"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

The Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a terrible franchise and a terrible baseball team. Their list of attributes in 2007 is as follows:

Jason Bay, LF (.310/.378/.531, 11 HR, 45 RBI)
Ian Snell, RHP (2.91 ERA, 71 K, 10 quality starts)
Tom Gorzelanny, LHP (2.53 ERA, 9 quality starts)
Matt Capps RHP (2.70 ERA, 33 G, 4.00 K/BB)
Damaso Marte LOOGY (1.37 ERA, .125/.222/.125 vs. lefties, 0 XBH)

The Yankees won’t see Snell, can pitch around Bay in big spots, and can make Capps and Marte irrelevant if they can do enough damage early against Paul Maholm and old pal Shawn Chacon over the next two days. The only trouble is Gorzelanny, who starts tonight against Andy “Hard Luck” Pettitte. Pettitte knows the Pirates well having spend the last three years in the NL Central. Last year, he beat them in a pair of late-season quality starts. In 2005, Andy posted a 2.08 ERA in four starts against the Bucs. In 2004, he faced them in back-to-back starts early in the year and allowed just one run in 11 innings (that on a Jack Wilson home run during the hottest month of Wilson’s career). Both of tonight’s starters have nine quality starts in 12 tries on the season.

The Yankees and Pirates have met in interleague play just once before, that coming in 2005 when the Yankees swept the Pirates in the Bronx. If the Yanks can pull out a win tonight, they’ll have put together their first four-game winning streak of the season and will stand an excellent chance of repeating that feat, thereby extending that streak to six games.

Pittsburgh Pirates

2006 Record: 67-95 (.414)
2006 Pythagorean Record: 70-92 (.432)

Manager: Jim Tracy
General Manager: Dave Littlefield

Home Ballpark (2006 Park Factors): PNC Park (100/100)

Who’s Replacing Whom?

Adam LaRoche replaces Sean Casey, Craig Wilson, and Jose Hernandez
Xavier Nady replaces Jeromy Burnitz
Don Kelly replaces Joe Randa
Tom Gorzelanny replaces Oliver Perez and Kip Wells
Shawn Chacon replaces Victor Santos
Jonah Bayliss replaces Mike Gonzalez
Josh Sharpliss replaces Roberto Hernandez
Tony Armas Jr. replaces Ryan Vogelsong, Shane Youman, and Marty McLeary

25-man Roster:

1B – Adam LaRoche (L)
2B – Freddy Sanchez (R)
SS – Jack Wilson (R)
3B – Jose Bautista (R)
C – Ronny Paulino (R)
RF – Xavier Nady (R)
CF – Chris Duffy (L)
LF – Jason Bay (R)

Bench:

R – Jose Castillo (IF)
R – Rajai Davis (OF)
R – Nate McLouth (OF)
S – Ryan Doumit (OF/C)
L – Don Kelly (IF)

Rotation:

R – Ian Snell
L – Tom Gorzellany
L – Paul Maholm
R – Shawn Chacon
L – Zach Duke

Bullpen:

R – Salomon Torres
R – Matt Caps
R – Jonah Bayliss
L – Damaso Marte
L – John Grabow
R – Tony Armas Jr.
R – Josh Sharpless

15-day DL: R – John Wasdin

Typical Lineup:

R – Jose Bautista (3B)
L – Chris Duffy (CF)
R – Freddy Sanchez (2B)
R – Jason Bay (LF)
L – Adam LaRoche (1B)
R – Xavier Nady (RF)
R – Ronny Paulino (C)
R – Jack Wilson (SS)

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"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver