May 11, 2006 Blogger saved from wild pitch... (By: RJ Warner) Pittsburgh --Your favorite Pittsburgh Pirates blogger was spared today from a wayward "fastball" from Pirates left-hander Oliver Perez. Pirates fan and baseballgeeks.com fan RJ Warner planned on siting behind home plate for this afternoon's game between the Bucs and Arizona Diamondbacks but was able to avoid injury. The hero who saved the amateur sports writer? God. He rained out the game. Seriously, I was disappointed that the game was rained out and that I didn't get a shot at a souveneir. No makeup date has been announced. Since the D-Backs are not scheduled to be in Pittsburgh again this year, I have a feeling it will be one of those "wait and see" deals, where if one of the teams is... ...[More] 2 comments >> Link   Last comment by: RJ Warner @ 5/11/06, 7:13pm   May 6, 2006 My loyalty is not for sale (yet) (By: RJ Warner) There has been a buzz about the Kansas City Royals fan who has sold of his loyalty to the Royals on eBay. All he could fetch was about 278 bucks and some hilarious publicity. The winner of the auction also gets to choose the next team the former Royals fan will now support. As I read this, of course I thought: hmmmm, maybe I can get some extra scratch by auctioning off my love for the buccos. I could get a little more dough than the Royals fan, what with the longer history, five world titles, Honus Wagner, Pie Traynor, Clemente, Stargell, and the fam-a-lee. Hell, learning the 5,000 nicknames they have (Bucs, buccos, etc.) are worth $278 alone No way. The Pirates... ...[More] 0 comments >> Link     May 6, 2006 At least they're not in the East (By: RJ Warner) Nationals 6, Pirates 0 - 9 innings The Pirates continue their death march, er, road trip this weekend in the nation's capital. After dropping straight sets (6-love, 6-love) to the Mets and Nationals, the Bucs look to rebound before heading home. Notice I used a tennis reference and a basketball reference. Why? Because they sure aren't playing baseball! Hey, I'll be here all night. The Pirates fell to 8-23 (quickly losing count) and 1-4 on the recent road trip and 2-16 away from PNC Park this season. If this pace keeps up, they will win eight road games all year (really wish I was losing count). Oliver Perez continues to look like he has no idea how to be a major league... ...[More] 1 comment >> Link   Last comment by: drrubb @ 5/6/06, 1:15pm   May 4, 2006 You Play to WIN THE GAME! (By: RJ Warner) Mets 4, Pirates 3 - 12 innings The Pirates lost to the Mets 4-3 in a 12 inning thriller at Shea Stadium last night, dropping their record to 8-21. The game featured 28 total strikeouts, 14 by each team, and 9 each by starters Pedro Martinez and Ian Snell. The Pirates shocked the rain-soaked Sheaheads by scoring twice in the ninth off super-closer Billy Wagner. The blown save is Wagner's second in a week and it cost Martinez his sixth win. Jose Hernandez and rookie catcher Ronnie Paulino had back to back RBI singles to tie the game at three. I didn't understand a move Pirates manager Jim Tracy made in the top of the 12th inning. With two out and nobody... ...[More] 0 comments >> Link     May 2, 2006 Am I jumping ship already? (By: RJ Warner) Well, here we go. My third blog in, and I'm already going to be writing mostly about another team. The Pirates lost 2-1 to the Cubs last night. Matt Murton (read: future Pirate Killer) drove in the game-winning run with a single in the 8th. The Pirates got another quality start, this time from Victor Santos. I point to the Pirates' failure to get the timely hit as the reason for the loss. Jack Wilson continues on his tear, knocking in the Pirates' only run with a single. Wilson looks like the player he was in 2004, when he collected over 200 hits and hit .300. In the ironic stats category, he also has the best average with runners in scoring... ...[More] 0 comments >> Link     April 30, 2006 Confessions of an Atlanta Braves hater (By: RJ Warner) Who's sick of the Atlanta Braves? If I asked ten people, I bet nine would raise their hands. I was always sick of them. More than any Mets fan, Phillies fan or any NL East wanna be du-jour. They have been clogging up baseball's postseason since 1991, with only one championship to show for, in the post-strike 1995 season, when about three people cared outside of Cleveland and Atlanta. I hated them. More than any professional franchise in sports. More than the Yankees, the Cleveland Browns or Philadelphia Flyers. Flash back: October 14th, 1992, Game 7, NLCS It was a beautiful fall day in Pittsburgh, the last traces of Indian Summer still hanging on. The gloaming in the city had a special buzz this... ...[More] 9 comments >> Link   Last comment by: RJ Warner @ 5/5/06, 11:58am   April 29, 2006 Welcome to Hell (By: RJ Warner) Hey-a. My name is RJ Warner, and I'll be taking you through the magical roller coaster ride that will be Pittsburgh Pirates baseball in 2006. The thrills! The chills! The tension of each and every pitch as a metaphor for life, death and rebirth! Kidding. It's already 24 games into the season and this team is about as interesting as a rerun of "Good Times." The Pirates haven't had anything go right this year, and people around my town have stopped expecting it to happen. Oh, we were optimistic. Boy, were we ever excited. We added some veterans, some "character guys." We have a new manager who sold us on the team's everyday improvement. Those rookie pitchers were phenomenal down the stretch. We... ...[More] 3 comments >> Link   Last comment by: Brew Crew Fan @ 4/29/06, 4:00pm