one long year if this keeps up.

Game 4: Pirates 0 Phillies 3
Once again, not a whole lot of exciting things happened in this game. The Phillies scored 2 runs in the bottom of the third and one run in the bottom of the sixth. Starter Jeff Suppan went 6 1/3 innings and despite giving up 11 hits and 7 walks, gave up only 3 earned runs for the loss. Mark Corey pitched 2/3 of a scoreless inning, and Torres pitched another scoreless inning. Phillies starter Brett Myers pitched 7 scoreless innings for the win. Mesa came on and pitched a scoreless eigth inning and then Dan Plesac pitched a scoreless ninth for the save, his first of the year.

In other league news, Sammy Sosa hit his 500th homerun today, a solo shot in the first inning off of Cincinati Reds starter Paul Wilson.

Game 5: Pirates 5 Phillies 0
The Pirates finally got on board with a win against the Philadelphia Phillies, and they did so the old fashioned way. The 4-8 hitters each had one RBI each and Pokey Reese and Craig Wilson each had multi-hit games. Wilson went 4-5 with 1 RBI, and Reese went 3-5 with one RBI. Pirates starting pitcher Jeff D'Amico pitched a complete game shutout giving up 7 hits, walking two and striking out 4. Phillies starter Joe Roa picked up the loss.

Game 6: Pirates 5 Phillies 7
Pirates starter Kris Benson got shelled in his second start of the year giving up 7 runs in 5 2/3 innings and picked up his first loss of the year. Phillies 1B Jim Thome had a big night with two homeruns, a two-run shot off of Benson in the third inning and a three-run shot off of Benson in the sixth inning. The Pirates tried to mount a comeback scoring two runs in the seventh and then two runs in the eighth off of starter Randy Wolf, before Rheal Cormier came in and shut them down and the eighth, and Dan Plesac finished business with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, picking up his second save of the year. Phillies starter Randy Wolf got the win, giving up five runs in 7 2/3 innings.

Week 1 wrap-up: This looks like it could be real long season for the Pirates. If it's not the bullpen that's blowing games, it's the starting pitching, or the lackluster offense that's keeping them from winning games.

Operation Shutdown · 09-30-2003, 02:13 PM

This post is just cause I added the link to the site in my sig.

Operation Shutdown · 09-30-2003, 07:42 PM

The Pirates have announced their promotion schedule for the month of April.

4/10 - Fireworks night against the Brewers
4/15 - Cap Day against the Mets
4/23 - Glove Day against the Giants
4/26 - Noddin Head Doll Day against the Dodgers

Week 2:
This week the Pirates will start out at home with a three game series against the Brewers. They will then go to Chicago for a three-game series against the Cubs.

Game 7: Pirates 1 Brewers 3
Another game lost by the bullpen. Pirates starter Kip Wells went 7 innings only giving up one run. Mark Corey got two outs and Scott Sauerbeck got the other out for a scoreless eighth inning. In the top of the ninth Jim Mann loaded the bases with nobody out and John VanderWal came through with a two-run single. Mann then got the next batter to ground out, and then got the next batter to line out into a double play, but the damage had already been done and he picked up the loss. The Pirate offense was pretty anemic as they managed only five hits off of Brewers starter Wayne Franklin, who went 6 innings giving up only one run. Reliever Mike DeJean picked up the win, as he recorded the last out in the bottom of the eighth. Luis Vizcaino picked up the save pitching a scoreless 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Game 8: Pirates 3 Brewers 5
The Pirates were leading this one 3-1 heading into the seventh, thanks to 3 RBI's from Brian Giles. Two of which came off of a double in the third inning, and the other from a solo homerun in the bottom of the sixth. Starter Josh Fogg entered the seventh inning having only given up one run, but Enrique Cruz started the inning off with a solo homerun. After getting the next two batters to ground out, CF Alex Sanchez hit a solo shot to deep right center. Then after Eric Young singled, Richie Sexson smashed a homer to deep left center. Fogg gave up three homers in one inning and went on to get the loss giving up five earned runs in 7 innings of work. Brewers starter Ruben Quevedo got the win giving up 3 runs in six innings, and Luis Vizcaino picked up his third save of the year.

Game 9: Pirates 3 Brewers 6 Fireworks Night at PNC Park
The Brewers got to the Pirates and starter Jeff Suppan quickly in this game, as Royce Clayton hit a three run homer in the first inning. Then in the third inning the Brewers scored three more runs, two of them coming from a John VanderWal homerun. Suppan lasted only 3 innings giving up 6 runs, five of which were earned. On a bright note, the bullpen did well, as Beimel pitched three scoreless inning, Corey had one scoreless, and Sauerbeck pitched the remaining two scoreless innings, giving up only two hits in those six relief innings. Giles also hit his second homer of the year, a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth off Vizcaino. Brewers starter Glendon Rusch was injured with an inflamed bicep tendon after only pitching to Kenny Lofton and getting him to ground out. He was placed on the DL after the game was over. Reliever Scott Nance picked up the win after only pitching 2/3 of an inning, and Valerio DeLosSantos picked up his first save of the year.

Series Recap: Each team came into the series with the worst record in the NL Central at 1-5. The Brewers swept the Pirates and are now sitting at only one game below .500, while the Pirates are trying to compete with the Blue Jays (0-9) and the Padres (1-9) for the worst record in the majors.

Game 10: Pirates 7 Cubs 2 Retro Game Day at Wrigley
The Pirates definitely went retro with this one, as Jeff D'Amico is proving to be the only consistent starter for the Pirates. He pitched seven innings giving up just two runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. Kenny Lofton had a big day going 3-5 with two doubles and 4 RBI's. Cubs starter Shawn Estes picked up the loss giving up 5 runs in five innings. Pirates reliever Scott Sauerbek was injured in the game with a tight shoulder and is listed as day-to-day.

Game 11: Pirates 2 Cubs 11
Starter Kris Benson got shelled in his second straight outing, giving up seven runs in two innings, all of which occurred in the second inning. Corey Patterson and Sammy Sosa each had two run homers in that inning and Ramon Martinez had a three run shot. Cubs starter Kerry Wood pitched only 5 2/3 innings giving up just one run off of one hit, while walking three and striking out six. There was a 60 minute rain delay in the third inning of the game.

Game 12: Pirates 2 Cubs 5
Nothing too terribly exciting in this game. Starter Kip Wells pitched a complete game for the Pirates going 8 innings and giving up five runs, three of which were scored in the bottom of the seventh. Why a reliever wasn't put in, I really don't know. Kenny Lofton had another big day offensively, going 4-4, but he did not manage to get a single RBI and scored only once on a single by Brian Giles in the third inning. Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano got the win giving up two runs in seven innings, and Mike Remlinger picked up the save, his second of the season.

Series Recap: Pretty much what I expected heading into this series against a much better ball club. D'Amico pitched a heck of a game, and Benson's performance so far has been real disappointing (0-2 8.62 ERA). I usually like to wait at least a month before I start making trades just to see who i want to keep around on a team, but I think it's pretty clear that some trades are going to start happening, unless the Pirates start winning some games.

In other news around the league, Rockies 1B Todd Helton ruptured his MCL and will miss the entire season. Also, the Blue Jays finally won their first game against the Twins after losing their first 11 games this season. However, they do not have the worst record in the majors, as that honor goes to the San Diego Padres who are 1-12.

Operation Shutdown · 10-01-2003, 12:35 AM

Week 3:
This week will see the Pirates playing the first 6 games of a six game home stand. They start the week with three games against the Mets, and then they play host to the Chicago Cubs, whom they are 1-2 against this year.

Game 13: Pirates 4 Mets 3 Baseball Cap Day at PNC Park
The Pirates finally won a game coming from behind. With the Mets ahead 3-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth, they brought out their closer Armando Benitez to face Craig Wilson. Wilson took hold of a 2-1 fastball and drove it deep to left field for a solo homerun to tie things up at 3. Then in the bottom of the 10th, with Kendall on first after a single, Giles drove a double down the right field line. Kendall was waved home and Perez missed the cutoff man, and Kendall scored standing up as the throw was off-line. Pirates starter Josh Fogg pitched 8 innings giving up three runs, two of which were earned. Relievers Mark Corey and Jim Mann each pitched a scoreless inning, with Mann getting the win. Benitez got the loss and the blown save giving up 2 runs in 1 1/3 innings.

Game 14: Pirates 6 Mets 7
Neither of today's starters did very well and neither got the win. Jeff Suppan went 7 innings and gave up 4 runs off of 10 hits and 4 walks. Mets starter David Cone gave up 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings off of 9 hits and 1 walk. Once again the story was with the bullpen, where Mark Corey, after going 6 innings without giving up an earned run, gave up 2 runs in 1/3 of an inning and picked up the loss. Middlebrook got the win for the Mets and Benitez picked up his fifth save of the year. Floyd and Vaughn hit homers for the Mets and Craig Wilson and Reggie Sanders hit homers for the Pirates.

Game 15: Pirates 6 Mets 0
20,045 fans came out to see the rubber match of this series, and none were disappointed, as Pirates starter Jeff D'Amico continued his amazing performance so far this season. D'Amico pitched a complete game shutout, giving up 6 hits and walking just one while striking out 8 batters to bring his overall record to 3-0 with a 0.72 ERA. Giles had a big day today offensively, going 3-4 with a 2B, a HR, and 3 RBI's as the Pirates scored 6 runs off of 11 hits. Mets starter Aaron Heilman didn't have his best stuff today as he gave up 4 runs in just 2 2/3 innings of work.

Series Recap: The Pirates pulled off the upset and won their first series of the year against the Mets. Good starting pitching and timely hitting was the story to both Pirates wins as both Fogg and D'Amico had good outings.

In other league news, Braves starting pitcher Mike Hampton injured his tricep on April 16th in a game against the Expos and will miss the next 7 weeks. The Braves placed him on the DL and called up Andy Pratt but only for one day as they sent him back down after they activated Russ Ortiz from the disabled list.

Game 16: Pirates 2 Cubs 5
Kris Benson had his third straight poor outing giving up five runs in five innings and picking up his third loss of the year. Relievers Mark Corey and Brian Boehringer each pitched two scoreless innings. Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano gave up just two runs in 6 innings, one of which was from a solo homerun by Rob Mackowiak, for the win. Mark Guthrie pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his second save of the year. Sammy Sosa had a big day offensively going 2-4 with 3 RBIs, and he set a new record for the longest hit homerun at PNC Park, measuring 479 feet.

Game 17: Pirates 4 Cubs 6
The Cubs scattered all six of their runs, as they scored no more than one run in any inning. They got solo homeruns from Sammy Sosa, Corey Patterson, and Paul Bako. Starting pitcher Matt Clement pitched six innings, giving up 3 runs, and earning his third win of the year. Those three runs were the first runs given up by Clement all year. Mike Remlinger pitched a scoreless ninth for his 4th save of the year. Ramirez hit his second homer of the year, a solo shot off of Clement in the sixth inning. Pirate starter Kip Wells pitched seven innings, giving up five runs for the loss.

Game 18: Pirates 3 Cubs 1
Despite a steller performance by Cubs starting pitcher Mark Prior, the Pirates won the game by making the most of their oppurtunities and managing to score 3 runs off of just the two hits and two walks that Prior gave up in 6 innings. Pirates starter Josh Fogg turned in his own stellar performance, going 6 2/3 innings giving up 7 hits and walking one and King 6. The Cubs tried to mount a comeback in the eigth inning as Bellhorn drew a walk against Boehringer. Beimel was then brought in to face Choi, but Baker brought Sosa out of the dugout to pinch hit, and he doubled to left-center and Bellhorn was held at third as he was unsure whether Lofton was going to make the catch. McClendon then brought out Torres to intentionally walk Ramon Martinez (I guess Torres is really good at those intentional walks????). Reliever Jim Mann was then brought out to face Damian Miller and got him to strike out looking. Dennys Reyes was then brought out to face Tom Goodwing and got him to pop out to very shallow center field. Reyes then got Gonzalez to strike out swinging to end the inning. Sauerbeck then pitched a scoreless ninth to record his first save of the year.

Series Recap: The Pirates once again barely managed to not get swept by the Cubs, and are now 2-4 against them this year. They tried as hard as they could to lose the last game, but the five relief pitchers used in the eighth inning managed to get the job done, albeit a very ugly job.

In other team notes, the Pirates have placed C Jason Kendall, LF Brian Giles, SP Kris Benson, and SP Brian Meadows on the trading block. SP Ryan Vogelsong was promoted from AA Altona Curve to AAA Nashville Sounds. He was then injured with a pulled rotator cuff muscle and will miss the next four weeks.

Operation Shutdown · 10-01-2003, 11:46 AM

I've decided to place Randall Simon and Aramis Ramirez on the trading block as well.

Week 4:
The Pirates are now 5-13 and will be wrapping up a 12-game homestand this week. They'll begin the week with a three game series against the Giants who are currently 10-9. The Pirates will then close out the week with a 3-game series against the Dodgers who are currently 13-7.

Game 19: Pirates 3 Giants 7
The Pirates really got blown out of the water in this game. They didn't even score a run until the seventh inning, when the game was already well out of reach 7-0. Starter Jeff Suppan had another poor outing giving up 7 runs, 6 of which were earned, in 5 1/3 innings. On a bright note, the bullpen still seems to be doing fairly well, as Boehringer pitched 1 2/3 scoreless and Sauerbeck and Corey each pitched one scoreless inning. Giants starter Damian Moss pitched 8 2/3 innings giving up all 3 runs, two of which were earned. Barry Bonds was named player of the game, hittting his 8th homer of the year with two on against Suppan in the 6th inning.

Game 20: Pirates 1 Giants 7 Glove Day at PNC Park
Jeff D'Amico had his first bad outing of the year giving up 12 hits, 5 of which were doubles, and 7 runs, 6 of which were earned, in 7 1/3 innings. Giants starter Jason Schmidt scattered just five hits, and gave up no runs in seven innings for the win. The lone Pirate run was scored off of reliever Kirk Reuter.

Game 21: Pirates 1 Giants 8
Benson with his fourth straight poor outing, gave up 3 hits, walked two, and 6 earned runs in only 3 innings of work. Starter Kurt Ainsworth scattered eight hits in eight innings of work, giving up just one run. Barry Bonds hit homeruns numbers 9 and 10. He hit a two run shot off of Benson in the first inning, and another two run shot off of Beimel in the ninth inning.

Series Recap: The Giants handled the Pirates easily scoring 22 runs, while only giving up 5 runs. Pirates starters faired poorly, giving up 20 runs in 15 2/3 innings, while the bullpen gave up just two runs in 11 1/3 innings.

Game 22: Pirates 4 Dodgers 2
Kip Wells entered the top of the eighth inning with a 2-1 lead. After giving up a lead-off double to Brian Jordan, Wells intentionally walked Shawn Green. After striking out pinch hitter Alex Cora, Wells pulled in favor of Mark Corey, who gave up a single to Adrian Beltre, loading the bases. McClendon then brought in Joe Biemel to face Joe Thurston, who was then replaced by Paul LoDuca. Biemel got LoDuca to fly out to right-center, but it was deep enough to score Brian Jordan. Biemel then got pinch hitter Chin-Fen Cheng to fly out to center to end the inning. After loading the bases with two outs, from a double by Jason Kendall and walks to Brian Giles and Craig Wilson, relief pitcher Paul Shuey was brought in to face PH Randall Simon who singled to right center, scoring Kendall and Giles. Torres then picked up the save pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Starter Kip Wells went 7 1/3 innings, giving up two runs, only one of which was earned. Beimel picked up the win in his 2/3 of an inning of relief. Dodgers starter Odalis Perez went 7 1/3 innings, giving up all four of the Pirates runs.

Game 23: Pirates 1 Dodgers 5 Nodding Head Doll Day at PNC Park
This game saw the first major league start for Dodgers rookie Andrew Brown. Brown pitched a gem of a game giving up just one run in 7 1/3 innings off of 9 hits while walking two and striking out 3 Pirates. Pirater starter Josh Fogg was pitching well until the top of the sixth inning, where he gave up two two-run homeruns, one by 1B Mark Kinkade and the other by 2B Joe Thurston. Fogg pitched six innings, giving up five runs off of 8 hits, walking none, and striking out 3.

Game 24: Pirates 1 Dodgers 0
Jeff Suppan finally had a good game as a Pirate, pitching a one hitter through eight innings and giving up 3 walks and striking out 4 to get the win. Solomon Torres pitched a scoreless ninth inning, giving up just one hit to get his second save of the year. Dodgers starter pitched a great game giving up just one run in seven innings of work, but the Dodgers offense wasn't there to help him out, as he picks up the loss. The lone run of the game was scored in the bottom of the third, when after two outs, Jason Kendall was hit by a pitch, and then off of a 3-2 pitch, with Jason running on the pitch, Giles doubled down the right field line to score Kendall.

Series recap: The Pirates pulled off the shocker, winning two out of three games against the Dodgers, thanks in large part to some great work by the Pirates starters.

In other league news this week, on Monday April 21, Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon broke his foot and will miss the next 11 weeks. On Tuesday Toronto's Chris Woodard compiled five hits against the Devil Rays. He hit two solo homruns, and three singles. On Friday, Expos second baseman Jose Vidro tore his calf muscle and will likely miss the next five weeks.

Operation Shutdown · 10-01-2003, 01:17 PM

Week 5:
The Pirates, currently 7-17, this week begin a 10-game road trip. They start off with 3 games in San Diego, against the Padres who are currently 8-17. The Pirates then finish up the week with three games in LA against the Dodgers, whom they are 2-1 against this year.

Game 25: Pirates 5 Padres 7
Neither starters faired too well in this game, as the Pirates jumped to an early 5-1 lead through the third inning. However Padres starter Adam Eaton held in their for long enough, pitching three more scoreless innings, allowing his team to score five more runs off of Jeff D'Amico. Eaton gave up a total of five runs in six innings for the win, while D'Amico gave up six runs in 4 1.3 innings for the loss. Aramis Ramirez homered for the Pirates, but Reggie Sanders put in the best performance for the Pirates, going 4-4 with 2 RBI's.

Game 26: Pirates 3 Padres 0
Pirate fans have been waiting all month for Benson to finally begin to show his stuff, and he finally came through in today's game. Benson pitched six scoreless innings, giving up just two hits, while walking none, and striking out 3 to get his first win of the season. Despite throwing only 56 pitches, Benson was pinch-hit for in the top of the seventh, as McClendon felt that trying to add another run to a 1-0 lead was more important than leaving Benson in to try and get a shutout. Pinch hitter Randall Simon reached on an error during that at-bat, and moved Pokey Reese to third base, who then scored on a sac-fly by Kenny Lofton. Padres starter Kevin Jarvis pitched well, going 8 innings and giving up just three runs, two of which were earned. One of those runs was a solo homerun by Craig Wilson in the top of the eighth. Scott Sauerbeck pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, to pick up his second save of the year.

April Wrapup
The Pirates finished the month of April with a record of 8-18. None of the Pirates had a real hot bat this month, but Craig Wilson hit 0.281 with 4 HR and 8 RBI's, while Lofton hit 0.290 with 1 HR, 9 RBI's, 13 runs, and 11 stolen bases. Kendall was disappointing with the bat, hitting just 0.217 with no homeruns and 3 RBI's. Despite two poor starts, Jeff D'Amico is still leading the staff with a 3-2 record and a 3.44 ERA. Despite not getting a win yet Kip Wells is also pitching well with an 0-2 record and a 3.82 ERA. Despite a recent good outing, Kris Benson's performance has been disappointing this month with a record of 1-4 and a 7.89 ERA.

Around the league, the Red Sox are leading the AL East with a record of 17-11, 3 games ahead of the Yankees. The AL Central is being lead by the Twins who have a 17-10 record and are 3 games ahead of the Royals. The Oakland A's are leading the AL West, also with a record of 17-10 and two games ahead of the Angels. In the NL, the Braves, with a record of 15-12, are leading the eastern division by 2 games over the Marlins. The Cubs, with a record of 16-11, are leading the central by 1 game over the Astros. The Arizona Diamondbacks with a league best record of 21-7 are leading the NL West by 3.5 games over the Dodgers.

Indians pitcher Ricardo Rodriguez won the award for best pitcher of the month award in the AL with a record of 4-1 and a 2.03 ERA. His counterpart in the NL Randy Johnson, went 6-0 with an ERA of 1.46 in the month of April. Jim Thome hit 0.386, hitting 11 homeruns and driving in 31 to win the NL Batter of the month award. His AL counterpart Garrett Anderson hit 0.362, with 9 HRs and 28 RBI's.

League Transactions:
On the first of the month, the Dodgers got 2.5 star LF Kevin Millar from Boston in exchange for 2.5 star 1B Josh Phelps and 1.5 star prospect C John Schneider. The Padres also received 1.5 star Melvin Mora in a trade with the Orioles that sent them 3.5 star prospect CF Jason Bay, 3-star prospect MR Gabe Ribas, and 1.5 star prospect Chris Oxpring.
On the sixth, the Devil Rays sent 2.5 star C Toby Hall to the Orioles in return for 4.5 star prospect SP John Stephens and 3 star prospect SP Daniel Cabrera.
On the eighteenth, the Rockies received 4.5 star prospect 2B Orlando Hudson and 1 star prospect 1B Jarad Mangioni in a trade that sent 3 star prospect RF Luke Allen to the Blue Jays. The Reds also received 2.5 star 1B Greg Colbrunn from the Mariners in return for 2 star prospect C Miguel Perez and 1 star prospect SS Hector Tiburcio.
On the 22nd, the Cardinals got 2 star 1B Travis Lee and 2 star prospect LF Blair Irvin from the Devil Rays in exchange for 2.5 star RF Eli Marrero. Also, the Giants got 2 star 1B Fred McGriff from the Dodgers in return for 3.5 star prospect RF Deivis Santos and 1.5 star prospect C Dayton Buller.
On the 24th, the Rockies finally found their replacement for the injured Helton by picking up 2.5 star 1B Scott Speizio from the Angels in return for 2.5 star prosect 3B Javier Colina, 1 star prospect 1B Jarad Mangioni, and 1 star prospect LF Trey George.

Game 27: Pirates 3 Padres 5
Nothing exciting in this game happened. Kip Wells gave up 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings for the loss. Padres starter Jake Peavy pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up three runs, two of which were earned for the win. Despite putting two people on base wtih two out Mike Matthews got Craig Wilson to ground out to end the game and pick up the save. Brian Buchanan and Ryan Klesko homered for the Padres.

In other league news, Rafeal Palmeiro hit homeruns number 499 and 500 today. The first coming in the third inning with one on against Blue Jays pitcher Walker. The second also came against Walker with one on in the fifth inning.

Series Recap: Well, this series was a bad team in the Padres going up against a worse team in the Pirates. The Padres came out on top, and the Pirates now lead the reverse standings of the majors by 1.5 games.

Game 28: Pirates 3 Dodgers 2
After giving up two runs in the bottom of the first, Pirates starter Josh Fogg continued by pitching five more scoreless innings and holding on for the win. He pitched a total of six innings giving up two runs, only one of which was earned. Boehringer and Sauerbeck each held the lead through the seventh and eighth inning, and Solomon Torres came in and closed out the ninth picking up his third save of the season. Dodgers starter Hideo Nomo pitched 7 innings, giving up three runs, all of them earned.

Game 29: Pirates 9 Dodgers 5 Retro Game Day at Dodger Stadium
The Pirates offense really exploded today, scoring nine runs, 6 off of starter Darren Dreifort, and the other three off of reliever Guillermo Mota. The Pirates hit four homers in the game, one each from Kenny Lofton, Brian Giles, Matt Stairs, and Rob Mackowiak. Pirates starter Jeff Suppan picked up the win, pitching 6 1/3 innings, giving up four runs. Dodgers starter Darren Dreifort received the loss giving up six runs, five of which were earned, in four innings of work.

Game 30: Pirates 3 Dodgers 8
Jeff D'Amco had his third straight poor outing today, giving up six runs in just 2 2/3 innings, picking up his third loss of the year. Dodgers starter Wilson Alvarez pitched well, giving up all three of the Pirates runs in 6 innings of work for the win. The Pirates got homeruns from Brian Jordan and Shawn Green.

Series Recap: The Pirates continue to have the number against the Dodgers, as they are now 4-2 this season against a much better LA team.

The Pirates today traded 1B Randall Simon and 2B Pokey Reese to the Chicago Cubs in return for 2B Bobby Hill and 3-star prospect RF JJ Johnson.
Bobby Hill will be placed on the 25-man roster, and Carlos Rivera will be promoted from AAA Nashville to the 25-man roster. Hill has two more years of options remaining, and JJ Johnson has two more years remaining before he must be placed on the 40-man roster. The Pirates now have only 39 players listed on their 40-man roster. The Pirates also promoted C Ryan Doumit from AA Altoona to AAA Nashville. He will assume the catching duties in Nashville and JR House will be moved to DH. JJ Johnson was placed in AA Altoona where he will be the starting RFer.

In other league news Mariners DH Edgar Martinez collected his 2000th hit on Saturday off of White Sox starter Bartolo Colon in the first inning.

Operation Shutdown · 10-01-2003, 03:37 PM

Week 6:
I promoted Justin Reid from AA Altoona to AAA Nashville and placed him in the starting rotation there. I then moved Jonathan Albakdejo from the bullpen into the starting roation in Altoona.

The Pirates announced their promotions for the month of May:
5/9 - Noddin Head Doll Day against Arizona
5/12 - Baseball Cap Day against Houston
5/ 21 - Glove Day against Chicago
5/24 - Fireworks Night against St. Louis

This week the Pirates finish a 10-game road trip, with four games against the Astros, who are 16-15. The Pirates then return home for a 7-game homestand, which begins with a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, currently with the best record in MLB at 25-7.

Game 31: Pirates 6 Astros 0 Glove Day at Minutemaid Park
Benson pitched his second great game in a row picking up his second win, while pitching a complete game shutout, giving up just five hits, while walking three and striking out 9. Astros starter Pete Munro got the loss giving up five runs in 6 1/3 innings. Each of the Pirates contributed, with all of the starting 8 fielders getting at least one hit, with C Humberto Cota coming through with three hits and scoring twice.

Game 32: Pirates 1 Astros 3 Fireworks Night at Minute Maid Park
The Pirates wasted another good outing by Kip Wells who pitched 7 innings giving up just two hits and one run. The run was scored in the bottom of the first, a solo homerun by Brian Hunter. With the score 1-1, thanks to a Brian Giles solo homerun in the top of the sixth inning, McClendon pulled starter Kip Wells in favor of lefty Scott Sauerbeck. Sauerbeck walked pinch hitter Jeff Kent, and McClendon then brought out Boehringer to face Brian Hunter. Hunter tripled down the right field line, scoring Kent. RF Kyle Logan then reached on an infield single, scoring Hunter. Boehringer then got Lance Berkman to ground into a double play, and Geoff Blum to strike out swinging, but the damage had already been done as the Astros went on to win the game. Astros starter Tim Redding gave up one run in 6 2/3 innings. Billy Wagner got the win, and Brandon Puffer picked up the save.

Game 33: Pirates 10 Astros 4 Baseball Cap Day at Minute Maid Park
The Pirates got to Astros starter Roy Oswalt and the Astros bullpen late in the game. With the score tied 3-3 (thanks to a 3 run homerun by Bobby Hill in the top of the second), the Pirates scored two more against starter Roy Oswalt in the top of the seventh from a two-run homerun by Carlos Rivera, his first career hit in his first at-bat as a major leaguer. The Astros responded with one run in the bottom of the seventh, but the Pirates responded with three more runs in the top of the eighth, after Oswalt put two men on, Brad Lidge gave up a three-run homerun to Craig Wilson. The Pirates scored two more in the ninth, to seal their victory. Starter Josh Fogg got the win for the Pirates, giving up three runs, only one of which was earned, in six innings of work. Astros starter Roy Oswalt picked up the loss giving up 7 runs in 7 1/3 innings.

Game 34: Pirates 10 Astros 8
The Astros got to Pirates starter Jeff Suppan early and often in this game scoring 6 runs in 3 2/3 innings off of Suppan. They added another run off of Biemel in the fifth, and entered the sixth inning with a 7-2 lead. The Pirates then got to starter Greg Miller in the top of the sixth. Craig Wilson lead off with a single, and moved to third on a Reggie Sanders double. Miller then walked Abraham Nunez to load the bases. Jack Wilson then managed to work a bases-loaded walk off of Miller scoring Craig Wilson. Rob Mackowiak then reached on an infield hit that went into the hole between the shortstop and third baseman moving everyone along one base. Bruce Chen then came in to pitch, and struck out Kenny Lofton for the first out of the inning. Jason Kendall then reached base on an error by the second baseman. After Giles struck out looking, Aramis Ramirez doubled to the gap in left-center, clearing the base. Craig Wilson then struck out to end the inning. In the bottom of the sixth, the Astros managed to tie the game back up at 8, when Merced doubled scoring Buck, who had reached base on an error. The Pirates then took the lead in the top of the ninth when Jack Wilson singled to right with two outs scoring Craig Wilson and Reggie Sanders. Jim Mann then came on in the ninth to pitch a 1-2-3 inning and pick up his first save of the year.

Series Recap: The Pirates won 3 out of 4 against the Astros, thanks in large part to an offense that scored 26 runs in those 3 wins. The Pirates have moved out of the cellar, and are now better than two teams in the majors, the Mets and the Padres.

Game 35: Pirates 2 DBacks 0 Noddin Head Doll Day at PNC Park
This was a real pitchers duel, with Jeff D'Amico once again finding his groove and beating his counterpart Curt Schilling at his own game. D'Amico pitched a complete game shut-out, giving up just two hits and walking two while striking out one. Schilling gave up two runs, a solo homer by Craig Wilson and a double by Bobby Hill scoring Reggie Sanders. Schilling pitched 7 innings, giving up four runs, while walking two and striking out 7. The Pirates fan interest increased after this game.

After the game, the San Diego Padres offered the Pirates 2.5 star SP Kevin Jarvis, and 4-star 3B prospect Greg Sain. I turned down the deal, as Sain is 24 and still only playing in A ball so is unlikely to develop in time.

Game 36: Pirates 7 DBacks 5
Both offenses really got things together in this game. The Pirates offense got 13 hits while the Diamondbacks got their runs off of 12 hits. Kris Benson, while not pitching his best game, picked up the win, giving up 5 runs in 7 1/3 innings. DBAcks starter Byung-Hyun Kim pitched only 4 2/3 innings giving up six runs, five of which were earned. Jim Mann picked up his second save of the year, pitching a scoreless ninth inning.

Game 37: Pirates 5 DBacks 7
The Pirates came close to sweeping the Diamondbacks, but this time Kip Wells did himself in, with some really poor control. While Wells only gave up 4 hits in the 5 2/3 innings he pitched, he also gave up 7 walks, which helped the DBacks to score 5 runs off of Wells. The Pirates tried to mount a come-back, but with the score 5-4 DBacks heading to the seventh, the Diamondbacks scored one run each in the seventh and eighth innings. Starter Elmer Dessens picked up the win, giving up four runs, three of which were earned in 7 innings pitched. Mike Myers picked up the save despite giving up one run in the bottom of the ninth.

Series Recap: The Pirates went on a real hot streak this week, going 5-2. The real shocker came in winning two out of three against the major league best Arizona Diamondbacks.

In league news Angels first baseman Brad Fullmer broke his wrist and will miss the next five weeks. Also Cubs RF Sammy Sosa picked up his 2000th career hit off of Brewers pitcher Francisco Campos in the sixth inning.

Operation Shutdown · 10-01-2003, 11:20 PM

Week 7:
The Pirates are currently 15-22 and are in fifth place in the NL Central Division. This week they will finish their 7 game home-stand, with a four game series against the Astros, who are currently 19-19. This year the Pirates are 5-11 against central division opponents, and 3-1 against the Astros so far. The Pirates will then travel to Arizona for a three game series against the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks this year are 26-12 and the Pirates are 2-1 against them.

The Pirates were offered a trade by the Texas Rangers that would send Benson to the Rangers in exchange for four star prospect SP Joaquin Benoit and 2 star prospect LF Larry Grayson. This trade was really tempting, but seeing as Benoit is already 25, already out of options, and hasn't fared too well in the majors in his three stints so far in the majors, I decided to just hold on to this one for a possibility later on, and rejected the trade for now.

Game 38: Pirates 4 Astros 8 Baseball Cap Day at PNC Park
Josh Fogg managed to pitch 6 scoreless innings before giving up 5 runs, four of which were earned, in the top of the seventh inning while only recording two outs. Beimel then gave up three unearned runs in the top of the eighth to give the Astros a commanding lead. Roy Oswalt pitched six innings giving up just one run off of five hits while walking one and striking out eight. Brian Giles and Jack Wilson hit homeruns for the Pirates while Geoff Blum went yard for the Astros.

Game 39: Pirates 2 Astros 1
Pirates starter Jeff Suppan pitched another gem, as he gave up just one run in eight innings of work. He gave up four hits and walked three baters. Jim Mann pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his third save of the year. Pirates scored just two runs, a double by Lofton which scored Jeff Suppan in the second, and a triple by Jason Kendall that scored Lofton in the fourth inning, off of Astros starter Greg Miller, who pitched 6 1/3 innings and picked up the loss.

Game 40: Pirates 4 Astros 6
D'Amico had an OK game today giving up five runs in 7 innings of work off of 9 hits and no walks and striking out four batters. Wade Miller held off a Pirate rally in the sixth inning, and gave up four runs in six innings, giving up four hits while walking one and striking out 3. Astros relievers Chen and Lidge each pitched scoreless innings, and closer Billy Wagner picked up his ninth save of the year pitching a scoreless ninth inning.

Game 41: Pirates 9 Astros 4
The Pirates offense really came through today pounding out nine runs against a good Astros pitching staff. Starter Peter Munro gave up five of the runs in five innings of work for the loss, while the other four runs came off of reliever Bruce Chen who worked two innings of relief. Craig Wilson hit two homeruns today, a solo shot in teh sixth inning off of Munro and a three run shot off of Chen in the seventh inning. Despite not having a very good outing, Kris Benson got the win, giving up 4 runs in six innings of work. He allowed 11 hits and walked 2 batters while striking out five. Boehringer, Corey, and Sauerbeck each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

Series Recap: The red hot Pirates (at least comparitively speaking) split the series against the Astros and continue to maintain the fifth place position in the division.

Game 42: Pirates 6 DBacks 8
The first win of the season continues to be quite elusive for starter Kip Wells as he had a poor outing today. Wells gave up eight runs off of nine hits and four walks in just 4 2/3 innings. The Pirates managed to score four runs in seven innings off of the winning pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim. The Pirates attempted to mount a comeback but fell short as they scored only one run in the eighth, and one in the ninth, as Mike Myers held on for his 11th save of the season.

Game 43: Pirates 4 DBacks 7
Pirates starter Josh Fogg got blown away, giving up six runs off of just four hits and 2 walks in 1 2/3 innings. Brian Boehringer gave up the other Diamondback run in 2 innings of relief. Elmer Dessens picked up his sixth win of the year, going six innings and giving up three runs off of 7 hits, while walking 5 and striking out two batters. The other Pirate run came off of reliever Brett Prinz. Mike Myers picked up his 12th save working a scoreless ninth inning.

Game 44: Pirates 2 DBacks 4
Despite getting 9 hits, the Pirate offense was able to score only two runs in today's game. Starter Jeff Suppan had an OK outing giving up three runs, two of which were earned, in six innings. The other run was scored off of reliever Boehringer. John Patterson picked up the win for the Diamondbacks going seven innings and giving up just one run despite giving up 7 hits, while walking three and striking out five batters. The other run was scored off of reliever Koplove. Matt Mantei pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save of the year.

Series Recap: The Diamonbacks made up for the previous series embarrasing the Pirates, by sweeping them quite easily. With the exception of the last game, Pirates starting pitching was pretty pitiful.

Around the league this week:
On Wednesday, Diamondbacks right fielder Danny Bautista hit for the cycle against the Phillies. On Saturday, Astros Lance Berkman broke his wrist while attempting to make a diving catch and he will likely miss the remainder of the season. In the same game against the Phillies, teammate Jeff Bagwell crushed a three run homerun off of reliever Turk Wendell for his 2000th career hit. On Sunday Red's centerfielder Ken Griffey Jr. was drilled in the hand by a fastball thrown by Brewer's Dave Mlicki. The report is that he has a broken hand and will miss at least the next six weeks.

Operation Shutdown · 10-02-2003, 12:14 AM

Week 8:
The Pirates are currently 17-27, and remain in fifth place in the central division. This week they return home for six games, the first three coming against the Cubs. The Cubs are currently 25-20 and the Pirates are 2-4 against the Cubs so far this season. The Pirates will then face the Cardinals for the first this season, in a 3 game series. The Cardinals are currently 27-17 and are sitting in first place in the division.
The Pirates promoted Duaner Sanchez and Jonathan Albakdejo from the AA club to AAA. Albakdejo was placed in the starting rotation and Sanchez will be the closer in Nashville. The Pirates also moved Brian Bullington from A Lynchburg to AA Altoona and placed him into the starting rotation.

Game 45: Pirates 1 Cubs 7
Pirates starter Jeff D'Amico got shelled in the eighth inning, giving up a total of six runs in 7 2/3 innings of work. He gave up 10 hits while walking 2 and striking out 8. Sauerbeck gave up the other Cubs run, giving up three more hits in just 2/3 inning of work. Cubs starter Shawn Estes pitched a superb game giving up just one run off of four hits in six innings of work. Sammy Sosa hit his NL leading 19th HR off of D'Amico in the fourth inning.

Game 46: Pirates 4 Cubs 1 Glove Day at PNC Park
The Pirates offense proved to be too much for Cubs phenom SP Mark Prior as he gave up four runs in six innings of work. Three of those runs came off of a homerun by Brian Giles in the first inning. Benson continued to pitch well giving up just one run in 7 2/3 innings. Jim Mann worked a scoreless ninth inning picking up his fourth save of the season.

Game 47: Pirates 4 Cubs 3
The Pirates worked their way from behind to win the rubber match game against the Cubs. Despite giving up three runs in the first inning, Kip Wells put things together and pitched the next five scoreless innings. Boehringer and Corey each pitched a scoreless inning of relief, and despite loading the bases with no outs in the ninth, Jim Mann came through getting Mark Bellhorn to ground into a fielders choice with a force out at home, and then getting Hee Seop Choi to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning, and pick up his fifth save of the year. Cubs starter Kerry Wood went five innings, giving up two runs, but the loss went to reliever Dave Veres who gave up two runs in 2/3 of an inning of work.

Series recap: The Pirates came back after getting destroyed in the first game, and won the second game thanks to good pitching by Benson, and won the rubber match in an exciting game, with the Cubs having the bases loaded with no one out in the ninth, and not being able to manage a single run. The Pirates are now 4-5 against the Cubs this season.

Game 48: Pirates 7 Cardinals 11
The Pirates offense managed to explode for 7 runs against the Cardinals but it proved to be not enough as the Cubs managed 11 runs. Fogg had another bad outing giving up six runs in just 1 2/3 innings of work. Torres gave up one run in 1/3 of an inning, while Boehringer gave up two runs in two innings, and Sauerbeck gave up the other two runs in one inning of relief. Pirates hitters managed to chase Cards starter Brett Tomko after he gave up 5 runs in 2 1/3 innings. Mike Crudale picked up the win pitching 1 2.3 innings of relief, and the Jason Isringhausen picked up what should have been a long save as he gave up two runs in five innings of relief. The Cardinals hit four homeruns in the game, one each from Pujols, Edmonds, Martinez, and Cairo. Rob Mackowiak hit the lone homerun for the Pirates.

Game 49: Pirates 2 Cardinals 3 Fireworks Night at PNC Park
The Cardinals squeaked through a win, with the game winning run coming off of a single by Jim Edmonds with two outs in the eighth inning, scoring Edgar Renteria. Jeff Suppan gave up just three runs in eight innings of work and got the loss for the Pirates. Cardinals star prospect Jimmy Journell picked up the win giving up just two runs in eight innings. Despite putting two people on base in the ninth, Mike Crudale held on to pick up his seventh save of the season.

Game 50: Pirates 2 Cardinals 5
Despite stellar performances by both starting pitchers, neither of them managed to pick up the win. D'Amico pitched 7 innings, giving up two runs, while Woody Williams also pitched 7 innings, and also gave up two runs, though they were both unearned. The score remained the same through the eigth inning until the Cardinals broke things open in the ninth. Dennys Reyes was brought in, and got Wilson Delgado and Vina to ground out before giving up a walk to Albert Pujols. Robinson was then brought in to pinch run, and Sauerbeck was brought in to face Ochoa. Sauerbeck hit Ochoa with a pitch, and then Scott Rolen singled to right-center to score Robinson. JD Drew then doubled down the right field line to score both Ochoa and Rolen. Sauerbeck finally ended the inning by getting Martinez to fly out to right center. Jeff Fassero then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, to pick up his fourth save of the year.

Series Recap: The Cardinals really roughed the Pirates up in this series. With one blowout and two nail biters that came down to the end, the Cardinals proved that they know how to win games, and the Pirates proved they know how to lose them.

The Pirates received two more trade offers. The first from the Texas Rangers involved the Pirates sending Benson to Texas in return for 4.5 star closer Rudy Seanez and three star prospect reliever Andrew Tisdale. I rejected this trade cause I'm really trying to look for youth in return for giving up Benson. The other offer came from the San Francisco Giants, also interested in a trade that would send Benson to SF in return for 4.5 star closer Scott Eyre and 3.5 star prospect 1B Travis Ishikawa. I'm gonna have to think some more about this one and wait to see what other offers might come in for Benson. Right now I'm leaning between the offer previously from the Rangers involving Joaquin Benoit and this one from the Giants for Benson right now. I'm gonna give it a few more weeks though.

The only league news this week was Marlins SP A.J. Burnett's stellar performance pitching a two-hitter against the Cincinatti Reds on Friday.

Operation Shutdown · 10-02-2003, 12:29 PM

Chugging right along here, I really want to have these first few seasons go by fast as the Pirates are likely not going to win many games.

Week 9
The Pirates begin the week with a record of 19-31, still in fifth place in the central division, 3 games above the Brewers. The Pirates go on the road for six games, starting with a three game series against the Cubs before heading to St. Louis for a 3-game series against the Cardinals. The Cubs are 28-23 and the Pirates are 4-5 against the Cubs this season. The Cardinals are 31-19 and still in first place in the central division. The Pirates got swept last week in the only series so far this season against the Cards.

Game 51: Pirates 3 Cubs 2
The Pirates continue to find ways to beat the Cubs. Benson had another strong performance today, giving up just two runs, a two run homerun by Sammy Sosa, in 6 2/3 innings. Jim Mann picked up his sixth save of the year pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Cubs starter Mark Prior had a decent start, but it just wasn't good enough, as he gave up 3 runs, two of which were earned in 8 innings of work. Rob Mackowiak and Reggie Sanders each had solo shots for the Pirates.

Game 52: Pirates 3 Cubs 4
The Pirates were not able to hold off the Cubs this time around as starter as starter Kip Wells went into the eighth inning having given up only one run, but was pulled having loaded the bases without recording a single out. Pirate relievers then gave up two more hits in the inning, scoring all three runs, all of which were charged to Wells. Wells pitched the seven innings, giving up four earned runs and getting the loss. Cubs starter Kerry Wood pitched a decent game giving up three runs in 6 2/3 innings, but the win went to Mike Sirotka, who got the final out in the top of the eighth. Remlinger picked up his 13th save of the year.

Game 53: Pirates 3 Cubs 0
This game came down to the ninth inning, where the score was tied at 0-0, as both starting pitchers pitched superb games, with Fogg going 7 innings without giving up a run, and Zambrano pitched 6 2/3 innings without giving up a run. Each team's bullpen pitched a scoreless eigth inning, with Boehringer getting the job done for the Pirates, and Veres and Guthrie getting the job done for the Cubs. Then in the top of the ninth Dusty Baker brought in Joe Borowski. After getting Aramis Ramirez to strike out, Borowski gave up a double to Craig Wilson. Kendall was put in to pinch run for Wilson, and he scored on a single by Nunez and Nunez advanced to second on the throw home. Rivera then hit a pinch hit double down the right field line scoring Nunez. Stairs then singled home Rivera and that was the end for Borowski. Rod Beck then came in and got Mackowiak to fly out and Lofton to ground out to end the inning. Jim Mann then pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his 7th save. Beohringer was credited with the win, and Borowski with the loss.

Game 54: Pirates 0 Cardinals 7
The Pirates didn't manage to score a single run off of Cardinals starter Woody Williams, who pitched seven scoreless innings to pick up the win. The Cardinals however were able to pick up five runs, three of which were earned, off of Suppan, who lasted just five innings. The Cardinals also scored a run off of Boehringer, who worked two innings of relief, and Sauerbeck who worked the other inning.

Game 55: Pirates 4 Cardinals 5
Jeff D'Amico was not able to record an out in this game as he was injured by a line drive off the bat of Jim Edmonds. Before leaving the game, D'Amico gave up two runs, and left runners on the corners. Reliever Mark Corey came in and got three outs without giving up another run. Then in the top of the second, Corey was able to do what every relief pitcher dreams of doing, he hit a homerun with two on and two outs to give the Pirates the lead. Corey then gave up the lead in the bottom of the inning, allowing the Cardinals to tie the score at 3. The score remained the same until the ninth inning, when the Pirates were able to score when Nunez doubled home Reggie Sanders. The Cardinals managed to rally in the ninth off of Jim Mann. Mann gave up a leadoff double to Scott Rolen and then intentionally walked JD Drew. After striking out Martinez and Matheny, he hit pinch hitter Miguel Cairo, loading the bases. Mann then walked home a run, giving up the walk to Edgar Renteria. he finally got Vina to fly out to end the inning. The Pirates threatened in the top of the eleventh, when after two outs, Bobby Hill doubled and Nunez got on base with an infield single. With runners at the corners, the Pirates were not able to score a run as Humberto Cota struck out swinging. The Cardinals then scored the game winner in the bottom of the 11th off of Dennys Reyes when Mike Matheny doubled home JD Drew. Starter Matt Morris went 7 innings giving up three runs. The win went to Jeff Fassero and the loss to Dennys Reyes.

May Wrapup
The Pirates went 13-16 in the month of May, and now have a record of 21-34 still in fifth place, 13 games behind the division leading Cardinals. Benson turned things around this month going 5-0 with a 2.95 ERA. None of the other Pirates did very well in the month of May, with the worst performance coming from Wells who went 1-4 with a 6.38 ERA. Reggie Sanders had a good month hitting 0.321 with 4 HR and 8 RBI's. Kenny Lofton hit poorly with an average of only 0.179, although he did manage two homeruns and 10 RBI's and also scored 10 runs. Bobby Hill also had a poor month, hitting just 0.185, although he did manage to pile up a lot of walks and managed a respectable OBP of 0.341.

Around the league, the Red Sox are still leading the AL East with a record of 37-18, 5.5 games ahead of the Yankees. Minnesota, with a record of 29-26 still leads the central by 2 games over the White Sox. The West is a tight race with Anaheim still on top with a 32-22 record, but they're just one game up on the A's and just two up on Seattle. In the NL, the Expos have overtaken the Braves and now lead the division with a record of 32-24, 2.5 games ahead of the Braves. The Cardinals, with a record of 34-21 are leading the central by 4.5 games over the Cubs. The Diamondbacks still hold the best record in the majors at 38-17, but the Dodgers trail them by just a half a game in the West.

Pedro went 4-0 with an ERA 1.19 in 6 starts this month, good enough to win the AL Pitcher of the Month. Vazquez won the award for the NL. In 6 starts, Vazquez went 5-0 and compiled a measly 1.81 ERA. Viagra man Rafeal Palmeiro showed he could still knock them around this month, and earned the batter of the month award for the AL. He hit 0.371 while crushing 11 dingers and knocking home 32. In 109 at-bats, Chipper Jones hit 0.431 with 13 HR and 28 RBI's to win the award for the NL.

League Transactions:
Besides the Pirates trade this month, there were two other trades in the majors.
On the sixteenth, the Rangers acquired 2.5 star C Ramon Castro from the Marlins in exchange for 4 star reliever Francisco Cordero, 3 star prospect 1B Nate Gold, and 1.5 star prospect LF Larry Grayson.
The other trade took place on the 26th when the Red Sox sent 2 star 3B Bill Mueller packing to the Brewers in exchange for 4 star reliever Jayson Durocher and 2 star prospect CF Steve Moss.

2003 MLB Draft:
With the first selection of the draft the Devil Rays selected 2B Rickie Weeks. The Pirates with their first round pick, ninth overall, selected starting pitcher Adam Loewen. (I accidentaly hit computer pick when it got to me, I don't need another SP prospect, oh well)
2nd round - 2B Matt Moses, good average hitter, with good power and good range at 2B
3rd round - SS Robert Valido, good contact, with average power, and good plate discipline, and good range at SS.
4th round - SP Chuck Tiffany, good at avoiding hits, average at walks, and brilliant in strikeouts.
5th round - SP Donald Veal, GBGAG
6th round - RF Daniel Perales, GAAP
7th round - MR David Samaniego - GAAGG

I've changed the trading preference to favor prospects after I was offered Xavier Nady for Jason Kendall straight up. ?????
I did, however, make a blockbuster trade with the Padres. I sent the Padres C Jason Kendall, LF Brian Giles, CF Kenny Lofton, and SP Kip Wells in return for LF Xavier Nady, CF Mark Kotsay, SP Oliver Perez, LF Rondell White, and CF Brady Anderson. The last two were just an attempt to even out the salaries a bit as I felt that that would be the only thing preventing the Padres from doing a deal like that. Brady Anderson and Rondell White were then released from my team. C JR House was promoted to the majors after hitting 0.315 with three homers and 30 RBI's in 197 AB in Nashville. Nady, Kotsay, and Perez were also placed with the major league team. Nady has three years of options remaining, and Perez has two years remaining.
Basically this trade can be broken down into two parts, Brian Giles for Xavier Nady and Oliver Perez. (which isn't too far off from what really happened in real life. Although instead of Nady it was Bay, who's not quite as good, and another prospect) Then Kendall, Lofton and Kip Wells for Kotsay, White and Anderson. Kendall is a decent singles hitter, and was starting to turn things around again before the trade, Lofton is a replacement for a much better Kotsay, and Wells is a good #2/#3 starter on most any teams. Anderson and White were an attempt to even out salaries. The Pirates now only have 38 players on their 40 man roster, getting ready to be able to activate Mike Lincoln and Dave Williams from the 60 day DL.
The Pirates also announced that they have signed Pat Mahomes to a minor league contract extension, and that they are entering talks with IF Abraham Nunez and MR Dennys Reyes for contract extensions.

Game 56: Pirates 1 Cardinals 10 Baseball Cap Day at Busch Stadium
Benson's good fortune of last month lasted until the seventh inning of today's game where he gave up four of the six runs scored in the inning. Benson went a total of 6 1/3 innings giving up six runs, five of which were earned. Cardinals Simontacchi picked up the win going 7 innings while giving up just one run. Vina and Martinez each homered in the game.

Series Recap: The Cardinals continue to destroy the Pirates every chance they get. The Pirates are now 0-6 against the Cards.

The only other news this week was that Mariner's Bret Boone got give hits and hit for the cycle against the Royals on Wednesday.

Operation Shutdown · 10-02-2003, 01:37 PM

Week 10
The Pirates are currently 21-35 and this week will travel back home to start interleague play with a three game series at home against the Red Sox, who are currently 37-19. The Pirates then travel to Atlanta for a 3-game series against the Braves, who are 29-27. The Pirates have also come out with their promotions for this month.
6/5 - Noddin Head Doll Day against the Red Sox
6/17 - Baseball Cap Day against the Expos
6/27 - Fireworks Night against the Rockies

The Pirates promoted LF Sean Garrett from AA Altoona to AAA Nashville. Garrett was hitting 0.292 with 3 HRs and 18 RBIs in 226 ABs with Altoona this year.

Game 57: Pirates 2 Red Sox 1
Oliver Perez pitched very well in his first start as a Pirate, giving up just one run in 7 2/3 innings. Unfortunately, Red Sox starter Chris Elmore pitched just as well giving up no runs in 6 innings of work. The Pirates finally got on the board in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 1. With one out, Ramirez walked and then moved to third base on a double by Craig Wilson. Embree then intentionally walked Matt Stairs. JR House hit a sac fly to left center field, scoring Aramis Ramirez and then Jack Wilson lined out to end the inning. The Pirates won the ball game in the bottom of the tenth, when after Mackowiak and Kotsay hit back-to-back singles, Cota hit a fly ball to deep left, which moved Mackowiak to third base. After Nady struck out swinging, Ramirez hit a fly ball to left field that should have been the last out of the inning, but leftfielder Manny Ramires dropped the ball and Mackowiak came home to score the winning run. Embree picked up the loss, and Mann picked up the win.

Game 58: Pirates 1 Red Sox 6
Pedro proved to be too much for the Pirates, giving up just one run off of five hits in 8 1/3 innings, while walking none and striking out 13 Pirate hittes. Josh Fogg pitched well up until the fifth inning, when he gave up five runs in the inning. He pitched a total of 4 1/3 innings, giving up the five runs. The other run came off of Torres, who pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief. Manny Ramirez had a big offensive day, partly making up for yesterday's error, hitting two homeruns and driving in 3 runs.

Game 59: Pirates 6 Red Sox 4 Noddin Head Doll Day at PNC Park
The Pirates' bats took out their frustration against Red sox starter Tim Wakefield today, scoring five runs, three of which were earned, in four innings off of him. Ramirez and Reggie Sanders each had homeruns off of Wakefield, with Reggies being a three run shot. Suppan pitched well enough to get the win, giving up four runs in 7 1/3 innings of work. Jim Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his 8th save of the year.

Series Recap: The Pirates continue to play pretty well against any team not named the Cardinals.

Game 60: Pirates 4 Braves 1
Joe Beimel made the start today for the still injured Jeff D'Amico and did quite well giving up just one run in 5 2/3 innings. He was pulled after walking a batter with two outs and the heart of the Braves order coming to bat in the sixth. Boehringer shut down the threat and then pitched another scoreless inning in the seventh. On the other side, Russ Ortiz was throwing a no-hitter until the seventh inning, and that's when things got messy. Kotsay lead off the inning, but then Matt Stairs flied out to to left-center. With Mackowiak up to bat, Kotsay was picked off at first base and it looked as if Kotsay would get out of the inning unscathed. However, later in the bat Mackowiak hit a solo homerun, and that seemed to rattle Ortiz. He then gave up a double to Ramirez, who moved to third on a wild pitch, and later in the same at-bat Wilson walked. With runners at the corners and two outs, Cox decided to pull Ortiz and bring in Gryboski. Gryboski gave up a triple to Reggie Sanders that scored Ramirez and Wilson, but then got House to ground out to third to end the inning. The Pirates then scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth off of Smoltz, but that proved to not be needed as Jim Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his ninth save of the year. Boehringer got the win for the Pirates, and Ortiz picked up the loss for the Braves.

Game 61: Pirates 8 Braves 6
The Pirates entered the bottom of the sixth inning with a 6-1 lead, but the Braves managed to mount a comeback. They scored one run in the sixth and two in the seventh off of Kris Benson. Marcus Giles then hit a solo homerun off of Sauerbeck in the bottom of the eighth, and then Chipper Jones also managed to get a solo homer off of Jim Mann in the ninth to tie the game at 6 a piece. The Pirates then regained the lead in the top of the tenth with a leadoff homer by Craig Wilson. The Pirates then provided an insurance run when Jack Wilson singled and then scored off of a double by Matt Stairs. It again proved to be unnecessary as Torres came in and pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth to pick up his fourth save of the year. Starters Benson went seven innings giving up four runs for the Pirates, and Paul Byrd went 5 2/3 innings giving up 6 runs, 3 of which were earned, for the Braves. Ray King was charged with the loss for the Braves and Biemel picked up the win for the Pirates.

Game 62: Pirates 6 Braves 8
This time the Pirates bullpen blew the lead, and blew it for good. The Pirates jumped out to a 6-2 lead through six innings, thanks in large part to a five run second inning. Starter Oliver Perez then lead off the seventh with a walk to Andruw Jones and then was pulled in favor of Torres. After getting DeRosa to strike out, Torres gave up a two run homer to Chipper Jones. Perez was charged with a total of three runs in six innings of work. Things just got worse for the Pirate bullpen. In the eighth, after Torres lead off with a walk against Estrada, Corey was brought in and walked PH Matt Franco. After getting Marcus Giles to strike out looking, Corey gave up a single to Furcal, but the runners held, leaving the bases loaded with one out. Corey then walked Andruw Jones scoring Estrada. Corey then got out of the jam by getting DeRosa to strike out and Chipper Jones to fly out to end the inning. Things got even worse in the bottom of the ninth. Reyes was brought in to try and close the game, but started the inning by walking Sheffield. Fick then grounded into a fielders choice, just beating out the throw that would have made it a double play. Reyes then walked Lopez and Gryboski, sacrificed Lopez and Fick into scoring position with two outs. Reyes then gave up a walk-off homerun to Marcus Giles to end the game. After starting pitcher Billy Sylvester gave up five runs in just 1 2/3 innings, Braves pitchers managed to hold the Pirates to just one more run off of Bong in the sixth inning. Gryboski picked up the win for the Braves, and Reyes was charged with a blown save and the loss.

Series Recap: The Pirates managed to mount comebacks in the first two games, but the final game of the series was Atlanta's turn to come back, and they did so with style. The Pirates continue to do fairly well in games outside their division, as they are 14-15 in those games. They are 11-22 against central division opponents.

A lot of other news happened this week. On Tuesday, Sammy Sosa smashed three homeruns off of Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitching. On Wednesday, Mariner's John Olerud collected his 2000th hit in the eigth inning off of Phillies pitcher Dave Coggin. On Saturday, A's hitter Darren McCarty broke up Phillies starter Terry Adams bid for a no-hitter with a two-out double in the ninth inning. Adams went on to get the next batter and finished the game with a one-hit shutout. On Sunday Marlins A.J. Burnett threw a two-hit shutout against the Angels, and Pedro Martinez also threw a two-hit shutout against the Brewers.

Operation Shutdown · 10-02-2003, 07:23 PM

Week 11
Into the eleventh week of the season, and the Pirates are at 25-37, still in fifth place in the division. The Pirates go on a six game road trip this week, and continue their interleague games. They travel to Toronto for three games against the Blue Jays, who are 30-34. The Pirates then travel to Tampa Bay for a three game set against the Devil Rays, currently with a record of 23-39.

Game 63: Pirates 1 Bluejays 11
Blue jays starter Roy Halladay pitched a complete game, giving up just one run off of 8 hits, while walking 3 and striking out 10. Fogg struggled again this outing, giving up 6 runs in 2 2/3 innings. The Pirate bullpen didn't do too well either, giving up five runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Game 64: Pirates 12 Bluejays 18
Yikes! It could take hours to explain what happened in this game, so I won't, but instead just give the lines for the starters. Denny Neagle gave up 6 runs in just 1 2/3 innings. Reliever Gabe White picked up the win for the Jays, giving up 2 runs in 2 2/3 innings. Pirates starter Jeff Suppan picked up the loss giving up 8 runs, 6 of which were earned, off of 6 hits while walking 8 and striking out 3 in five innings. Ramirez, Sanders, and House (his first career HR) each hit homers for the Pirates, while Eric Hinske hit the lone homerun for the Blue Jays.

Game 65: Pirates 7 Bluejays 8
Jeff D'Amico gave up all the runs against him from homeruns. Hinske and Delgado each hit solo shots, while Chris Woodward hit a solo homer, as well as a two-run blast. D'Amico pitched a total of 7 innings giving up five runs, four of which were earned. Blue Jays starter Corey Lidle gave up 6 runs in 4 2/3 innings of work. Jim Mann blew another save this year, giving up two runs in the bottom of the ninth by giving up a double to Luke Allen, a single to Hinske, and then another double to Delgado, tying the game at 7 and sending it to extra innings. In the bottom of the eleventh, after getting Luke Allen to ground out, Torres gave up an infield hit to Hinske, hit Dave Berg with a pitch and then walked Woodard to load the bases. McClendon then brought out Beimel, and he hit Catalanotto to score the game winning run.

Series recap: Pretty sad really. The Pirates should have been able to win at least one, but the bullpen was just horrendous.

Game 66: Pirates 3 Devil Rays 8 Fireworks night at Tropicana Field
Another pathetic game by the bullpen. The game was tied 3-3 going into the eighth inning, and Benson left the game with a runner on first base and two outs. Sauerbeck came in and walked Abernathy and Anderson to load the bases. he then gave up a single to javier Valentin, that scored Lombard and Abernathy. Corey then came in and gave up a triple to Damian Rolls, scoring two runs, and then a double to Marrero, that scored Rolls. So the line for Benson was 4 runs, 3 earned, in 7 2/3 innings for the loss. DRays starter Joe Kennedy went 6 2/3 innings giving up three runs, but the win went to reliever Lance Carter as he pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

Game 67: Pirates 3 Devil Rays 6 Baseball Cap Day at Tropicana Field
Perez did well until the sixth inning, when he gave up a two run homerun to Jared Sandberg. He then gave up another two-run homerun to Eli Marrero in the bottom of the seventh, that gave the DRays the lead 4-3. The Rays then got some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth as Valentin hit yet another two-run homerun this time off of reliever Mark Corey. Perez picked up the loss giving up the four runs in 6 2/3 innings. DRays starter Jorge Sosa picked up the win giving up just 3 runs in eight innings of work. Travis Phelps picked up his eleventh save pitching a scoreless ninth.

Game 68: Pirates 4 Devil Rays 5
Josh Fogg didn't have a good outing giving up 5 runs in 5 2/3 innings picking up the loss. The only runs DRays starter John Stephens gave up were solo homeruns by Ramirez and Nady. He went 7 2/3 innings, giving up just those two runs. The Pirates tried to mount a comeback scoring two runs in the ninth when with two outs Craig Wilson doubled home Carlos Rivera and Mark Kotsay singled home Wilson. Travis Phelps managed to stop the rally and pick up the save by getting Bobby Hill to ground out on a dribbler right in front of the plate that was fielded by the catcher.

Series Recap: The Pirates losing streak has reached seven games. Meanwhile, Brian Giles and Kip Wells have helped the Padres improve to a .500 record.

In other news on Sunday, Mariners rookie Rafael Soriano pitched a two-hit shutout against the Atlanta Braves.

Operation Shutdown · 10-02-2003, 09:12 PM

Week 12
The Pirates activated Dave Williams from the 60-day DL. He was placed on the 40-man roster and will play in AAA Nashville. He has one option year remaining. The Pirates return home this week with a 3-game series against the the Expos, who are currently 40-29 and atop the NL East, and then play three games against the Indians, who are 32-38.

Game 69: Pirates 2 Expos 5 Baseball Cap Day at PNC Park
Nothing much exciting, Suppan went five innings giving up five runs, four earned, in five innings pitched. El Duque pitched a great game giving up just 2 runs in eight innings. Stewart pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his 16th save of the year.

Game 70: Pirates 4 Expos 3
The Pirates finally ended their 8 game losing streak by coming from behind to win in the ninth. Starter D'Amico had a decent outing, giving up three runs, two earned, in 6 2/3 innings. Expos starter Tony Armas Jr. did even better, giving up just two runs, neither of which were earned in 7 1/3 innings. In the bottom of the ninth with two outs, Jack Wilson singled to center field. Cota then hit a pinch hit double down the left field line scoring Wilson. Kotsay then singled to right, and Cota beat the throw home from Vlad to score the game winning run. Jim Mann picked up the win for the Pirates, and Stewart got the loss for the Expos.

Game 71: Pirates 2 Expos 8
Another losing effort by the Pirates. Starter Benson gave up five runs in five innings picking up the loss. Expos starter Seung Song pitched very well giving up just two runs in eight innings of work. Craig Wilson and Aramis Ramirez each hit solo homeruns.

Series Recap: Except for the comback game, the Pirates offense was pretty lackluster against the Expos.

Game 72: Pirates 8 Indians 9
The Pirates finally got to Indians starter Jason Phillips in the seventh inning, scoring 8 runs, 7 of which were earned, in his 6 2/3 innings pitched. However he got the win, as Jason Phillips lead the Indians offense going three for three with a HR and 3 RBI's. 6 of those runs came off starter Oliver Perez, who pitched only 2 2/3 innings. 1 run came off of Beimel and the other 2 came off of Torres. The Pirates tried to mount a comeback in the ninth. Stairs lead off with a walk, but then Ramirez grounded into a double play. Brian Anderson then walked Reggie Sanders and was pulled in favor of Dave Burba. Mackowiak hit a pinch hit single putting runners at the corners with two outs. Burba, however got pinch hitter JR House to strike out and end the inning and pick up the save.

Game 73: Pirates 4 Indians 9
Fogg had yet another poor outing and picked up his 10th loss of the season, giving up 6 runs in five innings. Corey gave up one run and Beimel gave up two. Indians starter Cliff Lee picked up his first career win, giving up just two runs in 6 innings.

Game 74: Pirates 4 Indians 3
The Pirates managed to mount another comeback in the ninth inning to win the game. Starter Jeff Suppan pitched 7 innings giving up just two runs, while Indians starter Baez gave up just one run through 6 innings. With the Indians leading 2-1 entering the ninth inning, the Indians added one insurance run when after two outs, Brandon Phillips singled home Victor Martinez off of Torres. The Indians then brought in Riske to face the Pirates in the ninth. He got Matt Stairs to ground out, but that would be the last out he'd get. Rivera singled to center, and House followed with his own single, and both runners advanced a base on a fielding error by the left fielder. Nunez then hit a pinch hit single, scoring Rivera and moving House to third. Mackowiak then hit another single scoring House, and moving Nunez to third. Kotsay then followed with his own single to right-center scoring Nunez. The Pirates managed to score 3 runs off of five singles in the bottom of the ninth to win it.

Series Recap: There were two real close ones, with the Indians coming out on top in one, and the Pirates in the other.

Around the league, on Friday Chicago White Sox starter Mark Buehrle pitched a no-hit shutout against the Cubs, while striking out six and walking three, and leading the Sox to a 2-0 win over the Cubs. Also that day, Angels starter John Lackey pulled his tricep muscle and will miss the next nine weeks. On Saturday, Met's starter Steve Trachsel pitched a two-hit shutout against the Yankees, as the Mets won the game 3-0.

Operation Shutdown · 10-03-2003, 12:09 AM

Week 13
The Pirates are now 27-47 and still currently reside in fifth place in the NL Central. The Pirates start the week in Montreal with a three game series against the Expos, who are 43-32 and in first place in the east, and then return home for a three game series against the Rockies, who are currently 37-40.

Game 75: Pirates 3 Expos 2
The Pirates held on to defeat the Expos, holding off a late game comeback effort by the Expos. Starter Jeff D'Amico gave up just one run in 7 innings and picked up the win, his fifth of the year. Tony Armas Jr. gave up three runs in 5 2/3 innings and got the loss for the Expos. In the bottom of the ninth, after Jim Mann struck out Wil Cordero, Vlad Guerrero hit a solo homerun down the left field line that just cleared that wall right next to the foul pole and was almost caught by Nady. Mann then hit Saenz with a pitch and he moved to third after a single by Vidro. With runners at the corners and just one out, Mann got out of the jam by getting Schneider to strike out and Barrett to ground out to second base. Mann picked up his 10th save of the season.

Game 76: Pirates 2 Expos 0
The Pirates only managed to score two runs in 6 2/3 innings off of starter Seung Song, both runs scored by solo homeruns by Hill and Mackowiak. Those two runs proved to be enough this time as Benson pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the bullpen held on for him to get the win. Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 11th save of the year.

Game 77: Pirates 7 Expos 8
Perez had a poor outing, givin up five runs, three earned, in only 4 2/3 innings pitched for the loss. The bullpen gave up another three runs in 3 1/3 innings. Vazquez pitched decent giving up four runs in seven innings to get the win. The Pirates attempted a comeback in the ninth inning. After getting two quick outs Britt Reames gave up singles to Bobby Hill and Craig Wilson. Rob Mackowiak then followed with his second homerun of the game, a shot to deep right center field to bring the game to within one run. Scott Stewart then came into the ballgame and recorded the final out by striking out Stairs looking to notch his 18th save of the year.

Series Recap: Not a bad series for the Pirates. They won the first two because of good starting pitching, and almost made a come back in the final game. They're gonna need more good pitching if they're gonna win ball games this year.

I promoted John VanBenSchoten from AA Altoona to AAA Nashville and placed him in the rotation and moved Shaffar into the bullpen. JVB was 7-1 with a 1.66 ERA in 10 starts for the Curve. I then promoted Pat O'Brien from A to AA and placed him in the starting rotation.

Game 78: Pirates 1 Rockies 9 Fireworks Night at PNC Park
Starter Josh Fogg still can't seem to find his rhythm, as he picked up his 11th loss, his eighth in a row. Fogg gave up six runs in 4 2/3 innings, and Boehringer gave up the other three runs in 2 1/3 innings of work. Jason Jennings on the other hand pitched very well giving up just one run in 7 innings for his 8th win of the year. Preston Wilson hit two homeruns and had 5 RBI's in the game.

Game 79: Pirates 6 Rockies 14
This game was unbelievable. Pirates starter Jeff Suppan gave up five runs, four of which were earned in five innings of work. The Pirates answered back and tied the game in the seventh at 5 a piece and chased starter Shawn Chacon after he gave up all runs which were earned in seven innings. The Pirates then took the lead in the eighth scoring a run of Todd Jones. the Rockies answered in the ninth with a run off of Mann, getting another blown save. Beimel then got one out in the tenth, and Reyes came on and finished off the tenth and pitched two more scoreless innings, until the thirteenth. Reyes then gave up eigth runs in the inning including a grand slam by Hudson. The Pirates demoralized, didn't give much of an effort in the bottom half of the inning, but it didn't matter cause it was a lost cause anyway. Reyes got the loss for the Pirates and Fuentes picked up the win for the Rockies.

Game 80: Pirates 3 Rockies 6
The Pirates bullpen blew yet another game. Elarton and D'Amico had very similar stats, each pitching 7 innings, giving up three runs, two of which were earned, 9 hits and striking out 5. The only difference was D'Amico walked 4 while Elarton walked none. The problems occurred for the Pirates in the ninth inning. After giving up a lead-off triple to Larry Walker, Sauerbeck got Hudson to ground out and kept Walker from scoring. Sauerbeck was pulled after intentionally walking Stewart. Jim Mann then came in and gave up a double to Hawpe scoring Walker and sending Stewart to third. After getting Hernandez to strike out, Mann gave up a single to Stynes scoring Stewart and Hawpe. He then gave up a single to Petrick who went to second when the throw went to third base trying to get Stynes, but he was safe. Mann finally ended the inning by getting Closser to strike out, but the damage had been done. Jimenez then got three quick outs in the ninth after giving up a single by Jack Wilson, to pick up his 14th save of the season. Todd Jones picked up the win, and Sauerbeck was credited with the loss.

Series Recap: I just don't get it. The Pirates can sometimes go in there and win games against teams they shouldn't beat, like the Expos, and then they'll get swept by teams that they can actually match up against like the Rockies.

Around the league, on Tuesday Yankees hurler Roger Clemens picked up his 300th career win pitching 5 2/3 shut-out innings against the Devil Rays. On Friday, Indian's shortstop Omar Vizquel drilled his 2000th career hit, a single off of Reds' Danny Graves with one out in the ninth inning.

09-30-2003, 01:34 AM	#4
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Okay, it took me some time to get through all of this, but with the help of a great website I found (www.sports-wired.com), I was able to find out who needed to be on my 40-man roster based on the number of years that they had been playing some sort of professional ball. I believe the rules are that after playing 5 years of professional baseball, you must be placed on the 40 man roster or be subjected to the Rule V draft. For my purposes, if a guy was not on the 40-man roster after 5 years, it was just assumed that he was picked up by someone, unless he was over the age of 30, and so I released that player or made room for him somehow on the 40-man roster. First, I'll give a list of the transactions I made, and then list my 25 man roster, and then the 40 man roster. The amount of option years remaining for that player will be to the left in parenthesis if the player has any years remaining. First of all, I released Aaron Holbert, Tomas De La Rosa, David Doster, John Wasdin, Julian Tavarez, Matt Guerrier, Bobby Bradley and Nelson Figueroa to make room on the 40-man roster. I then promoted Jim Mann from AAA to the 25-man roster to fill Julian Tavarez's spot in the bullpen. I then traded 1B Kevin Young to Florida in return for MR Marc Wilkins and then promptly released Marc Wilkins from my 40-man roster. I made that move to both free up some salary and to make some extra room on the 40-man roster. I then promoted 1B Carlos Rivera from AAA to the 25 man roster. I then traded Mike Williams to Florida for RF prospect Jeremy Hermida. Hermida still has 4 more years of eligibility before he needs to be put on the 40-man roster. I made this move to free up more room on the 40-man roster, and mostly cause I really don't like Williams all that much as a player. I then named Jim Mann my closer, although that will probably change throughout the course of the season. Lastly, I promoted Mark Corey to the 25-man roster. So the 25-man, and 40-man roster are as following. (means on 40-man) SP Kris Benson SP Kip Wells SP Josh Fogg SP Jeff Suppan SP Jeff D'Amico MR Joe Biemel MR Brian Boehringer MR Mark Corey MR Dennys Reyes MR Scott Sauerbeck MR Solomon Torres CL Jim Mann C Jason Kendall C Humberto Cota (1 year) 1B Craig Wilson 1B Randall Simon 2B Abraham Nunez 2B Pokey Reese 3B Rob Mackowiak 3B Aramis Ramirez SS Jack Wilson LF Brian Giles CF Kenny Lofton RF Reggie Sanders RF Matt Stairs RF JJ Davis (1 year) CF Tony Alvarez (1 year) 1B Walter Young (3 years) SS Jose Castillo (2 years) C J.R. House (2 years) C Ryan Doumit (3 years) 1B Carlos Rivera (1 year) SP Mike Gonzalez (2 years) MR John Grabow (2 years) MR Duaner Sanchez (1 year) SP Ryan Vogelsong (1 year) SP Brian Meadows LF Manuel Ravelo (3 years) CF Jeremy Harts (3 years) LF Shawn Garrett (3 years) Dave Williams, Mike Lincoln, and Pat Meares will start the season on the 60-day disabled list, meaning that they neither need to be included in the 25-man or the 40-man roster. Well, there's the opening day lineup of the Pittsburgh Pirates. I expect many changes to come through the course of the season, and many of those changes will more than likely be the dumping of as much salary as possible so I can be "financially flexible" heading into next year. Overall this year, I think the pitching staff is fairly average, nothing really outstanding, but yet no real glaring weaknesses, except for maybe the lack of a true closer and the lack of a #1 staff ace. I'll probably post tomorrow what the lineup will be and will start simming as well. For this first year, I'll probably do a week at a time and do a short write-up and summary of each week. EDIT: One thing to change. I decided to promote C Humberto Cota to the 25-man roster instead of 1B Carlos Rivera. Rivera remains on the 40-man roster with one year of options remaining. Craig Wilson will also be first baseman, not catcher. __________________ "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." Last edited by Operation Shutdown; 09-30-2003 at 02:06 AM.

09-30-2003, 01:51 AM	#5
joncarlos All Star Reserve Join Date: May 2003 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 693	Good stuff. Don't worry, I won't be mad at all!!! I love reading about my Bucs! Looking forward to a good long run for the Buccos __________________ <a href =http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35167> 2003 Pirates Regular Season </a> <a href=http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=40941> 2003 Pirates playoffs and off-season </a> <a href=http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44242> 2004 Pirates Season </a> <a href=http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47658> 2004 Pirates Playoffs and Off-season </a> <a href=http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48039>2005 Pirates Regular Season </a>

09-30-2003, 02:08 PM	#7
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Start of the Season The Pirates have announced that the price of tickets to this seasons games will be a very cheap and respectable $7. McClatchy also announced the addition of a new GM Chris Chatham, and have announced that Dave Littlefield will remain on for at least this season and will serve in capacity as Assistant GM and scouting director. Also, Manager Lloyd McClendon announced today his starting lineup and his pitching staff. By some miracle, Lloyd has given up his fascination of strongly favoring lefty/righty matchups, and has announced that he will play the best player for every lineup, regardless if there is a lefty or a righty starting that day. The lineup will go as follows CF Kenny Lofton C Jason Kendall LF Brian Giles 3B Aramis Ramirez 1B Craig Wilson RF Reggie Sanders 2B Pokey Reese SS Jack Wilson The starting rotation will be as follows: Kris Benson Kip Wells Josh Fogg Jeff Suppan Jeff D'Amico The bullpen will consist of Dennys Reyes, Brian Boehringer, Salomon Torres, Joe Biemel, Mark Corey, and Scott Sauerbeck, with Jim Mann rounding out the pen as the closer. The bench players consist of: C Humberto Cota 1B Randall Simon 2B/SS Abraham Nunez 2B/3B/OF Rob Mackowiak 1B/LF/RF Matt Stairs Week 1: The Pirates first week consists of a 3-game series in Cincinatti, and a 3-game series in Philadelphia. Game 1: Pirates 4 Reds 5 (11 innings) 41959 people showed up for the Reds opening day at the new Great American Ballpark, and not one of them left disappointed. The Pirates entered the ninth inning with a 2-1 lead, thanks to a two run homerun in the top of the fourth inning by Reggie Sanders. Matt Stairs added two more runs in the top of the ninth with a homerun off of Scott Sullivan. In the bottom of the ninth, Pirates closer Jim Mann gave up three runs off of two hits and three walks in only 2/3 of an inning. Boehringer then came in to finish off the ninth. Boehringer then pitched a 1-2-3 10th inning, and started the 11th inning and gave up a walk. Sauerbeck then came in and was only able to get two outs, before giving up two hits, and the eventual game winning hit. (Sorry I don't know who got the hits and who scored because I forgot to turn on the game logs). Starter Kris Benson went 8 innings giving up only one run. The win went to Kent Merker and the loss to Brian Boehringer. Game 2: Pirates 3 Reds 5 The Pirates once again got on the board first with a 3-run homerun by Aramis Ramirez, scoring Jason Kendall and Brian Giles, in the top of the first inning. The Reds answered with one run in the bottom of the second with a solo homerun by Jason LaRue with two outs. Then again in the bottom of the sixth inning, with two outs and Adam Dunn on first, Jason LaRue tied the game with his second home-run of the day. The Reds then took the lead in the bottom of the seventh with Barry Larkin hitting a solo home-run to lead off the inning against reliever Brian Boehringer. The Reds then got an insurance run when pinch hitter Jacob Cruz singled home Adam Dunn off of Brian Boehringer. Reds closer Scott Williamson pitched a perfect ninth inning, getting Reggie Sanders to strike out and pinch hitters Randall Simon and Abraham Nunez to ground out. Starter Kip Wells went 6 innings, giving up three runs. Brian Boehringer once again picked up the loss giving up two runs in 1 2/3 innings. Reds starter Danny Graves went 8 innings giving up 3 runs for the win, and closer Scott Williamson picked up the save. Game 3: Pirates 2 Reds 5 Nothing too exciting happened in this game. Jason Kendall got both of the Pirates RBI's, singling home Kenny Lofton each time. Austin Kearns, Ken Griffey Jr., and Aaron Boone each had homeruns off of starter Josh Fogg. Fogg gave up five runs in six innings for the loss and Brian Boehringer managed to actually pitch two scoreless innings this time around. Reds starter Chris Reitsma went 8 innings giving up two runs for the win, and Scott Williamson picked up his second save of the year. Series Recap: Overall the Pirates offense has been about average, as well as the starting pitchers. The bullpen has two losses and one blown save to its credit already this year. This is going to be one long year if this keeps up. Game 4: Pirates 0 Phillies 3 Once again, not a whole lot of exciting things happened in this game. The Phillies scored 2 runs in the bottom of the third and one run in the bottom of the sixth. Starter Jeff Suppan went 6 1/3 innings and despite giving up 11 hits and 7 walks, gave up only 3 earned runs for the loss. Mark Corey pitched 2/3 of a scoreless inning, and Torres pitched another scoreless inning. Phillies starter Brett Myers pitched 7 scoreless innings for the win. Mesa came on and pitched a scoreless eigth inning and then Dan Plesac pitched a scoreless ninth for the save, his first of the year. In other league news, Sammy Sosa hit his 500th homerun today, a solo shot in the first inning off of Cincinati Reds starter Paul Wilson. Game 5: Pirates 5 Phillies 0 The Pirates finally got on board with a win against the Philadelphia Phillies, and they did so the old fashioned way. The 4-8 hitters each had one RBI each and Pokey Reese and Craig Wilson each had multi-hit games. Wilson went 4-5 with 1 RBI, and Reese went 3-5 with one RBI. Pirates starting pitcher Jeff D'Amico pitched a complete game shutout giving up 7 hits, walking two and striking out 4. Phillies starter Joe Roa picked up the loss. Game 6: Pirates 5 Phillies 7 Pirates starter Kris Benson got shelled in his second start of the year giving up 7 runs in 5 2/3 innings and picked up his first loss of the year. Phillies 1B Jim Thome had a big night with two homeruns, a two-run shot off of Benson in the third inning and a three-run shot off of Benson in the sixth inning. The Pirates tried to mount a comeback scoring two runs in the seventh and then two runs in the eighth off of starter Randy Wolf, before Rheal Cormier came in and shut them down and the eighth, and Dan Plesac finished business with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, picking up his second save of the year. Phillies starter Randy Wolf got the win, giving up five runs in 7 2/3 innings. Week 1 wrap-up: This looks like it could be real long season for the Pirates. If it's not the bullpen that's blowing games, it's the starting pitching, or the lackluster offense that's keeping them from winning games.

09-30-2003, 02:13 PM	#8
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	This post is just cause I added the link to the site in my sig. __________________ "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."

09-30-2003, 07:42 PM	#9
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	The Pirates have announced their promotion schedule for the month of April. 4/10 - Fireworks night against the Brewers 4/15 - Cap Day against the Mets 4/23 - Glove Day against the Giants 4/26 - Noddin Head Doll Day against the Dodgers Week 2: This week the Pirates will start out at home with a three game series against the Brewers. They will then go to Chicago for a three-game series against the Cubs. Game 7: Pirates 1 Brewers 3 Another game lost by the bullpen. Pirates starter Kip Wells went 7 innings only giving up one run. Mark Corey got two outs and Scott Sauerbeck got the other out for a scoreless eighth inning. In the top of the ninth Jim Mann loaded the bases with nobody out and John VanderWal came through with a two-run single. Mann then got the next batter to ground out, and then got the next batter to line out into a double play, but the damage had already been done and he picked up the loss. The Pirate offense was pretty anemic as they managed only five hits off of Brewers starter Wayne Franklin, who went 6 innings giving up only one run. Reliever Mike DeJean picked up the win, as he recorded the last out in the bottom of the eighth. Luis Vizcaino picked up the save pitching a scoreless 1-2-3 ninth inning. Game 8: Pirates 3 Brewers 5 The Pirates were leading this one 3-1 heading into the seventh, thanks to 3 RBI's from Brian Giles. Two of which came off of a double in the third inning, and the other from a solo homerun in the bottom of the sixth. Starter Josh Fogg entered the seventh inning having only given up one run, but Enrique Cruz started the inning off with a solo homerun. After getting the next two batters to ground out, CF Alex Sanchez hit a solo shot to deep right center. Then after Eric Young singled, Richie Sexson smashed a homer to deep left center. Fogg gave up three homers in one inning and went on to get the loss giving up five earned runs in 7 innings of work. Brewers starter Ruben Quevedo got the win giving up 3 runs in six innings, and Luis Vizcaino picked up his third save of the year. Game 9: Pirates 3 Brewers 6 Fireworks Night at PNC Park The Brewers got to the Pirates and starter Jeff Suppan quickly in this game, as Royce Clayton hit a three run homer in the first inning. Then in the third inning the Brewers scored three more runs, two of them coming from a John VanderWal homerun. Suppan lasted only 3 innings giving up 6 runs, five of which were earned. On a bright note, the bullpen did well, as Beimel pitched three scoreless inning, Corey had one scoreless, and Sauerbeck pitched the remaining two scoreless innings, giving up only two hits in those six relief innings. Giles also hit his second homer of the year, a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth off Vizcaino. Brewers starter Glendon Rusch was injured with an inflamed bicep tendon after only pitching to Kenny Lofton and getting him to ground out. He was placed on the DL after the game was over. Reliever Scott Nance picked up the win after only pitching 2/3 of an inning, and Valerio DeLosSantos picked up his first save of the year. Series Recap: Each team came into the series with the worst record in the NL Central at 1-5. The Brewers swept the Pirates and are now sitting at only one game below .500, while the Pirates are trying to compete with the Blue Jays (0-9) and the Padres (1-9) for the worst record in the majors. Game 10: Pirates 7 Cubs 2 Retro Game Day at Wrigley The Pirates definitely went retro with this one, as Jeff D'Amico is proving to be the only consistent starter for the Pirates. He pitched seven innings giving up just two runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. Kenny Lofton had a big day going 3-5 with two doubles and 4 RBI's. Cubs starter Shawn Estes picked up the loss giving up 5 runs in five innings. Pirates reliever Scott Sauerbek was injured in the game with a tight shoulder and is listed as day-to-day. Game 11: Pirates 2 Cubs 11 Starter Kris Benson got shelled in his second straight outing, giving up seven runs in two innings, all of which occurred in the second inning. Corey Patterson and Sammy Sosa each had two run homers in that inning and Ramon Martinez had a three run shot. Cubs starter Kerry Wood pitched only 5 2/3 innings giving up just one run off of one hit, while walking three and striking out six. There was a 60 minute rain delay in the third inning of the game. Game 12: Pirates 2 Cubs 5 Nothing too terribly exciting in this game. Starter Kip Wells pitched a complete game for the Pirates going 8 innings and giving up five runs, three of which were scored in the bottom of the seventh. Why a reliever wasn't put in, I really don't know. Kenny Lofton had another big day offensively, going 4-4, but he did not manage to get a single RBI and scored only once on a single by Brian Giles in the third inning. Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano got the win giving up two runs in seven innings, and Mike Remlinger picked up the save, his second of the season. Series Recap: Pretty much what I expected heading into this series against a much better ball club. D'Amico pitched a heck of a game, and Benson's performance so far has been real disappointing (0-2 8.62 ERA). I usually like to wait at least a month before I start making trades just to see who i want to keep around on a team, but I think it's pretty clear that some trades are going to start happening, unless the Pirates start winning some games. In other news around the league, Rockies 1B Todd Helton ruptured his MCL and will miss the entire season. Also, the Blue Jays finally won their first game against the Twins after losing their first 11 games this season. However, they do not have the worst record in the majors, as that honor goes to the San Diego Padres who are 1-12. __________________ "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."

09-29-2003, 11:34 PM	#1
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Dynasty Pirates 2003 Okay, hopefully joncarlos doesn't get upset as he already has a dynasty Pirates league going, and well every time I start a new solo league I like to be the Pirates, mostly cause I'm from Pittsburgh, but also because it definitely presents a challenge. I'm using TotalMinors rosters and starting in 2003 with arbitration and minor league option years enabled. I'm using normal trade difficulty and neutral trading preference. I know this is usually the easier settings to have it on, but this is going to be the first time that I ever try to run my team using talent only. I made a couple of edits to my coaches to at least give me some chance in trying to develop a good team. Nothing drastic, just made sure each coach was at least average. Also, I'm gonna attempt to adhere to the 40-man roster rule, as well as the option year rule. Obviously since there is no Rule V draft, if a player is in AAA and is not placed on the 40-man roster after 5 seasons, he will automatically be released from my team, unless he is a veteran over 30 years of age. It's gonna take me some time to track down the draft years of all the prospects on my team and to also determine how many option years the players that are on the 40-man roster have remaining. Once I get this done, I'll post who is on my 40-man roster, my 25-man roster and any cuts that I've had to make to get my roster to that level.

09-30-2003, 12:03 AM	#2
chambertrain Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Oswego, New York Posts: 316	What trade level difficulty are you going to use?

09-30-2003, 01:08 AM	#3
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	I'm using just normal for now, though I may end up changing it to at least favor prospects.

09-30-2003, 02:04 AM	#6
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Okay, screw it, I'm not tired right now, so I decided to stay up and get my lineups and stuff together. I've uploaded the league pages to the following site. 2003 Pirates Dynasty I'll start simming the games tomorrow sometime.

10-01-2003, 12:35 AM	#10
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Week 3: This week will see the Pirates playing the first 6 games of a six game home stand. They start the week with three games against the Mets, and then they play host to the Chicago Cubs, whom they are 1-2 against this year. Game 13: Pirates 4 Mets 3 Baseball Cap Day at PNC Park The Pirates finally won a game coming from behind. With the Mets ahead 3-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth, they brought out their closer Armando Benitez to face Craig Wilson. Wilson took hold of a 2-1 fastball and drove it deep to left field for a solo homerun to tie things up at 3. Then in the bottom of the 10th, with Kendall on first after a single, Giles drove a double down the right field line. Kendall was waved home and Perez missed the cutoff man, and Kendall scored standing up as the throw was off-line. Pirates starter Josh Fogg pitched 8 innings giving up three runs, two of which were earned. Relievers Mark Corey and Jim Mann each pitched a scoreless inning, with Mann getting the win. Benitez got the loss and the blown save giving up 2 runs in 1 1/3 innings. Game 14: Pirates 6 Mets 7 Neither of today's starters did very well and neither got the win. Jeff Suppan went 7 innings and gave up 4 runs off of 10 hits and 4 walks. Mets starter David Cone gave up 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings off of 9 hits and 1 walk. Once again the story was with the bullpen, where Mark Corey, after going 6 innings without giving up an earned run, gave up 2 runs in 1/3 of an inning and picked up the loss. Middlebrook got the win for the Mets and Benitez picked up his fifth save of the year. Floyd and Vaughn hit homers for the Mets and Craig Wilson and Reggie Sanders hit homers for the Pirates. Game 15: Pirates 6 Mets 0 20,045 fans came out to see the rubber match of this series, and none were disappointed, as Pirates starter Jeff D'Amico continued his amazing performance so far this season. D'Amico pitched a complete game shutout, giving up 6 hits and walking just one while striking out 8 batters to bring his overall record to 3-0 with a 0.72 ERA. Giles had a big day today offensively, going 3-4 with a 2B, a HR, and 3 RBI's as the Pirates scored 6 runs off of 11 hits. Mets starter Aaron Heilman didn't have his best stuff today as he gave up 4 runs in just 2 2/3 innings of work. Series Recap: The Pirates pulled off the upset and won their first series of the year against the Mets. Good starting pitching and timely hitting was the story to both Pirates wins as both Fogg and D'Amico had good outings. In other league news, Braves starting pitcher Mike Hampton injured his tricep on April 16th in a game against the Expos and will miss the next 7 weeks. The Braves placed him on the DL and called up Andy Pratt but only for one day as they sent him back down after they activated Russ Ortiz from the disabled list. Game 16: Pirates 2 Cubs 5 Kris Benson had his third straight poor outing giving up five runs in five innings and picking up his third loss of the year. Relievers Mark Corey and Brian Boehringer each pitched two scoreless innings. Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano gave up just two runs in 6 innings, one of which was from a solo homerun by Rob Mackowiak, for the win. Mark Guthrie pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his second save of the year. Sammy Sosa had a big day offensively going 2-4 with 3 RBIs, and he set a new record for the longest hit homerun at PNC Park, measuring 479 feet. Game 17: Pirates 4 Cubs 6 The Cubs scattered all six of their runs, as they scored no more than one run in any inning. They got solo homeruns from Sammy Sosa, Corey Patterson, and Paul Bako. Starting pitcher Matt Clement pitched six innings, giving up 3 runs, and earning his third win of the year. Those three runs were the first runs given up by Clement all year. Mike Remlinger pitched a scoreless ninth for his 4th save of the year. Ramirez hit his second homer of the year, a solo shot off of Clement in the sixth inning. Pirate starter Kip Wells pitched seven innings, giving up five runs for the loss. Game 18: Pirates 3 Cubs 1 Despite a steller performance by Cubs starting pitcher Mark Prior, the Pirates won the game by making the most of their oppurtunities and managing to score 3 runs off of just the two hits and two walks that Prior gave up in 6 innings. Pirates starter Josh Fogg turned in his own stellar performance, going 6 2/3 innings giving up 7 hits and walking one and King 6. The Cubs tried to mount a comeback in the eigth inning as Bellhorn drew a walk against Boehringer. Beimel was then brought in to face Choi, but Baker brought Sosa out of the dugout to pinch hit, and he doubled to left-center and Bellhorn was held at third as he was unsure whether Lofton was going to make the catch. McClendon then brought out Torres to intentionally walk Ramon Martinez (I guess Torres is really good at those intentional walks????). Reliever Jim Mann was then brought out to face Damian Miller and got him to strike out looking. Dennys Reyes was then brought out to face Tom Goodwing and got him to pop out to very shallow center field. Reyes then got Gonzalez to strike out swinging to end the inning. Sauerbeck then pitched a scoreless ninth to record his first save of the year. Series Recap: The Pirates once again barely managed to not get swept by the Cubs, and are now 2-4 against them this year. They tried as hard as they could to lose the last game, but the five relief pitchers used in the eighth inning managed to get the job done, albeit a very ugly job. In other team notes, the Pirates have placed C Jason Kendall, LF Brian Giles, SP Kris Benson, and SP Brian Meadows on the trading block. SP Ryan Vogelsong was promoted from AA Altona Curve to AAA Nashville Sounds. He was then injured with a pulled rotator cuff muscle and will miss the next four weeks. __________________ "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."

10-01-2003, 11:46 AM	#11
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	I've decided to place Randall Simon and Aramis Ramirez on the trading block as well. Week 4: The Pirates are now 5-13 and will be wrapping up a 12-game homestand this week. They'll begin the week with a three game series against the Giants who are currently 10-9. The Pirates will then close out the week with a 3-game series against the Dodgers who are currently 13-7. Game 19: Pirates 3 Giants 7 The Pirates really got blown out of the water in this game. They didn't even score a run until the seventh inning, when the game was already well out of reach 7-0. Starter Jeff Suppan had another poor outing giving up 7 runs, 6 of which were earned, in 5 1/3 innings. On a bright note, the bullpen still seems to be doing fairly well, as Boehringer pitched 1 2/3 scoreless and Sauerbeck and Corey each pitched one scoreless inning. Giants starter Damian Moss pitched 8 2/3 innings giving up all 3 runs, two of which were earned. Barry Bonds was named player of the game, hittting his 8th homer of the year with two on against Suppan in the 6th inning. Game 20: Pirates 1 Giants 7 Glove Day at PNC Park Jeff D'Amico had his first bad outing of the year giving up 12 hits, 5 of which were doubles, and 7 runs, 6 of which were earned, in 7 1/3 innings. Giants starter Jason Schmidt scattered just five hits, and gave up no runs in seven innings for the win. The lone Pirate run was scored off of reliever Kirk Reuter. Game 21: Pirates 1 Giants 8 Benson with his fourth straight poor outing, gave up 3 hits, walked two, and 6 earned runs in only 3 innings of work. Starter Kurt Ainsworth scattered eight hits in eight innings of work, giving up just one run. Barry Bonds hit homeruns numbers 9 and 10. He hit a two run shot off of Benson in the first inning, and another two run shot off of Beimel in the ninth inning. Series Recap: The Giants handled the Pirates easily scoring 22 runs, while only giving up 5 runs. Pirates starters faired poorly, giving up 20 runs in 15 2/3 innings, while the bullpen gave up just two runs in 11 1/3 innings. Game 22: Pirates 4 Dodgers 2 Kip Wells entered the top of the eighth inning with a 2-1 lead. After giving up a lead-off double to Brian Jordan, Wells intentionally walked Shawn Green. After striking out pinch hitter Alex Cora, Wells pulled in favor of Mark Corey, who gave up a single to Adrian Beltre, loading the bases. McClendon then brought in Joe Biemel to face Joe Thurston, who was then replaced by Paul LoDuca. Biemel got LoDuca to fly out to right-center, but it was deep enough to score Brian Jordan. Biemel then got pinch hitter Chin-Fen Cheng to fly out to center to end the inning. After loading the bases with two outs, from a double by Jason Kendall and walks to Brian Giles and Craig Wilson, relief pitcher Paul Shuey was brought in to face PH Randall Simon who singled to right center, scoring Kendall and Giles. Torres then picked up the save pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Starter Kip Wells went 7 1/3 innings, giving up two runs, only one of which was earned. Beimel picked up the win in his 2/3 of an inning of relief. Dodgers starter Odalis Perez went 7 1/3 innings, giving up all four of the Pirates runs. Game 23: Pirates 1 Dodgers 5 Nodding Head Doll Day at PNC Park This game saw the first major league start for Dodgers rookie Andrew Brown. Brown pitched a gem of a game giving up just one run in 7 1/3 innings off of 9 hits while walking two and striking out 3 Pirates. Pirater starter Josh Fogg was pitching well until the top of the sixth inning, where he gave up two two-run homeruns, one by 1B Mark Kinkade and the other by 2B Joe Thurston. Fogg pitched six innings, giving up five runs off of 8 hits, walking none, and striking out 3. Game 24: Pirates 1 Dodgers 0 Jeff Suppan finally had a good game as a Pirate, pitching a one hitter through eight innings and giving up 3 walks and striking out 4 to get the win. Solomon Torres pitched a scoreless ninth inning, giving up just one hit to get his second save of the year. Dodgers starter pitched a great game giving up just one run in seven innings of work, but the Dodgers offense wasn't there to help him out, as he picks up the loss. The lone run of the game was scored in the bottom of the third, when after two outs, Jason Kendall was hit by a pitch, and then off of a 3-2 pitch, with Jason running on the pitch, Giles doubled down the right field line to score Kendall. Series recap: The Pirates pulled off the shocker, winning two out of three games against the Dodgers, thanks in large part to some great work by the Pirates starters. In other league news this week, on Monday April 21, Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon broke his foot and will miss the next 11 weeks. On Tuesday Toronto's Chris Woodard compiled five hits against the Devil Rays. He hit two solo homruns, and three singles. On Friday, Expos second baseman Jose Vidro tore his calf muscle and will likely miss the next five weeks. __________________ "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."

10-01-2003, 01:17 PM	#12
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Week 5: The Pirates, currently 7-17, this week begin a 10-game road trip. They start off with 3 games in San Diego, against the Padres who are currently 8-17. The Pirates then finish up the week with three games in LA against the Dodgers, whom they are 2-1 against this year. Game 25: Pirates 5 Padres 7 Neither starters faired too well in this game, as the Pirates jumped to an early 5-1 lead through the third inning. However Padres starter Adam Eaton held in their for long enough, pitching three more scoreless innings, allowing his team to score five more runs off of Jeff D'Amico. Eaton gave up a total of five runs in six innings for the win, while D'Amico gave up six runs in 4 1.3 innings for the loss. Aramis Ramirez homered for the Pirates, but Reggie Sanders put in the best performance for the Pirates, going 4-4 with 2 RBI's. Game 26: Pirates 3 Padres 0 Pirate fans have been waiting all month for Benson to finally begin to show his stuff, and he finally came through in today's game. Benson pitched six scoreless innings, giving up just two hits, while walking none, and striking out 3 to get his first win of the season. Despite throwing only 56 pitches, Benson was pinch-hit for in the top of the seventh, as McClendon felt that trying to add another run to a 1-0 lead was more important than leaving Benson in to try and get a shutout. Pinch hitter Randall Simon reached on an error during that at-bat, and moved Pokey Reese to third base, who then scored on a sac-fly by Kenny Lofton. Padres starter Kevin Jarvis pitched well, going 8 innings and giving up just three runs, two of which were earned. One of those runs was a solo homerun by Craig Wilson in the top of the eighth. Scott Sauerbeck pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, to pick up his second save of the year. April Wrapup The Pirates finished the month of April with a record of 8-18. None of the Pirates had a real hot bat this month, but Craig Wilson hit 0.281 with 4 HR and 8 RBI's, while Lofton hit 0.290 with 1 HR, 9 RBI's, 13 runs, and 11 stolen bases. Kendall was disappointing with the bat, hitting just 0.217 with no homeruns and 3 RBI's. Despite two poor starts, Jeff D'Amico is still leading the staff with a 3-2 record and a 3.44 ERA. Despite not getting a win yet Kip Wells is also pitching well with an 0-2 record and a 3.82 ERA. Despite a recent good outing, Kris Benson's performance has been disappointing this month with a record of 1-4 and a 7.89 ERA. Around the league, the Red Sox are leading the AL East with a record of 17-11, 3 games ahead of the Yankees. The AL Central is being lead by the Twins who have a 17-10 record and are 3 games ahead of the Royals. The Oakland A's are leading the AL West, also with a record of 17-10 and two games ahead of the Angels. In the NL, the Braves, with a record of 15-12, are leading the eastern division by 2 games over the Marlins. The Cubs, with a record of 16-11, are leading the central by 1 game over the Astros. The Arizona Diamondbacks with a league best record of 21-7 are leading the NL West by 3.5 games over the Dodgers. Indians pitcher Ricardo Rodriguez won the award for best pitcher of the month award in the AL with a record of 4-1 and a 2.03 ERA. His counterpart in the NL Randy Johnson, went 6-0 with an ERA of 1.46 in the month of April. Jim Thome hit 0.386, hitting 11 homeruns and driving in 31 to win the NL Batter of the month award. His AL counterpart Garrett Anderson hit 0.362, with 9 HRs and 28 RBI's. League Transactions: On the first of the month, the Dodgers got 2.5 star LF Kevin Millar from Boston in exchange for 2.5 star 1B Josh Phelps and 1.5 star prospect C John Schneider. The Padres also received 1.5 star Melvin Mora in a trade with the Orioles that sent them 3.5 star prospect CF Jason Bay, 3-star prospect MR Gabe Ribas, and 1.5 star prospect Chris Oxpring. On the sixth, the Devil Rays sent 2.5 star C Toby Hall to the Orioles in return for 4.5 star prospect SP John Stephens and 3 star prospect SP Daniel Cabrera. On the eighteenth, the Rockies received 4.5 star prospect 2B Orlando Hudson and 1 star prospect 1B Jarad Mangioni in a trade that sent 3 star prospect RF Luke Allen to the Blue Jays. The Reds also received 2.5 star 1B Greg Colbrunn from the Mariners in return for 2 star prospect C Miguel Perez and 1 star prospect SS Hector Tiburcio. On the 22nd, the Cardinals got 2 star 1B Travis Lee and 2 star prospect LF Blair Irvin from the Devil Rays in exchange for 2.5 star RF Eli Marrero. Also, the Giants got 2 star 1B Fred McGriff from the Dodgers in return for 3.5 star prospect RF Deivis Santos and 1.5 star prospect C Dayton Buller. On the 24th, the Rockies finally found their replacement for the injured Helton by picking up 2.5 star 1B Scott Speizio from the Angels in return for 2.5 star prosect 3B Javier Colina, 1 star prospect 1B Jarad Mangioni, and 1 star prospect LF Trey George. Game 27: Pirates 3 Padres 5 Nothing exciting in this game happened. Kip Wells gave up 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings for the loss. Padres starter Jake Peavy pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up three runs, two of which were earned for the win. Despite putting two people on base wtih two out Mike Matthews got Craig Wilson to ground out to end the game and pick up the save. Brian Buchanan and Ryan Klesko homered for the Padres. In other league news, Rafeal Palmeiro hit homeruns number 499 and 500 today. The first coming in the third inning with one on against Blue Jays pitcher Walker. The second also came against Walker with one on in the fifth inning. Series Recap: Well, this series was a bad team in the Padres going up against a worse team in the Pirates. The Padres came out on top, and the Pirates now lead the reverse standings of the majors by 1.5 games. Game 28: Pirates 3 Dodgers 2 After giving up two runs in the bottom of the first, Pirates starter Josh Fogg continued by pitching five more scoreless innings and holding on for the win. He pitched a total of six innings giving up two runs, only one of which was earned. Boehringer and Sauerbeck each held the lead through the seventh and eighth inning, and Solomon Torres came in and closed out the ninth picking up his third save of the season. Dodgers starter Hideo Nomo pitched 7 innings, giving up three runs, all of them earned. Game 29: Pirates 9 Dodgers 5 Retro Game Day at Dodger Stadium The Pirates offense really exploded today, scoring nine runs, 6 off of starter Darren Dreifort, and the other three off of reliever Guillermo Mota. The Pirates hit four homers in the game, one each from Kenny Lofton, Brian Giles, Matt Stairs, and Rob Mackowiak. Pirates starter Jeff Suppan picked up the win, pitching 6 1/3 innings, giving up four runs. Dodgers starter Darren Dreifort received the loss giving up six runs, five of which were earned, in four innings of work. Game 30: Pirates 3 Dodgers 8 Jeff D'Amco had his third straight poor outing today, giving up six runs in just 2 2/3 innings, picking up his third loss of the year. Dodgers starter Wilson Alvarez pitched well, giving up all three of the Pirates runs in 6 innings of work for the win. The Pirates got homeruns from Brian Jordan and Shawn Green. Series Recap: The Pirates continue to have the number against the Dodgers, as they are now 4-2 this season against a much better LA team. The Pirates today traded 1B Randall Simon and 2B Pokey Reese to the Chicago Cubs in return for 2B Bobby Hill and 3-star prospect RF JJ Johnson. Bobby Hill will be placed on the 25-man roster, and Carlos Rivera will be promoted from AAA Nashville to the 25-man roster. Hill has two more years of options remaining, and JJ Johnson has two more years remaining before he must be placed on the 40-man roster. The Pirates now have only 39 players listed on their 40-man roster. The Pirates also promoted C Ryan Doumit from AA Altoona to AAA Nashville. He will assume the catching duties in Nashville and JR House will be moved to DH. JJ Johnson was placed in AA Altoona where he will be the starting RFer. In other league news Mariners DH Edgar Martinez collected his 2000th hit on Saturday off of White Sox starter Bartolo Colon in the first inning. __________________ "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."

10-01-2003, 03:37 PM	#13
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Week 6: I promoted Justin Reid from AA Altoona to AAA Nashville and placed him in the starting rotation there. I then moved Jonathan Albakdejo from the bullpen into the starting roation in Altoona. The Pirates announced their promotions for the month of May: 5/9 - Noddin Head Doll Day against Arizona 5/12 - Baseball Cap Day against Houston 5/ 21 - Glove Day against Chicago 5/24 - Fireworks Night against St. Louis This week the Pirates finish a 10-game road trip, with four games against the Astros, who are 16-15. The Pirates then return home for a 7-game homestand, which begins with a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, currently with the best record in MLB at 25-7. Game 31: Pirates 6 Astros 0 Glove Day at Minutemaid Park Benson pitched his second great game in a row picking up his second win, while pitching a complete game shutout, giving up just five hits, while walking three and striking out 9. Astros starter Pete Munro got the loss giving up five runs in 6 1/3 innings. Each of the Pirates contributed, with all of the starting 8 fielders getting at least one hit, with C Humberto Cota coming through with three hits and scoring twice. Game 32: Pirates 1 Astros 3 Fireworks Night at Minute Maid Park The Pirates wasted another good outing by Kip Wells who pitched 7 innings giving up just two hits and one run. The run was scored in the bottom of the first, a solo homerun by Brian Hunter. With the score 1-1, thanks to a Brian Giles solo homerun in the top of the sixth inning, McClendon pulled starter Kip Wells in favor of lefty Scott Sauerbeck. Sauerbeck walked pinch hitter Jeff Kent, and McClendon then brought out Boehringer to face Brian Hunter. Hunter tripled down the right field line, scoring Kent. RF Kyle Logan then reached on an infield single, scoring Hunter. Boehringer then got Lance Berkman to ground into a double play, and Geoff Blum to strike out swinging, but the damage had already been done as the Astros went on to win the game. Astros starter Tim Redding gave up one run in 6 2/3 innings. Billy Wagner got the win, and Brandon Puffer picked up the save. Game 33: Pirates 10 Astros 4 Baseball Cap Day at Minute Maid Park The Pirates got to Astros starter Roy Oswalt and the Astros bullpen late in the game. With the score tied 3-3 (thanks to a 3 run homerun by Bobby Hill in the top of the second), the Pirates scored two more against starter Roy Oswalt in the top of the seventh from a two-run homerun by Carlos Rivera, his first career hit in his first at-bat as a major leaguer. The Astros responded with one run in the bottom of the seventh, but the Pirates responded with three more runs in the top of the eighth, after Oswalt put two men on, Brad Lidge gave up a three-run homerun to Craig Wilson. The Pirates scored two more in the ninth, to seal their victory. Starter Josh Fogg got the win for the Pirates, giving up three runs, only one of which was earned, in six innings of work. Astros starter Roy Oswalt picked up the loss giving up 7 runs in 7 1/3 innings. Game 34: Pirates 10 Astros 8 The Astros got to Pirates starter Jeff Suppan early and often in this game scoring 6 runs in 3 2/3 innings off of Suppan. They added another run off of Biemel in the fifth, and entered the sixth inning with a 7-2 lead. The Pirates then got to starter Greg Miller in the top of the sixth. Craig Wilson lead off with a single, and moved to third on a Reggie Sanders double. Miller then walked Abraham Nunez to load the bases. Jack Wilson then managed to work a bases-loaded walk off of Miller scoring Craig Wilson. Rob Mackowiak then reached on an infield hit that went into the hole between the shortstop and third baseman moving everyone along one base. Bruce Chen then came in to pitch, and struck out Kenny Lofton for the first out of the inning. Jason Kendall then reached base on an error by the second baseman. After Giles struck out looking, Aramis Ramirez doubled to the gap in left-center, clearing the base. Craig Wilson then struck out to end the inning. In the bottom of the sixth, the Astros managed to tie the game back up at 8, when Merced doubled scoring Buck, who had reached base on an error. The Pirates then took the lead in the top of the ninth when Jack Wilson singled to right with two outs scoring Craig Wilson and Reggie Sanders. Jim Mann then came on in the ninth to pitch a 1-2-3 inning and pick up his first save of the year. Series Recap: The Pirates won 3 out of 4 against the Astros, thanks in large part to an offense that scored 26 runs in those 3 wins. The Pirates have moved out of the cellar, and are now better than two teams in the majors, the Mets and the Padres. Game 35: Pirates 2 DBacks 0 Noddin Head Doll Day at PNC Park This was a real pitchers duel, with Jeff D'Amico once again finding his groove and beating his counterpart Curt Schilling at his own game. D'Amico pitched a complete game shut-out, giving up just two hits and walking two while striking out one. Schilling gave up two runs, a solo homer by Craig Wilson and a double by Bobby Hill scoring Reggie Sanders. Schilling pitched 7 innings, giving up four runs, while walking two and striking out 7. The Pirates fan interest increased after this game. After the game, the San Diego Padres offered the Pirates 2.5 star SP Kevin Jarvis, and 4-star 3B prospect Greg Sain. I turned down the deal, as Sain is 24 and still only playing in A ball so is unlikely to develop in time. Game 36: Pirates 7 DBacks 5 Both offenses really got things together in this game. The Pirates offense got 13 hits while the Diamondbacks got their runs off of 12 hits. Kris Benson, while not pitching his best game, picked up the win, giving up 5 runs in 7 1/3 innings. DBAcks starter Byung-Hyun Kim pitched only 4 2/3 innings giving up six runs, five of which were earned. Jim Mann picked up his second save of the year, pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Game 37: Pirates 5 DBacks 7 The Pirates came close to sweeping the Diamondbacks, but this time Kip Wells did himself in, with some really poor control. While Wells only gave up 4 hits in the 5 2/3 innings he pitched, he also gave up 7 walks, which helped the DBacks to score 5 runs off of Wells. The Pirates tried to mount a come-back, but with the score 5-4 DBacks heading to the seventh, the Diamondbacks scored one run each in the seventh and eighth innings. Starter Elmer Dessens picked up the win, giving up four runs, three of which were earned in 7 innings pitched. Mike Myers picked up the save despite giving up one run in the bottom of the ninth. Series Recap: The Pirates went on a real hot streak this week, going 5-2. The real shocker came in winning two out of three against the major league best Arizona Diamondbacks. In league news Angels first baseman Brad Fullmer broke his wrist and will miss the next five weeks. Also Cubs RF Sammy Sosa picked up his 2000th career hit off of Brewers pitcher Francisco Campos in the sixth inning. __________________ "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."

10-01-2003, 11:20 PM	#14
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Week 7: The Pirates are currently 15-22 and are in fifth place in the NL Central Division. This week they will finish their 7 game home-stand, with a four game series against the Astros, who are currently 19-19. This year the Pirates are 5-11 against central division opponents, and 3-1 against the Astros so far. The Pirates will then travel to Arizona for a three game series against the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks this year are 26-12 and the Pirates are 2-1 against them. The Pirates were offered a trade by the Texas Rangers that would send Benson to the Rangers in exchange for four star prospect SP Joaquin Benoit and 2 star prospect LF Larry Grayson. This trade was really tempting, but seeing as Benoit is already 25, already out of options, and hasn't fared too well in the majors in his three stints so far in the majors, I decided to just hold on to this one for a possibility later on, and rejected the trade for now. Game 38: Pirates 4 Astros 8 Baseball Cap Day at PNC Park Josh Fogg managed to pitch 6 scoreless innings before giving up 5 runs, four of which were earned, in the top of the seventh inning while only recording two outs. Beimel then gave up three unearned runs in the top of the eighth to give the Astros a commanding lead. Roy Oswalt pitched six innings giving up just one run off of five hits while walking one and striking out eight. Brian Giles and Jack Wilson hit homeruns for the Pirates while Geoff Blum went yard for the Astros. Game 39: Pirates 2 Astros 1 Pirates starter Jeff Suppan pitched another gem, as he gave up just one run in eight innings of work. He gave up four hits and walked three baters. Jim Mann pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his third save of the year. Pirates scored just two runs, a double by Lofton which scored Jeff Suppan in the second, and a triple by Jason Kendall that scored Lofton in the fourth inning, off of Astros starter Greg Miller, who pitched 6 1/3 innings and picked up the loss. Game 40: Pirates 4 Astros 6 D'Amico had an OK game today giving up five runs in 7 innings of work off of 9 hits and no walks and striking out four batters. Wade Miller held off a Pirate rally in the sixth inning, and gave up four runs in six innings, giving up four hits while walking one and striking out 3. Astros relievers Chen and Lidge each pitched scoreless innings, and closer Billy Wagner picked up his ninth save of the year pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Game 41: Pirates 9 Astros 4 The Pirates offense really came through today pounding out nine runs against a good Astros pitching staff. Starter Peter Munro gave up five of the runs in five innings of work for the loss, while the other four runs came off of reliever Bruce Chen who worked two innings of relief. Craig Wilson hit two homeruns today, a solo shot in teh sixth inning off of Munro and a three run shot off of Chen in the seventh inning. Despite not having a very good outing, Kris Benson got the win, giving up 4 runs in six innings of work. He allowed 11 hits and walked 2 batters while striking out five. Boehringer, Corey, and Sauerbeck each pitched a scoreless inning of relief. Series Recap: The red hot Pirates (at least comparitively speaking) split the series against the Astros and continue to maintain the fifth place position in the division. Game 42: Pirates 6 DBacks 8 The first win of the season continues to be quite elusive for starter Kip Wells as he had a poor outing today. Wells gave up eight runs off of nine hits and four walks in just 4 2/3 innings. The Pirates managed to score four runs in seven innings off of the winning pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim. The Pirates attempted to mount a comeback but fell short as they scored only one run in the eighth, and one in the ninth, as Mike Myers held on for his 11th save of the season. Game 43: Pirates 4 DBacks 7 Pirates starter Josh Fogg got blown away, giving up six runs off of just four hits and 2 walks in 1 2/3 innings. Brian Boehringer gave up the other Diamondback run in 2 innings of relief. Elmer Dessens picked up his sixth win of the year, going six innings and giving up three runs off of 7 hits, while walking 5 and striking out two batters. The other Pirate run came off of reliever Brett Prinz. Mike Myers picked up his 12th save working a scoreless ninth inning. Game 44: Pirates 2 DBacks 4 Despite getting 9 hits, the Pirate offense was able to score only two runs in today's game. Starter Jeff Suppan had an OK outing giving up three runs, two of which were earned, in six innings. The other run was scored off of reliever Boehringer. John Patterson picked up the win for the Diamondbacks going seven innings and giving up just one run despite giving up 7 hits, while walking three and striking out five batters. The other run was scored off of reliever Koplove. Matt Mantei pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save of the year. Series Recap: The Diamonbacks made up for the previous series embarrasing the Pirates, by sweeping them quite easily. With the exception of the last game, Pirates starting pitching was pretty pitiful. Around the league this week: On Wednesday, Diamondbacks right fielder Danny Bautista hit for the cycle against the Phillies. On Saturday, Astros Lance Berkman broke his wrist while attempting to make a diving catch and he will likely miss the remainder of the season. In the same game against the Phillies, teammate Jeff Bagwell crushed a three run homerun off of reliever Turk Wendell for his 2000th career hit. On Sunday Red's centerfielder Ken Griffey Jr. was drilled in the hand by a fastball thrown by Brewer's Dave Mlicki. The report is that he has a broken hand and will miss at least the next six weeks. __________________ "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." Last edited by Operation Shutdown; 10-01-2003 at 11:28 PM.

10-02-2003, 12:14 AM	#15
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Week 8: The Pirates are currently 17-27, and remain in fifth place in the central division. This week they return home for six games, the first three coming against the Cubs. The Cubs are currently 25-20 and the Pirates are 2-4 against the Cubs so far this season. The Pirates will then face the Cardinals for the first this season, in a 3 game series. The Cardinals are currently 27-17 and are sitting in first place in the division. The Pirates promoted Duaner Sanchez and Jonathan Albakdejo from the AA club to AAA. Albakdejo was placed in the starting rotation and Sanchez will be the closer in Nashville. The Pirates also moved Brian Bullington from A Lynchburg to AA Altoona and placed him into the starting rotation. Game 45: Pirates 1 Cubs 7 Pirates starter Jeff D'Amico got shelled in the eighth inning, giving up a total of six runs in 7 2/3 innings of work. He gave up 10 hits while walking 2 and striking out 8. Sauerbeck gave up the other Cubs run, giving up three more hits in just 2/3 inning of work. Cubs starter Shawn Estes pitched a superb game giving up just one run off of four hits in six innings of work. Sammy Sosa hit his NL leading 19th HR off of D'Amico in the fourth inning. Game 46: Pirates 4 Cubs 1 Glove Day at PNC Park The Pirates offense proved to be too much for Cubs phenom SP Mark Prior as he gave up four runs in six innings of work. Three of those runs came off of a homerun by Brian Giles in the first inning. Benson continued to pitch well giving up just one run in 7 2/3 innings. Jim Mann worked a scoreless ninth inning picking up his fourth save of the season. Game 47: Pirates 4 Cubs 3 The Pirates worked their way from behind to win the rubber match game against the Cubs. Despite giving up three runs in the first inning, Kip Wells put things together and pitched the next five scoreless innings. Boehringer and Corey each pitched a scoreless inning of relief, and despite loading the bases with no outs in the ninth, Jim Mann came through getting Mark Bellhorn to ground into a fielders choice with a force out at home, and then getting Hee Seop Choi to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning, and pick up his fifth save of the year. Cubs starter Kerry Wood went five innings, giving up two runs, but the loss went to reliever Dave Veres who gave up two runs in 2/3 of an inning of work. Series recap: The Pirates came back after getting destroyed in the first game, and won the second game thanks to good pitching by Benson, and won the rubber match in an exciting game, with the Cubs having the bases loaded with no one out in the ninth, and not being able to manage a single run. The Pirates are now 4-5 against the Cubs this season. Game 48: Pirates 7 Cardinals 11 The Pirates offense managed to explode for 7 runs against the Cardinals but it proved to be not enough as the Cubs managed 11 runs. Fogg had another bad outing giving up six runs in just 1 2/3 innings of work. Torres gave up one run in 1/3 of an inning, while Boehringer gave up two runs in two innings, and Sauerbeck gave up the other two runs in one inning of relief. Pirates hitters managed to chase Cards starter Brett Tomko after he gave up 5 runs in 2 1/3 innings. Mike Crudale picked up the win pitching 1 2.3 innings of relief, and the Jason Isringhausen picked up what should have been a long save as he gave up two runs in five innings of relief. The Cardinals hit four homeruns in the game, one each from Pujols, Edmonds, Martinez, and Cairo. Rob Mackowiak hit the lone homerun for the Pirates. Game 49: Pirates 2 Cardinals 3 Fireworks Night at PNC Park The Cardinals squeaked through a win, with the game winning run coming off of a single by Jim Edmonds with two outs in the eighth inning, scoring Edgar Renteria. Jeff Suppan gave up just three runs in eight innings of work and got the loss for the Pirates. Cardinals star prospect Jimmy Journell picked up the win giving up just two runs in eight innings. Despite putting two people on base in the ninth, Mike Crudale held on to pick up his seventh save of the season. Game 50: Pirates 2 Cardinals 5 Despite stellar performances by both starting pitchers, neither of them managed to pick up the win. D'Amico pitched 7 innings, giving up two runs, while Woody Williams also pitched 7 innings, and also gave up two runs, though they were both unearned. The score remained the same through the eigth inning until the Cardinals broke things open in the ninth. Dennys Reyes was brought in, and got Wilson Delgado and Vina to ground out before giving up a walk to Albert Pujols. Robinson was then brought in to pinch run, and Sauerbeck was brought in to face Ochoa. Sauerbeck hit Ochoa with a pitch, and then Scott Rolen singled to right-center to score Robinson. JD Drew then doubled down the right field line to score both Ochoa and Rolen. Sauerbeck finally ended the inning by getting Martinez to fly out to right center. Jeff Fassero then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, to pick up his fourth save of the year. Series Recap: The Cardinals really roughed the Pirates up in this series. With one blowout and two nail biters that came down to the end, the Cardinals proved that they know how to win games, and the Pirates proved they know how to lose them. The Pirates received two more trade offers. The first from the Texas Rangers involved the Pirates sending Benson to Texas in return for 4.5 star closer Rudy Seanez and three star prospect reliever Andrew Tisdale. I rejected this trade cause I'm really trying to look for youth in return for giving up Benson. The other offer came from the San Francisco Giants, also interested in a trade that would send Benson to SF in return for 4.5 star closer Scott Eyre and 3.5 star prospect 1B Travis Ishikawa. I'm gonna have to think some more about this one and wait to see what other offers might come in for Benson. Right now I'm leaning between the offer previously from the Rangers involving Joaquin Benoit and this one from the Giants for Benson right now. I'm gonna give it a few more weeks though. The only league news this week was Marlins SP A.J. Burnett's stellar performance pitching a two-hitter against the Cincinatti Reds on Friday. __________________ "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." Last edited by Operation Shutdown; 10-02-2003 at 12:18 AM.

10-02-2003, 12:29 PM	#16
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Chugging right along here, I really want to have these first few seasons go by fast as the Pirates are likely not going to win many games. Week 9 The Pirates begin the week with a record of 19-31, still in fifth place in the central division, 3 games above the Brewers. The Pirates go on the road for six games, starting with a three game series against the Cubs before heading to St. Louis for a 3-game series against the Cardinals. The Cubs are 28-23 and the Pirates are 4-5 against the Cubs this season. The Cardinals are 31-19 and still in first place in the central division. The Pirates got swept last week in the only series so far this season against the Cards. Game 51: Pirates 3 Cubs 2 The Pirates continue to find ways to beat the Cubs. Benson had another strong performance today, giving up just two runs, a two run homerun by Sammy Sosa, in 6 2/3 innings. Jim Mann picked up his sixth save of the year pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Cubs starter Mark Prior had a decent start, but it just wasn't good enough, as he gave up 3 runs, two of which were earned in 8 innings of work. Rob Mackowiak and Reggie Sanders each had solo shots for the Pirates. Game 52: Pirates 3 Cubs 4 The Pirates were not able to hold off the Cubs this time around as starter as starter Kip Wells went into the eighth inning having given up only one run, but was pulled having loaded the bases without recording a single out. Pirate relievers then gave up two more hits in the inning, scoring all three runs, all of which were charged to Wells. Wells pitched the seven innings, giving up four earned runs and getting the loss. Cubs starter Kerry Wood pitched a decent game giving up three runs in 6 2/3 innings, but the win went to Mike Sirotka, who got the final out in the top of the eighth. Remlinger picked up his 13th save of the year. Game 53: Pirates 3 Cubs 0 This game came down to the ninth inning, where the score was tied at 0-0, as both starting pitchers pitched superb games, with Fogg going 7 innings without giving up a run, and Zambrano pitched 6 2/3 innings without giving up a run. Each team's bullpen pitched a scoreless eigth inning, with Boehringer getting the job done for the Pirates, and Veres and Guthrie getting the job done for the Cubs. Then in the top of the ninth Dusty Baker brought in Joe Borowski. After getting Aramis Ramirez to strike out, Borowski gave up a double to Craig Wilson. Kendall was put in to pinch run for Wilson, and he scored on a single by Nunez and Nunez advanced to second on the throw home. Rivera then hit a pinch hit double down the right field line scoring Nunez. Stairs then singled home Rivera and that was the end for Borowski. Rod Beck then came in and got Mackowiak to fly out and Lofton to ground out to end the inning. Jim Mann then pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his 7th save. Beohringer was credited with the win, and Borowski with the loss. Game 54: Pirates 0 Cardinals 7 The Pirates didn't manage to score a single run off of Cardinals starter Woody Williams, who pitched seven scoreless innings to pick up the win. The Cardinals however were able to pick up five runs, three of which were earned, off of Suppan, who lasted just five innings. The Cardinals also scored a run off of Boehringer, who worked two innings of relief, and Sauerbeck who worked the other inning. Game 55: Pirates 4 Cardinals 5 Jeff D'Amico was not able to record an out in this game as he was injured by a line drive off the bat of Jim Edmonds. Before leaving the game, D'Amico gave up two runs, and left runners on the corners. Reliever Mark Corey came in and got three outs without giving up another run. Then in the top of the second, Corey was able to do what every relief pitcher dreams of doing, he hit a homerun with two on and two outs to give the Pirates the lead. Corey then gave up the lead in the bottom of the inning, allowing the Cardinals to tie the score at 3. The score remained the same until the ninth inning, when the Pirates were able to score when Nunez doubled home Reggie Sanders. The Cardinals managed to rally in the ninth off of Jim Mann. Mann gave up a leadoff double to Scott Rolen and then intentionally walked JD Drew. After striking out Martinez and Matheny, he hit pinch hitter Miguel Cairo, loading the bases. Mann then walked home a run, giving up the walk to Edgar Renteria. he finally got Vina to fly out to end the inning. The Pirates threatened in the top of the eleventh, when after two outs, Bobby Hill doubled and Nunez got on base with an infield single. With runners at the corners, the Pirates were not able to score a run as Humberto Cota struck out swinging. The Cardinals then scored the game winner in the bottom of the 11th off of Dennys Reyes when Mike Matheny doubled home JD Drew. Starter Matt Morris went 7 innings giving up three runs. The win went to Jeff Fassero and the loss to Dennys Reyes. May Wrapup The Pirates went 13-16 in the month of May, and now have a record of 21-34 still in fifth place, 13 games behind the division leading Cardinals. Benson turned things around this month going 5-0 with a 2.95 ERA. None of the other Pirates did very well in the month of May, with the worst performance coming from Wells who went 1-4 with a 6.38 ERA. Reggie Sanders had a good month hitting 0.321 with 4 HR and 8 RBI's. Kenny Lofton hit poorly with an average of only 0.179, although he did manage two homeruns and 10 RBI's and also scored 10 runs. Bobby Hill also had a poor month, hitting just 0.185, although he did manage to pile up a lot of walks and managed a respectable OBP of 0.341. Around the league, the Red Sox are still leading the AL East with a record of 37-18, 5.5 games ahead of the Yankees. Minnesota, with a record of 29-26 still leads the central by 2 games over the White Sox. The West is a tight race with Anaheim still on top with a 32-22 record, but they're just one game up on the A's and just two up on Seattle. In the NL, the Expos have overtaken the Braves and now lead the division with a record of 32-24, 2.5 games ahead of the Braves. The Cardinals, with a record of 34-21 are leading the central by 4.5 games over the Cubs. The Diamondbacks still hold the best record in the majors at 38-17, but the Dodgers trail them by just a half a game in the West. Pedro went 4-0 with an ERA 1.19 in 6 starts this month, good enough to win the AL Pitcher of the Month. Vazquez won the award for the NL. In 6 starts, Vazquez went 5-0 and compiled a measly 1.81 ERA. Viagra man Rafeal Palmeiro showed he could still knock them around this month, and earned the batter of the month award for the AL. He hit 0.371 while crushing 11 dingers and knocking home 32. In 109 at-bats, Chipper Jones hit 0.431 with 13 HR and 28 RBI's to win the award for the NL. League Transactions: Besides the Pirates trade this month, there were two other trades in the majors. On the sixteenth, the Rangers acquired 2.5 star C Ramon Castro from the Marlins in exchange for 4 star reliever Francisco Cordero, 3 star prospect 1B Nate Gold, and 1.5 star prospect LF Larry Grayson. The other trade took place on the 26th when the Red Sox sent 2 star 3B Bill Mueller packing to the Brewers in exchange for 4 star reliever Jayson Durocher and 2 star prospect CF Steve Moss. 2003 MLB Draft: With the first selection of the draft the Devil Rays selected 2B Rickie Weeks. The Pirates with their first round pick, ninth overall, selected starting pitcher Adam Loewen. (I accidentaly hit computer pick when it got to me, I don't need another SP prospect, oh well) 2nd round - 2B Matt Moses, good average hitter, with good power and good range at 2B 3rd round - SS Robert Valido, good contact, with average power, and good plate discipline, and good range at SS. 4th round - SP Chuck Tiffany, good at avoiding hits, average at walks, and brilliant in strikeouts. 5th round - SP Donald Veal, GBGAG 6th round - RF Daniel Perales, GAAP 7th round - MR David Samaniego - GAAGG I've changed the trading preference to favor prospects after I was offered Xavier Nady for Jason Kendall straight up. ????? I did, however, make a blockbuster trade with the Padres. I sent the Padres C Jason Kendall, LF Brian Giles, CF Kenny Lofton, and SP Kip Wells in return for LF Xavier Nady, CF Mark Kotsay, SP Oliver Perez, LF Rondell White, and CF Brady Anderson. The last two were just an attempt to even out the salaries a bit as I felt that that would be the only thing preventing the Padres from doing a deal like that. Brady Anderson and Rondell White were then released from my team. C JR House was promoted to the majors after hitting 0.315 with three homers and 30 RBI's in 197 AB in Nashville. Nady, Kotsay, and Perez were also placed with the major league team. Nady has three years of options remaining, and Perez has two years remaining. Basically this trade can be broken down into two parts, Brian Giles for Xavier Nady and Oliver Perez. (which isn't too far off from what really happened in real life. Although instead of Nady it was Bay, who's not quite as good, and another prospect) Then Kendall, Lofton and Kip Wells for Kotsay, White and Anderson. Kendall is a decent singles hitter, and was starting to turn things around again before the trade, Lofton is a replacement for a much better Kotsay, and Wells is a good #2/#3 starter on most any teams. Anderson and White were an attempt to even out salaries. The Pirates now only have 38 players on their 40 man roster, getting ready to be able to activate Mike Lincoln and Dave Williams from the 60 day DL. The Pirates also announced that they have signed Pat Mahomes to a minor league contract extension, and that they are entering talks with IF Abraham Nunez and MR Dennys Reyes for contract extensions. Game 56: Pirates 1 Cardinals 10 Baseball Cap Day at Busch Stadium Benson's good fortune of last month lasted until the seventh inning of today's game where he gave up four of the six runs scored in the inning. Benson went a total of 6 1/3 innings giving up six runs, five of which were earned. Cardinals Simontacchi picked up the win going 7 innings while giving up just one run. Vina and Martinez each homered in the game. Series Recap: The Cardinals continue to destroy the Pirates every chance they get. The Pirates are now 0-6 against the Cards. The only other news this week was that Mariner's Bret Boone got give hits and hit for the cycle against the Royals on Wednesday. __________________ "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."

10-02-2003, 01:37 PM	#17
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Week 10 The Pirates are currently 21-35 and this week will travel back home to start interleague play with a three game series at home against the Red Sox, who are currently 37-19. The Pirates then travel to Atlanta for a 3-game series against the Braves, who are 29-27. The Pirates have also come out with their promotions for this month. 6/5 - Noddin Head Doll Day against the Red Sox 6/17 - Baseball Cap Day against the Expos 6/27 - Fireworks Night against the Rockies The Pirates promoted LF Sean Garrett from AA Altoona to AAA Nashville. Garrett was hitting 0.292 with 3 HRs and 18 RBIs in 226 ABs with Altoona this year. Game 57: Pirates 2 Red Sox 1 Oliver Perez pitched very well in his first start as a Pirate, giving up just one run in 7 2/3 innings. Unfortunately, Red Sox starter Chris Elmore pitched just as well giving up no runs in 6 innings of work. The Pirates finally got on the board in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 1. With one out, Ramirez walked and then moved to third base on a double by Craig Wilson. Embree then intentionally walked Matt Stairs. JR House hit a sac fly to left center field, scoring Aramis Ramirez and then Jack Wilson lined out to end the inning. The Pirates won the ball game in the bottom of the tenth, when after Mackowiak and Kotsay hit back-to-back singles, Cota hit a fly ball to deep left, which moved Mackowiak to third base. After Nady struck out swinging, Ramirez hit a fly ball to left field that should have been the last out of the inning, but leftfielder Manny Ramires dropped the ball and Mackowiak came home to score the winning run. Embree picked up the loss, and Mann picked up the win. Game 58: Pirates 1 Red Sox 6 Pedro proved to be too much for the Pirates, giving up just one run off of five hits in 8 1/3 innings, while walking none and striking out 13 Pirate hittes. Josh Fogg pitched well up until the fifth inning, when he gave up five runs in the inning. He pitched a total of 4 1/3 innings, giving up the five runs. The other run came off of Torres, who pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief. Manny Ramirez had a big offensive day, partly making up for yesterday's error, hitting two homeruns and driving in 3 runs. Game 59: Pirates 6 Red Sox 4 Noddin Head Doll Day at PNC Park The Pirates' bats took out their frustration against Red sox starter Tim Wakefield today, scoring five runs, three of which were earned, in four innings off of him. Ramirez and Reggie Sanders each had homeruns off of Wakefield, with Reggies being a three run shot. Suppan pitched well enough to get the win, giving up four runs in 7 1/3 innings of work. Jim Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his 8th save of the year. Series Recap: The Pirates continue to play pretty well against any team not named the Cardinals. Game 60: Pirates 4 Braves 1 Joe Beimel made the start today for the still injured Jeff D'Amico and did quite well giving up just one run in 5 2/3 innings. He was pulled after walking a batter with two outs and the heart of the Braves order coming to bat in the sixth. Boehringer shut down the threat and then pitched another scoreless inning in the seventh. On the other side, Russ Ortiz was throwing a no-hitter until the seventh inning, and that's when things got messy. Kotsay lead off the inning, but then Matt Stairs flied out to to left-center. With Mackowiak up to bat, Kotsay was picked off at first base and it looked as if Kotsay would get out of the inning unscathed. However, later in the bat Mackowiak hit a solo homerun, and that seemed to rattle Ortiz. He then gave up a double to Ramirez, who moved to third on a wild pitch, and later in the same at-bat Wilson walked. With runners at the corners and two outs, Cox decided to pull Ortiz and bring in Gryboski. Gryboski gave up a triple to Reggie Sanders that scored Ramirez and Wilson, but then got House to ground out to third to end the inning. The Pirates then scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth off of Smoltz, but that proved to not be needed as Jim Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his ninth save of the year. Boehringer got the win for the Pirates, and Ortiz picked up the loss for the Braves. Game 61: Pirates 8 Braves 6 The Pirates entered the bottom of the sixth inning with a 6-1 lead, but the Braves managed to mount a comeback. They scored one run in the sixth and two in the seventh off of Kris Benson. Marcus Giles then hit a solo homerun off of Sauerbeck in the bottom of the eighth, and then Chipper Jones also managed to get a solo homer off of Jim Mann in the ninth to tie the game at 6 a piece. The Pirates then regained the lead in the top of the tenth with a leadoff homer by Craig Wilson. The Pirates then provided an insurance run when Jack Wilson singled and then scored off of a double by Matt Stairs. It again proved to be unnecessary as Torres came in and pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth to pick up his fourth save of the year. Starters Benson went seven innings giving up four runs for the Pirates, and Paul Byrd went 5 2/3 innings giving up 6 runs, 3 of which were earned, for the Braves. Ray King was charged with the loss for the Braves and Biemel picked up the win for the Pirates. Game 62: Pirates 6 Braves 8 This time the Pirates bullpen blew the lead, and blew it for good. The Pirates jumped out to a 6-2 lead through six innings, thanks in large part to a five run second inning. Starter Oliver Perez then lead off the seventh with a walk to Andruw Jones and then was pulled in favor of Torres. After getting DeRosa to strike out, Torres gave up a two run homer to Chipper Jones. Perez was charged with a total of three runs in six innings of work. Things just got worse for the Pirate bullpen. In the eighth, after Torres lead off with a walk against Estrada, Corey was brought in and walked PH Matt Franco. After getting Marcus Giles to strike out looking, Corey gave up a single to Furcal, but the runners held, leaving the bases loaded with one out. Corey then walked Andruw Jones scoring Estrada. Corey then got out of the jam by getting DeRosa to strike out and Chipper Jones to fly out to end the inning. Things got even worse in the bottom of the ninth. Reyes was brought in to try and close the game, but started the inning by walking Sheffield. Fick then grounded into a fielders choice, just beating out the throw that would have made it a double play. Reyes then walked Lopez and Gryboski, sacrificed Lopez and Fick into scoring position with two outs. Reyes then gave up a walk-off homerun to Marcus Giles to end the game. After starting pitcher Billy Sylvester gave up five runs in just 1 2/3 innings, Braves pitchers managed to hold the Pirates to just one more run off of Bong in the sixth inning. Gryboski picked up the win for the Braves, and Reyes was charged with a blown save and the loss. Series Recap: The Pirates managed to mount comebacks in the first two games, but the final game of the series was Atlanta's turn to come back, and they did so with style. The Pirates continue to do fairly well in games outside their division, as they are 14-15 in those games. They are 11-22 against central division opponents. A lot of other news happened this week. On Tuesday, Sammy Sosa smashed three homeruns off of Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitching. On Wednesday, Mariner's John Olerud collected his 2000th hit in the eigth inning off of Phillies pitcher Dave Coggin. On Saturday, A's hitter Darren McCarty broke up Phillies starter Terry Adams bid for a no-hitter with a two-out double in the ninth inning. Adams went on to get the next batter and finished the game with a one-hit shutout. On Sunday Marlins A.J. Burnett threw a two-hit shutout against the Angels, and Pedro Martinez also threw a two-hit shutout against the Brewers. __________________ "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."

10-02-2003, 07:23 PM	#18
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Week 11 Into the eleventh week of the season, and the Pirates are at 25-37, still in fifth place in the division. The Pirates go on a six game road trip this week, and continue their interleague games. They travel to Toronto for three games against the Blue Jays, who are 30-34. The Pirates then travel to Tampa Bay for a three game set against the Devil Rays, currently with a record of 23-39. Game 63: Pirates 1 Bluejays 11 Blue jays starter Roy Halladay pitched a complete game, giving up just one run off of 8 hits, while walking 3 and striking out 10. Fogg struggled again this outing, giving up 6 runs in 2 2/3 innings. The Pirate bullpen didn't do too well either, giving up five runs in 5 1/3 innings. Game 64: Pirates 12 Bluejays 18 Yikes! It could take hours to explain what happened in this game, so I won't, but instead just give the lines for the starters. Denny Neagle gave up 6 runs in just 1 2/3 innings. Reliever Gabe White picked up the win for the Jays, giving up 2 runs in 2 2/3 innings. Pirates starter Jeff Suppan picked up the loss giving up 8 runs, 6 of which were earned, off of 6 hits while walking 8 and striking out 3 in five innings. Ramirez, Sanders, and House (his first career HR) each hit homers for the Pirates, while Eric Hinske hit the lone homerun for the Blue Jays. Game 65: Pirates 7 Bluejays 8 Jeff D'Amico gave up all the runs against him from homeruns. Hinske and Delgado each hit solo shots, while Chris Woodward hit a solo homer, as well as a two-run blast. D'Amico pitched a total of 7 innings giving up five runs, four of which were earned. Blue Jays starter Corey Lidle gave up 6 runs in 4 2/3 innings of work. Jim Mann blew another save this year, giving up two runs in the bottom of the ninth by giving up a double to Luke Allen, a single to Hinske, and then another double to Delgado, tying the game at 7 and sending it to extra innings. In the bottom of the eleventh, after getting Luke Allen to ground out, Torres gave up an infield hit to Hinske, hit Dave Berg with a pitch and then walked Woodard to load the bases. McClendon then brought out Beimel, and he hit Catalanotto to score the game winning run. Series recap: Pretty sad really. The Pirates should have been able to win at least one, but the bullpen was just horrendous. Game 66: Pirates 3 Devil Rays 8 Fireworks night at Tropicana Field Another pathetic game by the bullpen. The game was tied 3-3 going into the eighth inning, and Benson left the game with a runner on first base and two outs. Sauerbeck came in and walked Abernathy and Anderson to load the bases. he then gave up a single to javier Valentin, that scored Lombard and Abernathy. Corey then came in and gave up a triple to Damian Rolls, scoring two runs, and then a double to Marrero, that scored Rolls. So the line for Benson was 4 runs, 3 earned, in 7 2/3 innings for the loss. DRays starter Joe Kennedy went 6 2/3 innings giving up three runs, but the win went to reliever Lance Carter as he pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Game 67: Pirates 3 Devil Rays 6 Baseball Cap Day at Tropicana Field Perez did well until the sixth inning, when he gave up a two run homerun to Jared Sandberg. He then gave up another two-run homerun to Eli Marrero in the bottom of the seventh, that gave the DRays the lead 4-3. The Rays then got some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth as Valentin hit yet another two-run homerun this time off of reliever Mark Corey. Perez picked up the loss giving up the four runs in 6 2/3 innings. DRays starter Jorge Sosa picked up the win giving up just 3 runs in eight innings of work. Travis Phelps picked up his eleventh save pitching a scoreless ninth. Game 68: Pirates 4 Devil Rays 5 Josh Fogg didn't have a good outing giving up 5 runs in 5 2/3 innings picking up the loss. The only runs DRays starter John Stephens gave up were solo homeruns by Ramirez and Nady. He went 7 2/3 innings, giving up just those two runs. The Pirates tried to mount a comeback scoring two runs in the ninth when with two outs Craig Wilson doubled home Carlos Rivera and Mark Kotsay singled home Wilson. Travis Phelps managed to stop the rally and pick up the save by getting Bobby Hill to ground out on a dribbler right in front of the plate that was fielded by the catcher. Series Recap: The Pirates losing streak has reached seven games. Meanwhile, Brian Giles and Kip Wells have helped the Padres improve to a .500 record. In other news on Sunday, Mariners rookie Rafael Soriano pitched a two-hit shutout against the Atlanta Braves. __________________ "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."

10-02-2003, 09:12 PM	#19
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Week 12 The Pirates activated Dave Williams from the 60-day DL. He was placed on the 40-man roster and will play in AAA Nashville. He has one option year remaining. The Pirates return home this week with a 3-game series against the the Expos, who are currently 40-29 and atop the NL East, and then play three games against the Indians, who are 32-38. Game 69: Pirates 2 Expos 5 Baseball Cap Day at PNC Park Nothing much exciting, Suppan went five innings giving up five runs, four earned, in five innings pitched. El Duque pitched a great game giving up just 2 runs in eight innings. Stewart pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his 16th save of the year. Game 70: Pirates 4 Expos 3 The Pirates finally ended their 8 game losing streak by coming from behind to win in the ninth. Starter D'Amico had a decent outing, giving up three runs, two earned, in 6 2/3 innings. Expos starter Tony Armas Jr. did even better, giving up just two runs, neither of which were earned in 7 1/3 innings. In the bottom of the ninth with two outs, Jack Wilson singled to center field. Cota then hit a pinch hit double down the left field line scoring Wilson. Kotsay then singled to right, and Cota beat the throw home from Vlad to score the game winning run. Jim Mann picked up the win for the Pirates, and Stewart got the loss for the Expos. Game 71: Pirates 2 Expos 8 Another losing effort by the Pirates. Starter Benson gave up five runs in five innings picking up the loss. Expos starter Seung Song pitched very well giving up just two runs in eight innings of work. Craig Wilson and Aramis Ramirez each hit solo homeruns. Series Recap: Except for the comback game, the Pirates offense was pretty lackluster against the Expos. Game 72: Pirates 8 Indians 9 The Pirates finally got to Indians starter Jason Phillips in the seventh inning, scoring 8 runs, 7 of which were earned, in his 6 2/3 innings pitched. However he got the win, as Jason Phillips lead the Indians offense going three for three with a HR and 3 RBI's. 6 of those runs came off starter Oliver Perez, who pitched only 2 2/3 innings. 1 run came off of Beimel and the other 2 came off of Torres. The Pirates tried to mount a comeback in the ninth. Stairs lead off with a walk, but then Ramirez grounded into a double play. Brian Anderson then walked Reggie Sanders and was pulled in favor of Dave Burba. Mackowiak hit a pinch hit single putting runners at the corners with two outs. Burba, however got pinch hitter JR House to strike out and end the inning and pick up the save. Game 73: Pirates 4 Indians 9 Fogg had yet another poor outing and picked up his 10th loss of the season, giving up 6 runs in five innings. Corey gave up one run and Beimel gave up two. Indians starter Cliff Lee picked up his first career win, giving up just two runs in 6 innings. Game 74: Pirates 4 Indians 3 The Pirates managed to mount another comeback in the ninth inning to win the game. Starter Jeff Suppan pitched 7 innings giving up just two runs, while Indians starter Baez gave up just one run through 6 innings. With the Indians leading 2-1 entering the ninth inning, the Indians added one insurance run when after two outs, Brandon Phillips singled home Victor Martinez off of Torres. The Indians then brought in Riske to face the Pirates in the ninth. He got Matt Stairs to ground out, but that would be the last out he'd get. Rivera singled to center, and House followed with his own single, and both runners advanced a base on a fielding error by the left fielder. Nunez then hit a pinch hit single, scoring Rivera and moving House to third. Mackowiak then hit another single scoring House, and moving Nunez to third. Kotsay then followed with his own single to right-center scoring Nunez. The Pirates managed to score 3 runs off of five singles in the bottom of the ninth to win it. Series Recap: There were two real close ones, with the Indians coming out on top in one, and the Pirates in the other. Around the league, on Friday Chicago White Sox starter Mark Buehrle pitched a no-hit shutout against the Cubs, while striking out six and walking three, and leading the Sox to a 2-0 win over the Cubs. Also that day, Angels starter John Lackey pulled his tricep muscle and will miss the next nine weeks. On Saturday, Met's starter Steve Trachsel pitched a two-hit shutout against the Yankees, as the Mets won the game 3-0. __________________ "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."

10-03-2003, 12:09 AM	#20
Operation Shutdown All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 912	Week 13 The Pirates are now 27-47 and still currently reside in fifth place in the NL Central. The Pirates start the week in Montreal with a three game series against the Expos, who are 43-32 and in first place in the east, and then return home for a three game series against the Rockies, who are currently 37-40. Game 75: Pirates 3 Expos 2 The Pirates held on to defeat the Expos, holding off a late game comeback effort by the Expos. Starter Jeff D'Amico gave up just one run in 7 innings and picked up the win, his fifth of the year. Tony Armas Jr. gave up three runs in 5 2/3 innings and got the loss for the Expos. In the bottom of the ninth, after Jim Mann struck out Wil Cordero, Vlad Guerrero hit a solo homerun down the left field line that just cleared that wall right next to the foul pole and was almost caught by Nady. Mann then hit Saenz with a pitch and he moved to third after a single by Vidro. With runners at the corners and just one out, Mann got out of the jam by getting Schneider to strike out and Barrett to ground out to second base. Mann picked up his 10th save of the season. Game 76: Pirates 2 Expos 0 The Pirates only managed to score two runs in 6 2/3 innings off of starter Seung Song, both runs scored by solo homeruns by Hill and Mackowiak. Those two runs proved to be enough this time as Benson pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the bullpen held on for him to get the win. Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 11th save of the year. Game 77: Pirates 7 Expos 8 Perez had a poor outing, givin up five runs, three earned, in only 4 2/3 innings pitched for the loss. The bullpen gave up another three runs in 3 1/3 innings. Vazquez pitched decent giving up four runs in seven innings to get the win. The Pirates attempted a comeback in the ninth inning. After getting two quick outs Britt Reames gave up singles to Bobby Hill and Craig Wilson. Rob Mackowiak then followed with his second homerun of the game, a shot to deep right center field to bring the game to within one run. Scott Stewart then came into the ballgame and recorded the final out by striking out Stairs looking to notch his 18th save of the year. Series Recap: Not a bad series for the Pirates. They won the first two because of good starting pitching, and almost made a come back in the final game. They're gonna need more good pitching if they're gonna win ball games this year. I promoted John VanBenSchoten from AA Altoona to AAA Nashville and placed him in the rotation and moved Shaffar into the bullpen. JVB was 7-1 with a 1.66 ERA in 10 starts for the Curve. I then promoted Pat O'Brien from A to AA and placed him in the starting rotation. Game 78: Pirates 1 Rockies 9 Fireworks Night at PNC Park Starter Josh Fogg still can't seem to find his rhythm, as he picked up his 11th loss, his eighth in a row. Fogg gave up six runs in 4 2/3 innings, and Boehringer gave up the other three runs in 2 1/3 innings of work. Jason Jennings on the other hand pitched very well giving up just one run in 7 innings for his 8th win of the year. Preston Wilson hit two homeruns and had 5 RBI's in the game. Game 79: Pirates 6 Rockies 14 This game was unbelievable. Pirates starter Jeff Suppan gave up five runs, four of which were earned in five innings of work. The Pirates answered back and tied the game in the seventh at 5 a piece and chased starter Shawn Chacon after he gave up all runs which were earned in seven innings. The Pirates then took the lead in the eighth scoring a run of Todd Jones. the Rockies answered in the ninth with a run off of Mann, getting another blown save. Beimel then got one out in the tenth, and Reyes came on and finished off the tenth and pitched two more scoreless innings, until the thirteenth. Reyes then gave up eigth runs in the inning including a grand slam by Hudson. The Pirates demoralized, didn't give much of an effort in the bottom half of the inning, but it didn't matter cause it was a lost cause anyway. Reyes got the loss for the Pirates and Fuentes picked up the win for the Rockies. Game 80: Pirates 3 Rockies 6 The Pirates bullpen blew yet another game. Elarton and D'Amico had very similar stats, each pitching 7 innings, giving up three runs, two of which were earned, 9 hits and striking out 5. The only difference was D'Amico walked 4 while Elarton walked none. The problems occurred for the Pirates in the ninth inning. After giving up a lead-off triple to Larry Walker, Sauerbeck got Hudson to ground out and kept Walker from scoring. Sauerbeck was pulled after intentionally walking Stewart. Jim Mann then came in and gave up a double to Hawpe scoring Walker and sending Stewart to third. After getting Hernandez to strike out, Mann gave up a single to Stynes scoring Stewart and Hawpe. He then gave up a single to Petrick who went to second when the throw went to third base trying to get Stynes, but he was safe. Mann finally ended the inning by getting Closser to strike out, but the damage had been done. Jimenez then got three quick outs in the ninth after giving up a single by Jack Wilson, to pick up his 14th save of the season. Todd Jones picked up the win, and Sauerbeck was credited with the loss. Series Recap: I just don't get it. The Pirates can sometimes go in there and win games against teams they shouldn't beat, like the Expos, and then they'll get swept by teams that they can actually match up against like the Rockies. Around the league, on Tuesday Yankees hurler Roger Clemens picked up his 300th career win pitching 5 2/3 shut-out innings against the Devil Rays. On Friday, Indian's shortstop Omar Vizquel drilled his 2000th career hit, a single off of Reds' Danny Graves with one out in the ninth inning. __________________ "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."