Nothing confirmed here but rumors are running wild the Pirates have banned Penguins games from being shown on TVs that normally show non-Pirates stuff.
We’ll know more tomorrow after the game is over, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least. This is a front office that has penis envy to the max. Going after small bars, picking on journalists for doing their jobs, accusing other teams of cheating with no proof, even trying to dictate our coverage on this very blog. Love you Jim.
If true, what better way to alienate a fanbase than to ban paying customers from watching the most popular team in the city during a playoff game while in a club? They already managed to make the games a joke by having post game concerts, drawing the douchiest fans possible so why worry when fans are actually watching a sport?
We’ve also been told of a potential mutiny in the HOF club. They are planning to play the game there by the sound of it!
Again. This could be much ado about nothing. We’ll see. They probably just want everyone in their seats for this national game.
Of course by National I mean if you live in Pittsburgh or Cincy.
As you can imagine, the Pirates are purple.
Let’s Go Pens!
Francisco Liriano will make his fifth start of the season after a pretty poor outing against the Tigers. The only game the Pirates would lose to the Tigers in fact.
I have a hard time wrapping my head around Liriano. He is another guy, like Jeanmar Gomez, who has had some success that’s been overblown. Obviously that doesn’t include the gem Gomez just threw.
See, Liriano has only thrown 23 innings. Watch this.
| Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| @ | KCR | L,0-1 | L(1-6) | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 6.46 | 96 |
| CHC | L,2-8 | L(1-7) | 5.2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 6.45 | 89 | |
| MIL | L,3-5 | 6.0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 6.24 | 104 | ||
| @ | PIT | W,2-1 | 6.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 5.74 | 97 | |
| CHW | W,4-1 | W(2-7) | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 5.30 | 104 |
That was Liriano’s month of June. Last season. He held opponents to a .159/.252/.243 line with an ERA of 2.87. Why did I do that? For no other reason than to show you the dangers of completely judging a guy off a small sample size. There’s been good, there’s been bad. He isn’t a saviour yet, he isn’t a hindrance either. He deserves a chance, he also deserves some skepticism.
To me, Liriano has made one outstanding start so far.
| Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| @ | NYM | W,11-2 | W(1-0) | 5.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 1.69 | 90 |
| MIL | W,7-1 | W(2-0) | 5.2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 1.64 | 98 | |
| CHC | W,1-0 | W(3-0) | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 1.00 | 91 | |
| @ | DET | L,5-6 | L(3-1) | 5.0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2.35 | 90 |
Overall, positive Liriano has been a positive. I’m just waiting until I crown him.
Liriano has actually never faced the Reds. Time to earn your Redwings Franky.
| PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shin-Soo Choo | 19 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | .263 | .263 | .263 | .526 |
| Jack Hannahan | 8 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .286 | .375 | .286 | .661 |
| Cesar Izturis | 7 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .429 | .429 | .429 | .857 |
| Manny Parra | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 36 | 35 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 11 | .286 | .306 | .286 | .591 |
Has Cesar Izturis played for every team?
Stupid Mike Leake is looking to steal one from the Buccos today, something he was not able to do in his first outing against your Pittsburgh Pirates.
| Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WSN | L,6-7 | 6.0 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6.00 | 102 | ||
| @ | PIT | L,5-6 | 6.0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6.75 | 96 | |
| PHI | W,11-2 | W(1-0) | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 4.26 | 81 | |
| CHC | W,5-4 | 7.0 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3.81 | 108 | ||
| @ | WSN | L,3-6 | L(1-1) | 3.0 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4.34 | 71 |
| @ | CHC | W,6-5 | W(2-1) | 5.2 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4.15 | 89 |
| ATL | L,2-7 | L(2-2) | 7.0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4.32 | 105 | |
| @ | MIA | W,4-0 | W(3-2) | 6.2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 3.72 | 92 |
| @ | NYM | W,4-0 | W(4-2) | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3.25 | 99 |
| CLE | W,4-2 | 7.1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 3.02 | 99 |
Leake faces the Pirates basically every time these two teams meet. A full third of his divisional starts were against the Pirates last season. Five. More than any other team.
Like anyone who faces the Pirates on a regular basis his numbers were pretty good.
| W | L | G | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 3.82 | 5 | 5 | 33.0 | 30 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 9 | 22 | 1.182 | 6.0 | 2.44 |
That’s pretty annoying. The more you face the Bucs it seems like the better you are.
Despite pitching pretty well against them he has a losing record.
| W | L | G | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 3 | 3.54 | 12 | 12 | 76.1 | 74 | 37 | 30 | 8 | 25 | 47 | 1.297 | 5.5 | 1.88 |
A bit surprising.
| PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew McCutchen | 36 | 33 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8 | .212 | .278 | .303 | .581 |
| Garrett Jones | 35 | 31 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 3 | .323 | .324 | .484 | .807 |
| Neil Walker | 29 | 23 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 4 | .391 | .483 | .696 | 1.178 |
| Pedro Alvarez | 24 | 21 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | .238 | .333 | .286 | .619 |
| Clint Barmes | 16 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .286 | .333 | .429 | .762 |
| Alex Presley | 16 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .400 | .438 | 1.000 | 1.438 |
| Michael McKenry | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | .167 | .214 | .417 | .631 |
| Russell Martin | 10 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .400 | .400 | .400 | .800 |
| Gaby Sanchez | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .200 | .429 | .800 | 1.229 |
| Travis Snider | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .250 | .333 | .250 | .583 |
| Starling Marte | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .750 | .667 | 1.417 |
| Wandy Rodriguez | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| A.J. Burnett | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 203 | 175 | 51 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 32 | 17 | 28 | .291 | .352 | .480 | .832 |
First Pitch: 7:15 PM EST
Where To Watch: Fox, MLB.TV
