JohnDoe's Pirates (WSB 2K3)

[JohnDoe8865]

I'm gonna experiment with this guys. I've never done a franchise thread before and I will not do an update after every game, but rather when I feel the need to. So if you are reading this I hope it won't be too bad. WSB, PS2, Very Small Cursor, Very Fast Pitch Speed, Legend settings otherwise, Medium Variable Pitching, all previews and aids off. Opening Day rosters accurate and made by myself. I'm playing with Pittsburgh and I've turned trades off. I don't care for the Sammy Sosa for A-Rod type deals. Anyway, hopefully next post will begin the thread. I'm attempting to do it in a psuedo-newspaper/sportscenter style of writing. Talking with players, managers, reporting on games and stats, etc.

Anyway, I'm gonna try this.

Edit: My sliders are

CPU Pitching - 75
CPU Batting Average - 30
CPU Strikes - 55
CPU Balls - 60
CPU Throw Strikes - 10
CPU Stealing - 45

[Qb]

Just started my Pirates journal too...first one for me also. Should be interesting...Good luck man!

[JohnDoe8865]

Opening Day for Pittsburgh coming up in Cincinatti

With opening day only one day away, we talked to some of the players about what they expected from the 2003 Season. LF Brain Giles half-jokingly commented "I'm gonna hit .400 this season". New teammate Reggie Sanders said "He could probably do it. He's a great hitter". 2B Pokey Reese added "I'm gonna hit 25 dingers!" as he smiled.

It seemed as if the players were loose and ready to play as they boarded the plane to Cincinatti. Manager Lloyd McClendon was sitting in his office pouring over the scouting reports on the Reds. "They are gonna be tough this season", he said. "They're young guys have another year under their belt and Junior is healthy." "They got the new ballpark and they are gonna come out ready." "We had better be ready or we'll get our tails whipped" he added.

Cather Jason Kendall seemed a little more confident. "We've got a good group of guys this year and we all want to win for the city (of Pittsburg) and for ourselves." "We got Reggie (Sanders) this year and we've added Kenny Lofton." We are gonna be pretty good at the plate."

Kris Benson has been handed the ball for opening day this year. Here are his thoughts on the opening day start and this year's Pirates. "I'm excited." "About pitching for my team on opening day and about this season." "We know the Cubs, Reds, Brewers, Astros, and Cards are all improved from last year." "We are pretty good this year too, we are gonna surprise a lot of people."

All things considered the team seems to be confident, ready, and having a lot of fun. We'll see if that attitude can carry through all season. See you at The Great American Ballpark!

[JohnDoe8865]

AP- Cincinatti takes two of three from Pittsburgh.

The Pirates record after three games in Cincinatti is 1-2. While not the start the club was hoping for, there were some positives to take from this road trip. Brain Giles got off to a hot start blasting 3 Homeruns in the first three games. He also finished the series with a .500 batting average. Not far behind him was Jason Kendall who came out of the series batting .400. The pitching staff really let the team down on the road trip.

In Game One Kris Benson pitched well and gave the ball to closer Mike Williams with a 2-1 lead. However Williams wasn't able to hold that lead and surrendered a run to allow a tie and extra innings. In 11 innings the Reds won on a walk-off Austin Kearns round tripper off of Pirates hurler Joe Beimel. After the game Beimel, while visibly upset, was quick to find positives. "Ya know, Kris pitched great out there today, Mike (Williams) scuffled a little out there, and I made one bad pitch that cost us the game." " We'll get em tommorrow.", said Beimel.

In Game Two Pittsburgh literally outlasted Cincinatti in 16 Innings to win 9-8. While neither starting pitcher fared well out there, it was the second consecutive blown save by Closer Mike Williams that sent the game to extra frames. This time in the top of the sixteenth, Reggie Sanders hit a solo shot to give the Pirates the lead and Julian Tavares pitched a scoreless bottom half. While Mike Williams was unavailable for comment, Reggie Sanders had this to say, "It was a hard fought game, both teams wanted it, but we won it." Pirates skipper Lloyd McClendon had this to say about his team's early pitching struggles, "We'll get it right one way or another." Adding "Right now Mike is struggling, but I am not gonna quit on him and he is not gonna quit on us." Brian Giles had another spectacular game going 3-6 with a walk and hitting two of his three homeruns in the series.

Game Three saw another close game as the Pirates fell 4-3. The Pirate killer on that day was Jose Guillen who got the start over Adam Dunn and responded by hitting two homeruns and an RBI double accounting for all of the Red's runs. Scott Williamson closed it out for Cincy. The mood post game was more reflective than somber for Pittsburgh. "We had our chances out there, and we didn't get the key hits, didn't make the key pitches and we lost." said second baseman Pokey Reese. " I think we can take something away from this" he added.

The Pirates next visit Philadelphia for a one and done cross town rivalry game. (Note: I'm playing an 82 game season)

[JohnDoe8865]

AP - Pirates walk into a buzzsaw in Philadelphia

The Pittsburgh Pirates coming off of a road trip in which they lost two out of three, had high hopes coming into Philadelphia to play the Phillies. However, those hopes were dashed quickly and the Pirates fell 11-1 to Philadelphia. The Philles took the Pirates to the proverbial woodshed. Phillies slugger Pat Burrell had two homeruns off of the Pirates starter Josh Fogg. He surrendered 6 runs in 4 2/3 innings of work. The bullpen wasn't much better as the combined relievers gave up 5 runs in 4 1/3 innings. Phillies Cather Mike Lieberthal, who was 3-5 with two doubles said " We were seeing the ball real well today." Indeed they were. The Phillies really nickel and dimed the Pirates to death with Burrell's two bombs being the only two HR's hit.

Bucs Manager Lloyd McClendon was disappointed, but not ready to quit on his young team. "We had a bad day." "Everybody has em, and we had ours." He added "We are not a one and three baseball team and I think the season will bear that out." Brian Giles accounted for the only Pirates run with an RBI single in the 7th.

The Bucs will open their home season on Monday April 7th against division rival Milwaukee. "We need some home cookin' " said outspoken second baseman Pokey Reese. "I think we still believe in ourselves and we know how good we are." The 3 game series with Milwaukee wil be followed by 3 more on the road against the Chicago Cubs.

We'll be in Pittsburgh to follow all of the action Monday.

[JohnDoe8865]

AP - Pittsburgh takes two of three at home versus Milwaukee

The Pirates made some positive strides during the three game homestand versus the Milwaukee Brewers. The pitching staff held up, and the Pirates got key hits when it counted.

We'll break down the three game series and chronicle some of the player's thoughts.

In Game One it was Kris Benson taking the hill for the Pirates for his second start of the year after a no decision in Cincinatti on opening day. On this day Benson would be great, striking out 12 and helping to send the Brewers to a 2-1 defeat. Benson pitched a complete game and was awarded the Player of the Game honors. He gave up 9 hits, walking only one and allowed just one earned run. The runs were provided by Brian Giles and Reggie Sanders. Giles doubled in Jason Kendall and Sanders doubled in Giles. Also of note is Kenny Lofton's hot start as he is hitting .400 and had stolen 6 bases in 6 attempts.
"He is the lead-off guy we were missing last year", said Lloyd McClendon. "He really provides a threat in that role and we are very happy to have him in the lineup." Also of note is Lofton's early season trouble in Centerfield. He has made two errors in just 5 games. "I've misjudged a couple of balls ya know, I kicked one up in Cincinatti and I let one get by me today." "I think I just have to adjust, I'll be OK." Lofton has looked a little shaky on routine catches as well, but that could be attributed to the new parks he is seeing with more frequency this year.

When asked for comment, Kris Benson said of this performance, "That was pretty good wasn't it?" as he chuckled with reporters.

In Game Two the Brewers got an outstanding performance out of pitcher Glendon Rusch as he went 7 innings allowing only one run. Relievers Matt Ford and Curt Leskanic came on to seal the deal in a 5-1 victory for Milwaukee. Brewers CF Alex Sanchez drew blood on 4 hits in 5 at bats. He scored 3 of the Brewers 5 runs from the leadoff spot in the order. Richie Sexson drove in two of those runs. One of his RBI's came on a mountain of a blast off of Jeff D'Amico. A shot estimated at 455 feet.

In game three the Bucs reversed the trend and won 7-6 with Mike Williams earning his first save of the season. Said Williams "I really felt in command out there today. I knew I wasn't gonna let my team down again." And he didn't, striking out two including Richie Sexson to end the ballgame. Brian Giles also kept up his torrid pace going 3-5 with 4 RBI. Giles said after the game "Everybody did their job today and that is how you win ball games. If we go out there and play like we did today than we can win the division." That statement prompted a little caution from manager Lloyd McClendon, "I don't think we can think that far ahead. We need to take it one game at a time and celebrate the victories and not dwell on the losses."

The Pirates head off to the windy city for a three game set with the Cubs. New Manager Dusty Baker said he expects nothing less than three very tough games out of Pittsburgh. You can expect to hear the latest from Chicago when we get it in. Until then, so long.

[JohnDoe8865]

AP - Pirates sweep the Cubs at Wrigley!

The Pirates were anxious to get their cleats dug in at Wrigley Field and it showed. Coming in with a 3-4 record, the Pirates hoped to come out with a winning record. The Cubs came in at 3-2 also looking for key divisional wins.

In game one of the three game set, the Pirates bested the Cubs 4-2. The Pirates got a good pitching performace out of Kip Wells who had been shaky in his only proir start. Wells went 6 allowing two runs, both solo HR's by Corey Patterson, and Brain Boehringer and Scott Sauerbach finished the game. Wells commented after the game that he felt good and really had the feeling he was going to pitch well. "I knew that I was gonna have to face Sammy (Sosa). I went right at him and luckily he didn't hurt me." Sosa was 0-4 in the game.

In game two, Pittsburgh upended the Chicago Cubs 7-0. The star of the game was Brian Giles who made two highlight reel diving grabs in leftfield and also homered and drove in 4 runs. After the game, Giles was fired up, "I really saw the ball well today.(Carlos) Zambrano has pretty good stuff, but he hung one and I ripped it." Asked about his outfield acrobatics, Giles commented " I don't think I've ever made two plays like that on in the same game. I got a good jump on both of them and just layed out." Sosa, the Cubs hitting star was again blanked going 0-4 in the game. Pirates pitcher Jeff Suppan was never in trouble as Pitsburgh gave him 3 runs in the top half of the first and he went the distance pitching 9 flawless innings and only surrendering 8 hits. " I pitched about as well as I have in a couple of years probably. It is awesome when all of your stuff is working" said a satisfied Suppan.

In the third game of the series, it took 11 innings, but the Pirates pulled it out 2-1 over the Cubbies. With the score 1-0 in the bottom of the 8th, reliever Julian Tavares, pitching against his former club, surrendered a two out single to Lenny Harris that scored pinch runner Tom Goodwin. Antonio Alfonseca and Mike Williams both pitched shutout 9th innings. In the top of the 10th, Aramis Ramirez hit a two out single off of Dave Veres to drive in Kenny Lofton who was on third. Joe Beimel came on to close it out. It was not easy however as he surrender two hits and a walk to the middle of Chicago's order before striking out Alex Gonzalez and Mark Grudzielanek.

Also of note in the game Kerry Wood went 6 innings allowing just the one run, but his control was a problem all day as he walked five Pirate batters including three in a row at one point to load the bases. Pirates' superstar Brain Giles also struggled as he was 1-4 leaving a total of 6 men on base and 3 in scoring position. " I'm just happy that we won." said Giles. "I didn't do my part today but other guys picked it up." Jeff D'Amico was strong going 6+ innings and only surrendering 4 hits. Sammy Sosa finished the series 2-13 with no RBI for Chicago. The Cubs bats were anemic in the series.

Next up for Pittsburgh, they go back home for a 6 game homestand starting with the visting New York Mets for one game, the Cubs visit Pittsburgh for three, then San Francisco and Los Angeles come in for one game a piece.