On Neil Walker

In his Post-Gazette blog yesterday, Bob Smizik offered a post wherein he asked questions pertaining to the performance - the "declining performance" as he put it - of Pirate second baseman Neil Walker.  Smizik included the numbers to back up his assertion.  I found the article of interest because the very night before, while attending the Pirates - Reds game, Len Martin, Dan Bonk, and I had the very same conversation.  "Have we seen the best that Neil Walker has to offer?" was the way we framed the conversation.  I copied Smizik's post and posted it on the "Pirate Chat" Facebook page.


Well, that Facebook post created a mini-storm of comments, most of which fell in the "Smizik's-a-jaggoff-so-where-does-he-come-off-criticizing-Neil-Walker" school of thought.  However, here are the numbers for Walker thus far in 2012:


.254 BA
.648 OPS
2 HR
17 RBI
Only 10 extra base hits


On a team of under performing offensive players, Walker has certainly been one of them.


Now, I am not giving up on Walker.  I think that he can be a solid performer, but that means hitting in the .270 to .280 range, 12-15 home runs and 75 or so RBI's, and he is not performing at that level this year, and you could point out that this decline began in the latter half of the 2011 season.


Perhaps there is a reason that the Pirates have not sought to sign him to a long term deal, as they did with Andrew McCutchen.


Here's hoping that he can turn things around.  I like the kid.  He's hustles, has a great attitude, and he is playing a nice second base.  He would be a nice player to have on a good ball club.


Oh, and did I mention that he is from Pittsburgh.  Would the criticism of Walker be heightened (and the criticism of Smizik lessened) if Walker had been born and raised in, say, Peoria, Illinois instead of Gibsonia, PA? 


Just askin'.

WPIAL Baseball Championship: Seneca Valley 5 - Mt. Lebanon 3

I learned a few weeks ago, that Anthony Paladino, the son of old friend, Frank Paladino, is the starting third baseman for the Mt. Lebanon High School Blue Devils, and that last night, Mt. Lebo would be playing Seneca Valley for the WPIAL Quad-A championship.  Now, I did face a possible conflict since nephews Zach and Nate Stoner attend Seneca Valley, but since neither of them play on the baseball team, I cast my lot with the Blue Devils, and headed down to Consol Energy Field in Washington, PA last night, along with other old friends Roger Hansen and Jim Hinerman, to watch what promised to be an epic tilt.  I even wore a blue & gold shirt for the occasion.


It was an exciting atmosphere and it was a lot of fun to be there and watch these kids playing in this game last night.  Unfortunately for Mt. Lebo, Seneca Valley prevailed and won by a score of 5-3.  Senior SV pitcher Matt Smith was just too much for the Devils to overcome last night, as he struck out 10 batters in the seven inning complete game. Despite giving up seven hits and walking four, he was dominant, and made the difference in the game.


Of special excitement for us was a stellar defensive play that Anthony made in the first inning.  With a man on and two outs, Seneca Valley's best hitter, Austin Bream, son of former Pirate Sid Bream, hit a screaming line drive that had "run scoring double" written all over it, but young Mr. Paladino snared it in a fashion that had "Brooks Robinson" written all over it. That was one of several very nice defensive plays that Anthony made in the game. 


It was a great effort on the part of both teams, and a fun evening at the ballpark.  I'm glad that I was there.


By the byzantine workings of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, despite losing last night, Mt. Lebanon has still qualified for the State Championship tournament, so best wishes for success to the Blue Devils as they advance in the States.


Now, a couple of other Grandstander-type observations....

• When you are used to watching baseball only at the major league level, you take for granted what a difficult game it is to play well.  Watching a high school baseball game, even a high level game as last night's one, you see that what would be routine plays in a major league game, do not get made in these games.  You may say that is not fair to compare high school players to major leaguers, and you would be right, and that is not my purpose here, but I have seen this same occurrence in minor league games in Altoona, Erie, and State College that I have attended over the years.  I suppose that my point is that when a guy gets to the major leagues, you can be sure that he is a very good baseball player.
• The game last night used a Designated Hitter; pitchers did not come to bat.  Now I have nothing to back me up on this, but I would guess that in many, if not most cases, the pitcher on a high school team might be the best player on any given high school team and very likely the best hitter, so what is the point in not allowing him to hit in the game?
• The coaches for each team last night wore full baseball uniforms.  Why?  For that matter, why do professional and major league managers wear full uniforms.  I guess the answer is "because they always have."

Happy Birthday, Annette Benning

Happy 54th Birthday today to Annette Benning.  I like Annette Benning. She is, of course, a serious actress, with several Oscar nominations to her credit, but she did a great comic turn early in her career playing Dan Ackroyd's wife in the John Candy classic, "The Great Outdoors".  Loved how she talked about the spin cycle on her washing machine!


With our vacation trip looming in the weeks ahead, a repeat viewing of "The Great Outdoors" (along with "National Lampoon's Vacation") is almost mandatory.


Anyway, wishes for a most happy birthday go out to Ms. Benning, the woman who tamed Warren Beatty.

.500

If on Opening Day back on April 5, if someone told you that the Pirates would be 24-24 and three games out of first place on Memorial Day, (a) would you have told them that they were nuts, and (b) would you have signed up for it?


I am pretty sure that your answer would be "Yes" to both questions above.  Yet here we are, 24-24 and 3 games out of first after the Bucs have mounted a four game winning streak.


Hell, I'd have been ecstatic if you'd have told me that they would be 4 and 1/2 games ahead of the Brewers, which they are!


The kicker here is how that Pirates have managed this feat with an offensive output that is inept in historic proportions.  You have read my rants on this subject in recent weeks, and the topic has been well documented in the press and the airwaves.  It also drives you absolutely nuts when you think of where the team might be if they would have had anyone to go along with Andrew McCutchen as any sort of offensive threat.  Consider these numbers posted by Dejan Kovacevic on his blog tonight:

• When they score 4 or more runs in a game, the Pirates are 16-2 (frankly, I'm shocked that they have scored four or more 18 times this year).
• When scoring 3 or more runs, they are 20-6.
• Even when they score a measly 2 or more runs, they are 23-10, a pace that would equal 112 wins in a season!

If the amazing pitching can hold up - and that, admittedly, is a big if - then the addition of any kind of offensive threat would seem to mean good things for this team.  Who will that threat be? A more consistent Pedro Alvarez?  Neil Walker coming up to the levels he produced last season?  Neal Huntington pulling the trigger on some sort of transaction that would bring in someone, anyone, who can provide some punch to the line up?  The W-L record when they do score runs would indicate that it might not take all that much to make this team a player in the NL Central over the remainder of the season.


We can dream, can't we?

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

Hope that you all enjoyed your unofficial beginning of Summer, 2012 - Memorial Day Weekend. I will say that I was happy to see that everywhere one looked, you were reminded of the true meaning and purpose of the Memorial Day holiday.  Nice to see.


We had a nice weekend.  Placing American flags throughout Stonebrook Village on Saturday morning.  Company with good friends Dave and Judy Jones on Saturday night.  A nice round of golf with friends Fred Shugars, Duane Lukitsh, and Steve Sutton today.


We also had some bad news as well with the passing of neighbor and fellow St. John Neumann parishioner, Nancy Frankhart.  Another added to the list of Absent Friends.  RIP Nancy.


As the summer season now begins in earnest, I hope that all enjoy the lazy, hazy days ahead.

Memorial Day 2012

Lest we forget.....

May 23: Mets 3 - Pirates 1

Yes, we were in attendance yesterday to see the Mets defeat the Pirates, 3-1.  The game took 2 hours and 21 minutes to play, and this is the best thing that I can say about a game the Clint Hurdle and the team absolutely mailed in yesterday.

The starting line up included Josh Harrison in right field (he is hitting .274 so I guess you have to find somewhere for him to play) and the following so-called offensive players: Gorkys Hernandez, .000, Casey McGehee, .186, Rod Barajas, .212 (and he's been on a HOT streak of late), Yamico Navarro, .182, and Clint Barmes, .178.  And Pedro Alvarez and his .202, or whatever he's hitting right now, didn't play.

Really now, can that lineup be called anything other than a disgrace?

In fairness to Hernandez, yesterday was his first start, and while he didn't get a ball out of the infield, he did draw a walk, and only the grace of a poor throw from the pitcher prevented him from getting picked off first base after that.  If the throw was there, he was a dead duck, which would have been fitting for the performance that the Bucs put on yesterday.

Here's a serious hypothetical question for you.  If the 2012 Pirates were to play a seven game series with the 1962 Mets, who would win?  Honest-to-God, I think would put my money on the '62 Mets.