With the New York Yankees claiming their 27th World Series Championship last night, the 2009 baseball season is in the books. It also means that PitchByPitch is one year old! I started this site one year ago (the day after the Phillies won the 2008 title), as a place to host my baseball scoring projects and as a place to track the Pirates through thick and thin. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed year #1, and I’m looking forward to the year ahead.
Just this week, the Pirates made their Blueprint for Success available to the public. The blueprint talked about their 5 core priorities: Extremely aggressive drafts, Increased focus in our international operations, Aggressively adding talent at all levels, Rebuilind our player development systems, and Significant investment in our core operations.
Days later, the Pirates made good on one of their priorities by acquiring Akinori Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Jesse Chavez. Iwamura is a 30 year-old second-baseman who will make $4.85 million in 2010. Iwamura fills an obvious need for the Pirates at 2B. He’s an exciting player, and I look forward to seeing him in black and gold. With the departure of Chavez, our bullpen is even further depleted. You have to believe that the bullpen is the next thing that management will look to improve.
Finally, I got a good chuckle when I looked at the rewards available on my Pirates’ Bank of America credit card. I was curious when I saw “Pirates Autographed Baseball”. Then, I saw the players that were available.
Hmm… who to choose?
Go Bucs!
Phils @ Yanks – Game 1
I’ll be watching with some Philadelphia die-hards who will be serving cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, and italian ice…. mmm!
I also plan make an attempt at scoring the game, Reisner style. I’ll let you know how it goes.
The Pirates have made 2 more big moves today.
Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett to the Washington Nationals for Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan.
Eric Hinske to the New York Yankees for Casey Erickson and Eric Fryer.
“)) {
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If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
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If($team==1)$home_throwing_hand=substr($rowvalue, $starter+14, $amount-14);
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If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
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If($team==1)$home_wins=substr($rowvalue, $starter+6, $amount-6);
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If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
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If($team==1)$home_losses=substr($rowvalue, $starter+8, $amount-8);
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If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
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If($team==1)$home_era=substr($rowvalue, $starter+5, $amount-5);
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If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
$stopper=strpos($rowvalue, ““, $starter);
$amount=$stopper-$starter;
If($team==1)$home_so=substr($rowvalue, $starter+4, $amount-4);
If($team==0)$away_so=substr($rowvalue, $starter+4, $amount-4);
$team–;
}
}
echo $away_first_name . ” ” . $away_last_name . ” (” . $away_throwing_hand . “) (” . $away_wins . “-” . $away_losses . “, ” . $away_era . ” ERA, ” . $away_so . ” K) @ ” . $home_first_name . ” ” . $home_last_name . ” (” . $home_throwing_hand . “) (” . $home_wins . “-” . $home_losses . “, ” . $home_era . ” ERA, ” . $home_so . ” K)
“.$gametime.” EST @ “. $venue;
?>
Rubber match this afternoon.
Post Game Update:
Grrr… there’s not much more frustrating than a 2-1 loss…. especially when that loss comes at the hands of Mike Hampton (2-4, 5.63 ERA). Pirate batters went back into their shell, as they got just 4 hits tonight.
Nate McLouth led of the game with a solo home run, and that was the last time the Pirates would touch home plate.
Paul Maholm pitched well, but it’s tough to pitch well enough to win when your offense provides just 1 run.
Prior to today’s game, Donald Veal was sent to the DL with a strained right groin. Steven Jackson (newly acquired from the New York Yankees) will be recalled from AAA. Word is that Veal being placed on the DL could just be a convenient way for the Pirates to hold onto Veal without keeping him an active member of the bullpen. Since Veal was a Rule 5 pickup from the Chicago Cubs, Veal must be kept on the Pirates’ Major League roster.
Live Updates:
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}
array_multisort($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++;
}
?>
“)) {
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
$stopper=strpos($rowvalue, ““, $starter);
$amount=$stopper-$starter;
$venue=substr($rowvalue, $starter+12, $amount-12);
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If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
$stopper=strpos($rowvalue, ““, $starter);
$amount=$stopper-$starter;
If($team==1)$home_first_name=substr($rowvalue, $starter+9, $amount-9);
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If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
$stopper=strpos($rowvalue, ““, $starter);
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If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
$stopper=strpos($rowvalue, ““, $starter);
$amount=$stopper-$starter;
If($team==1)$home_throwing_hand=substr($rowvalue, $starter+14, $amount-14);
If($team==0)$away_throwing_hand=substr($rowvalue, $starter+14, $amount-14);
}
If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
$stopper=strpos($rowvalue, ““, $starter);
$amount=$stopper-$starter;
If($team==1)$home_wins=substr($rowvalue, $starter+6, $amount-6);
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If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
$stopper=strpos($rowvalue, ““, $starter);
$amount=$stopper-$starter;
If($team==1)$home_losses=substr($rowvalue, $starter+8, $amount-8);
If($team==0)$away_losses=substr($rowvalue, $starter+8, $amount-8);
}
If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
$stopper=strpos($rowvalue, ““, $starter);
$amount=$stopper-$starter;
If($team==1)$home_era=substr($rowvalue, $starter+5, $amount-5);
If($team==0)$away_era=substr($rowvalue, $starter+5, $amount-5);
}
If(strpos($rowvalue, ““)){
$starter=strpos($rowvalue, ““);
$stopper=strpos($rowvalue, ““, $starter);
$amount=$stopper-$starter;
If($team==1)$home_so=substr($rowvalue, $starter+4, $amount-4);
If($team==0)$away_so=substr($rowvalue, $starter+4, $amount-4);
$team–;
}
}
echo $away_first_name . ” ” . $away_last_name . ” (” . $away_throwing_hand . “) (” . $away_wins . “-” . $away_losses . “, ” . $away_era . ” ERA, ” . $away_so . ” K) @ ” . $home_first_name . ” ” . $home_last_name . ” (” . $home_throwing_hand . “) (” . $home_wins . “-” . $home_losses . “, ” . $home_era . ” ERA, ” . $home_so . ” K)
“.$gametime.” EST @ “. $venue;
?>
Post Game Update
In trade news, the Pirates claimed Steven Jackson off of waivers from the New York Yankees.
Nyjer Morgan was back in the lineup for tonights game. He led things off with a single and scored on Freddy Sanchez’s double in the 1st.
Andy LaRoche homered in the 3rd inning, but then the Pirates got no base runners until the 9th inning. Some clutch hitting in the 10th by Adam LaRoche and Brandon Moss helped the Pirates walk away with another victory from the Nationals.
The Pirates had two opportunities to use Matt Capps in a save situation (9th and 10th innings), but declined on both chances.
Live Updates:
“, $starter);
$amount=$stopper-$starter;
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if($starter>$teamchange)$home=1;
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array_multisort($inningarray, $homearray, $starterarray, $playarray);
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$currentinning=0;
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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++;
}
?>
I enjoyed opening day from the beautiful Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Yankees were in town for Opening Day, which made the day even more exciting. The Birds took advantage of C.C. Sabathia’s struggles and won 10-5.
I kept myself posted on the Buccos thanks to the out-of-town scoreboard on the right-field wall. Although my hopes were down when the Cardinals were leading 4-2 in the 9th, I was thrilled to see the scoreboard change to 6-4 Pirates. Nothing like starting the season with a win! 80 to go.
I later learned that the Pirates got a nice effort from Paul Maholm, Nyjer Morgan played well in the leadoff spot, and Adam LaRoche, Andy LaRoche, and Jack Wilson all came up huge with 9th inning, 2-out hits.
