I should’ve taken the time to blog this a few days ago when the Pirates were a little closer to .500 for the season - as of this morning they’ve slipped to 25-29 and are 8.5 back of the division leading Cubs. This time last year, they were 23-30 with manager Jim Tracy at the helm and en route to a 68-94 season, 6th in the NL and 17 games back of the lead.
Certainly the hopes, if not expectations of the Pirates faithful are that things will be different this go-round with John Russell at the controls. As of Tuesday, the mood in the clubhouse was still positive:
The Pirates blew a two-run lead in the eighth inning Saturday and trailed the Chicago Cubs — again — in the bottom of the ninth. Closer Kerry Wood was on the hill, and the bottom of the batting order was due up.
Yet, the mood in the Pirates’ dugout was hardly doom and gloom. Every player was on the top step, leaning over the railing and jawing, an unbroken line of black-and-gold warmup jackets.
“The guys were into it,” manager John Russell said. “They were picking each other up, continuing to put the pressure on, believing they can win. It was outstanding.”
In recent years, “We will” was little more than a hollow marketing slogan at PNC Park. This season, the catchphrase is gone — but the sentiment has come to life in the Pirates’ clubhouse.
“The atmosphere has been very different, even on the bench, every game,” outfielder Jason Bay said. “Stuff like that has been the difference this year. It’s nothing you can lay your finger on. It’s just … a different feel.”
Maybe that’s why Luis Rivas connected on an 0-2 pitch and lofted a sacrifice fly to tie the game, denying Wood his fourth save in eight outings against the Pirates. Maybe it helped Bay rip the game-winning single in the 14th inning.
The source of this quiet confidence, everyone in the clubhouse agrees, is Russell.
Certainly, a winning season would be a huge achievement for John and the Bucs - they’ve not had one since 1992, the year the Blue Jays won their first World Series. Here’s hoping that John can help the Pirates tack on at least 56 more wins over the remaining 108 games.
“I’m not a guy who’s going to crack a whip, or scream at ‘em all day long. I mean we’re going to have fun, but we’re going to do it right.”
It’s been a while since the blog checked in on FLC, Dave Trembley. Rumor has it that Mr. Trembley might appear to be a little gruff, but beneath the tough exterior was a heart of gold. Since being elevated to manager of the Baltimore Orioles at the end of last season, Dave’s record is 65-78. Currently the team sits right at .500 with a 25-25 record.
Trembley never got beyond a Canadian amateur summer league, so he doesn’t have eye-catching playing credentials he can point to when impressing upon a player the need to do things a certain way.
“Players don’t really care about that,” said Trembley, who managed 16 consecutive years in the instructional league, in addition to winter ball stints in Venezuela and Mexico.
“They want to know two things: Do you know what you’re talking about, and can you help them? Are you going to panic? Have you been through it? I managed 2,000 games (2,782, actually) in the minor leagues, for goodness’ sakes.”
Long time Lynx fans will likely recall the MiLB umpire strike of 2006, and the quality of the replacement officials was arguably less than stellar. We missed the game when Dave, fed up with the bad calls, finally snapped and summarily “tossed” the entire umpiring crew. Pretty sure you’ve seen this before, but it looks like he took this routine to Camden Yards… (sorry, WordPress wouldn’t permit the video embed, so you’ll have to follow the link to see it.)
Is is time to rename the UOLB, the “Unofficial Gary Burnham blog”? Friend of the Lynx/blog, Tricia, was kind enough to send a link from Taipei to a story written in English (as opposed to mandarin).
While Yu was the big winner with five hits in the game, the night also belonged to the Bears’ foreign slugger Gary Burnham, who drove in a half-dozen RBIs on a 4-for-7 night, including two doubles and a three-run home run.
“Foreign slugger”. Nice.
Tricia’s still on the case, looking for Gary’s stats. In other FLP, err… FLC news, with John Russell at the helm, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a record of 22-25, six games behind the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs (28-19).
“I like where we’re at,” Russell said beforehand. “Obviously, I’d be happier with some more wins. But I think what we’ve been through to this point really sets up our season. We’ve had to deal with our injuries, like Jack Wilson and Ryan Doumit. We’ve struggled with our starting pitching, too. But we’re still right there. If we can piece things together, it will be interesting to see what happens.”
He added that he has appreciated what he considers a vibrant, upbeat attitude among the players, even in down times.
“That’s why you’re starting to hear guys frustrated when they lose. We believe we can win.”
That’s right. The versatile veteran brings a spark to the Red Wings and should be a regular.
Today, with the Wings mired in a seven-game losing streak, manager Stan Cliburn asked Clark to address the team. Howie is not a vocal guy, but he’s well-respected by just about everyone who knows him. He was even the captain of the 2002 Red Wings.
Howie spoke to the club about trying to do too much too soon, and not being patient. Then he went out tonight and clubbed an RBI triple in the seventh inning to put the Wings ahead to stay 3-2.
I’m not a fan of constant lineup switches, but I understand Cliburn has a lot of talent that needs to play. But one constant should be Howie.
Thanks to readers Nick and Jim for the updates. Nick has posted up on the stats of most (all?) of the FLP still in circulation:
An update on Former Lynx Players around AAA and the Atlantic League of Baseball
Batters: AVG/OBP/OPS
Luis Terrero (Norfolk): .336/.407/.937
Darnell McDonald (Rochester): .336/.392/.992
Joe Thurston (Pawtucket): .275/.308/.674
Danny Sandoval (Buffalo): .267/.333/.650
Howie Clark (Rochester): .260/.316/.701
Bernie Castro (Scranton): .520/.344/.603
Andy Tracy (Lehigh Valley): .230/.336/.780
Brennan King (Lehigh Valley): .225/.246/.541
Jason Jaramillo (Lehigh Valley): .192/.244/.536
Tim Raines (Tucson): .286/.326/.747
Fernando Tatis (New Orleans): .242/.345/.937
Bobby Darula (Bridgeport): .222/.324/.694
Henry Mateo (Bridgeport): .278/.365/.717
Curtis Pride (Southern Maryland): .211/.366/.699
Brent Abernathy (Long Island): .320/.346/.706
Val Majewski (Newark): .283/.382/.752
Keith Reed (Newark): .279/.324/.717
Matt Padgett (York): .246/.368/.754
Pitchers: W-L, ERA, IP
Brian Mazone (Lehigh Valley): 4-3, 3.48, 51.2
Hayden Penn (Norfolk): 2-2, 5.01, 46.2
JA Happ (Lehigh Valley): 0-4, 2.72, 46.1
Kane Davis (Syracuse): 2-5, 3.91. 46.0
JD Durbin (Lehigh Valley): 0-5, 9.42, 28.2
Andy Mitchell (Norfolk): 3-1, 2.52,
Heath Totten (Rochester): 0-1, 3.86, 21.0
Gary Knotts (Lehigh Valley): 0-0, 4.79, 20.2
John Ennis (Lehigh Valley): 1-2, 4.12, 19.2
Scott Strickland (Scranton): 2-0, 4.19, 19.1
Brian Sancehes (Columbus): 0-0, 1.10, 16.1
Matt Childers (Lehigh Valley): 0-1, 3.31. 16.1
Rick Bauer (Buffalo): 0-0, 0.59, 15.1
Steve Kline (Lehigh Valley): 0-1, 5.40, 13.1
Tony Armas (New Orleans): 1-4, 3.02, 47.2
Matt Riley (Las Vegas): 0-0, 3.29, 13.2
Tim Byrdak (Round Rock): 0-0, 3.68, 7.1
Tim Drew (Bridgeport): 2-1, 5.57, 21.0
TJ Tucker (Bridgeport): 0-0, 2.84, 6.1
Eric Dubose (Bridgeport): 0-2, 4.50, 22.0
Aaron Rakers (York): 1-1, 6.43, 14.0
Nick McCurdy (York): 0-0, 2.38, 11.1
Thanks Nick for taking care of the heavy lifting.
Reader Joe from Sioux City, Iowa alerts us to an article in the Reading Eagle - apparently people are still talkin’ about the UOLB.
International Burnie
Not sure why I checked in on “The ‘unofficial’ Ottawa Lynx Blog” the other day, since the town no longer has a team (the Phillies’ Triple-A club played there last season).
It had to be fate, because what I stumbled upon is classic stuff: A YouTube video of former Reading Phillies favorite Gary Burnham homering for the La New Bears of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan.
Just as fun: The postgame interview featuring Burnham, who revealed to a bilingual reporter that the Taiwanese culture has been good for his game.
“The amount of fish that the Taiwanese people eat is a heckuva lot more than I eat in the U.S.,” Burnham said. “It’s also good for you. I can get in better shape, and maybe lose five pounds.”
Thanks for sending it along Joe. In addition to Nick’s breakdown, I’ll try to have an update on one of Sioux City’s finest shortly.
Finally for today, a quick vid of an up and coming closer closer to home.
But the time is short - something like that. You get the point.
It’s nice to escape to the relative calm of the good old UOLB, you know? A commenter wondered why I wouldn’t shut down this one if favor of the UCOB - quite honestly, I don’t need the drama in my life (approximately 58 comments on the last issue alone). The UOLB was never so much about baseball as it was about the people and the experience of being at the park. Like most of us, I tend to fall back on what I’m comfortable with, and for me it’s places like Out of Left Field, the UOLB, and a couple of other sites.
This week remains extraordinarily busy, but I wanted to throw a post out to let people know this blog will definitely continue. Thanks too to Neate and everyone who’s left a kind word or two over at the UCOB, it’s been much appreciated. It saddens me to have to walk away from it, but - it’s a story (blog post, actually) best left for another day.
The UOLB is still very much alive, and I’ve actually got stuff to post - problem is, between Little League and another project I’m working on currently, the blog suffers. Here’s a quick interview with good guy and FLP, Joey Hammond to tide you over until I get things back on the rails:
Finally, the winter from hell has come to an end. In this neck of the woods, more and more it seems that we have only two seasons - winter and summer. The transitional spring and fall seasons have disappeared. March 8-9, fifty freakin’ centimetres of snow. April 18, 24 Celsius.
Of course with spring comes the return of Little League, the only baseball we thought we’d have in the NCR in 2008. And quite honestly, as a family we’d made our peace with that. I continue to marvel at the quality of baseball played by 10 and 11 year olds. It’s all relative of course; we obviously don’t hold these kids to the same standards as an MLB player. But as spectators, we quickly grow accustomed to the different expectation level and get wrapped up in the game - every bit as much as any game we watched at Lynx Stadium (dare I say, even more so during a Little League tournament).
Warming up in the pen, May 3, 2008
Two seamer, on it’s way.
The next Orlando Hudson?
And even with gas prices sitting near $4 a gallon, there’s the proverbial road trip planned for the summer. Tentative plans include a trip to the Hall of Fame, and a couple of ball parks along the way. If we time this thing right, we hope to catch up with FLP and good guy Dusty Wathan when he brings his Williamsport team to FLO and good guy Ray Pecor’s Centennial Field to face the Vermont Lake Monsters.
You’ve probably seen this story already, but I thought it deserved an OT mention on the UOLB. Regulars know that I have a soft spot for heartwarming stories.
With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.
But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.
She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.
Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count — an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.
Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, the career home run leader in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky.
I’m getting a little verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic: Cloverfield was about neither clover, nor a field. There. I’m better now.
