Notes

- Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors has his offseason outlook for the Bucs. Among his points:

• Expect the team to pass on Ryan Doumit & Chris Snyder, and look at guys like Ramon Hernandez and Rod Barajas for the short term.
• Check out Paul Maholm's perceived value before reaching a final decision on letting him go.
• Sign all the arb-eligible relievers.
• Pluck another Kevin-Correia-type pitcher from the FA class.
• Pass on the top FA's because the team isn't close enough to winning for it to make financial sense.
• Try to lock up McCutch and Neil Walker.

- Rob Biertempfel of the Trib reports in his notes that at least one group is pleased with the Bucs 2011 performance. Root Sports Pittsburgh saw its ratings for Pirates games jump by 49 percent over last year.

- John Manuel and Jim Callis of Baseball America rate the Buc's 2011 draft as the third best in baseball. They think highly of Gerritt Cole and Josh Bell, and have both rated highly in their "Closest to the Majors" category, which is good news indeed for the ever-patient Pirate Nation.

- RHP James McDonald is 27 today.

- It's early in the fall season, but Pirate OF prospect Robbie Grossman is hitting .375 with 4 homers and 10 RBI after 13 games for Mesa in the AFL.

Buc News: The Fan In, Maholm Out

• The Bucs have selected KDKA's incarnation, The Fan, Sportsradio 93.7 as its flag station for the next four years. It shouldn't be a lot different, we're guessing. The announcers are the same, the Pirate radio network is the same, so... It is a return to the Pirates old KD roots, and an all-sports channel probably is a good fit.
• Oddly enough, Frank Coonelly was on the air with The Fan's David Todd. He pretty much kissed Paul Maholm goodbye, saying that it's "unlikely" PM will return, the Bucs aren't in the position to offer a multi-year deal (to Maholm, presumably), and they'll stay in touch while he's feeling out the market. (The prez confirmed that the Bucs won't pick up his option to Rob Beirtempfel of the Tribune Review) We're not sure who they have in mind to take his spot, but good luck replacing him.
• IF Jordy Mercer is 8-for-19 (.421) with the US team, with 5 runs, 5 RBI, 3 2Bs and a homer.
• Baseball America listed all the top prospects, team-by-team. The Bucs had nine, most in the A or rookie level.
• The NL Central is sure getting interesting. Buster Olney of ESPN reports that the Cubs have signed Theo Epstein of the Redsox as GM. Peter Gammons of the MLB Network tweets that the Astros will be sold and then jump leagues.

Bucs Keep Coaches; Rox Looking At Pedro?

•  The beat gang reports that all the Pirate coaches will be back next season. Half of the eight were Clint Hurdle guys while the other four were holdovers. The only question mark was hitting coach Gregg Ritchie, but it looks like Hurdle and the FO are pointing the finger for the Bucs' batting woes at the players rather than the way they're coached up. Just straightening out Pedro would go a long way toward straightening out the offense. And speaking of Pedro...
• Troy Renck of the Denver Post writes "The Rockies will cast a wide net (for a third baseman), from the tough-to-get (Kevin Youkilis of the Red Sox) to the intriguing (San Diego's Chase Headley​ and Pittsburgh's Pedro Alvarez). When looking to trade Stewart this past summer, the Rockies inquired about Headley and Alvarez. Neither team was interested in making a deal, but it would be no surprise if Colorado restarts talks this winter."
• Free agent rumor-mongering: Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors said that "If the Astros fail to sign (Clint) Barmes, he could be a more affordable alternative for the Twins, Braves, Phillies, Brewers, Pirates, Cardinals, or Giants."    
• IF Jordy Mercer went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a homer & three RBI yesterday in Team USA's 15-1 win vs. Chinese Taipei in World Cup.
• Two Bucco farmhands made the Top Twenty Eastern League prospects per Baseball America: OF Starling Marte and RHP Kyle McPherson.

The Outfield

In the last post, we looked at the FO; today we'll look at the OF. The Pirate plan going into 2011 was to use PNC's right field to stash a basher while McCutch & JT covered the top of the order and expanses of left and center, so they brought in Matt Diaz to platoon with Garrett Jones. Both had some bop in their background, something that Delwyn Young and Lastings Milledge lacked last season.

But it sure didn't work out they way they drew it up. Oh, Jones did his part, with a line of .262/14/50 and .356 OBP against righties, even if he was at sea against southpaws. Diaz did hit .295 against lefties, but had just seven extra-base hits in 132 ABs, absolutely dismal numbers for a man the FO planned to plop somewhere in the middle of the order and earning him a ticket to Atlanta.

Then Jose Tabata got hurt. Twice. First, he pulled his quad in June. Then he came back in August and broke his hand. In the 91 games he got into, he ran up a .266/4/21 line with 53 runs scored and 16 stolen bases, which was OK but could hardly be called a breakthrough year. And the injuries are troublesome; he's been haunted by them since the Pirates traded for him in 2008. But he did do two things to help solidify the future:

First, he signed with the Bucs through 2016, with three following club option years, so he's one player that the team has locked up. Secondly, his injuries provided Alex Presley with an opening, and he ran with it. Presley had a lukewarm September showing in 2010, and started the 2011 season at Indy. He was smoking the ball there, but the Bucs kept him on the farm until JT went down in late June.

Tabata's aches and pains gave The King 52 games to show his stuff, sandwiched around his own trip to the DL with a bruised hand. He hit .298 and fit in well at the top of the order, and when JT returned, it was to right field. Presley had taken over left.

He has his own caveat: Presley had a .327 BA/.373 OBP against righties, but just .231/.261 against lefties, and his slugging percentage dropped over 175 points, too, in an admittedly small sampling. So that will bear watching as his career moves forward. (JT & McCutch's splits are much more manageable. Tabata sports a 40 point career spread and McCutchen's is 20).

Of course, the linchpin is McCutch. And as he goes, so goes the club. He played in 70 of Pittsburgh's 72 wins with a line of .337/16/58. He was on the field for 87 of the team's 90 losses, and put up a line of .198/7/31 in the defeats.

His consistency was questioned at the end of the year, and he did have a terrible closing month and BA splits that seemed to show that the grind got to him, hitting .280 in the season's opening three months and .247 in the last three. But he was consistent in his production splits - RBI (41-48), runs scored (47-40), homers (11-12) and doubles (17-17) were about as evenly distributed as could be.

McCutch played 158 games, starting 155. We wouldn't make much of his September swoon. If the season wore on him, we'd guess it was more mentally than physically exhausting, a fairly predictable result after riding the wave into mid-July before crashing.

At any rate, the one thing the season has produced is the three guys that will be penciled in to start in the outfield at set the table in 2012, hitting 1-2-3: Presley, Tabata, McCutch. We'd probably flip Presley and Tabata, just to add a little more power to the two hole, open up the right side and break up the righty-lefty scheme, but that's just nitpicking.

The important part of equation is that Andrew McCutchen is finally in his rightful position, batting third, after being jerked all around the order. He's averaged 20 homers, 90 runs scored and 70+ RBI over the last two years and has grown into the prototypical three hole guy.

That will give the Pirates an outfield that's speedy, pretty fair defensively, and tailor-made to fill the top of the Bucco order. The next question is who will join McCutch, JT and The King?

Xavier Paul and Ryan Ludwick are the spare OF'ers. Paul (.259/2/20 & 16 SBs in 251 PAs) has some use being lefty, fast, and a good defensive player, but his lack of plate discipline was exposed when he had to play regularly. Ludwick is likewise a decent fielder, although without Paul's speed, and didn't do much at the plate (.232/2/11 in 133 PAs) as a Bucco.

Paul's future may be tied to Garrett Jones. If Jones returns to first base, Paul could be part of the Pirates bench mix.  He's out of options but cheap, as he doesn't reach arbitration until 2013. Ludwick earned $6.775M in 2011 and will be a free agent. He'll almost certainly be allowed to walk in the off season.

Pittsburgh has a couple of guys in the minors that are close. Gorkys Hernandez might be the best defensive OF'er in the Pirate system. He just turned 24, and had a poor season at Altoona in 2009 after the Bucs got him from the Braves as part of the Nate McLouth deal. But he's put together back-to-back solid years at the dish the last two seasons for the Curve and Indy. He's averaged .275 and stolen 38 bases in 50 tries.

The Bucs' prospect with a bullet is Starling Marte, Altoona's OF'er who was named the Eastern league's 2011 Rookie of the Year. His 2011 line was .332/12/50 with 90 runs and 24 stolen bases, along with a rep as a tremendous outfielder tools-wise. He could be a year away after the Indy coaches work on honing his defensive routes and improving his plate discipline. And Marte won't turn 23 until next week.

If Presley can repeat and Tabata remains healthy enough to play 135 games, the OF is set. They have depth in Hernandez and Marte, along with guys on the move like Robbie Grossman, 22, at Bradenton, who was named the Pirates minor-league player of the year, and Andrew Lambo, 23, at Altoona. They also have high hopes for Josh Bell, 19, their second round prep selection in the 2011 draft. Marte and Lambo have to be added to the 40 man roster in the off season to be protected.

If the FO decides to deal to fill an infield or pitching hole, this outfield is easily the deepest position in the system to draw a trade candidate from. So when the hot stove fires up, the OF'ers should provide plenty of fuel.

The FO

Yesterday's post beat the drum for managers being basically as good as their talent. So hand-in-hand with Clint Hurdle's review is the performance of the FO in setting the table for 2011.

The first big move was bringing Hurdle aboard. So far, so good. He's energized the team, generally professionalized the day-to-day managing, seems to have meaningful input with the FO and presents a smiling face for the fans, all day-and-night differences from the JR era.

After that, the FO's job was to provide him with the talent to win a few more games. They again had trouble convincing difference-making free agents to sign with Pittsburgh. Kevin Correia proved to be as advertised, a workhorse back-ender, and Jose Veras led the pen in appearances as a solid if erratic bridge man.

The other bally-hooed FAs, Lyle Overbay and Matt Diaz, fizzled. As an everyday player, Overbay never found his stroke; he's working out better for the D-Backs as a platoon guy. Diaz had a strong resume, but his bat speed and power disappeared in Pittsburgh. Both players were counted upon to provide a little pop in the lineup and were a big reason the middle of the order was so feeble this year.

The braintrust had better success later in the season with their deadline deals. Derrek Lee gave the Bucs a presence at first, but he looks like a hard sell to keep around. Jason Grilli was a steal and gave the weary pen a huge boost. Ryan Ludwick, well, played like Ryan Ludwick.

Other additions meant to solidify the squad fell through. Joe Beimel ended up a BP pitcher out of the pen. None of the players they invited to camp for a look stuck: Garrett Atkins, Andy Marte, Josh Fields, Corey Wimberly, Scott Olsen, Aaron Thompson and Wil Ledezma.

In fairness, they all were depth players, not challengers to claim a spot on the 25-man roster (although with the way first base ended up, Fields perhaps should have been a keeper). Josh Rodriguez, the Rule 5 claim, yo-yoed between Pittsburgh, Cleveland and the minors.

The FO saved those bench roster spots for the waiver wires. Brandon Wood and Xavier Paul joined the team after being deep-sixed, and both provided a little bench depth. Paul especially has some intriguing tools while Wood has some muscle.

The wave of injuries showed how thin the upper levels of the organization were. First, we'll give the FO props for bringing in Mike McKenry to plug the leak at catcher. Not many teams can lose their top three backstops without costly consequences, but Scooby Doo held the fort competently until Dewey came back. And Eric Fryer showed there is more depth at the spot than just the often injured Tony Sanchez.

The Pirates had no answer when Pedro looked lost at the plate and then got hurt, though Josh Harrison proved that he's a capable reserve. He doesn't have the mitt, muscle or plate discipline to play every day, but as a plug-in player he can play a couple of spots, makes contact and runs well.

Alex Presley thrust himself into contention to start every day next year, and in fact we'd be surprised if he isn't already penciled in for left field for 2012. He's the Neil Walker success story of this season.

Outfield is the exception in the organization; it's deep. With Gorkys Hernandez maturing and Starling Marte rising with a bullet, the Bucs are adequately stocked there. Not so for the other positions.

The young arms were more adept at coming out of the pen than stepping into the rotation, and that's a problem.  Brad Lincoln was the only starter that will compete next year, and that's due more to a thin MLB staff than his big league performance, which was lukewarm.  Indeed, there's been chatter about turning Tony Watson back into a starter, but that would go against the MO of the development people.

There's no one to push Ronny Cedeno at short; Chase d'Arnaud isn't ready, and Jordy Mercer and Brock Holt are behind him. The farm hasn't groomed a first baseman either. If Lee walks, it looks like a platoon between Garrett Jones and probably the unproven Matt Hague, as Steve Pearce has one foot out the door after back-to-back injury plagued seasons.

As we mentioned, third base isn't stocked past Pedro, and second base is backed up by Harrison if iron man Walker ever gets dinged.

But while the upper levels are short of position players, the draft has been a bright spot. Gerritt Cole, Jameson Taillon and Luis Heredia are all beginning their careers, and a boatload of guys are toiling at the A level. Jeff Locke of Altoona got his feet wet this year in Pittsburgh, and may be a season removed from joining the staff.

There are a couple of reasons why the draft looks so promising, but the upper levels are so barren. One is the FO's preference to sign pitching, which is a good thing in the long run. They target high school arms, and that has its own set of dynamics - the talent is harder to evaluate than college guys, although the upside is greater, they're less polished, and the Pirate development template is step-by-step, making it difficult to fast track a pitcher. So from draft day to opening day is a process for a Pirate farmhand, and not a quick one.

With the emphasis on pitching, the position players selected  have been few and far between. It didn't start that way. In the first draft by the current FO, seven players - 3B Pedro Alvarez, SS Jordy Mercer, SS Chase d'Arnaud, OF Rob Grossman, SS Benji Gonzalez, 3B Jeremy Farrell and 1B Matt Hague - were taken in the top ten rounds.

But in the next two drafts, only a total of four position players were taken in the top ten, and they added four more this year. And that's why there's a talent gap. 2008's players are mainly in the upper levels, but there just haven't been many highly rated warm bodies added to the organization since then.

The Latino signings won't kick in for awhile, either. Rene Gaydos has only had the green light for four years, and his stock in trade is inking kids that are 16-18 years old. They have a long road to Pittsburgh, although some of his ninos are making noise at the A level.

The FO hasn't been sitting on their hands, though.  In their four years, they have added Jose Tabata, Ronny Cedeno, Garrett Jones, James McDonald, Charlie Morton, Jeff Karstens, Kevin Correia, Joel Hanrahan, Evan Meek, Jason Grilli, Chris Leroux and Chris Resop to the 25-man roster, with the possibilities of Derrek Lee, Josh Harrison, Xavier Paul, Jason Jaramillo, Pedro Ciriaco, D-Mac, Ohlie, Bryan Morris or Jose Veras breaking camp with the team in 2012.

So at least half of the opening day roster and likely more will be guys that came from other organizations, by hook or crook. They have been trying to upgrade. But the record for FAs making an impact in Pittsburgh is bleak; Kevin Correia is the only one that's pretty much a lock to be on Pittsburgh's Opening Day roster.

Now that the final wave of Dave Littlefield's picks have crested, it looks like the Neal Huntington era selections won't be arriving until 2013 and beyond.

So our grade for the FO's efforts in the 2011 season is a D. Their inability to stock Indy and bring in a solid FA was magnified when the injury bug bit, and the competition for infield spots is non-existent right now.  They still haven't found a pitcher to handle the 1-2 spot in the rotation.

But their overall grade is an incomplete. They have always claimed to be building a system that should one day be able to replenish itself, and it's said to take 5-7 years to retool an organization from top-to-bottom. Next year is the fifth. The time of reckoning is fast approaching.

Pirate Potpourri

Stuff happening lately:

• OF Alex Presley suffered a stiff back caused by a slide during the last series against Milwaukee, but doesn't think it will stop him from going to the Instructional League in another week.
• C Ryan Doumit discusses his Bucco future with MLB.com's Jen Langosch. He told her "I know the probability of me being back is probably slim, but I've just been trying to enjoy the last couple of days and soak it all in."
• SS Ronny Cedeno told Langosh that he hopes his $3M option is picked up (as it likely will be). "I feel good here...If they want to keep me here, I would love to be here"
• RHP Jason Grilli, who is in an arbitration year, tweets that "I have a good feeling that I will be back."
• The Bucs named their minor league players of the year: OF Robbie Grossman (.294/13/56 with 127 runs scored in 134 games with Bradenton) and RHP Kyle McPherson (12-6, 2.96 with 142 K's in 161 IP with Bradenton & Altoona).
• Charlie Wilmoth of Bucs Dugout says not to expect much off season activity this year and gives a rundown of the current FO's winter pick-ups over the past few seasons.
• Raise The Jolly Roger's Brian McElhinny follows up on reports that the Bucs canned their entire MLB training and strength staff, including Head Athletic Trainer Brad Henderson, Head Conditioning Coordinator Frank Velasquez, and Assistant Athletic Trainer Mike Sandoval. Guess those July & August injuries took a toll on more than the lineup. 
• On the other hand, the FO promoted a boatload of development/scout folk like Greg Smith and Kyle Stark. Our guess is that they'll turn their attention to the coaching staff next. From what we hear, none are in trouble with the FO. We should find out for sure soon.
• Mike Axisa of MLB Trade Rumors went over the AAA transaction wires and found 22 players filed for free agency, including Dusty Brown, Wyatt Toregas, Andy LaRoche, Lastings Milledge and Wil Ledezma.
• New Brighton's Terry "Tito" Francona was canned as the Bosox manager after their monumental September collapse. Here's the story from Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe.

Clint Hurdle's Opening Bow

OK, we've had time to knock down a couple of Brooklyn Brewing's best and contemplate the 2011 Pirate season. We were shaken out of our IPA reverie when we recalled that on this day in 1903, the first World Series opened in Boston. It was between the Boston Pilgrims and our Pittsburgh Pirates (The Bucs lost in eight games; it was best-of-nine), and we began wondering when the club would get into its next October Classic.

Rightly or wrongly, a team's performance is hung on the shoulders of its skipper. GW's theory has always been the players win or lose games whether it be due to or in spite of the field boss' brainstorming. The manager's job is simply to set up situations that allow the players to do their thing to the best of their abilities.

And Clint Hurdle danced through the good, bad and ugly this year.

Tactically, he relies on the bunt a little more (OK, a lot more) than we prefer and likes to use his pen by the numbers, which worked fine for four months and then caused some problems later in the year when the staff went south on him. Hanny got 40 saves, but many times was a spectator when there were high leverage innings begging for his presence while he cooled his heels waiting for a save situation that never came.

On the positive side, Hurdle showed some imagination putting together a lineup, and did a pretty good job of getting everyone involved (well, except Pedro Ciriaco) while depending on a swinging gate roster of AAA players. And Clint utilized the two-for-one and defensive switches as well as any skipper in the league. Our guess is that he'd be happier with an everyday order, even if it involved a platoon spot or two, but given the realities of 2011, he scuffled pretty well with the cards dealt to him.

And on the sunny side of the bullpen, he didn't blatantly overwork anybody with the possible exceptions of D-Mac and Jose Veras. Hurdle stuck to his three days in a row or 25-30 pitch outing limits for relievers fairly religiously, and he wasn't afraid to throw a young guy into a late-inning fire. That may not have done much for the record this season, but should prove invaluable for the growth of his staff and down-the-road evaluations. He toed the highwire of a longer-range plan without sacrificing day-to-day results as well as possible.

His work with the rotation was solid too, as he alternately stretched and protected his arms as the innings piled up. The perfect example was Jeff Karstens, who was weaned from a long-man's pitch count early in the season to a reliable inning eater within weeks, and then rested again when signs of fatigue showed late in the year. In hindsight, he could have used a sixth starter earlier in the year, but who could have predicted that his two proven workhorses, Paul Maholm and Kevin Correia, would pull up lame?

His pedal to the metal running attack had its up and downs. It worked great when McCutch, Alex Presley, Chase d'Arnaud and others with their speed were on, but led to some head-banging when the more lead footed Buccos tried to stretch the bases with Lastings Milledge-like results. The team did steal 21 more sacks than last year (although with a lower success rate), made great strides in taking the extra base, and did a much better job of situational running even with the occasional fax paus.

The team seemed to adapt to the running game better in the second half of the season, both because the younger guys that got the call up had wheels and the coaches got a better read on what the players were capable of actually doing.

As far as coaching up the players, his staff did wonders with the pitching, dropping the ERA by nearly a run from last year, and he deserves credit for keeping Ray Searage aboard. But his rep as a batting guru took a hit when the attack tread water in 2011. That leads to another chicken-or-egg debate; were the results due to coaching or the performances of Jeff Karstens, Charlie Morton and Hanny on the hill, and Pedro Alvarez, Lyle Overbay and the injury bug at the dish?

The staff did a good job at bringing the fielding up to par. It began to break down some in the final weeks, but that probably had more to do with the shuffling of players because of injuries and performance, leading to a shaky make-shift infield, than lack of preparation. That also shows the flip; the staff had the advantage of a fairly set lineup to work with for the first four months when they were catching everything. The positioning was by-the-book, a welcome change from the JR/Gary Varsho days.

But managers don't get rated for their coaching by WAR for good reason; the lowest-percentage calls look great if the players come through and the no-brainer decisions fall flat when your guy bombs. (We're stretching, but the team's Pythagorean calculation was for 70 wins, so we'd assume Sabermetric dudes would consider Hurdle as a +2.0 WAR this year). The key to being a good manger isn't so much on-the-field generalship as much as the role of ringmaster in the clubhouse.

And Hurdle deserves good marks in that department. He let the team know who was boss quickly when he sat down Ronny Cedeno for not hustling out of the box, and doubled down when he did the same to McCutch. He was consistent in the way he handled players and assignments, even if that meant Lyle Overbay got nearly 400 at-bats, and that fostered easier dugout relations because the players knew where the boss was coming from.

His locker room is looser and more player-friendly now than in the taciturn JR days. Hurdle is a booming and gregarious presence, and communication, important to a young team, is a two-way street now. The players have a much better understanding of where they stand and what they need to improve.

Just as importantly, he put a human face to the franchise. He's approachable, quotable and sometimes downright comical in his dealings with the media, and almost singlehandedly transformed the team's PR image, previously fronted by the dour and secretive FO, into a positive.

Will Clint Hurdle become a long term fixture behind the Pirate bench?  Well, as the old chestnut goes, "managers are hired to be fired." We think he's a good fit for the team now. How long he'll remain a fit will hang on the abilities of the players he gets to manage down the road.

Bucs Finish With 72 Wins

Hey, the tale of two seasons has come to an end. The Bucs did improve a fairly impressive 15 games over last season's 57-102 debacle, so that's a plus. They did it mainly by pitching, as the staff improved its ERA from  5.00 to 4.05, and that's a heck of an improvement.

The hitting, though, stagnated. This year's lumber company scored 610 runs while hitting .244; last year's crew did just a tad worse at 587 runs and .242 BA. That's a surprise, considering the rep of Clint Hurdle as a hitting guru, and begs the question of "is it the talent or the coaching?" All we know is that coaches don't bat, if that gives you a clue as to what side of the fence we're on.

Too bad the Pirates floundered during the second half, when the innings caught up to the arms and the injuries/grind caught up to the position players. We anticipated a young team would steadily improve throughout the year, not start off like gangbusters and then fade like Milli Vanilli.

They did answer a couple of questions. McCutch and The Pittsburgh Kid were solid and look as if they'll be consistent, real-deal performers. Jose Tabata and Alex Presley solidified the outfield. Charlie Morton and James McDonald appear to be competent mid-level starters, and both should get better. Hanny was lights-out.

After that, well...lotsa things to sort out, and that's what we'll be discussing now that the year's done. The coaching, the drafting, free agents coming and going, the 40 man roster, position-by-position critiques, help down on the farm and all the other topics so dear to the hot stove league.

Oh, the game? Pittsburgh got its usual bums rush outta Milwaukee, losing 7-3. The Brew Crew chased Jeff Locke after four innings, scoring five runs thanks to three homers and clinching home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

And it was a big night for baseball fans in general. Not only did the Brewers finish a nose ahead of the D-Backs, but the Cards slipped into the wild-card over the Braves; so much for the "Central is so weak" cliche. Tampa Bay took the last spot over the Red Sox. There's no surer sign of a competitive season than to have people watching the scoreboard for the results of the final game.

We'd like to see Pittsburgh get in on that scoreboard watching stuff, too, and for a little longer than mid-July.

Prince Pounds Pirates

Hey, last night's storyline was pretty simple. Walk the guy in front of Prince Fielder and watch him hit a home run. Fielder went deep three times, twice with Ryan Braun on base via a free pass, to lead the Brew Crew to a 6-4 victory over the Bucs. Ricky Weeks added the other run when he crushed a solo shot after Fielder in the second.

Ohlie went five innings and gave up four runs on five hits, three of which went yard, along with three walks, a bopped batter and three Ks. Jared Hughes took the loss when he walked Braun and gave up Fielder's 38th dinger on an 0-2 pitch in the seventh. Up until that point, the Bucs kept battling back.

Pittsburgh took an early 1-0 lead in the second when The Pittsburgh Kid doubled and scored on a Matt Pagnozzi blooper. They added on in the fifth when Ronny Cedeno doubled and came in on Ohlie's slug bunt; he showed bunt, pulled back and chopped a single up the middle. He would later come in on Josh Harrison's one-out knock.

Walker scored the Bucs final tally when he came across on Alex Presley's bases-loaded walk in the sixth. LaTroy Hawkins, Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford kept the Pirate bats quiet at the end, giving up one hit over the last three frames.

Zack Greinke goes against Jeff Locke in the regular season finale. The game starts at 8:10 and will shown on Root Sports. Greinke will go as long as he can, as the Brewers are only one game up on the D-Backs for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

• The last player to smack three homers against the Bucs in a single game was Albert Pujols in 2006. It was the first 3-homer game of Fielder's career. Even more notable is that Prince will play in all 162 Brew Crew games when he jogs out to first tonight. He played in every 2009 contest, and would have last season except for a September bug.
• The Bucs picked off two Brewers - Jason Jaramillo's snap throw got Corey Hart at first, and Tony Watson caught Carlos Gomez napping at second.
• Clint Hurdle told the beat gang that he plans to winter in Pittsburgh, and that he'll be involved in the instructional league after the season, though mostly as an observer, to get a feel for the young guys.
• Ronny Cedeno said he was going to play winter ball in Venezuela.
• Alex Presley and Josh Harrison will spend a few days in the Instructional League after the season; Mike McKenry may join them.
• The Pirates will finish fourth in the NL Central this season, their highest position since 2003.

Bucs Outlast Brewers 9-8

Alex Presley was responsible for the first and the last run of the game, and in between it was a wild west shootout as the Bucs outscored the Brewers by a final score of 9-8.

Presley opened the game with a homer on the second pitch, his first MLB lead off blast. It would be the first of twenty-five hits and seventeen runs tallied between the two clubs.

The Brew Crew shrugged that run off and positioned themselves for a big opening frame. Charlie Morton was greeted by pair of singles and a double to quickly tie the game, and a walk to Prince Fielder jammed the sacks with no outs. He reached back, K'ing Ricky Weeks and getting Jerry Hairston to bang into an around the horn DP to escape without any further damage.

Pittsburgh got rolling in the second. Garrett Jones walked and Jason Jaramillo rolled a seeing eye single into right. A broken bat bloop by Pedro drove home a run, and a Chase d'Arnaud slow roller to second brought in another. A Morton bunt and Presley knock made it 4-1.

The game rolled along quietly until the bottom of the fourth when the Brew Crew smacked three doubles to make it a 4-3 game. The Bucs answered in their next at-bat.

Xavier Paul led off the fifth with a triple, and a pair of one-out walks loaded the bases. Pedro doubled home two runners and a wild pitch brought in another as the Bucs went up 7-3 on Shaun Marcum.

Morton couldn't stand success; his own wildness let Milwaukee back in the game when a hit batter and walk plated on a two out double by Yuniesky Betancourt. That was Morton's last call. He went five, giving up five runs on eight hits with three walks and K's, not a particularly memorable finish to the season.

The Bucs scored once again in the sixth. Pedro Ciriaco drew a lead off walk as pinch hitter, stole second, and touched the dish after Neil Walker's two out single. Two walks juiced the sacks, but JJ was called out on strikes to end the threat with the Pirates up 8-5.

The Brewers weren't fazed; they worked their way through the Bucco bullpen in the sixth to knot the score. The bases were empty with two outs before the wheels dropped off the Buc's buggy. Jared Hughes gave up a walk and a single, Tony Watson a knock, and Chris Leroux surrendered a double and two walks, the last with the bases loaded to force in a run. D-Mac got the final out, a screamer hit at d'Arnaud, who made a leaping grab of the bullet to keep the score tied.

The Bucs retook the lead off of Takashi Saito in their next dibs. Mike McKenry drew a two out walk and crossed the plate on Presley's double. That would be the game winner, but not without a couple of tense moments.

D-Mac threw a clean seventh, and Jason Grilli took the ball. A walk and two beaned batters - hey, it is Milwaukee, right? -  juiced the sacks with one away. He coaxed a couple of pop outs to escape the jam and set up Hanny time.

He gave up a lead off single, and two wild pitches later the Brewers had a runner on third with no outs. Hanrahan came up with a big K followed by an even bigger bounce out to The Pittsburgh Kid. With the infield in, he went home and cut down the tying run to preserve the Bucs 9-8 win and finally put an end to the four hour plus marathon.

Presley and Pedro led the way with three RBI apiece. The Bucs struck out ten more times. Not only are they adding to a franchise record for K's in a season, but should surpass 1,300 K's by Wednesday.

RHP Ross Ohlendorf (1-3, 8.29) faces LHP Randy Wolf (13-10, 3.61) at 8:10 PM tonight. The game will be aired on Root Sports.

• Andrew McCutchen was off yesterday after being hit by a BP liner before the game. He should be good to go tonight.
• Dewey has been off, too. He took a foul off the mask last game out, and the Bucs have been cautious about putting him back behind the dish with his concussion history, especially at this late point in the season.

Bucs Drop Home Finale 5-4

The Bucs tried to claim a win for Fan Appreciation day, the traditional curtain-closer for the home season, and almost pulled it off in the ninth. But they couldn't find one more hit and fell to the Reds 5-4 yesterday afternoon.

James McDonald struggled at the outset. In the first, a lead-off, four pitch walk to Brandon Phillips turned into a run after a pair of back-to-back, one out singles. In the second, J-Mac was almost on the way to the showers.

A lead-off double in the second, followed by a Josh Harrison, boot put runners on the corners. A sac fly brought in one tally, and another scored on a two-out single. That was followed by a walk, and that brought Clint Hurdle to the top step, but McDonald K'ed Joey Votto to end the frame.

The Bucs came back to tie it in their half. Derrek Lee led off with a knock, and an out later, Ryan Ludwick walked. Chase d'Arnaud sent them both home on a triple to left, and Scooby Doo hit a sac fly to knot the score.

J-Mac and Dontrelle Willis had things under control by then. McDonald was replaced in the sixth by Danny Moskos. After getting the first out, he gave up a single and double to the 7-8 hitters. Then Willis, no slouch at the dish, caught a hanging slider and drilled it into right to put the Reds up 5-3.

The game moved along into the ninth, when the Bucs tried to figure it out against Francisco Cordero. McCutch opened with a walk, went to second on a wild pitch, and came home after The Pittsburgh Kid's one-out double. But with the tying run in scoring position, a pair of pinch hitters went down - Garrett Jones K'ed and Pedro flew out to left - and that wrapped up the last home stand of the year.

The Bucs only had four hits to go along with eleven strikeouts. Those kind of numbers have been a season-long drag; a team batting average of .244 with eight whiffs per game don't project to many runs. Whether the answer lies within the organization, through team churning or has to come from the outside in a trade or free agency, the Bucs need to put the ball in play a lot more often next year.

RHP Charlie Morton (10-10, 3.67) takes on RHP Shaun Marcum (13-7, 3.31) at Miller Park tonight.The game starts at 8:10 PM and will broadcast by Root Sports. Not that you need reminded, but the Pirates have lost 36 of their last 39 games at Miller Park dating back to 2007, including all six in Milwaukee this season.

• The Pirates drew 28,758 for a season total of 1,940,429, the fourth largest attendance year in franchise history.
• Dontrelle Willis had an 0-6 record entering the game and hadn't beaten the Bucs since 2005. Guess the hidden vigorish was finally on his side, hey? 
• Baseball America picked its New York-Penn League All-Stars. State College had a pair: RHP Nick Kingham (9), and 1B Alex Dickerson (11).

Bucs Look For Sweep After 4-2 Win

Hey, the only thing sweeter than taking the opener is to take the next game, too. And the Bucs did that against the Reds in front of a rollicking sellout crowd of 37,388, equally pumped for the Pirates and Pittsburgh fav Steve Miller.

It didn't start off the Buccos' way; a pair of first inning doubles made it 1-0 against Bad Brad Lincoln in a heartbeat. But the Pirates nibbled back.

In the second, Ryan Ludwick walked, went to third on a Jason Jaramillo two-bagger and touched home on a Ronny Cedeno sac fly. In the third, they took control.

Josh Harrison started it off with a triple (he would end the night a homer short of the cycle) and a McCutch sac fly plated him. Derrek Lee singled and Neil Walker doubled, setting up the Bucs third straight sac fly, this one from Ludwick. Walker scored when JJ came through with a two-out knock to make it 4-1.

It stayed that way until the fifth, when Lincoln's control deserted him. He gave up walks to two of the first three hitters, and one scored on Joey Votto's double. Lincoln worked out of harm's way by getting Punxsutawney's Dave Mesoraco (who had a noisy cheering section of hometowners) to fly to center with the bases juiced.

Lincoln lasted one more batter, when a leadoff double chased him to the showers in the sixth. He gave up two runs in five innings on six hits and four walks (one intentional) with four K's. After that, it turned into a battle of the bullpens, neither one allowing another run. Jason Grilli got the save, as Hanny had the night off after a 31-pitch outing yesterday, his third in the MLB and first since 2009.

Tonight was a game that could have provided plenty more fireworks. The two teams combined to strand 20 runners and go 5-for-28 with RISP. The Pirates had eleven hits, and nine were collected among three players: Harrison (4), Walker (3), and Jaramillo (2).

And the go-go Bucs were back in stride with four steals, highlighted by Neil Walker stealing second and third in the fifth frame.

Dontrelle Willis faces James McDonald in the Bucs final home game this afternoon. The finale's lineup will be: Alex Presley LF, Josh Harrison 3B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Derrek Lee 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Ryan  Ludwick RF, Chase d'Arnaud SS, Mike McKenry C, James McDonald P.

Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune Review has a piece on what a McCutch contract might cost the Bucs. We lean toward the 6 year, $50M or so range with an option as a fair deal. But just in case, he also looks at center field options. 

Jose Veras made his 80th appearance, second in MLB to Atlanta's Johnny Venters. He only worked 48 outings last year, so potential pitching burnout isn't just limited to the rotation. It's the first time Clint Hurdle has ever called on a reliever that often.

Neil Walker may not have great range, but when he gets to a ball, he catches it. He ran his errorless streak to 52 games last night, and his .992 fielding percentage is the NL's best.

The Pirates are 9-9 at home when they play in front of a sellout crowd.

Pittsburgh is 38-38 against Central Division opponents, with today's game against the Reds and three more at Milwaukee to go. They haven't had a winning record in the division since 1992.

Friday Game Recap: Bucs Take Opener From Reds

GW was out of action this weekend, but the Bucs weren't. They recaptured their June mojo by taking the first two games of their final home set against the Cincy Reds by 4-3 and 4-2 tallies, doing just enough to come up on the winning side both nights.

Friday's game was started by Jeff Locke. The young lefty fell an out short of going five, but kept the Bucs in the game. He allowed one run, six hits, and two walks but surpassed his 75-80 pitch count limit after a Joey Votto double. Danny Moskos came in to K Jay Bruce and leave runners at second and third, preserving a 3-1 lead. Locke was in trouble almost all night, but managed to wriggle off the hook through most of the contest.

The early lead was built on a Garrett Jones two-run blast that traveled over 450' in the second and some third inning two-out thunder started by McCutch, who doubled. After a Derrek Lee walk, McCutchen was chased home by a Dewey knock.

The Reds drew within a run against Chris Leroux in the sixth, turning a leadoff single, ground out and infield knock into a run. But the score held up until Hanny time. But this time it wasn't automatic.

Pinch-hitter Chris Heisey led off with a broken bat infield single followed by Brandon Phillips roller through the left side. Drew Stubbs bunted; the Bucs nailed the lead runner. Hanrahan struck out Joey Votto, and it looked like the crisis was averted.

After a double steal on a 3-0 count, Hanny intentionally walked Jay Bruce to load the bases. On a 3-2 count, he hit Todd Frazier on the back of left hand with a fastball to force home the tying run.

But the Bucs had enough left in the tank to take it in their half. Pinch hitter Jason Jaramillo dropped a double the opposite way with an out and was replaced at second by Chase d'Arnaud. Ryan Ludwick fell behind 0-2, fouled off a pitch and then drilled a low heater off the bottom of the center field wall for the walk-off win.

The Reds were 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 men on base. The Bucs were an efficient 2-for-4 with RISP and left only five runners aboard.

Ohlie KO'ed, Bucs Dropped 8-5

Ohlie took a step forward in his last outing, but boy, did he ever backtrack yesterday afternoon. He got six D-Backs out, giving up seven runs on seven hits with a pair of walks and a hit batter.

It started in the first, when Arizona scored three times. Not only did the D-Backs rattle four opening frame hits, but caught Ohlendorf napping on the mound and ran a pair of successful double steals.

The Bucs cut into the lead thanks to a solo homer by Ryan Ludwick in the second. But in the third, the wheels came off for good.

Jared Hughes didn't help the cause a whole lot in the third after Ohlendorf gave up three knocks and a free pass. He inherited a bases-jammed, no out pickle, and two hits and a walk later, it was 8-1 Snakes.

Danny Moskos, D-Mac, Evan Meek and Chris Resop threw two-hit ball over the final five innings to give the attack a chance to chip away.

Derrek Lee drove in a pair with a single and 450' homer as he continues to build his free-agent value. Jason Jaramillo doubled in a run, and a wild pitch plated another. The Pirates actually had a chance to make a game of it with two away in the eighth, but Dewey bounced out with runners on second and third. Pittsburgh made the final score respectable but in the end fell short for the tenth time in the last 13 games, 8-5.

As for Ohlie, he looks like a lock to be a non-tender candidate during the offseason. The FO can't be faulted for bypassing arbitration as he's guaranteed a minimum of $1.6M through the process in 2012, and so we're guessing he'll join Lee looking for a 2012 deal on the market.

The Bucs are off today and take on the Reds Friday. Jeff Locke matches up against Edison Volquez in Pittsburgh as the season winds down to its last week.

• The 2011 attendance will finish as fourth highest in franchise history. Pittsburgh has drawn 1,850,651 fans so far, and the current fourth-place mark for season attendance is 1,866,713 with a three-game set coming up Friday against Cincy. 
• The Pirates have six games left and 69 wins. We took a trip on the web way-back machine to check out the pre-season picks, and most pundits pegged this season's club as a 70-75 win group.   Of course, most thought they'd improve as the season progressed, not back track. Ah, hindsight...

Notes

RHP Ross Ohlendorf (1-2, 6.82) goes against LHP Wade Miley (3-2, 4.24) in this afternoon's rubber match at Arizona. The first pitch is at 3:40 PM and will be shown on Fox Sports.

Lineup: Alex Presley LF, Pedro Ciriaco SS, Andrew McCutchen CF, Derrek Lee 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Ryan Ludwick RF, Brandon Wood 3B, Matt Pagnozzi C, Ross Ohlendorf P.

You can tell it's get away day - Pedro Ciriaco, Brandon Wood and Matt Pagnazzi are all  in today's lineup.

• The Pirates confirmed that they are moving Fanfest to Saturday, December 17th and Sunday, December 18th, with Friday, December 16th, open to Season Ticket Holders only. It'll include the usual goodies - Q&A session, autograph booths, handouts, kids' games...

Bucs Win 5-3

Hey, the Bucs actually scored last night. Didn't take long either, as Alex Presley and Neil Walker banged doubles to start the game and put the Pirates up 1-0. An inning later, Pedro went yard for the fourth time and it was 2-0. Dewey doubled home McCutch in the fifth, and it was 3-0 Pittsburgh. That would be Daniel Hudson's last frame for Arizona..

Charlie Morton sometimes struggled with his control, but was tough enough. He went six shutout frames, taking 106 pitches to get there, giving up three hits, three walks (one intentional) and bopping a batter along the way to go with five K's.

Chris Leroux yielded a run in the seventh when he gave up back-to-back singles, causing Clint Hurdle to quickly bring on Jason Grilli. Grilli gave up another knock, and then punched out the D-Backs.

Derrek Lee countered with a two-run blow in the eighth, plating Presley ahead of him. And Pittsburgh needed it. Jose Veras gave up three consecutive one-out knocks before Tony Watson took the ball. He gave up a bunt single RBI, but finished off the frame with the Bucs still up 5-3.

And that's all Hanny needed, striking out a pair to earn his 39th save while closing out Morton's tenth win.

The game had a lot of ebb and flow. The Pirates stranded a dozen and the D-Backs eleven, so the score could have easily turned into slugfest proportions. It was especially so for Pittsburgh, which banged out 14 hits, half of which were for extra bases, but allowed several scoring opportunities to slip by.

They did help themselves in the field last night, with Presley and Garrett Jones making back-to-back nice grabs to open the game, Pedro laying out for a couple of plays and Lee making a couple of sweet picks. It was a good way to rally against a championship caliber team that's playing for something, and one of the few building blocks to be taken away this September.

• As expected, RHP Gerritt Cole will fill the final spot on the Pirates Arizona League roster.
• Pedro Alvarez will not play winter ball, but start anew in 2012. He held out the possibility that he may join a winter league club for the second half of the season, although that would seem rather pointless.
• Chris Snyder said told the beat gang that he's willing to come back to Pittsburgh, but would prefer the FO to pick up his $6.75M option rather than negotiate a new deal.
• Pittsburgh got RHP Eliecier Cardenas from the Braves for Matt Diaz. The 23 year old Cardenas is a closer  in Hi A ball with a good hook but no control. He was a minor league Rule 5 pick of Atlanta from Minnesota in 2010.

Notes

RHP Charlie Morton (9-10, 3.81) take the hill against RHP Daniel Hudson (16-10, 3.39). the game starts at 9:40 PM and will be shown on Root Sports.

The Lineup: Alex Presley LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Derrek Lee 1B, Ryan Doumit C, Garrett Jones RF, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Ronny Cedeno SS, Charlie Morton P.

Whatever happened to Xavier Paul and Brandon Wood?

• For the fans of the Piratefest and Pirate caravan, get ready for an earlier start. They'll go off in mid-December this year, both to give the participating players more of an off-season break and to try to tap into some pre-Xmas sales. Makes sense on both fronts.
• Ben Badler of Baseball America listed the top rookie prospects in the Gulf Coast League. The Pirates had two of the top five picks and three of the top fifteen, with RHP Luis Heredia ranked #3, 1B/OF Jose Osuna #5, and IF Alen Hansen #14. It's good to see Rene Gayo's amigos doing well.
• Congrats to Mariano Rivera who set the all-time saves record yesterday with close-out #602. He also has 42 post-season saves, with 11 during the World Series and four in All-Star games. Since taking over the fireman job in 1997, he's had an 89% save rate. And there are only two teams he doesn't have a save against - the Yankees, of course, and the Pirates.

Karstens Effort Wasted, Bucs Fall 1-0

Ya know, the Pirate pitching has been so terrible lately that we tend to overlook how bad the Pirate hitting has been. Well, it came to the forefront tonight.

Jeff Karstens, Jared Hughes and Jose Veras held the D-Backs to one run and five hits - and the single tally came on a broken bat homer, with half the stick ending up by third base - by Justin Upton that had to withstand review. Upton's homer, his 31st, dropped into the first row of the left center field stands. A fan caught it and the review was to see if it cleared the wall. It did, and that was enough to propel Arizona to a 1-0 win.

The Pirates mustered two hits; the only knock before the ninth was a Karstens' single. Alex Presley tripled with one out in the final frame, and had The Pittsburgh Kid and McCutch behind him. But Walker bounced out to first, freezing Presley, and McCutchen K'ed for the third time on the night. He wasn't alone alone. It was the thirteenth whiff of a Bucco. They've scored four runs on 22 hits in the past four games with 44 K's.

Charlie Morton takes on Daniel Hudson tomorrow.

• This was Jeff Karstens last start of the season. The Bucs are skipping his last appearance, as he's worked 162-1/3 innings in 2011, 40 more frames than his previous high set last year.  JK finished the year at 9-9 with a 3.38 ERA, a tremendous showing especially considering he started 2011 as a long man in the pen before Ohlie went down in early April.
• The Pirates set a team record for K's in a season Sunday against LA. They're now up to 1,243 strikeouts with eight games to go, an average of 8 whiffs per game. They're among the bottom feeders in that stat in the NL with Washington and San Diego. More than pitching, this should be addressed as shortcoming #1 going into 2012. The compound problem is that the Pirates have used the second highest number of players in the NL during the season, have the youngest senior circuit squad, and consequently don't seem to have much of a plan during their at-bats, all of which were brutally exposed in the second half of the season.
• The Pirates have three guys with 100+ K's - McCutch, Walker and Garrett Jones - and three more that will finish the year with 75+. The Pirates have just five more hits (1,248) than whiffs, and six current position players have more K's than knocks: Jones, McKenry, Alvarez, Wood, d'Arnaud, and Ludwick. Steve Pearce, Josh Rodriguez, Dusty Brown and Wyatt Toregas, when they were playing, also had more strikeouts than hits.

Notes, AFL Roster

RHP Jeff Karstens (9-8, 3.45) faces RHP Ian Kennedy (19-4, 2.99) as the Bucs continue their left coast road trip against the first place D-Backs.The game will start at 9:40 PM and be televised on Root Sports.

Lineup: Alex Presley LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Derrek Lee 1B, Ryan Ludwick RF, Jason Jaramillo C, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Ronny Cedeno SS, Jeff Karstens P.

• The Pirates sent Altoona RHP Mike Colla (5-11, 3.70), IF Brock Holt (.288/1/40) and RHP Phil Irwin (13-4, 3.14 between the Curve & Bradenton) along with Bradenton LHP Nathan Baker (10-8, 3.34), 2B Jarek Cunningham (.258/15/51) and OF Robbie Grossman (.294/13/56) to Mesa of the Arizona Fall League. They still have one pitching slot open; the grapevine says that it's reserved for RHP Gerritt Cole, although that decision is still being debated.
• Arizona's magic number in the NL West to put away the Giants is five. They have nine games remaining, all at home, against Pittsburgh, then San Fran and closing out with LA. So they'll be motivated to play hardball this series; it won't be a run-of-the-mill September set.
• 1B Lyle Overbay has a line of .265/1/8 in 38 at-bats for the Snakes. His OPS is .754, over a hundred points higher than his Bucco number.

Bucs Run Out Of LA 15-1

Did ya catch the whuppin' the Steelers laid on the Seahawks this afternoon? Well, the Bucs had the same kind of day - as Seattle. It was 3-0 after an inning, 9-0 after two frames and 11-0 when the third concluded as the Dodgers steamrolled the Pirates 15-1 this afternoon.

Bad Brad Lincoln gave up a three spot in the first, and the second got worse. He had two outs and a runner on first, but a pair of singles loaded the sacks and Clint Hurdle went to the pen. Aaron Thompson came on, and after a homer, double, and pair of walks, it was 9-0.

The usually dependable Chris Leroux followed in the third, and he gave up three hits and walk, yielding another pair of runs before Chris Resop poked his finger in the dam. He threw a clean fourth, and the Pittsburgh nine got on the board when Xavier Paul doubled home Chase d'Arnaud with two away in the fifth.

Evan Meek faced six hitters, striking out two, walking three and giving up a knock and a run on a bases juiced free pass before D-Mac closed out the frame. But McCutchen's luck ran out in the sixth. His post-Atlanta meltdown continued as he surrendered three runs on six hits. Tony Watson and Jason Grilli put up zeroes to finish up the game.

The Pirate attack was AWOL again. They left nine aboard as seven of their ten runners reached base after two outs and they struck out nine more times. Then again, they could have scored everybody and still would have been blown out. Geez, July seems like such a long time ago.

Charlie Morton faces Ian Kennedy at Arizona tomorrow night. Kennedy is taking his second crack at 20 wins; he's 19-4 on the season.

• The eight hurlers Pittsburgh trotted out today ties the franchise record for most pitchers used in a nine inning game.
• Pirate pitchers haven't thrown a clean inning since the eighth frame Friday night. That's seventeen straight innings that the Dodgers have had at least a runner aboard.
• Matt Kemp was a triple away from hitting for the cycle - after the third inning. No, he didn't get it. LA pulled him after five innings.