Pirates Fever...Catch It!

What looked like a typical Pirates baseball game (fielding errors, baserunning gaffes, no power) suddenly turned atypical when elder statesman Jack Wilson (he's still here?) sent a bases-clearing double into the gap at Shitty Beer Stadium, leading your Pittsburgh Pirates to an opening day 6-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. I have to admit, I did gain a little more optimism for the upcoming season after Jumpin' Jack's heroics, but there is an interesting opening day situation going on here...

2007- Xavier Nady homers in the 9th to tie the game, and Jason Bay's two-run 10th inning shot leads the Bucs to victory.
2008- The Bucs blow a 5-run 9th inning lead, only to come back to win 12-11 in extras.
2009- Jack Wilson's 3 RBI double with 2 out in the 9th turns a two-run deficit into a 6-4 win.

So your Pirates are setting quite an interesting opening day precedent over the past few years. There are now two constants with the Bucco baseball club...the first is a guaranteed losing season. The second is an exciting opening day filled with shitty weather, shitty baseball and late game fireworks. A win is a win, and around here we'll take them however we can get them.

The Good...
-Nyjer Morgan looked like a prototypical leadoff hitter. He got on base repeatedly, ran the bases effectively and even drove in two runs. Morgan isn't known for his bat, and had a pretty poor spring, but if he can consitently get on base and set the table for the meat of the order, good things can happen.
-Paul Maholm looked like the ace of the staff everyone expected him to be. He gave up two runs that really weren't his fault (thank you Andy LaRoche, more on this scrub later) and added a hit and a key walk that led to Nyjer's big hit. Maholm needs to be the anchor of this staff if the Bucs have any hope of sniffing .500.
-Many people were upset with the failure to resign key bench players like Dougie Eyechart, but Ramon (where did my moustache go?) Vasquez and Eric Hinske both had pinch hits yesterday. The bench looks to be much improved, and we didn't even get a look at Craig Monroe, who was crushing the ball in Florida this spring.

The Bad...
-The bullpen looks to be as weak as everyone thought it would be. Tyler Yates throws hard, but sometimes when you throw hard, it gets hit even harder. John Grabow even looked a bit shaky, throwing a pickoff attempt into right field. Everyone stressed the need for good starting pitching, but when they hand the game over in the late innings, someone needs to step up and shut the door. Excluded in the bullpen criticism is Matt Capps, who calmly closed up shop in the 9th for his first save.

The Ugly...
I get the feeling that this isn't the first time this season that the word "ugly" will be used to describe Andy LaRoche's performance. A first inning strikeout with the bases loaded...two errors, with the first leading to the Cards' first runs of the game...and the ultimate slap in the face, with the game on the line in the 9th, John Russell pinch hits Hinske for LaRoche, which helped continue the Pirates' comeback. Now I know Russell probably wanted the left-handed Hinske up against the righty, but LaRoche is your #6 hitter, a slot usually reserved for one of your better run producers. Not too many #6 hitters get pinch-hit for in a key late-inning situation. It's beginning to look more and more like Andy is keeping the hot corner warm for Neil Walker, and eventually Pedro Alvarez. You know a Pirate is bad when 6th Ward cuts him from his fantasy team one game into the season, he stockpiles Buccos like it's going out of style (I think I heard him say he's putting in waiver claims for Jason Jaramillo and Luis Cruz this morning.) At least his big brother hit the ball well yesterday, which will hopefully help him avoid another terrible April.

All in all, it was another sloppy Pirates' performance we've become accustomed to over the past few years, but with a suprisingly different result. These comebacks aren't going to happen every night, but if the Bucs can shore up their fundamentals a bit and capitalize on solid starting pitching, good things might happen.