Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati, 6 April 2006

by Charlie Wilmoth on Apr 6, 2006 2:23 PM EDT in News

Ian Snell, Brandon Claussen (mlb.com)

7:10 PM, FSNP, KDKA

Ian Snell (1-2, 5.14) vs. Brandon Claussen (10-11, 4.21). Claussen was downright decent in his first full season in the big leagues last year, although he sometimes had problems keeping the ball down, which led to lots of fly balls and 24 home runs against, including 15 in Cincinnati's homer-happy ballpark. Like every other starter the Bucs have faced so far this year, he doesn't throw hard - the Pirates might be really confused when they finally encounter a starter who throws harder than 92 MPH or so. Claussen changes speeds well and has a good slider.

Sean Casey's homecoming aside, it would probably be a good idea to start Craig Wilson instead of Casey or Jeromy Burnitz against a soft-tossing, homer-prone lefty like Claussen, particularly in the Reds' park. Casey never hit very well in Cincinnati, whereas lots of hitters do. Burnitz isn't a very good hitter against lefties, but he does hit homers against them.

Box score.

...We're underway. Junior Griffey drove in Felipe Lopez in the first; Reds lead, 1-0.

...Tony Womack is batting leadoff. Unbelievable. And he's beating the Bucs right now. Double unbelievable.

...Joe Randa just hit a three-run shot. 3-3 in the 4th.

...Somewhat off-topic, but Chris Shelton is just going nuts, with two more homers tonight. He now has four homers, a double, and two singles in his first eleven at bats.

...Adam Dunn homers off John Grabow. 5-3 Reds in the sixth.

...Ryan Doumit just hit a two-run jack off our friend Rick White. 5-5.

...What a weird play on the single by Dunn! Bucs lose, 6-5.

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ha

F Rick White

by ILLZ on Apr 7, 2006 2:41 AM EDT reply actions

It seems as if

The Trib-Review is already burying the Pirates on their web-site. Looking at the sports section it is Football and then buried in the stack of links and stories is the Pirate content.

It is way early but is it me, or does this team still seem unprepared and ill-equipped to compete coming out of spring training? I thought all that changed with Tracy.

by Greg Schuler on Apr 7, 2006 8:04 AM EDT reply actions

Re: It seems as if

All the preparation in the world can't account for a lack of talent.

It also seems worse than it is. The Bucs pythagorean is 44.4% win% (1.78 wins). Flip a coin four times, its only 1/16 that it'll come up tails all four times. There's been some bad luck... there's been some suck too, don't get me wrong, but there's been bad luck.

by DJAnyReason on Apr 7, 2006 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions

That's not really true

Each flip of the coin is an exclusive event, and the odds are 50% for heads and 50% for tails.

The Pyth is interesting though.

Really, it sucks the way they've started, but I doubt the bullpen will be like this all year. If they had scored 2 runs over the four games, that would really be bad.

azibuck

by azibuck on Apr 7, 2006 1:30 PM EDT up reply actions