Will the real Pirates Please Stand Up

Geez, well. Who would have believed after 75 games the Pirates would be only 5 games out and only 5 games under .500 without Nate to boot. That's a few 5's for you.

Trivia question: who currently wears number 5 for the bucs or who was the last one to wear number 5.

Answer: Ramon Vazquez.

Don't blame you if you don't know that one. He's not your household name. Here's one that is in Pirates fans homes. Number 55, Matt Capps, a real fan favorite and one of the best closers in the league that noone outside of Pittsburgh and players he routinely gets out know about.

This is my inaugural post in the Pittsburgh sports buzz blog. This is something I have always wanted to do. Write about the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins. Teams I've loved since I was a kid.

I'll slip in some Panther info here and there but sorry Pitt fans, I may also slip in some Mountaineer info too.

...Back to the Buccos now.
It's too bad they couldn't pull out the game against the Greinkinator today, but they did play up to the high standards they've set against some of the better arms in the league in 2009. Greinke and his sub 2 era is a tough win for any team. The Pirates made it close and managed the winning record against the AL for the season. That's a good thing even though the competition wasn't as tough as in some of the previous years.

...Anyone else impressed with Virgil Vasquez' start yesterday. I love Ian Snell (except for the automatic L everytime he pitched) but don't you think the team would have another 3 or 4 wins if you had Vasquez pitching like he did yesterday instead of Ian. Mr. Snell did have 7 or 8 Ls. If Virg had won 1/3 of those the Pirates would only be 3 or 2 games under. We'll wait another 4 or 5 starts to see if he really is the pitcher that showed up yesterday. Everybody knows that other teams start getting film on a pitcher and get a book on him after each start in the bigs. His 4+ era in AAA and the fact 3 other teams didn't want him before the season doesn't bode well for his future, but he did have a good game yesterday. Will the real VV please stand up. I like the joke his AAA manager pulled on him before telling him he was going to the big club. In his last inning he pitched he fielded a ball and underhanded to the first baseman. Upon arriving at the dugout the manager said "We don't underhand it here Virg, you're out." The pitching coach let him in on the joke.

...It was good to see Maholm finally get another win. I, along with everyone else thought he was going to be number one in the starting rotation. He is still that, but the number 2, Snell is in AAA now and number 3, ZD, has more wins than number 1, so I think I put ZD in the number one spot, hope he keeps up the solid first half. Speaking of starting pitchers, where is Phil Dumatrait. I had no idea he was going to be out the whole first half of the season. May be the last we see of him unless he's able to find a way back to the club in the bullpen. With all these trades there are starters coming out of Neal Huntington's ears. Hopefully 5 of them either with the big team or AAA, or somewhere else (Brad Lincoln) will stand out. I am happy with the 5 minus 1 (Sn___) that we have now. Karstens wasn't great but he has some potential.

...Where are you hiding Donnie Veal, how long can the Pirates keep him on that rehab assignment. Not much longer, which means they return him(not likely) or another pitcher that is useful in the big leagues will probably get sent down and they'll be short one arm.

That's about it for my inaugural post... stay tuned Burgh fans. Any ideas for a nickname for this team seaking the .501 line to avoid the record.

BTW.. saw that the Nationals were inquiring about Nyjer Morgan. It's been nice to have all that speed in the outfield. But, as we know this management team doesn't shy away from trades and NM is 29 and hasn't had a full season of success in the big leagues. Wait and see.