Out-Managed & Out-Played, Pirates Lose Opener
The first team to blink an eye, loses.
Jim Tracy blinked in the 8th and the Pirates lost.
After John Wasdin gave up a leadoff single to David Eckstein in the 8th inning, he got Chris Duncan to strike out, Jim Tracy ordered an intentional walk to Albert Pujols, and Scott Rolen flied out.
With men on first and second and two outs, Jim Tracy fetched left-hand specialist Damaso Marte from the bullpen to face Jim Edmonds and Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa countered by pitch hitting with Preston Wilson.
Instead of countering La Russa's move by issuing an intentional walk to Wilson and then bringing out Bayliss, Tracy blinked and allowed Marte to pitch to Wilson despite the fact right-hand batters typically maul him.
As expected, Marte threw a 1-2 heater just above Wilson's sweet spot and he drove it over Chris Duffy's head to score two runs.
And the Pirates lost the game.
Pirate fans have to be wondering why Jim Tracy is carrying seven relievers if he refuses to use them to try and win games. Marte pitching to Wilson was not the best match up. Yet Tracy brought out Bayliss to pitch the 9th and he ended up striking out two of the three batters he faced.
Jim Tracy was simply out-managed.
Braden Looper, who has always confused Pirates batters for some reason, worked seven innings and allowed just two hits while walking three.
The Pirates weren't without opportunities however, as Chris Duffy walked in the first and took second on the next pitch when Looper balked. But he was left stranded there over the next three batters. Duffy also doubled with two outs in the third, but was left stranded once again.
After LaRoche walked and Bay singled with one out in the 4th, Xavier Nady hit into a perfect 6-4-3 double play to end that threat as well.
The Cardinals bullpen finished the last two frames striking out three of the seven Pirate batters they faced to complete the shut out.
Ian Snell started for the Pirates and pitched an acceptable game, although he lacked his typically dominating curve ball in the cold. Still, Snell scattered 6 hits over 7 innings and allowed just one earned run.
The loss was the first opening day shut out loss for the Pirates since 1991.
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There were a couple of controversies during this game.
The first involved the Cardinals asking home plate umpire Sam Holbrook to check the size of the batters box. He did and determined the box was outlined too small and forced the Pirates ground crew to redraw the box.
The second controversy surrounds the Cardinals stealing signs. It became obvious in the 4th inning that base runners were being tipped off to the Pirates pitch selection.
As the game went deeper you could tell the on-deck batter was signaling the runners. Perhaps he was getting the signs from a center field bleacher patron? Perhaps he was able to see Paulino's fingers?
In any case, every time the Cardinals had men on base, they ran and always on sliders Paulino wanted thrown away, including some non-running situations like when Edmonds tried to steal third.
Seems to me the Pirates need to change signs every inning.
I believe that, if you check the baseball rulebook, you will find that Marte must pitch to one batter before he can be replaced, unless he suffered an injury before pitching to Wilson.
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yep - you're right and I knew better but I still posted that he could. Nice catch.
Still, all Marte had to do was issue a 4-pitch walk and then Tracy could have brought out Bayliss.
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Yeah, but it is Preston freaking Wilson. He has done nothing all year but strike out at an alarming rate. They would be calling for his head if it weren't for the fact that So Taguchi **** even worse.
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Hey Cards fan here (so im probibly biased ;-))but you dont have to steal signs to steal off a pitcher, you just have to figure out the pitcher...its what good base stealers do. They find something about the way the guy delievers the pitch and use that (they dont have to steal signs at all).
(being a rabid baseball fan you probibly already know that).
also reguarding this:
"In any case, every time the Cardinals had men on base, they ran and always on sliders Paulino wanted thrown away, including some non-running situations like when Edmonds tried to steal third. "
They were talking about Paulino durring the game on the radio today. They said teams stole off him sucessfully like 8 out of 11 times already (or something like that). I think he droped the ball twice today when we were stealing.
If this is all true is it any wonder why they were running?
anyway, not trying to ruffle feathers or anything. Good game. Ive been hearing an awful lot about Snell this year, it was nice to see him pitch.
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rutkap - Preston Wilson is a career .799 OPS player. No wait, excuse me, .803 career vs southpaws and .843 vs Pirate pitching including .500 SLG.
I'm sorry, but if we intentionally walked Pujols, then the move was to intentionally walk Wilson since we didn't have the best matchup.
jealous -- look, La Russa is WELL known for stealing signs. The Cards have been doing it with him for years and years.
I went back and looked closer at what vid was available and Paulino was giving tight signs and without protrouding fingers. Nor was he moving until the pitch was being delivered.
Some call it dirty baseball, others like La Russa believe it is a part of the game.
Teams are running on Paulino. No question about it. But his history last year was 35% +/- CS. That's not too shabby.
Yes, he absolutely dropped the ball - several times. But mainly because the Cards were off on first movement knowing the ball was going to be down low.
I'm an ex-catcher - it's not like I've never seen this before. Exploiting a receiver's weakness IS part of the game but I guess I'm too old school to believe the game is played with the men on the field and not a lookout in CF like many teams are doing.
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