Pirates 9, Padres 1

by Charlie on Jul 24, 2008 10:02 PM EDT Comment 18 comments

You know, I don't mean to take anything away from Yoslan Herrera, who got his first big-league win today, or Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, and Nate McLouth, who all homered, but I have to say, this one was all about the Padres. The Bucs scored nine runs, yes, but they came against three pitchers who all have ERAs over 5.50. It's not easy to rack up an ERA that high in PETCO, but these three pitchers have all done it.

There's something weirdly admirable about how quickly Kevin Towers and the Padres embraced the "Is It Still Baseball Season?" portion of their year. Sure, injuries did force it on them to some degree. Heck, Albert Pujols just about laid waste to the entire team in one trip around the bases. Still, it's been amazing to watch the procession of minor-league nobodies the Padres have trotted out this season, surely hoping to catch fire with one of them, however slim they must realize their chances are when your minor-league talent is as bad as theirs is.

Luke Carlin and Nick Hundley have done much of the catching; Edgar Gonzalez (who, against all odds, has been very good) has played a bunch of second base. There are also outfielders: Justin Huber (who I actually kind of like), Paul McAnulty and Jody Gerut. And I haven't even mentioned Craig Stansberry (yes, him) or Callix Crabbe or Luis Rodriguez or Colt Morton!

The pitching has been a similar parade of nobodies: Wil Ledezma, Cha Seung Baek, Bryan Corey, Justin Germano, Glendon Rusch, Justin Hampson and others. True, the Pirates have played lots of these kinds of players too, but with the Padres you can look at the box score in any given night and expect to see around eight of them. A copule of these guys (Huber, maybe McAnulty) have little flickers of upside; most have none at all. For a team that was supposed to be competitive this year, the Padres' transformation has been remarkable.

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Yoslan Is The Man!

Sometimes, the stars just have to be properly alligned … like when Wally Pipp sat out a game or two and Lou Gehrig got to play … like 2,000 plus games in a row.

Fortunately for Herrera, after two rough outings, the Pirates had no one else to turn to and Yoslan got a third opportunity.

Now some of you say that it was the pitiful Padres, but hey, they are a major league club with the likes of Giles and Gonzalez and a few other hitters.

I’m thinking that it just took two bad outings for Herrera to finally feel comfortable. After all, his last three years would have challenged anyone, plus not speaking the English language or understanding our “culture” doesn’t make it any easier.

If he stays healthy, I expect him to take the ball every fifth day for the rest of the season. It probably will NOT be smooth sailing from here on out. But Herrera does NOT have to take a backseat to ANY Pirate starting pitcher in terms of his mound presence or his competitive spirit.

He simply knows how to pitch, and if he can pick up a tad more velocity on his fastball, by next season, he is going to be one of our top starters.

by thegunner on Jul 24, 2008 10:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Herrera did like good last night...

and considering all of the personal problems he has had to endure, there is no one I would like to see succeed more than him. I would like to think that he could be the solution to part of our pitching problems and hope he has more outings like this. At this point in the season I do not feel we can discount anybody who has such a fine outing and feel he deserves more time so that we can properly determine his worth. Management has certainly given JVB more than enough time and I can only hope they will be as patient with Herrera as they have been with him. Here’s hoping Castro will be wishing Herrera was still on their national team…

by Illinois Pirate Fan on Jul 25, 2008 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

the gunner/Illinois Pirate Fan

After one impressive performance against an awful team that is headed nowhere quickly, do you really want to anoint Yoslan Herrera as one of our key starters for the rest of this season? He has been in the organization for more than 1 1/2 years and has been pretty bad, even in AA.

“He simply knows how to pitch, and if he can pick up a tad more velocity on his fastball, by next season, he is going to be one of our top starters.”

TROLL

by patthatt on Jul 24, 2008 10:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You really think that’s trolling?

by Charlie on Jul 24, 2008 10:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

patthatt

In a word, YES …

especially based on what I have seen of the other Pirate starters this year … and that includes Mr. Maholm.

(Incidentally, you seem to be quite the defender of the new Pirate front office.)

Oh, and Illinois Pirate Fan and thegunner are two different people. Even though we seem to be in agreement quite often, we do not know each other.

by thegunner on Jul 24, 2008 11:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

What is trolling?

Please explain.

by thegunner on Jul 24, 2008 11:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This could get ugly. Gunner, if you want to know what it is, go to Wikipedia. If you don’t know what that is, go to Google. :)

Patthatt, if you really feel there’s trolling going on, send me an email and I’ll look into it, but I don’t see any grounds to believe that’s what’s happening.

In any case, let’s not have an e-brawl here.

by Charlie on Jul 24, 2008 11:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

An open letter to Charlie

I can assure you that I never “troll” as has been suggested by “Patthat”. He is simply upset that I will not respond to any of his posts because he is rude, crude, and has no tolerance for those who disagree with him. All you have to do is look at his post to me in the “Ray Durham” article to see what I mean. His personal attacks warned me to avoid this person and so I refuse to respond to anything he says to me. I very much enjoy this site and like discussing Pirate strategy with many of its posters and I would never intentionally inflame anybody. It’s not my style.

I will admit to having strong feeling about management and what I perceive to be a lack of decisiveness on their part to make changes to strengthen our club and think it is possible that Neil is in over his head at this point in his career. This would explain why he has not completed any major deals and so I express my frustration with him, not to illicit negative responses but to release my frustration and attempt to determine if there are others who share my beliefs. In summary, I would be pleased to respond to “Patthat” if he can learn to be civil and lose the personal attacks. If not, I will continue to ignore him. Thank you for your time.

by Illinois Pirate Fan on Jul 25, 2008 9:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

the gunner/Illinois Pirate Fan

I want to apologize to you for the inappropriate “troll” reference and the “get your head out of your arse” comment, too. I was out of line.

I strongly disagree with your constant attacks on management, and question your motives as well, but I will refrain from directing any personal comments at you in the future.

I think many of us who are long-suffering, loyal Pirate fans are frustrated by not knowing what is going to happen on the trade front and with the top draft signees and, in my case, I let the frustration get out of hand today. Sorry about that.

by patthatt on Jul 25, 2008 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Patthat

Apology accepted. I look forward to reading your posts and getting to know you better. Afterall, we both want the same thing and that is a good common ground around which a friendship can be built. I still have relatives living in the Pittsburgh area (Monroeville) and hopefully I can meet some of the posters at a Pirate game at which time I will buy the beer.

by Illinois Pirate Fan on Jul 25, 2008 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

IPF

I don`t want to be your friend. I simply wanted to make a sincere apology for getting personal with some of my comments. I was wrong.

We may want the same thing, as you say, but our beliefs about how the Pirates should go about accomplishing it are polar opposites. I believe in the patient approach involving a combination of sensible trades, good drafts, and never-ending hard work on player development over the next few years at a minimum to rebuild an organization that was screwed by McClatchy, Littlefield, Creech, Graham and others.

Maybe it`ll never work with the Nuttings behind it. Maybe Coonelly will never allow Huntington to do his utmost best for the organization with the Nuttings pulling his strings at every opportunity. Time will tell, but I believe in giving my strong support-not unqualified to be sure-to Huntington and his people with the belief that they will be able to rebuild the team and give us consistent winners sometime next decade.

However, all you`ve ever wanted to do is attack the new people from day one for a lack of amazing results this season when they have the deck stacked against them. Hopefully you`ll cut them at least a little slack since they`ve made A TRADE.

Good day to you, IPF.

by patthatt on Jul 26, 2008 2:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Charlie

After reading all of his posts this season, yes, I do. There is a clear agenda present in his posts to attack the Pirates` top people, especially Huntington, for no reason other than to bash them.

The Gunner: I want to give Huntington and Coonelly my support and hope they succeed and give us a winning franchise at the earliest possible date. They have not had the opportunity to get the job done yet, and do not deserve the unceasing attacks that you and your buddy Illinois Pirate Fan constantly rain down on them.

The Dave Littlefield Effect will take years to wear off. They need time to make the best trades they can for the organization. They need time-years to be more precise-to rebuild the farm system through the draft, overseas signings, and player development.

You don`t want to give them a fair opportunity. You just want to bih, bih, bi**h.

If you really are Bucco fan, if you really love the PBC, then try to understand the terrible situation the new people came into late last year, and the challenges that remain to overcome it. There are no quick-fix solutions to the devastation that DL, Creech, Graham left behind.

Now I`ll shut up.

by patthatt on Jul 24, 2008 11:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

And Another Thing!

There is new, unproven Pirate personnel in the front office.

The same is the case with the field manager and coaches.

There are also new, unproven individuals running the scouting and player development departments.

The jury is OUT on all of them, and I am not going to look up Herrera’s Altoona stat line before I write this post.

It is what it is (his stat line — to quote a ridiculously popular new sports expression!)

But I am going to tell you that my eyes don’t lie and Herrera can pitch. His numbers at Altoona have been decent, I’m sure, or he would never have been given the opportunity to pitch for the big club.

He probably should have been moved up to Indianapolis early in this season, but it really doesn’t matter since there is very little difference between AAA and AA.

When you try to compare Herrera to Gorzelanny, Dumatrait, Taubenheim and Barthmeier, there is NO comparison. Herrera is the best pitcher of them all.

Duke and Maholm do have an idea how to pitch.

I’m still out on Snell … in other words, I have not come to a conclusion. But unless he gets his head screwed on straight, he will probably go the way of Oliver Perez … lots of potential that was unfortunately never realized.

by thegunner on Jul 24, 2008 11:25 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Dude...

Wow. Did you watch any of his other starts? He has an 86 mph fastball. He’s been pitching for 1 1/2 years now so what makes you think he will improve his velocity. He’s not growing anymore and he’s probably closer to 29 than he is 27. He was very competitive tonight yes but I didn’t see anything tonight that gets me nearly as excited as you seem to be. This wasn’t even the best performance by a Pirate pitcher this year. Gorzo has some issues and I’m not convinced he isn’t hurt, but at least he had a successful season. Herrara had a successful start and you’re ready to say he’s better than Gorzo. I appreaciate your excitement and I hope you’re right but man I think you need to come down a bit and wait for a few more positive outings before inducting him into the HOF.

by Slick1 on Jul 25, 2008 12:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"But I am going to tell you that my eyes don’t lie and Herrera can pitch."

In the sense that he is capable of throwing a baseball in the general direction of home plate, yes, he can pitch. In the sense that he can do so succesfully and get guys out, no, he can’t.

“His numbers at Altoona have been decent, I’m sure, or he would never have been given the opportunity to pitch for the big club.”

You’re aware he’s “27” years old, right? His numbers ought to be Walter Johnson-esque at AA. He’s a good 3-5 years older than a typical player in that league! He put up a rather pedestrian 53:32 K:BB ratio in almost 93 innings. That’s, frankly, not that good. Not for a somebody who is essentially a ringer.

by matskralc on Jul 25, 2008 6:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

One more post before work....

Yoslan Herrera-according to The Gunner:

“He simply knows how to pitch, and if he can pick up a tad more velocity on his fastball, by next season, he is going to be one of our top starters.”

“But I am going to tell you that my eyes don’t lie and Herrera can pitch. His numbers at Altoona have been decent, I’m sure, or he would never have been given the opportunity to pitch for the big club.”

“He probably should have been moved up to Indianapolis early in this season, but it really doesn’t matter since there is very little difference between AAA and AA.”

“When you try to compare Herrera to Gorzelanny, Dumatrait, Taubenheim and Barthmeier, there is NO comparison. Herrera is the best pitcher of them all.”

Need I say more?

by patthatt on Jul 24, 2008 11:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If

Herrera had a 92mph fastball he wouldn’t be a Bucco he’d be in Boston or even New York.

by Bad Andy on Jul 25, 2008 12:19 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well...

Herrera was billed as a guy that threw low to mid 90s when we signed him so, while I don’t agree with Gunner about Herrera’s ranking amongst our pitchers as far as potential, I do agree that he’s got a shot at decency on the mound.

And lastly, I’ve seen trolling and I’ve never seen it this board.

by ChicagoBucco on Jul 25, 2008 2:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs