Talkin' Bucs 2012

[Black Panther]

Mister B, here is our official thread for the 2012 Pirates.Post away!

[mister b]

Season opener...

Phillies 1 Bucs 0

AARRGGGHHH!!!! Shiver me timbers, we left a win on the table as the Bucs generate zero offense but get great pitching and a clean sheet in the field.

Bucco starter Erik Bedard goes 7 strong innings gives up 1R 6H 1BB & 4Ks. Bullpen goes 2 innings with 0R 2H 1BB and 4Ks.

Phillie starter Halliday goes 8 innings 0R 2H 0BB 5K and Papelbon retires the top of the Bucco order in the 9th to get the save.

A lot of positives for the Bucs in terms of pitching and defense but the glaring lack of offense may be a concern but we were facing Halliday and Papelbon, the Phillies best arms.

Off day friday with both teams returning to action Saturday.

Need a win and a chance to fly the flag.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[mister b]

Bucs 2 Phillies 1 F/10

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

Alex (you ain't nothing but a hound dog) Pressely plates the winning run as he beats out a slow roller to the SS and the Buccos get their first win of the year.

Another game of outstanding pitching from our hurlers as the limit the Phillies to only 1 run for the 2nd day in a row.

Bucs go for their first series win of the year on Sunday as they send out J-Mac to take the hill.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Black Panther]

The Pirates win the series by beating the Phils on Sunday,5-4.

[mister b]

The Pirates win the series by beating the Phils on Sunday,5-4.

Walkoff winner by McCutchen. 2nd one in 2 days for the Buccos.

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

Philly fans just had a bad weekend in the 'Burgh with the Pens beating the Flyers and the Bucs taking the series from the Phillies.

[Black Panther]

Lets hope the pitching holds up.Burnett should be back soon.I just wished we could have brought Lee back for one more year.He would have solidified first base and added some much needed power.

[mister b]

Lets hope the pitching holds up.Burnett should be back soon.I just wished we could have brought Lee back for one more year.He would have solidified first base and added some much needed power.

I agree 100% about bringing Lee back. He would have been a huge plus on the field, at the plate and in the clubhouse. The fans loved him the short time he was in Pittsburgh last year.

We really need another solid bat. I'm not sold on Barmes at SS or some of our other starters at 3rd or 1st.

I think Burnett and Bedard could both have a good year for us. They both have the potential to 15 games each for us.

Tough western road swing ahead for the Buccos. 3 games each vs the Dodgers, Giants and D-backs starts on Tuesday.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[mister b]

Dodgers 2 Bucs 1

Correia is the 4th straight Bucs starting pitcher to go at least 6 innings, 1R 4H 2BB 3K, but the Bucco offense is still lacking as they only manage 1R on 5H with a mindnumbing 10Ks.

In our 4 games, Bucco starters have given up 5R 19H 6BB 12K. The highest ERA is J-Mac with a 3.00, Correia and Karstens both have an ERA of 1.50 and Bedard has a 1.29.

The bullpen has given up 3R 8H 5BB 16K with only Grilli having an ERA which 4.50. The other 6 relivers all have an 0.00 ERA. You can't fault the pitching.

The Bucs record is 2-2 but it could easily be 4-0 or 0-4 as all 4 games have been decided by 1 run.

Hitting continues to be a thorn in our side. Out of our regular starting position players, only Presley (LF) .353, McCutchen (CF) .333, McGehee (3B) .333 are hitting above the Mendoza line (.200). Even Walker (2B) is struggling .077 but I have confidence he will snap out of his funk. Barmes (SS) is 0-12 in 4 games and has 4K. Surely Jack Wilson could do better. We had better have some lumber coming up thru the minors very quickly as we seem to once again strikeout in the free agent market in finding some offense.

Yes, I know we faced Kershaw, the Dodgers ace and 2 other Cy Young winners in Halliday and Lee for the Phillies but we need to start hitting the ball and manufacturing some runs to support what has been a great start for our pitching staff.

Bucs are scheduled to send Bedard to the hill to face Billingsley in game 2. Games starts at 10:10 pm.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[mister b]

Bucs 4 Giants 1

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

Bucs avoid what could have been being swept for the second straight road series with their win over the Giants. Just enough offense to plate 4 runs as our starting pitching does an excellent job and the bullpen makes it interesting with a game worth of pitches over the last 3 innings to hold unto the win.

On to Arizona and I hope we find our lumber in the desert.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[mister b]

Bucs 5 D-Backs 4

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

McCutchen goes 4-5 with the game winning RBI as the Bucs get the win after dropping game 1 to the D-backs.

Bucco starting pitcher Karstens is taken out after 1 inning due to shoulder inflammation, not good (15 day DL and Lincoln is called up from Indy) but the bullpen does good work on short notice as they pitch 8 innings in reflief. Hanrahan wasn't available for the Bucs either has he had a tight hamstring so Cruz gets his first save.

Garrett Jones gets his 2nd homer of the year and Walker's bat is heating up in the desert (4-8 for the series).

Bucs send out J-Mac to try and end the road trip win a win.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Black Panther]

Bucs beat Arizona,2-1."You Can Kiss It Good-bye"!

[mister b]

Bucs beat Arizona,2-1."You Can Kiss It Good-bye"!

Started the road trip 0-5. Ended the road trip 3-1. At least there was something positive to build on.

Bucco offense is ranked deadlast in MLB in all 4 catagories...runs - 26, batting average - .205, on base percentage - .252, slugging - .287

Bucco pitching is much better, 5th in the majors in ERA 2.80 and a batting average against of .237 - not too shabby.

The world champion Cardinals come to the 'Burgh for a 3 game set starting friday night. I'm sure all the radios in PNC Park will be tuned into Mike Lang's call of the Pens game the same night.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[mister b]

Cards 4 Bucs 1

1 run on 4 hits for the Bucs. Good pitching and no hitting seems to be where we are at.

Hopefully, we will pick up some bats before the trading deadline at the end of July.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Black Panther]

Derek Lee....Did he sign with anyone? Cant imagine we couldn't have made him a good one year deal with the promise we would trade him to a contender at the deadline if need be.Makes no sense...

[Black Panther]

Bucs beat cards 2-0."How Sweet It Is!"

[mister b]

Bucs beat cards 2-0."How Sweet It Is!"

Burnett throws 76 pitches (53 for strikes) in 7 innings. He makes a strong case to be our #1 pitcher. Bullpen pitches 2 scoreless innings. (Hanrahan continues to have some control problems but gets his second save).

McCutchen contines his hot streak. Walker and Alvarez's bats are starting to heat up. Still need some more bats.

Derreck Lee is an advising hitting coaching in the Cincy organization. I would serious look at seeing if we can get him to consider coming back for this season and sharing time at first with Jones and then look at the free agent market for a decent hitting 1st baseman and SS.

Bucs go for the series win today.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[mister b]

Bucs 5 Rockies 1

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

Bucs win the series 2-1. J-Mac lost his no hit bid in the 7th in todays first game as the Bucs lost (2-1) but they came back to win the nite cap in the Rockies only trip to the Burgh this season.

Bucs are off to Atlanta for a wrap around weekend series vs the Braves.

Bucco offense stinks, 30 runs scored in the first 15 games. Bucco pitching is now rated the 2nd best in the majors. Who would have thought that but it is still early.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Orange and Brown]

Pitching is awesome and the D is there. if the bats come around it could be a breakout season.....

[Black Panther]

Pirates 3,reds 2."There was nooooooooooooo doubt about it"!

[Black Panther]

Pirates 3,Nats 2."You Can Kiss It Good-Bye!"