2002 - This was the infamous 7-7 All Star game, when Commissioner Bud Selig and the managers, Joe Torre & Bob Brenly, threw in their towels after burning through the pitchers and accepting an 11-inning draw at Miller Park despite the crowd’s howls of “let them play.” MLB decided the following year to award the WS home field advantage to the winning league, partially to assure the fans that games would be played to a conclusion and partially to insure a game effort by the players. That format lasted through 2016. The Buccos’ only rep, reliever Mike Williams, worked the third inning cleanly, striking out a pair.
 |
| The Sausage never had a chance - 2003 photo via MLB Advanced Media |
2003 - Inexplicably during a 2-1 Pirate loss, 1B Randall Simon swatted a racing sausage with his bat from the dugout at Miller Park in Milwaukee as it waltzed around the stadium, causing a collision that left the mascots looking like a heaping plate of schnitzel. Simon was questioned by police and later fined $432.10 for disorderly conduct. MLB suspended him for three games and fined him $2,000; the Bucs traded him away a few weeks later. He issued an apology and an autographed bat to Mandy Block, the college student stuffed into the sausage costume. She ended up with a scraped knee, but it concluded well for her. Mandy received a free trip to Curaçao, (Simon's home island) for two from the Curaçao Tourism Board. When Simon returned to Miller Park later that year as a member of the Chicago Cubs, he purchased Italian Sausages for an entire section, and during the race, his teammates playfully held him back until all the sausages raced past the dugout.
2004 - Jason Bay went 4-for-5 with two homers, a double, four RBI and four runs scored as the Pirates blanked the Expos 11-0 in San Juan’s Estadio Hiram Bithorn, the Expos’ part-time home until their move to Washington. Sean Burnett scattered 10 hits for a complete game shutout.
2005 - Sparked by Jack Wilson’s grand slam, the Bucs broke open a tight game against the NY Mets with a seven-run seventh inning, banging around Heath Bell and Danny Graves, to take an 11-4 win at PNC Park in front of a Saturday night crowd of 36,708. Dave Williams got the win.
2009 - Joel Hanrahan won his first game of the year while sitting in a hotel room in Philadelphia. He was credited with a W when Washington won a game suspended on May 5th by defeating the Astros, 11-10. Hanrahan, later traded to Pittsburgh, was the pitcher of record when the game was postponed. The winning Nat run was scored by Nyjer Morgan, who was one of the players that the Pirates sent to Washington as part of the Hanny deal.
2009 - RHP Dovydas Neverauskas was signed by the Bucs and international scout Tom Randolph as a 16-year-old. On April 24th, 2017, he became the first Lithuanian-born player to appear in a MLB game. For the record, at least three other Lithuanians have played in the show - Joe Zapustas, who was born in Latvia and raised in Boston, reached the majors in 1933 for two games, pitcher Joe Krakauskas (1937-42, 1946) was born in Quebec and 1B Eddie Waitkus (1941, 1946–1955) was born of immigrant parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
2011 - Andrew McCutchen, passed over in the voting, was named as a late choice as a first-time NL All-Star, replacing an injured Ryan Braun. The Pirates announced on the PNC Park jumbotron that Cutch was named to the team during the fourth inning, drawing an ovation and a curtain call from the crowd. Unfortunately, he suffered through an 0-fer that night as the Bucs fell to the Chicago Cubs 6-3.
 |
| Cutch - 2011 Topps All-Star Update |
2016 - Former Pirates public relations director Bill Guilfoile passed away at the age of 84. After a stint with the NY Yankees starting in 1960, Guilfoile worked for the Pirates from 1970-78 before leaving for greener pastures as the head of the National Baseball Hall of Fame's public relations office from 1979 to 1996. Bill was part of many memorable moments, from the World Series to the 1961 Mantle/Maris home run chase, Roberto Clemente’s 3,000th hit and the Hall of Fame’s 50th anniversary.
2016 - The Pirates pounded out four homers as they took a 12-6 decision from the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. Josh Bell, in his second MLB at-bat, crushed a hung change up from Adam Warren over the right field stands and into the Allegheny River for a grand slam and his first MLB long ball while Andrew McCutchen, Sean Rodriguez and Jordy Mercer also left the yard. Starter Chad Kuhl only lasted 2-⅓ frames for Pittsburgh and reliever Juan Nicasio was also nicked (Chi-town starter Jon Lester only managed three frames before being chased), but game winner Arquimedes Caminero and Jared Hughes with the save combined for 4-2/3 shutout innings to shut the book. During a miserable June stretch, the Pirates had fallen 15-½ games behind the Cubs; this win cut the lead to 6-½ with Pittsburgh on a roll of winning 12-of-15 games.
2017 - The Pirates ruined Jon Lester’s day by scoring 10 runs in the first inning off the lefty on the way to a 14-3 victory at Wrigley. The Bucco vibe was shaky before the game when scheduled starter Jameson Taillon was scratched a half-hour before first pitch with the flu, but the bats, sparked by Fran Cervelli’s two-out grand slam, were hale and hearty. Cervy's five RBI tied his career-best for a single game. Every Pirates starter reached base safely and scored and/or had RBI as Pittsburgh collected 14 hits, seven walks and a pair of plunks to go with two Cubbie errors. AJ Schugel, the third of four Pirates pitchers, got the win. Here’s a whole slew of factoids: The last time the Pirates had a 10-spot in an inning was in the seventh against the Rox in 2007 during an 11-4 win. The last time they plated 10 in the first frame was in 1989 against the Phils; that's the game that Jim Rooker said he'd walk home if they lost, and they did, 15-11. He did, too, going on a charity walk-a-thon between Pittsburgh and Philly after the season. The contest topped the Bucs' previous first-inning mark against the Cubs of nine runs in 1975, when Rennie Stennett collected seven hits during a 22-0 romp. Over 12 years and 334 starts, this was the first time Jon Lester didn't make it through the first inning. He was just the fourth pitcher in the last 100 years to allow 10+ runs and not make it out of the first inning.
No comments:
Post a Comment