Bucs Humiliated in Sweep

The Pirates managed just 17 hits and 6 runs in the three game series with the Braves and what is so puzzling about it all is that 18% of the hits and 50% of the rbi's came from two players not even on the initial lineup cards for two of the three games - Castillo and Doumit.

That's sad.

But that also extends my point the other day about Jim Tracy refusing to adjust his lineup card to get the best matchups possible on the field every game. Instead, he throws the same lineup out day-after-day hoping for miracles that never appear.

And it's getting old.

Just as old as Sanchez playing out of position at second base instead of Castillo, or continuing to put a sure out in the leadoff spot with McLouth or Davis, batting Sanchez second despite the fact he is a career .243 hitter there, or keeping Wilson buried in the 8 hole like he's being punished.

The Pirates didn't play over .500 ball after the break last year with these ridiculous moves, so why is Tracy forcing them now?

What a mystery.

It's an absolute no-brainer with Bautista on the DL that Sanchez should be back playing third even with his rust, Castillo playing second, and Nady in center with Doumit in right.

And it's also a Markovian no-brainer that Sanchez should probably be leading off, Wilson batting second, Doumit batting third, Nady batting fourth, and Bay and LaRoche flip-flopped in the five and six holes based on who is on the mound.

But Tracy just doesn't seem to get it.

And you know, I wouldn't mind seeing Bay buried in the eight-hole for awhile. Maybe he'll be embarrassed so much he'll snap out of his slump.

Sunday's game was a typical Paul Maholm game - no offensive support despite a very good back of the rotation start where he allowed just two earned runs over six innings. Considering Maholm has a 3.86 ERA over his last 8 starts, it's no wonder he's lost five of the eight since he is dead last in run support in baseball for all southpaws with 80 innings or more under their belt.

That is so obscene, it should be illegal.

There were a lot of defensive problems in this game as we expect anymore from these guys when playing in front of large crowds. Castillo made a throwing error but for a guy that hasn't been on the field in ions, and considering Maholm got in his way, it was one of the few Castillo errors that he can't really be blamed too hard for.

Doumit flat missed a high pitch as he stabbed at it with his glove instead of getting out of his crouch like he should have. That cost a run, plus it cost a wild pitch on Maholm's resume because Doumit is a backup catcher so it wasn't called a passed ball as it should have been called.

And how strange is it to withhold Doumit from starting in games one and two of this series because of a strained hammy but then ask him to receive a day game for nine innings. I just don't get it.

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Wasdin was DFA'd today to allow Littlefield to recall Kelly from AAA so Tracy would have another middle infielder on the bench. Bautista was put on the DL after getting stitches in his glove hand from the spiking yesterday and that opened the door for Torres to be recalled.

How sad.. Kelly recalled. Just what we need - another garbage bench warmer to join Kata, Davis, McLouth, and Phelps.

Why not DFA Kata and bring up Jose Hernandez considering he's hitting .321 over his last 10 games and .247 overall at Indy, compared to Kelly's ridiculous .218 in AAA and .154 while in Pittsburgh?

Transactions like that make me wonder what the front office of this organization is smoking sometimes. The only possible explanation could be that Littlefield has someone interested in Hernandez. But if he's still around August 1st and Wilson isn't dealt, I'll just scratch my head in amazement of the stupidity of this move.

But we still have Armas. Wow.. Vogelsong never looked so good.

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I've asked several folks around the team about the Ian Snell being shopped rumor and so far nobody has heard anything. Perhaps the Braves announcers were simply speculating too far on a possible Saltamachia deal because none of my contacts seem to believe Littlefield will even be allowed by the ownership group to trade Snell, much less in July.

I don't either.

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Mark it down.. it's now official: our 15th consecutive losing season.

The Pirates have been officially eliminated from being able to win the division in my own mind. It was stretching it when we were eight out before the break, and we still aren't mathematically eliminated, but being 11 out of first means, historically, they have no prayer as the furthest deficit ever overcome at the break in baseball history was 10.5 games.

Let the irate chants begin anew.

For the record, I've advocated blowing up the Pirates roster since February 2005 (I posted under the SunNFun handle). I felt then that trading Perez, Bay, and Wilson after their good seasons would have helped.

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Between June 15th and the All-Star break in 2005, the Pirates went 14-29; in 2006 they went 14-26. Combined, that's a .420 winning percentage.

If you recall, Dave Littlefield openly stated in the media around June 13th each of those years he would be a seller.

This year Littlefield was quiet on the subject and the team has gone 12-13 with 13 games remaining.