Pitch By Pitch

When I put Version 1 of my Retrosheet scorecard on this site, I knew that there was (at-least) one situation that it could not handle. When the third out of an inning was made on the bases (caught stealing), and a pitcher change or batter change was made prior to the at-bat being completed in the following inning, the scoresheet could not compute a correct box score.

After the situation occurred twice in the Pirates’ first 21 games, I knew that I needed to find a way to make it work.

It’s probably not a perfect solution, but it works.

If this problematic situation arises, put a “B” (for Before) or an “A” (for After) in the BA column. If the substitute entered before the inning ended, put a “B” in the BA column. If the substitute entered after the inning ended, put an “A” in the BA column.

For example:
Home
Jason Kendall flies out to left fielder Brandon Moss.
Yovani Gallardo homers (2) on a fly ball to left field.
Rickie Weeks walks.
Chris Duffy flies out to left fielder Brandon Moss.
With Ryan Braun batting, Rickie Weeks caught stealing 2nd base, catcher Robinzon Diaz to second baseman Freddy Sanchez.

Inning 8

Away
Ramon Vazquez called out on strikes.
Robinzon Diaz doubles (1) on a fly ball to right fielder Corey Hart.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch hitter Craig Monroe replaces Ian Snell.
Craig Monroe called out on strikes.
Nyjer Morgan grounds out, second baseman Rickie Weeks to first baseman Prince Fielder.

Home
Pitcher Change: Tyler Yates replaces Ian Snell, batting 9th.
Ryan Braun grounds out, shortstop Ramon Vazquez to first baseman Adam LaRoche.

Since, Tyler Yates entered after Rickie Weeks was caught stealing, an A should be placed in the BA column of Tyler Yates’ substitution line.

From www.cbssportsline.com.

I can now add live update feeds to posts so that posts show the most up-to-date information from in-progress games. Data comes from MLB’s GameDay data.

Enjoy!

The Pirates try to avoid a 3 game losing streak and their 18th consecutive loss at Miller Park.

Ian Snell @ Yovani Gallardo – 1:05 P.M.

Updated: Well, not too much to say about this one. Yovani Gallardo pitched a stellar game for the Brew Crew. He pitched 8 innings, allowed 2 hits, and struck out 11 Pirate batters. Oh yeah, he also hit a solo home run to lead his team to the 1-0 victory.

Ian Snell pitched well, but he probably shouldn’t have stayed in as long as he did. He threw 131 pitches.

The Pirates have now been swept, and they’ve now been defeated 18 consecutive times at Miller Park. The record is 19.

Former Pirate, Chris Duffy contributed a hit for the Brewers today.

From the Minor Leagues, the injury bug is still alive. Jose Tabata will be out 4-6 weeks with a hamstring injury.

The Reds are coming to Pittsburgh for the weekend. I’ll be there on Saturday!

Enjoy the off day! Go Bucs!

Live Updates! “, $starter);
$amount=$stopper-$starter;
$good_stuff=substr($rowvalue, $starter+13, $amount-14);
if($starter>$teamchange)$home=1;
$inningarray[$counter]=$inning;
$homearray[$counter]=$home;
$playarray[$counter]=$good_stuff;
$starterarray[$counter]=$starter;
$counter++;
$starter=$starter+1;
}
}

array_multisort($inningarray, $homearray, $starterarray, $playarray);

$loopcount=0;
$currentinning=0;
$currenthalf=1;
while($loopcount$currentinning){
echo(“
Inning $inningarray[$loopcount]
“);
$currentinning++;
}
if($homearray[$loopcount]!=$currenthalf){
if($homearray[$loopcount]==0){echo(“
Away
“);$currenthalf=0;}
if($homearray[$loopcount]==1){echo(“
Home
“);$currenthalf=1;}
}
echo($playarray[$loopcount].”
“);
$loopcount++;
}

?>

It’s not like the Pirates deserved a 5-1 lead midway through last night’s game, and so it wasn’t entirely surprising when it disappeared. Two runs scored after a Brewer error helped to keep the 3rd inning alive. Two runs came in the 5th on a Jason Jaramillo double immediately after Eric Hinske and Andy LaRoche were hit by pitches.

Paul Maholm didn’t have the same command that he had in his 3 wins this season. He walked 5 batters and gave up 7 hits over his 5.1 innings of work.

Walks have been a problem in the last two games against the Brewers. Pirate pitchers have given up 17 walks in 16 innings (1.06 BB/Inn). Prior to this series, Pirate pitchers had given up 65 walks in 158 innings (0.41 BB/Inn). The Brewers walked just one batter last night.

Another subplot for this series has been the beaned batters. Things started to get ugly in the series opening game on Monday when Jeff Karstens seemingly intentionally hit Ryan Braun (who homered in his first at-bat of the game) to start the 3rd inning. Braun was quite upset by the pitch, and John Hirschbeck warned both benches. Later in the game, Jason Kendall was hit by Jesse Chavez in the 6th and by Evan Meek in the 8th, but no ejections were made. After the game, Ryan Braun had this to say:

Asked if Karstens drilled him intentionally, Braun said, “Probably, yeah. It’s rare for major-league pitchers to miss by that much with a fastball.”

Then, issuing a not-so-wise warning to the commissioner’s office, Braun added, “We play them about 17 more times (actually 13). Tell Mr. Selig, we’ll see what happens. It’s going to be interesting.”

Last night, Brewers’ starter Dave Bush hit three Pirate batters (Freddy Sanchez in the 1st and Eric Hinske and Andy LaRoche in the 5th).

There’s something to keep an eye on in the next 13 Brewers/Pirates matchups.

The Pirates managed 7 hits last night, and they came from an unlikely crew: the RBI double by Jaramillo, Brian Bixler avenged his 4K night by going 2-4, Ramon Vazquez singled in his only at-bat, Eric Hinske had a 2 RBI double, and Brandon Moss and Freddy Sanchez added hits.

If you’re keeping track at home, you can make that 17 consecutive losses at Miller Park for the Buccos. They try to reverse the trend at 1:05 today.

Ryan Braun threatens the Pirates

This game was not pretty and not a fun one to listen to, but despite it all, the Pirates still found themselves with a chance to win late in the game.

The Bucs scored 2 runs in the top half of the first inning thanks to four consecutive singles from the top of our order, followed by a J.J. Hardy error. Jeff Karstens looked bad in his 5 innings of work, and he served up the Brewer hitters early and often. He gave up 5 runs on 3 homers in the first three innings.

Jesse Chavez and Evan Meek each pitched a scoreless inning, and the Pirate bats fought for 2 runs in the top of the eighth to tie the score at 5-5.

Then, the bullpen collapsed.

Coming into tonight, John Grabow was 1-0, pitching 10 innings for 8H, 0R, 0ER, 3 BB, and 10K. Tonight, he pitched 1/3 of an inning for 2H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 0K.

Tyler Yates’ struggles continued last night. He pitched 1/3 of an inning for 0H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, and 0K. His ERA for the season is up to 9.95.

Sean Burnett entered to get the final out of the 8th, but it was too little, too late. The damage was done.

Brian Bixler played shortstop in place of the injured Jack Wilson. He went 0-4 with 4K.

Positives from tonight: Adam LaRoche, Nyjer Morgan, and Freddy Sanchez continue their hot hitting. Andy LaRoche has an 11 game hit streak.

The Pirates have now lost 16 consecutive games at Miller Park! That’s just ridiculous, and it needs to end tonight.

Paul Maholm @ Dave Bush – 8:05

Miller Park: Not a Friendly Place

Since, you know, it’s April 28, and we are leading the NL Wildcard race, I was inspired to add the NL Wildcard standings to the right-hand side of the page. Just like the National League Central standings, they’re scraped directly from stats.com.

Enjoy!

I didn’t get to see or hear much Pirate baseball this weekend because I was in State College, PA for the Blue/White game, Penn State Football’s annual spring scrimmage. The weekend is really more about tailgating and enjoying the outdoors, but a reminder that college football season is on its way isn’t a bad thing either.

The Pirates were in San Diego for a 3 game series this weekend. Despite a mess of injuries, the Bucs found a way to win 2 out of 3 games and claim their third consecutive series win. Nate McLouth didn’t play at all this weekend due to an injured right oblique. It doesn’t sound like this injury will require a trip to the DL, but the team decided to keep McLouth out for precautionary reasons. Jack Wilson was sent to the DL because of the injured left middle finger that has been bothering him over the past week. Brian Bixler was called up to replace Wilson, and Bixler will likely split time at shortstop with Ramon Vazquez. Finally, Craig Hansen was sent to the DL because of neck spasms. Evan Meek was called up to replace Hansen.

Game 16 – The series opened with a tough loss for the Bucs. Pittsburgh used every pitcher that they had available before losing 4-3 in 11 innings. Ian Snell only lasted 5 and 1/2 innings. The relievers pitched 5 scoreless innings until Matt Capps walked 2 in the 11th and former Pirate, Brian Giles hit a game winning double.

Game 17 – Zach Duke looked strong once again to claim his 3rd win of the season. The Bucs dominated the Padres from start to finish in this game and took home the 10-1 victory. Duke pitched 8 and 1/3 inning, giving up 6 hits and 1 ER. He got plenty of support from his own batters with Freddy Sanchez going 3-5, Craig Monroe going 3-5, Eric Hinske going 2-3, Andy LaRoche going 2-4, and Jason Jaramillo going 2-4.

Game 18 – Ross Ohlendorf out-pitched Jake Peavy, and Adam LaRoche hit 2 home runs to lead the Bucs to an 8-3 win over the Padres. Ohlendorf pitched 7 innings, giving up 5 hits and 3 ER. John Grabow finished up the final two innings. Andy LaRoche went 2-5 to extend his consecutive game hitting streak to 10. So much for that slow start!

The Pirates are now 11-7, and they have already seen strong pitching performances from all of their starters. It sure looks like Pitching Coach, Joe Kerrigan is doing a lot of the right things.

With this series win, the Pirates are now 4 games over .500. That hasn’t happened since 2002. Also, the Pirates are now assured of a winning record in the month of April. That’s happened just twice in the last 15 years.

One final note from the weekend. Dave Davidson was claimed off waivers by the Florida Marlins. Only time will tell if this means anything.

A 3 game series with the Milwaukee Brewers is next. Let’s hope that our injury depleted Pittsburgh Pirates can find a way to keep the wins coming.

Monday – Jeff Karstens @ Braden Looper – 8:05 P.M.
Tuesday – Paul Maholm @ Dave Bush – 8:05 P.M.
Wednesday – Ian Snell @ – Yovani Gallardo 1:05 P.M.

I did some quick screen scraping from stats.com today to add some items to the site.

NL Central Standings are now displayed at the top of the right sidebar on every page.

Within the Bucs2009 page, there are now pages for Batting Stats and Pitching Stats.

15 games should be enough to pick your All Star team, right?

MLB released the ballot, so why not?… let’s vote!