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Raise the Jolly Roger - A Pittsburgh Pirates Road to Redemption

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Old 03-25-2013, 06:55 PM   #41
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Re: Raise the Jolly Roger - A Pittsburgh Pirates Road to Redemption


by Tom Singer / MLB.com


BRADENTON, Fla. -- Fans who want the ultimate sneak preview of the 2013 Pirates will have that chance in a free public workout at PNC Park the day before the season opener.

The '13 Bucs are scheduled -- weather permitting -- to work out at the yard from 1 to 3 p.m. ET on Sunday. Opening Day is scheduled for Monday, April 1, in a 1:35 p.m. tilt against the Chicago Cubs.

Free parking will also be available for fans, in Lots Four (along Mazeroski Way) and Six (directly across from PNC Park on General Robinson Street). Fans then will be able to enter the ballpark through the Legacy Square Gates, in the left-field area, beginning at 12:30 p.m. Also open for fans' convenience will be the Federal Street Grill concession area (behind section 115).

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Old 03-25-2013, 10:34 PM   #42
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Re: Raise the Jolly Roger - A Pittsburgh Pirates Road to Redemption

McPherson Allows Three Homers in Loss to Rays


Pittsburgh Pirates at Tampa Bay Rays
Mar 25, 2013123456789RHE
Pittsburgh (12-16-1)011000000282
Tampa Bay (15-14)01004100X692
W: Gomes, B (2-0, 1.74) L: McPherson, K (0-3, 8.46)


PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The Rays cracked three home runs and defeated the Pirates, 6-2, on Monday night at Charlotte Sports Park.

Matt Moore made his fifth appearance of the spring. The 23-year-old left-hander has struggled with his command in spurts all spring, and Monday night was no exception.

Moore walked two and gave up a single as the Pirates loaded the bases in the first. He managed to escape the jam, but he threw 25 pitches, of which just 13 went for strikes.

"To find that overall feel for the heater from the get-go was a little tough tonight," said Moore, regarding his command.

That doesn't mean he is getting nervous about his control, however. "I'm pretty competitive," he said. "I feel like it's not so much like you can just turn it on. But when the time comes around and I'm battling in those moments where I have runners in scoring position, it's better when it's going like that."

Russell Martin did not let Moore escape the second. After Kyle McPherson and Jose Tabata strung together back-to-back singles with two outs, the Pirates catcher smoked a ground-rule double to left that drove home McPherson for a 1-0 Pirates lead.

Moore issued a leadoff walk to Gaby Sanchez to start the third. Sanchez moved to second on a wild pitch before Josh Harrison brought him home on a single to left.

Moore allowed two runs on six hits and five walks, while striking out three in 4 2/3 innings before getting lifted after 106 pitches.

McPherson, who is competing for a spot at the back end of the Pirates' rotation, surrendered a solo home run to Shelley Duncan in the second. For Duncan, the blast was his fifth of the spring.

Ben Zobrist put the Rays ahead with a two-run homer with two outs in the fifth off of McPherson. But he didn't leave the yard without a little help from Pirates right fielder Tabata, who may have knocked the ball over the fence as he tried to make a leaping grab.

Matt Joyce followed with a single before Evan Longoria hit his first homer of the spring, driving a 2-0 McPherson offering deep onto the berm past the left-field fence for a 5-2 Rays lead.

"It's good to get [the first home run] out of the way," said Longoria. "I had a couple of good at-bats today where I hit the ball on the barrel, and really that's just been my focus, is having good at-bats. The balls that are in the zone, barreling them up."

McPherson allowed five runs on seven hits -- including the three homers -- and one walk. He struck out two in his five innings of work.

In the sixth, Brandon Jennings drove in James Loney with a single up the middle.

Up Next for the Pirates: Pittsburgh travels to Dunedin on Tuesday to meet the Blue Jays in a 1:05 p.m. ET game, and it could be the formal unveiling of Jonathan Sanchez as the club's No. 4 starter. The veteran lefty is the tentatively-scheduled starter, even though the club faces a morning decision on whether to add him to the roster or grant him his release. Sanchez has been in camp on a Minor League contract, and has thrown eight scoreless innings in his last two starts.
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Old 03-26-2013, 07:59 AM   #43
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Re: Raise the Jolly Roger - A Pittsburgh Pirates Road to Redemption


by Tom Singer / MLB.com

First-Pitch Strikes Crucial for McPherson


PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- For four innings Monday night, Kyle McPherson had a pretty good hold on a berth in the Pirates' starting rotation. Then the righty lost his grip, and the makeup of that rotation remained a mystery wrapped in suspense.

A strong start by McPherson unraveled into a five-inning, five-run, three-homer stint in the Bucs' 6-2 loss to the Rays.

If general manager Neal Huntington wanted to see something conclusive from McPherson -- good or bad -- before making a decision on Jonathan Sanchez, who has to be either released or added to the roster Tuesday morning, he did not get it.

"The game plan was to go out there, be aggressive, and it was working," McPherson said. "Then I failed to execute a couple of pitches, and things just snowballed."

McPherson started out giving a textbook example of the value of first-pitch strikes, something always being preached but not always practiced by pitchers lacking confidence in their stuff. He started off his first 10 batters with strikes and, not coincidentally, took a two-hitter into the fourth inning.

Until then, his only misstep was a hung breaking pitch on an 0-and-2 count in the second inning to Shelley Duncan, who deposited it on the lawn beyond the left-field fence for a solo homer.

When McPherson started falling behind, though, the Rays started figuring him out. Two-run homers in the fifth by Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria erased his 2-1 lead. Complicit in that undoing was his own defense, which was not erratic, just misfortunate. Zobrist's home run ball actually bounced over the fence off right fielder Jose Tabata's glove, and Longoria's shot followed a hot smash by Matt Joyce which second baseman Neil Walker could only knock down, not field cleanly.

"At this level, you can't fall behind, or give them too much to hit. They make you pay," said McPherson, who conceded having been stunned by Zobrist's go-ahead homer -- twice.

"I was surprised the ball went that far. I thought I got in there pretty good on that pitch. Strong guy," McPherson said. "At first, I thought [Tabata] actually had it and came down with it. But then I saw it rolling on top of the net, and I was like, 'That's not coming back.'"

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Old 03-26-2013, 08:05 AM   #44
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Re: Raise the Jolly Roger - A Pittsburgh Pirates Road to Redemption


by Tom Singer / MLB.com

Inge Playing in Pain in Hopes of Making Team


PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- As someone trying to make a team on a non-roster invitation, Brandon Inge has had a worst-case scenario Spring Training.

For openers, his participation was delayed, as the Pirates knew it would be, as he wrapped up rehabilitating his throwing shoulder from September surgery. Then, midway through the Grapefruit League schedule, he took a pitch off his right shoulder blade. The pain was enough to require X-rays five days ago, which were negative.

The pain hasn't miraculously gone away. But with the Bucs facing a Tuesday morning decision on his status -- make him official by adding him to the roster, or release him -- Inge had no choice but to play Monday night. All night, all over the infield, first and third base.

"It's pretty painful," Inge said after a 1-for-5 night that, on close observation, improved with each at-bat. "But I'm trying to give them a good shot [at evaluating me]. I'm giving it my best. But it is hard to do. It's painful, but ..."

Despite a poor spring on the surface -- 6-for-37 (.162) with no RBIs, awkward moments adapting to first base -- Inge has a booster in Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, who sounded still willing to take a chance on the versatile veteran.

"In a perfect world," Hurdle said after the Bucs' 6-2 loss to the Rays, "you would've liked to have had him on the field more in different places, and get him more at-bats. A lot of the reasons we brought him here are still relevant. You're dealing with a guy who'd come off the bench, and the question is, do you still have time for him to get right once the season starts? I think you would. But you want to make sure, and we're still having those conversations."

Inge struck out against Tampa Bay southpaw Matt Moore his first two times up, lined out to right in at-bat No. 3, rolled a single up the middle on his next chance and ended his evening by pulling a hard liner, but right at the third baseman.

In the field, Inge couldn't handle shortstop Clint Barmes' rather routine throw on a two-out grounder by Shelley Duncan in the bottom of the fourth, drawing an error on the play.
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Old 03-26-2013, 06:14 PM   #45
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Re: Raise the Jolly Roger - A Pittsburgh Pirates Road to Redemption


by Tom Singer / MLB.com


DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Neal Huntington often says, as the general manager of any Major League Baseball team with limited resources might, that the Pirates' success greatly depends on hitting big on small risks.

The Bucs hope to have done just that with left-hander Jonathan Sanchez -- a veteran with a considerable history, but poor recent track record, who came to camp as a long shot and left with a spot in Pittsburgh's starting rotation.

Sanchez was called into manager Clint Hurdle's office early Tuesday morning and heard the words -- "Congratulations. You're on the team." -- he had worked for since early February.

"I came here and all I did is work hard and do my best," said the 30-year-old native of Puerto Rico. "You've gotta have faith."

The Pirates also made a commitment to Brandon Inge, another veteran who was invited to camp on a Minor League contract. Inge is likely to open the season on the disabled list as he continues to recover from a sore right shoulder blade, where he was hit by a pitch on March 14.

For the moment, "commitment" is the operative word, since neither was placed immediately on the 40-man roster -- moves that do not have to be made until the roster must be submitted prior to the season's first game, scheduled for Sunday at 8:05 p.m. ET, when Houston plays Texas.

Sanchez's Major League contract is for $1,375,000. Inge's deal calls for $1 million.

Sanchez started the spring living up to his reputation for having control issues, issuing eight walks in his first 5 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and seven runs. He walked only one and gave up only three hits in his past two starts, however, firing eight shutout innings. Sanchez went 13-9 with a 3.07 ERA for the World Series champion Giants in 2010 -- a year after he threw a no-hitter -- but went a combined 1-9 with a 8.07 ERA in 15 starts last season between Colorado and Kansas City.

He will open the season as the Pirates' No. 4 starter, behind A.J. Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez and James McDonald, putting him in line to make his first start on April 7 in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.

Inge went 6-for-37 in 13 Grapefruit League games, appearing at both third and first base, although he was limited due to shoulder issues -- first from completing rehab for a September surgery, then for taking a pitch off his shoulder blade. He has been shut down for now to let his shoulder blade heal.

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Old 03-26-2013, 06:26 PM   #46
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Re: Raise the Jolly Roger - A Pittsburgh Pirates Road to Redemption


by Tom Singer / MLB.com

Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle Eager to Unwrap Another Baseball Season


PITTSBURGH -- Executives leave their offices and employees leave their cubicles. Their kids get a hall pass out of school. Nuns leave the convent -- without leaving the prayer beads behind.

They stream from all directions to come together at a mecca. It could be Great American Ball Park, Target Field or Yankee Stadium. In Pittsburgh, it will be PNC Park, the window to a new season of hope through which they will all peer.

The overture to a six-month production. Opening Day, the first day of the rest of your baseball life. To Clint Hurdle, who on Monday will experience it for the 24th big league time, the "Opening" does not signify the first of 162.

"It's the opening of a present," says Hurdle, the manager convinced that the Pirates' present will be a gift to the city. "I go back to my first Christmas as a child -- when I first realized you get a present, with the bow and the packaging and then you tear it open. That's like the baseball season. You get to open up a package and start to feel around for what's inside.

"For me, it's another humbling opportunity to be involved in a game that I love. The responsibility you have to the uniform and to the city you're representing ... it's all of that for me. It's special. It's never watered down or incidental. I always embrace that day. It only happens once."

Hurdle's genuine "only once" happened in 1978.

He was that generation's Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, an uber talent taken as a 17-year-old in the first round of the 1975 First-Year Player Draft who adorned the cover of Sports Illustrated's 1978 Spring Training issue. Following a prodigious Major League debut the previous September -- a two-run homer run in his second at-bat, .308 average for nine games -- he was destined for the Opening Day lineup of the defending American League West champion Kansas City Royals.

Spring Training, thus, was a six-week buzz.

"Every day was a rush, with the anticipation of making the team and starting the season on the Major League level," Hurdle recalls. "I'd had my appetite whetted in a significant way the previous season, with the September callup. I had a taste of the venues, the talent, the game. And springtime was the daily realization of getting close to a dream coming true."

One major problem, and it arose only a few days prior to the April 8 opener: John Mayberry, the All-Star first baseman, was dealt to Toronto and the Royals wanted Hurdle, the outfielder, to play first.

"I'd never played there before, so I got a crash course in first base," Hurdle says. "All that rush and comfort zone got rearranged, because now I was playing a position I'd never played before. But when you're 20, you think you're bulletproof and can do anything.

"So I worked at it, did as much practice as I could. I was still a little bit uncomfortable, but ..."

... It all went away when he stood on the top step of the visitors' dugout at Cleveland Stadium and surveyed the 52,000 fans ready to open their presents.

"That's a day that I bounce back to on every Opening Day ... making that trip, getting dressed in the locker room, seeing my name in the lineup, running out of that dugout," Hurdle says.

It is good to remember when you were on top of the world, because Hurdle soon became a face in the crowd. His playing career fell a few orbits shy of the anticipated heights, and he morphed into a journeyman who managed to play more than 78 games in only two of his 10 seasons.

But, oh, what a crowd. Oh, what a journey.

And that first, unexpected step still serves him well. Being thrown into a new position taught Hurdle the value of tolerance, patience and versatility -- lessons he makes good, daily use of in his role as manager. Hurdle did not become the forebear of Harper. Instead, he became a baseball everyman, which now serves him better.

His empathy with the players under his helm is evident at every turn. The Pirates approached the end of Spring Training facing numerous difficult roster decisions that might've been easier to make with a few extra days to make them. But even though they break camp three days before the final roster has to be submitted, Hurdle insisted that it be set before the team departed Florida.

General manager Neal Huntington explained:

"We set the rosters earlier than we'd like to, but we don't want to bring anyone to Pittsburgh, only to tell them they're not making the club. Clint has been through that, and he doesn't want to subject anyone else to it."

Hurdle has seen, felt and dealt with it all. He knows that managers who operate on a totalitarian level may succeed briefly, but rarely have a long run of success. Now, with two seasons in and his contract recently extended, he is comfortable enough, and committed to Pittsburgh enough, to give his players a more vocal role in setting the team's rudder.

He likely is the only one of the 30 Major League managers who will hold twice-monthly meetings with a focus group of players chosen by teammates.

"I do have a pretty good feeling, and understanding of, the club and the personnel involved," Hurdle said. "I've watched these men, and thought this would be another great opportunity for them to take ownership of everything they do in a significant way.

"Some look at a manager as someone who can fix everything, someone who is in charge with all the weapons and tools. One thing I shared with the players is, yes, I need help. It's just another opportunity for our guys to invest themselves more in what we're doing here."

For certain, Leo Durocher and Billy Martin are rolling over in their graves. They probably never considered Opening Day as something with a bow on it, either.
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Old 03-26-2013, 06:30 PM   #47
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Re: Raise the Jolly Roger - A Pittsburgh Pirates Road to Redemption


Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage talks about prospects Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon as well as staff ace A.J. Burnett.

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Old 03-26-2013, 06:39 PM   #48
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Re: Raise the Jolly Roger - A Pittsburgh Pirates Road to Redemption

Sanchez Settles After Early Runs in Final Spring Start


Pittsburgh Pirates at Toronto Blue Jays
Mar 26, 2013123456789RHE
Pittsburgh (12-17-1)101100000360
Toronto (13-16)30010101X6101
W: Romero, R (1-1, 6.23) L: Sanchez, J (1-2, 5.50) S: Hinshaw


DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Rajai Davis and Adam Lind each homered as the Blue Jays defeated the Pirates, 6-3, on Tuesday afternoon at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.

The Blue Jays got to Pittsburgh left-hander Jonathan Sanchez early for three runs in the first inning. J.P. Arencibia came to the plate with two men on and delivered an RBI single to right field for Toronto's first run, temporarily tying the score at 1 after the Pirates put up a run in the top of the first.

Utility man Mark DeRosa followed Arencibia with a sacrifice fly to right, and Adam Lind added an RBI double to cap the three-run inning. Sanchez was then able to settle down, with a solo home run from Davis in the fourth the only other blemish in his 4 2/3 frames.

Sanchez came back out for the fifth before departing with two outs. The 30-year-old was charged with all four runs on seven hits while striking out six and walking just one. Sanchez's start came just hours after he was informed by the Pirates that he will be on the Opening Day roster, slated to be the fourth starter in their rotation.

Toronto added another run in the sixth on a solo home run to right field by Lind. It was Lind's second homer of the Grapefruit League season and his seventh RBI in 20 games.

Left-hander Ricky Romero got the call for Toronto and had a somewhat rocky start despite some soft-hit balls early in the game. The Pirates' first-inning run came after Starling Marte led off with a soft single to right. Marte stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a RBI groundout by Gaby Sanchez.

Garret Jones led off the second with a double and Romero walked the next batter, but he escaped the inning unscathed. The Pirates put up a run an inning later via a Michael McKenry single, and another in the fourth, although it was unearned.

Jonathan Sanchez hit a two-out double off his counterpart, Romero, and advanced to third on a fielding error at first by Lind. He scored when Romero picked Marte off first base, but the Blue Jays could not tag the 24-year-old outfielder for the third out before Sanchez touched home plate.

The 28-year-old Romero was removed from the game with one out in the fifth. He allowed three runs -- two earned -- on six hits and three walks, throwing 44 of his 75 pitches for strikes.

Up next: A.J. Burnett returns to the Grapefruit League mound Wednesday as the Pirates conclude the home portion of their spring schedule with a 1:05 p.m. ET game against the Twins that will be available on pirates.com via an exclusive webcast. The Bucs' Opening Day starter last faced big leaguers on March 9, then began stretching out his arm in Minor League games, most recently throwing 101 pitches against Yankees Triple-A players on Friday.
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