Pirates finally break out the bats

Four players get multiple RBIs in 13-2 thrashing of Atlanta

Monday, May 14, 2007



Jose Bautista grabs his leg after being tagged out by the Braves' Jarrod Saltalamacchia yesterday at PNC Park. Bautista sustained a sprained ankle on the play.


By Dejan Kovacevic

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Take your pick.

The Pirates finally ...

A. Found a pitcher with a high enough career ERA that they could hit.

B. Found a defense generous enough to help them along on the basepaths.

C. Found a way to look something other than petrified at the plate.

Or, it might well have been D, all of the above.

Those rare sounds reverberating through PNC Park, that of the home team's bats making firm contact with baseballs, resulted in -- sit down for this -- a 13-2 thumping of the Atlanta Braves yesterday afternoon in which the Pirates' offense rang up a season-high 18 hits, drew seven walks and went 9 for 19 with runners in scoring position.

"That was pretty nice," manager Jim Tracy said, smiling. "Offense throughout the lineup."

"That gives us a little taste of what we're capable of," first baseman Adam LaRoche said after a double and two walks. "I don't want to fool anybody and say we're capable of scoring eight or 10 runs a day, but you saw the quality of the at-bats, the way we worked the count and took walks, the way we fought off tough pitches ... it was fun."

OK, so Atlanta's pitcher, Anthony Lerew, was riding buses with Class AAA Richmond a week ago, had a 6.75 career ERA in Major League Baseball and was starting a game at the top level for only the second time. Five of the Pirates' runs and seven of their hits came in his 32/3 innings.

And yeah, two other runs came on third baseman Pete Orr's throwing error in the fourth that handed the Pirates a 5-0 lead. The Braves were charged with two wild pitches and a passed ball, too.

But that did little, it seemed, to diminish the magnitude of the event.



Jack Wilson eludes the tag of Braves catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia yesterday at PNC Park.

For one, the Pirates topped seven runs for the first time. It came in their 36th game, which is one game longer than the previous franchise record for such futility from the outset of a season, that in 1965.

For another ...

"Hey, that was outstanding," shortstop Jack Wilson said after reaching base all five times up, three of those on singles, and driving in a run. "It was just fun to be out there. We got on base, we stole, we did hit-and-runs, did everything offensively a team can ask for."

Well, there were no home runs.

Still, go figure a team looking so thoroughly lost, then looking like it could extend innings for hours.

"That's baseball," Wilson said.

A night earlier, center fielder Chris Duffy was lugging a 4-for-34 May around his neck as he spoke in a nearly silent clubhouse about how poor hitting can be contagious.

Yesterday, he was 3 for 4 with a double, a walk, a stolen base and a sacrifice bunt.

"I guess it's pretty evident that contagious goes both ways, huh?" Duffy said. "You get that early lead, and you just see people relax. It's not something you talk about in the dugout or anything. It's something you subconsciously feel."

Other standouts on a day when every starting position player had a hit and no fewer than two men reached base safely in every inning: Freddy Sanchez went 3 for 6 with three RBIs; Jason Bay and Ronny Paulino each went 2 for 4 with two RBIs; and Ryan Doumit stayed sizzling with an RBI double and a single.

To be sure, Pirates starter Ian Snell was not complaining. He had been getting only 2.4 runs per game of support, but he seized upon the early lead and went seven solid innings -- two runs, seven hits and seven strikeouts -- to improve to 3-2 with a 2.38 ERA.

"It felt good to work with that five-spot," Snell said.

Even the only downer to the day wound up brighter than initially feared.

For now, anyway.

Third baseman Jose Bautista's left ankle was sprained in the sixth inning, when he was thrown out at home plate by left fielder Willie Harris after tagging up on a Doumit flyout. Bautista stepped on the left shoe of catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and the ankle rolled back in an ugly way.

He lay writhing in pain, as the crowd of 19,484 fell silent. But he was helped off three minutes later and, within a half-hour, was walking about the clubhouse in a soft boot-cast.

X-rays detected no fracture, and his status was listed as day to day. He will be examined again this afternoon, after which more should be known.

"It hurt a lot at the time, but it didn't feel too bad a couple minutes later," Bautista said. "I was worried about something worse than a sprain when it happened."

Bautista, in his first season as an everyday player, is batting .260 with two home runs and nine RBIs, and is playing Gold Glove-caliber defense.

"I took a deep breath," Tracy said of seeing Bautista go down.

Jose Castillo took Bautista's place at third base and likely will assume some starting infield duty -- second or third -- for as long as Bautista is out.

The Pirates avoided a three-game sweep and improved to 16-20.


(Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com.)

Ron Cook: Has Sanchez finally found comfort zone?

Freddy Sanchez acknowledges an ovation from the fans in Pittsburgh after going 2-for-4 on the final day of the season to win the 2006 NL batting title.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

You're right, it is hard to wrap your arms around the fact the Pirates banged 18 hits in a 13-2 win against the Atlanta Braves yesterday. I watched with my own eyes and still can't believe it. Only a night earlier, after being convinced that Braves starter Chuck James would finish the job after cruising into the seventh inning with a no-hitter, I was ready to suggest that the gem shouldn't really count against such weak competition.

But all of those unexpected hits and runs weren't the most amazing part of a wonderful Mother's Day at PNC Park. This took that prize: Freddy Sanchez drove in a run for the first time in three weeks.

That's 2006 National League batting champion Freddy Sanchez.

The same Sanchez who drove in 85 runs last season despite hitting just six home runs.

The same Sanchez who was one of the game's best clutch players a year ago with a .386 batting average with runners in scoring position.

Three weeks!

"Geez, has it really been that long?" Sanchez asked. "I knew it had been awhile, but that long?"

An eternity, actually.

A darned eternity for a Pirates' team that has been baseball's worst offensive team as the season pushes hard toward the quarter-pole.

"I take total responsibility for that," Sanchez said, admirably.

You're right again, Sanchez would have to fight off a lot of teammates -- notably Adam LaRoche and Ronny Paulino -- to get his hands on the clubhouse sword on which to impale himself. But he did have a legitimate point. He has been awful.

A .250 hitter going into yesterday.

A .136 average with runners in scoring position.

Four RBIs.

"When the 3-hole hitter isn't getting the job done, I think it takes a toll on the rest of the team," Sanchez said. "That's why I had no problem with [manager Jim Tracy] taking me out of there. I didn't deserve to be there. He had to go with Jason Bay or Ryan Doumit or anybody's who hot because I wasn't getting the job done."

That's why the game yesterday seemed a little more significant than an ordinary win in the long season. Tracy had Sanchez back in the No. 3 slot and Sanchez made the Braves pay instead of the Pirates. He singled in a run in the first inning, then had run-scoring singles in the fourth and sixth innings. He still doesn't look like that .344 hitter from a year ago, but this might have been a big step in that direction.

"I think that batting title has been a part of Freddy's problem, to be honest," Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson said. "He thinks he should be that guy every game. It doesn't work that way in baseball. This really is the first time he's failed offensively. It's been hard on him."

It didn't help that Sanchez missed most of spring training and the first five games of the season because of a knee injury. His hitting is based on rhythm and timing, neither of which satisfies him yet. He says he has tweaked just about everything, from his stance to his swing to his hitting approach, a startling admission from a batting champion. He still complains of not seeing the ball as well as he'd like but said he's starting to feel better at the plate. The numbers support him; he has hit safely in 12 of his past 13 games, a .322 average in that stretch.

"You know a slump isn't going to last forever for a guy as good as he is," Wilson said.

In a sad way, an unfortunate ankle injury yesterday to teammate Jose Bautista could help Sanchez's hitting take off even more because it could mean Sanchez going back to third base. Sanchez did a terrific job there last season, but Tracy moved him to second in the spring when he decided to go with Bautista at third base instead of Jose Castillo at second base. Sanchez doesn't appear nearly as comfortable at second and certainly hasn't been as effective.

He says his position doesn't matter to him, but he wouldn't be human if the extra thinking that second base involves for him didn't touch his hitting at least peripherally.

Bautista had to leave in the sixth inning after his left ankle rolled on him when he slid into home plate. Initially, the injury brought back gruesome memories of Jason Kendall's ankle dislocation on another holiday -- the Fourth of July -- in 1999 and, for you other old-timers like me, Rennie Stennett's career-damaging ankle injury on a slide into second base in 1977. The Pirates said X-rays on Bautista's ankle showed no broken bones, but, the way he limped out of the clubhouse, it wouldn't be shocking if he goes on the disabled list today.

"I hope he's not out long because he's been unbelievable at third base," Sanchez said.

No matter where he plays, Sanchez said, he has still got to keep working to find his comfort level at the plate.

It's nice to think he'll get there soon, not to mention maybe drive in his next run some time before Father's Day.



(Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.)

Faneca's actions encourage coach Tomlin

STEELERS MINICAMP

Monday, May 14, 2007

By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

What had become known as the Mother's Day Minicamp, thanks to Plaxico Burress, developed into the Alan Faneca Watch over the weekend for the Steelers.




Wide receiver Hines Ward shows up for minicamp wearing a hat fashioned like an old-style leather helmet yesterday.


It ended quietly at noon yesterday with Faneca joking around with new coach Mike Tomlin on the field beforehand and leaving without a peep to return to his home in Louisiana.

Tomlin was even encouraged that his unhappy guard might return for some of the 14 voluntary practices that begin May 22.

"I don't know what that's going to buy me, but I'm hopeful," Tomlin said.

Not since Burress ripped coach Bill Cowher for holding a minicamp on Mother's Day weekend in 2004 and boycotted it has there been the kind of player discontent as there was with Faneca the past couple of days.

It rivaled two other notorious minicamp incidents: Shouldergate in 1978 when it was revealed the Steelers illegally wore pads in practice and were docked a third-round draft choice in 1979 because of it; and Swinging-gate in 2000 when a fight broke out between halfback Richard Huntley and linebacker Earl Holmes that touched off a chair-swinging brawl in the locker room during the final minicamp at Three Rivers Stadium.

Few players have said such harsh words about Steelers management as did Faneca, however, especially someone of his status -- a six-time Pro Bowl player, three-time co-captain and 2005 winner of The Chief Award, named after franchise founder Art Rooney and given annually to the player who exemplifies Rooney's spirit of cooperation with the media.

It's likely Faneca would not warm up to an award named after any of The Chief's descendants these days.

"They've made it crystal clear that they have no intentions of signing me this year and that's their decision upstairs," Faneca said.

He has said he would fly home after yesterday's one-hour practice session that ended at noon and not return until training camp starts July 23 -- if he's still a Steeler then. He has asked to be traded, but there has been no word that the Steelers have even tried.

The Steelers still have 14 more practices -- officially termed organized team activities -- the next month at their facility on the South Side. Unlike minicamp, however, those are not mandatory and players cannot be disciplined if they do not attend.

Faneca, after fervently ripping into Steelers management on the first day of camp, became upset at a comment someone made and skipped the first practice Saturday, only to return Saturday afternoon after a talk with his coach and finish up yesterday.

Tomlin said he was happy with Faneca and the rest of the team's final practice session. He is happy with his new team's progress.

"But not to confuse that with being satisfied," Tomlin said. "You have to put one foot in front of the other and keep marching. I like where we are right now. I think we had a good weekend. We're just going to continue to move forward, not going to ride the emotional roller coaster, like what has been done, got more to do and we have to have that mind-set as we move forward."

Asked about his interaction with Faneca early in the practice, Tomlin said, "It was a good day, it was a good day. That's a very personal issue for Alan. He has to deal with it. We'll do the best that we can to move forward, but it was a normal workday."

Tomlin said he has talked to management about Faneca's situation and said he would make suggestions whether he thought a player should be re-signed. He would not say what his recommendations were in Faneca's case.

"Since I've been here, the Rooneys have been very receptive to opinions and I've voiced mine. That's just how we do business. I'm glad to be part of it and it'll continue and we'll move forward.

"We've talked about the [Faneca] situation. Again, we'd like to leave those elements of negotiations private -- that is our policy. But we've had in-depth discussions and I'm sure we'll continue to have them."


NOTE -- RB Kevan Barlow, who missed practices Saturday when his right ankle was injured that morning, returned for the final session.


(Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com.)

Mike Prisuta: Steelers, Tomlin taking baby steps together

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin watches practice during minicamp.

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, May 13, 2007


The jury is still out.

On Alan Faneca, on the Australian punter and especially on Mike Tomlin.

The first-year NFL head coach was greeted at the start of his first mandatory mini camp in charge of the Steelers by a salvo of criticism of the organization from perhaps his best player. Confirmation that Faneca, an All-Pro guard, is counting the days to unrestricted free agency reached Tomlin in the wake of reports that Richard Seigler, until very recently a Steelers linebacker, had been arrested for allegedly running a prostitution ring.

That, admittedly, was a development Tomlin didn't see coming.

But the contract hassle?

Been there, done that.

"Not to make light of the situation, but it's all a re-run," Tomlin said late Friday afternoon.

To prove his point, and perhaps to continue emphasizing that he hasn't come out of nowhere to coach the Steelers, Tomlin recalled his days in Tampa Bay.

"I coached a couple cornerbacks that thought they were underpaid," Tomlin said. "They probably were.

"Warren Sapp went into a similar situation after we won the Super Bowl and went into free agency and probably didn't want to. It's the nature of today's NFL. We're in the process of dealing with it."

Tomlin walked the walk as well as talked the talk in "dealing with it."

He answered the questions that were inevitable. He didn't scowl or make faces while doing so. He didn't throw a tantrum and issue any "I'm only going to address this once" caveats.

The word that came to mind was "professionalism."

Tomlin gives off a similar vibe on the practice field, bouncing from position to position and interacting with players and assistant coaches, even during one of the seemingly endless special teams periods that have characterized his first mandatory mini camp.

The Steelers didn't get around to punting in one of those until Saturday morning. And when they finally did they insisted upon having the return men catch the ball (where was that a year ago?). So the punter they traded up to get, Daniel Sepulveda, has had little opportunity to impress with the "Aussie style" that's supposed to induce bounce backs rather than touchbacks.

It mattered little, for Faneca had given Tomin and the Steelers more to deal with by then by taking a pass on Saturday morning's practice.

After meeting with Tomlin at lunchtime, Faneca hit the field again yesterday afternoon.

Tomlin was asked if Faneca might be testing him.

"Every time I get out of my car in that parking lot, it's a test," Tomlin said. "It's one that I readily accept."

The players, seemingly, are warming to Tomlin's style (Faneca excluded). But even the players don't yet know how Tomlin will run a sideline, whether he'll give his coordinators leeway or interference in calling a game, whether he'll be bold or conservative in his decision-making, whether he'll panic or persevere.

Time will tell.

Until then, the question of the day every day in western Pennsylvania -- "What's the new coach like?" -- will remain unanswered.

Tomlin has embraced the role this weekend, but as he said of his players, "I try to temper my enthusiasm when it comes to football in shorts."

The same applies to coaching it.


Mike Prisuta is a columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at mprisuta@tribweb.com or 412-320-7923.

Steelers' Faneca skips morning practice at minicamp

Steelers Alan Faneca said he was not happy to be at minicamp.

By Scott Brown
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, May 13, 2007


Alan Faneca skipped a minicamp practice Saturday, adding another layer to the drama the Pro Bowl guard started the previous day when he blasted Steelers' management over his contract situation.
But Faneca returned to the field at the Steelers' South Side facility for the team's afternoon practice and later downplayed his earlier absence.

In essence, Faneca said, he simply needed to take a time out.

"Some things were said, and I just had to have a little cool off time," Faneca said. "I'm just going to leave it at that. I still stand by what I said (Friday)."

Whether what he said -- Faneca ripped the Steelers for not negotiating in good faith on a contact extension -- led to the nine-year veteran's meeting with management is unclear.

When asked if he wanted to talk to the Steelers yester morning or if they wanted to talk to him, Faneca said, "a little of both."

Faneca is in the final year of a contract that will pay him $4.4 million this season with his roster bonus factored in, and he said he has requested several times for the Steelers to trade or release him.

Coach Mike Tomlin said the team will deal with the issue "internally" but did not rule out the Steelers fining Faneca for skipping the practice.

Tomlin said some positives can be gleaned from the issue that hangs over the Steelers.

"More than anything else, it's got to be a lesson for us as a football team in that the season is not without its ups and downs," said Tomlin, whose team concludes minicamp today with one practice. "Adversity is part of it, distractions are part of it. But again, it's a very personal issue for Alan. I respect that element of it, and we'll move forward."

Faneca apparently wasn't quite ready to move forward yesterday, which is why he didn't practice in the morning.

A day earlier, he went public with his unhappiness over his contract situation but said he would play out his contract with the Steelers if the team didn't trade or release him.

But when asked how he could reconcile putting everything he has into football while still with an organization he no longer wants any part of, Faneca admitted that he was still working on it.

Faneca's teammates have been supportive of him and said his situation has not created a distraction.

"Alan is probably the most stand-up professional athlete I know," right tackle Max Starks said.

"I kind of consider Alan a brother, and I feel like I'm going through it with him," said right guard Kendall Simmons, whose locker at the Steelers' practice facility is right next to Faneca's. "It needs to be taken care of. That's about all I really have to say about it."

As for how the situation can be resolved Simmons said, "I don't know. Ask (management)."

The Steelers have a history of not giving big contract extensions based on past performance or paying top dollar to players because that is what the market is yielding.

Faneca, 30, has been to six consecutive Pro Bowls and seeks the kind of money that guards not nearly as accomplished as he is commanded during the offseason.

Their impasse can be traced to each side being able to make a legitimate argument that it is in the right.

But Faneca is under contract through 2007, leaving him little choice but to play next season in Pittsburgh if the Steelers don't trade or release him.

"It's something I've personally got to learn to deal with," Faneca said, "and I'll figure it out."

Scott Brown can be reached at sbrown@tribweb.com or 412-481-5432.

Gene Collier: Minicamp shouldn't be confused as an OTA

A look inside the NFL's offseason dictionary

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Steelers rookies Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley watch practice during minicamp after suffering from minor injuries on Friday, May 11.


In a city where a subscription to Steelers Digest is considered an acceptable and even thoughtful Mother's Day gift, it's no surprise that the Steelers routinely work the holiday weekend that falls just 119 days from their opener, or that the dutiful media now descends on minicamp in numbers similar to its turnout at maxi-camp.

As the National Football League continues to perfect a marketing strategy designed to command our attention 24/7/365, let's not allow ourselves to confuse minicamp with the less formal (if not less formal-sounding) teaching sessions known as OTA's, or organized team activities. Each club is allowed 14 OTA's in addition to its minicamp, and they won't begin under the new Mike Tomlin administration until later this month.

Similarly, Steelers fans should not be misled by exactly what constitutes an organized team activity, like a team meeting, and a disorganized team activity, such as a punt return, or a ridiculously disorganized team activity, like either of last year's games against the Baltimore Ravens.

Further, OTA's vary from city-to-city. In Cincinnati, an OTA could be an arraignment, for example.

In any event, this weekend saw the entirety of Tomlin's first team, including its draft choices, together on a practice field for the first time, and there was no visual evidence that veteran Steelers such as James Harrison, Clark Haggans and Chris Gardocki, all now shadowed by high-profile draft picks, were the least bit uncomfortable.

"It's got nothing to do with me; it's on them," Haggans said after practice the other day. "The only thing that ever bothers me is losing football games. I'm just trying to help them make the transition to a pro camp. It's completely different than what they've done in college, a completely different defense, a whole new set of expectations. I'm willing to help in any way I can."

Haggans and Harrison looked up two rounds into last month's draft and couldn't help but notice the first two Pittsburgh picks happened to play their position, outside linebacker. Lawrence Timmons, the undersized backer out of Florida State, was the club's first pick, and LaMarr Woodley of Michigan the second.

Harrison is surely willing to help these two rookies as well, and Friday afternoon he helped them to perhaps the most instructive moment in the first practice by flashing in front of a running back for an interception and blazing down the right sideline with a highly conspicuous pick.

His point seemed to be that while the draft have underlined that the Steelers are vulnerable at outside linebacker in light of the departure of Joey Porter (whose number 55, by the way, has been assigned to Woodley), the problem is more with the depth at that position than a direct reflection on Harrison or Haggans.

Thus through much of these first practices, linebackers coach Keith Butler and defensive assistant Lou Spanos spent a lot of time telling Timmons and Woodley some part of everything that Harrison and Haggans know about the OLB assignments in Dick LeBeau's defense.

Harrison and Haggans chuckled to each other through some of it, while Harrison again flashed his proficiency at throwing a football into the grass at his feet in such a way that it bounces directly back into his hand. A perfectly useless application, to be sure, but I'm willing to bet Timmons and Woodley can't do it yet.

The first chapter of mini-camp did not include any exhibition of punting by fourth-round pick Daniel Sepulveda, the commotion of whose selection suggested that he could boot one on the South Side and drop it inside the 20 at Heinz Field.

"Everybody's replaceable in the NFL," said the ever-affable Gardocki, whose first punt was caught by, I believe, Jim Thorpe. "I've been punting for a long time. They've got to do what they've got to do."

Chris also threw out the season's first it-is-what-it-is, just for the record.

It might also be entered into the record at this point that placekicker Jeff Reed was rewarded for his persistence with a new apparatus that simulates a goal post with a crossbar matching Arena Football dimensions.

"It's nine feet instead of 18," Reed explained. "I've asked for it the last two years. But Coach Cowher wasn't a big fan of the idea."

When Tomlin convenes everyone in Latrobe 10 weeks from tomorrow, we'll begin to get a good idea of which ideas will really matter.


(Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com or at 412-263-1283.)

Ron Cook: LaRoche's friend keeps him chipper

Adam LaRoche

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There are plenty of good friends in Adam LaRoche's life, but there's only one Chipper Jones.

"You playing tonight?" Jones asked LaRoche at the batting cage before the Pirates-Atlanta Braves game last night.

"Nah, I'm benched," LaRoche said.

"Me, too," Jones replied, trying really hard to keep a straight face.

It was the perfect thing for Jones to say at just the right time. Not because misery loves company. Because it went a long way toward easing an embarrassing moment for LaRoche.

Jones, long one of baseball's stars, wasn't in the Braves' lineup in their laughably easy 9-2 win after banging both wrists in a nasty collision with Pirates third baseman Jose Bautista Friday night. LaRoche wasn't in the Pirates' lineup for a much different reason -- his unseemly .165 batting average. Pirates manager Jim Tracy has tried just about everything to get LaRoche going, batting him everywhere from fourth to seventh. Last night, he tried sitting him against Braves left-hander Chuck James even though he's very aware the Braves are LaRoche's former team and he knew -- just like Jones -- that the night off would sting. It would sting any player, that and having that .165 average in bright lights on the scoreboard for everybody in both dugouts and the PNC Park stands to see.

"I can't blame the manager. I'd probably do the same thing if I was him," LaRoche said.

If this wasn't the season's low point for LaRoche -- the night would get worse when he pinch-hit in the eighth inning and bounced into a double play and his replacement as the Braves' first baseman, Scott Thorman, hit two home runs and drove in five runs -- the game Friday night surely was. He batted against Braves reliever Mike Gonzalez in the ninth of the Pirates' 4-1 loss and also hit into a double play. You probably remember the Pirates traded Gonzalez to get LaRoche in the offseason, when the conventional thinking had LaRoche solving the Pirates' offensive shortcomings.

"I wasn't at the plate thinking I was going to strike out or anything like that," LaRoche said. "Absolutely nothing is going my way."



Chipper Jones

LaRoche appears to be holding up OK. He joked about his average -- "Is it really .165? I thought I was still in the .120s or .130s" -- even though he knows there's nothing funny about it. More significantly, he's trying to take the right approach. "I'm just going to keep swinging until things turn for me," which, hopefully for the Pirates' sake, starts today when he's back in Tracy's lineup. That's the only approach LaRoche can take. He can't throw up his arms and quit and go home to his ranch in Kansas even though a portion of Pirates fans -- sick and tired of 14, going on 15, years of losing -- probably wish that he did. You might imagine the boos after those two double plays.

"Absolutely, I'm pressing. I've been pressing," LaRoche said. "Only a person who couldn't care less about the game or his teammates or his city wouldn't be pressing. I'm pressing because we would be winning more games if I'm doing what I'm capable of doing. I'm letting down the 24 other guys who are counting on me."

Maybe the Braves being here this weekend will help. It can't hurt LaRoche, right? If nothing else, the Braves have reminded him that he's still a pretty fair player. Those 32 home runs he hit last season seem like make-believe stuff to us. But they saw them. They know they were real.

"I think all 25 guys and 10 coaches have mentioned that to me," an appreciative LaRoche said.

It means the most coming from Jones. Actually, this isn't the first time LaRoche has heard it from him. "He's been with me through this whole thing," LaRoche said. "He calls me almost weekly and tells me what he sees. He'll analyze my at-bats. He'll ask me what I was thinking from pitch to pitch. He cares."

It's too bad Jones can't hit for LaRoche these days; he's batting .303 with 10 home runs and 23 RBIs. All he can do for him is offer his input. "He's a lot like me from the left side. He has a lot of moving parts and his whole success is based on timing," Jones said. "Right now, he's probably a little pull-conscious. He's not staying planted, not staying firm on the backside. All he needs to get going is to stay back and drive a ball out of the park to center field or the other way."

Jones also can remind LaRoche to stay positive.

"I tell him what my daddy always told me. 'Leopards don't change their spots.' He's only going to hit .160 for so long. As bad as he's going now, he'll go through a period when he'll be flat-out unconscious. A lot of teams are going to pay when that happens."

LaRoche will smile when he reads that this morning.

Everybody should have such a friend.

Steelers' Polamalu not worried about new deal

By Scott Brown
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, May 12, 2007


The stir created by Alan Faneca's incisive and blunt comments Friday obscured the fact that several other key players are in the final year of their contract, most notably safety Troy Polamalu.

On a day when Faneca announced he will not end his career as a Steeler -- the team, he said, made him a "non-offer" in regard to a contract extension -- Polamalu said he would like to do just that.

"God willing, I'll be able to retire here as a Steeler," Polamalu said yesterday after a morning minicamp practice. "That's what I hope."

The Steelers will have to do something with Polamalu that they are apparently unwilling to do with Faneca: pony up some serious cash.

The five-year contract Polamalu signed before his rookie season in 2003 is worth just under $9 million.

His next contract will be a quantum leap from that, and the Steelers just may be willing to make Polamalu one of the highest-paid safeties in the league because he is a perennial Pro Bowler and is only 26 years old.

The Ravens made Ed Reed the highest-paid safety in league history last June when they signed him to a six-year deal that is worth as much as $40 million and included a $15 million signing bonus.

"I honestly haven't paid too much attention to it," Polamalu said of the progress he and the Steelers have made on a contract extension. "It's nothing that really worries me too much. I don't think about it every day."

Polamalu missed minicamp three weeks ago, but it had nothing to do with his contract. He was on a faith-based trip that he had planned well in advance of the scheduling of the voluntary minicamp.

"I want it to happen," Polamalu said of an extension, "but right now, it really doesn't matter."



Scott Brown can be reached at sbrown@tribweb.com or 412-481-5432.

Ron Cook: Way too early to get excited over Faneca melodrama

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Let's get one thing straight at the top.

The world isn't going to end because Alan Faneca is unhappy, not even the little corner that the Steelers inhabit.

There are two key points to understand here:

It's business and it's May 12.

Get back to me in early September with an update on Faneca's mood. Who knows? By then, it's possible this big, pouting multimillionaire, who did his best to try to talk his way out of town yesterday, will be a big, ecstatic multimillionaire, who fights back tears and says how it's only right that he's going to finish his All-Pro career with the Steelers.

Not to be cynical.

Did I mention this is business?

That isn't to say Faneca didn't kick the rhetoric up three notches with his inflamed rant at minicamp, the most excitement that normally staid team function has known since linebacker Earl Holmes and running back Richard Huntley swung chairs at each other in a 2000 locker-room melee. Even teammates were surprised to learn that Faneca said he wants out, that he has asked to be traded and doesn't care to what team, and that he'll probably have to give up his captain's position because he can't see being a leader for a franchise that obviously doesn't want him. That last part really raised eyebrows among the fellows.

But the rest of it?

Please.

We've heard it before.

Remember, we're taking about modern-day athletes. They want it both ways. They want the right to sell themselves to the highest bidder, which is as it should be. Football is a brutal game, and the players are entitled to make as much as they can. But if the team decides to go in another direction or disagrees on fair-market value? Look out. The players scream bloody murder and play the loyalty card.

So it is for Faneca.

So it was for Hines Ward.

It was about this time two years ago that Ward expressed unhappiness about heading into the final year of his contract without receiving what he felt was a fair offer from the Steelers. I don't remember if he phrased it exactly like Faneca did yesterday -- "I've lived and breathed Steelers football for nine years" -- but he made it clear he felt unappreciated. That summer, he held out at training camp and reported only after a call from coach Bill Cowher and after realizing the Rooneys would let him sit and rot before resuming negotiations with him as a holdout. Before the first game, he signed the richest contract in franchise history and, a few months later, led the Steelers to the championship as the Super Bowl XL Most Valuable Player.

So it could be for Faneca.

"They're not going to blow my socks off," Faneca said, smirking, dismissing the suggestion that the Steelers have not made their best contract offer. "This will be my last year as a Pittsburgh Steeler."

Maybe.

Not all contract negotiations have happy endings. The Steelers released team leader Joey Porter after last season because they didn't think he was worth $5 million this season. They let Mike Webster and Rod Woodson -- one a Hall of Famer, the other soon-to-be one -- leave after money disputes. They allowed Mike Merriweather to sit out the 1988 season in a contract huff after his team-record 15-sack season in '87. And, most famously, they released Franco Harris after his training-camp hold out in '84.

So, too, that could be for Faneca.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

There's still plenty of time to do a deal.

Did I mention it's May 12?

The Rooneys aren't going to react to Faneca's public sulking or hold it against him. Nor will they trade him because that would send the wrong message to any other disgruntled players. They'll just continue to bide their time. They clearly haven't made their best offer. There's no need to do it now; it's still early in the negotiating game. The time for serious talks won't come until near the end of training camp.

You can bet Faneca -- no matter how bitter -- will listen to what the Rooneys have to say.

In the meantime, Faneca has to decide what he wants. He can sign a new long-term deal this summer for huge guaranteed money and continue to play in a city where he's nothing less than a redheaded football god. Or he can play out the final season of his contract and risk a career-ending injury to become a free agent and make even more money. He can't have it both ways. He can't fully get his true-market value with a year left on his contract. He has to be a free agent.

One thing we know:

The Steelers will go on -- with or without Faneca.

This might be a distraction that new coach Mike Tomlin doesn't need, but he'll survive.

The idea that Faneca will give the Steelers less than his best if he decides to play out the string is ridiculous. He's much too smart for that. He doesn't have to be happy about making a paltry $4.375 million this season to know he has to have a good year if he's going to get his silly money as a free agent.

The idea that the Faneca situation will tear apart the Steelers' locker room also is ludicrous. If the team doesn't win, it won't be because of that. Faneca's assertion that it "sends a quiet, but strong message" to the other players that management won't take care of those who play hard and produce is just flat wrong. The players are much too smart for that. They know playing hard and producing bring no guarantee of a big contract. But they also know they have no chance if they don't play hard and produce.

Anyway, do you really think Ben Roethlisberger cares if Faneca doesn't get his money?

He cares only about getting his when the time comes.

All the players feel that way, which is as it should be.

It's business, after all.


(Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.)

Unhappy Faneca says his days here are numbered

Saturday, May 12, 2007

By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



An unhappy Alan Faneca glances at new offensive line coach Larry Zierlein during the Steelers' minicamp drills yesterday at the team's South Side facility.


Alan Faneca, among the most decorated and respected Steelers over the past decade, turned hotter than his long mop of red hair yesterday. He stood up from the seat in front of his locker and issued the kind of passionate words usually reserved for an opponent.

Only in this case, Faneca's foe is Steelers management.

"This will be my last year as a Pittsburgh Steeler," Faneca declared, his left hand shaking slightly to betray his emotion.

Faneca, among the best offensive linemen in club history, ended three months of silence by ripping into management for not being fair to him in contract negotiations.

He said he repeatedly has asked to be traded, does not believe he wants to serve as a team captain for a fourth season and cannot predict what kind of focus he might bring to the team and its new coach in 2007.

Faneca, 30, has one year left on his contract that will pay him another $3.375 million on top of the $1 million roster bonus he received in March. He wants a new contract that would pay him closer to the $7 million annually that other guards have received recently as free agents. He said the Steelers' offer is not even among the top 10 that NFL guards make.

He said he has lost any hope a new contract will be forthcoming before he becomes a free agent next March.

"There is no progress," Faneca said of contract talks. "They've been crystal clear in the fact they're not going to sign me this year, and that's it."

Faneca said the only reason he showed up for this three-day minicamp is that it is required by NFL rules. If a player skips required attendance -- games, practices or an event -- he can be fined $5,000 daily plus lose a prorated portion of his signing bonus. In Faneca's case, his prorated amount for 2007 is $1,597,750.

"No, I don't want to be here," Faneca said flatly. "It's a matter of them being able to do what they can monetarily and come after me. That's the only reason I'm here, on that chance that they would."

Faneca will depart Pittsburgh Sunday night when practices end and said he won't return until training camp, which starts July 23.

"I've been asking since February to trade me, to let me go," Faneca said. "I've done my piece, I've done my time, I've done everything I can for this organization.

"I lived and breathed Steelers football for nine years and gave them everything I had, helped them win a Super Bowl. In my mind, I've earned the right to be treated fairly. To make me go out there this year, play football with no security ... for what I've done for this organization, in my mind is not right."

Faneca's six Pro Bowls are more than any guard in team history. He made one of them even though he agreed to switch to left tackle during the 2003 season because of injuries.

Faneca repeated that he was not happy when Russ Grimm was passed over to be the next Steelers head coach, and with the release of linebacker and fellow co-captain Joey Porter in March.

"What am I to think? What are the guys in this room to think? If they can do it to me and everybody else and let Joey go and do things like that, what does that say to the rest of the guys?"

Faneca said he's talked to "everyone," including Art Rooney, Dan Rooney and Kevin Colbert, in the front office.

None of those Steelers executives would comment on what Faneca said yesterday, but coach Mike Tomlin took a pragmatic approach.

"Negotiations and the CBA and the things we're going through right now with him are not unlike probably things other people in other cities are going though," Tomlin said. "It's an emotional deal for him, and rightfully so -- it's his livelihood. That's what he does.

"But from an organizational standpoint, we're going through the contract negotiation process. We're not talking about it a great deal publicly because that's our policy.

"Along the line, he's going to express some frustration, but as long as he does what he's supposed to do professionally, which is come to work for mandatory minicamps and play football at a high level like he did today, then we move forward."

Receiver Hines Ward, who went through his own protracted contract talks in 2005 and held out 10 days at the start of training camp, does not like the way things are shaping up in the Steelers' locker room for 2007.

"It sets a precedent," Ward said, "because other guys look at Alan as 'Wow, this guy is a great citizen, he does a lot for the city of Pittsburgh, he's obviously a Pro Bowl player. He's done everything you ask him to do.' The younger guys just sit back and look at that situation.

"It's different now; there's no question this locker room is totally different. You lose a locker-room favorite like Joey -- not having Joey on that field is different. It's a different feel. God forbid if Alan's not out there.

"You can't put a value on leadership and being a veteran. Alan is the first guy to get here, the last guy to leave. He's worked just as hard as anybody on this team," Ward said.

"He paid his dues, he put in his time and he's a productive ballplayer. ... If he's upset, Wow! But, at the same time, he's a professional. He's here. It's not like he didn't show up."


(Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com.)

Bob Smizik: Don't give up on Pirates just yet

Pirates first baseman Adam LaRoche (foreground) collides with second baseman Freddy Sanchez, but holds on to Derrek Lee's popup in the first inning of Thursday's 6-4 win.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It's fashionable these days to bash the Pirates, and understandably so. Early season hope that the team might contend for a .500 record is slipping away. A 15th consecutive losing season looms. There's almost nothing to cheer about.

Slugger Adam LaRoche, the expected savior, continues to be mostly unproductive.

Freddy Sanchez has more the look of the utility player he began the 2006 season as rather than the batting champion he became.

Jason Bay, the team's best and most proven player, is not performing up to his usual high standards.

Chris Duffy has again succeeded in tantalizing fans with the promise of his speed and defense but is currently frustrating them with yet another meltdown.

Catcher Ronny Paulino has declined appreciably, offensively and defensively, from his outstanding rookie season.

Other than starters Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny, setup reliever Matt Capps and the torrid-hitting Ryan Doumit, there's little to cheer about.

The future appears to be almost as bleak as the past.

The franchise is being ridiculed by everyone: newspaper columnists, talk-show hosts, bloggers, letter writers, talk-show callers, the fans in the stands, the man in the street.

It's ugly, and there are no easy solutions. In such situations the talk invariably gets around to firing somebody -- usually the manager. But what's wrong with this franchise goes well beyond the manager. Let's not forget that Jim Leyland, acknowledged as one of the best, if not the best, manager in baseball, had four consecutive losing seasons before asking out of his contract. Gene Lamont and Lloyd McClendon could not produce a winner and thus far neither has Jim Tracy.

Tracy, in his second season, will not be fired. Not only does he not deserve to have his contract terminated, but he also is making about $1.2 million a season. The thought of owner Bob Nutting swallowing the more than $2 million he owes Tracy is incomprehensible.

The second in line to be fired is batting coach Jeff Manto, who is getting more and more criticism for the Pirates' abysmal offense. It doesn't register with his critics that Manto received little or no credit for Sanchez going from a lifetime .280 hitter to a batting champion or for Paulino going from an undistinguished minor-leaguer to a .310 hitting catcher in the majors. So why should Manto be blamed for what's happening this year?

If Manto were to be fired, it would be more the result of public pressure than logic or merit. What makes that unlikely is there's nothing in the previous actions of general manager Dave Littlefield or the Nutting ownership group that indicates they react to public pressure.

Since he became general manager July 13, 2001, and including the 6-4 win yesterday against the Chicago Cubs, in which Bay drove in three runs, the franchise is 396-520 under Littlefield. That's a winning percentage of .432, which translates to 70 wins and 92 losses a season. What could be construed as particularly alarming about the Littlefield era is the two worst seasons of his tenure are the two most recent: 2005 and '06.

Littlefield's contract was extended before the start of last season through '08, making he and Tracy a tandem. Littlefield doesn't make as much as Tracy and has a far worse track record. Still, the thought of Nutting paying Littlefield the $1 million to $1.5 million he has remaining on his contract is only slightly less incomprehensible than him paying off Tracy.

So expect no firings. It will be business as usual for the foreseeable future. The Pirates' hierarchy believes they're on the right track.

There's some merit to that thinking. The Pirates, who took two of three from the Cubs in Chicago, are three games under .500. That's not good, but it's not as calamitous as some seem to be suggesting. The team should get better because it's unlikely the hitting will continue to be so poor. LaRoche has a history that indicates he will begin to produce.

There is a decent core of players under contract through 2009. The Pirates need to add to that core. And they need to hope that St. Louis and/or Houston don't go on a free-agency binge after this season, as the Cubs did last offseason, that would catapult them far ahead of the Pirates.

All is not lost. If you were expecting a championship season, you came to the wrong place. If you're expecting a competitive team, you still might get one.


(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.)

Steelers' LeBeau has plans for draft picks

By Scott Brown
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, May 10, 2007


Napkins, envelopes, random pieces of paper -- none have been safe around Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau lately.

It is hardly uncommon for LeBeau (or any coach for that matter) to commit the ideas that are constantly swirling around his head to paper -- or whatever happens to be the closest thing on which he can write.

But LeBeau said there has been one significant difference between the creative impulse that followed the NFL draft and countless ones that preceded it.

The Steelers' taking outside linebackers Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley with their first two picks has really brought out the mad scientist in LeBeau.

"This particular time I started drawing, and I didn't quit," LeBeau said Wednesday. "It always looks good on paper. We'll see how it looks on the field."

LeBeau will get a look this weekend, as the Steelers hold the second of two mini-camps at their South Side practice facility.

The linebacker corps, which is to LeBeau's blitzing defense what oxygen is to breathing, will look radically different from when the Steelers convened for five practices a couple of weeks ago.

That is due in large part to the additions of Timmons and Woodley with whom the Steelers became so smitten because of their potential as pass rushers and their versatility.

Timmons, the 15th overall pick of the draft, and Woodley will give LeBeau flexibility if the Steelers were correct in evaluating the two players.

Perhaps that is why LeBeau found himself scribbling like crazy in the days that followed the Steelers using their top two picks to address the same position for the first time since since 1987 (they drafted cornerbacks Rod Woodson and Delton Hall in the first and second round, respectively).

He devised 15 new plays with Timmons and Woodley in mind and stopped himself there, LeBeau said, since "I thought 'Hey, this is enough. Let's see if any of these are any good.' "

The Steelers also have to see how smooth of a transition Timmons and Woodley make from college to the NFL before those plays are worth more than the scraps of paper on which they were initially written.

They are converting Woodley, who starred at Michigan, from defensive end to outside linebacker. The learning curve also could be a steep one for Timmons since he started only one season at Florida State.

The two are slated to play different positions (Timmons at right outside linebacker and Woodley at left outside linebacker), but part of their appeal to the Steelers is that they won't be confined to one position.

That is why mini-camp will serve the dual purpose of getting Timmons and Woodley familiar with LeBeau's defense and LeBeau getting a better feel for what all they can do.

If the two are as athletic and versatile as the Steelers have pegged them to be, LeBeau might find himself writing new plays on everything but his hand before the start of training camp.

"Our task is now really to see what the best fit for these young men within the scope of our defense is and what is best for the Pittsburgh Steelers," LeBeau said. "So it's going to be an interesting couple of years figuring out what they do best and where they can best help the Steelers return to a championship team."


Scott Brown can be reached at sbrown@tribweb.com or 412-481-5432.

Gene Collier: Pirates' pitchers need to be more like Maglie, Drysdale

Matt Capps

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

At Don Drysdale's funeral, an emotional Bob Uecker began telling the assembled mourners about "the first time Don touched me." Then, he interrupted himself.

"Well, here, I can just show ya," the former catcher said. "See this mark right here?"

Yeah, that's where Drysdale drilled him, right in the neck. Fastball that "got away."

Drysdale hit 154 batters in his brilliant Dodgers' career, very, very few of them by accident.

The alleged relevance of all that is only a modest attempt at dragging some historical pitching perspective to the situation regarding Pirates reliever Matt Capps, who now finds himself facing a four-game suspension for stinging Milwaukee slugger Prince Fielder with a pitch Saturday night in Wisconsin.

Though both were ejected, Capps and Pirates manager Jim Tracy are now on record as saying Capps was not trying to hit Fielder with the pitch.

Well, I'm sorry to hear that.

Fielder should have been purposely and purposefully plunked, as the Brewers were well into a third night of a series in which their hitters were imperceptibly less comfortable than in batting practice. When opposition hitters are happily digging in with impunity, consistently putting violent, measured strokes on pitches like the one J.J. Hardy launched for a three-run homer off Capps to build a 6-2 lead, that's the time when someone needs to be spun with a pitch.

It happened to be Fielder.

Though it now gets feverishly debated and ridiculously adjudicated, this kind of behavior used to come under a simple heading. I believe it was, umm, baseball.

(Capps' suspension, for the record, is ludicrous. Would baseball suspend a starting pitcher for 20 games for the same transgression? That's the impact of a four-game suspension on a top reliever.)



From the standpoint of sheer competitiveness, the only thing more deflating than the notion that Capps hit Fielder accidently, at least from the Pirates' perspective, is that the Brewers did not retaliate in Fielder's name. That calls for the inference that Milwaukee manager Ned Yost found the Pirates so non-threatening as a competitive entity that there was simply no point in defending anyone's honor.

Maybe this is what comes from being so far removed from a winning summer, a lingering unfamiliarity with the winning's more subtle dimensions. More likely, what we saw in Milwaukee is just another example of the way the primary dynamic between pitcher and hitter has changed over the years. The primary dynamic used to be fear.

"You have to make the batter afraid of the ball, or anyway, aware that he can get hurt," Sal Maglie told Roger Kahn for his book, "The Head Game." "A lot of pitchers think they do that by throwing at a hitter when the count is two strikes and no balls. The trouble there is that the knockdown is expected. You don't scare a guy by knocking him down when he knows he's going to be knocked down. A good time is when the count is two and two. He's looking to swing. You knock him down then and he gets up shaking. Now curve him and you have your out."

Maglie pitched in the '50s and earned the nickname "The Barber" for the close shaves his pitches offered. A generation later, while hitters might no longer have "expected" the knockdown, a pitch that created substantial discomfort was still a highly useful method of intimidation.

In the 1980 World Series, with the Kansas City Royals leading Game Four, 5-1, and fully capable of leveling the tournament at two games each, Philadelphia Phillies' reliever Dickie Noles screwed American League batting champion George Brett into the Missouri dirt with a high fastball of obvious intent.



1954 Bowman

Seventy-two hours later, Phillies manager Dallas Green, analyzing the first world championship in the history of the franchise relative to unheralded Dickie Noles, said, "All I know is that after that pitch, the Royals only scored four runs in [the remaining] 22 innings [of the series]. You figure it out."

Today, of course, hitters are a lot harder to intimidate.

Barry Bonds, already built like a guest house through highly dubious means, was seen getting ready for a pinch-hit appearance on Sunday Night Baseball this week by strapping on enough armor to make him an extra in Braveheart II. Body armor is common among batters, as is the movement toward the plate in mid-swing rather than toward the mound. Today's hitter is highly insulted by the inside pitch, which doesn't mean that a well-placed insult isn't occasionally called for. This Pirates' pitching staff, to its detriment, remains annoyingly polite.



(Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1283.)

Bucs' Wilson among talented No. 2 hitters

By Rob Biertempfel
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, May 8, 2007


CHICAGO - Look at the boxscores, and you'll notice some unusual batters in the No. 2 spot around the majors this season.

The Cincinnati Reds occasionally put slugger Adam Dunn behind leadoff hitter Ryan Freel. Toronto has used Lyle Overbay in the two-spot. Cleveland has tried outfielder Trot Nixon. The Los Angeles Dodgers experimented with catcher Russell Martin in the two-hole, and lately have found success with Juan Pierre batting after Rafael Furcal.

Whatever happened to the conventional No. 2 guy -- a smallish middle infielder without much power whose specialty is bunting rather than bashing and who won't strike out a lot?

"There's nothing wrong with having a power hitter, especially a left-hander, hitting second," former Pirates manager Chuck Tanner said. "It just depends upon the makeup of your ballclub."

When Tanner was managing the Chicago White Sox in the early 1970s, Dick Allen and Bill Melton usually batted fourth and fifth. One day, for a road game against the Boston Red Sox, Tanner put Allen in the leadoff spot and Melton No. 2.

"That way, I got them both an extra at-bat," Tanner said. "I figured that at Fenway Park, the more at-bats I can get those guys, hitting to that short wall, it gives us a little edge."

With two outs in the ninth, Allen whacked a game-tying home run. Melton followed with a solo shot to win it. Anyone who scratched his head when the lineups were announced thought Tanner was a genius.

"Chuck would do some tricky stuff," former Pirates outfielder Dave Parker said, with a chuckle. "He would even hit Willie up in the two-hole."

Willie Stargell?

"I did whatever I thought would generate runs," Tanner said. "Especially if things weren't going good and we needed to get some runs, I'd throw Stargell up there or another left-handed power hitter. I wasn't afraid to do anything."

Last season, Pirates manager Jim Tracy filled out 123 versions of his lineup. However, shortstop Jack Wilson batted second in all but 35 games.

This year, Wilson, a right-handed batter, has hit No. 2 in all 29 games. He has a .288 batting average, a .323 on-base percentage and is the fourth-toughest player to strike out in the National League.

"Jack is able to bunt the ball, hit the ball in the (second base) hole or pull the ball in the (shortstop) hole, he can hit with two strikes so (Chris) Duffy gets a chance to steal," Pirates hitting coach Jeff Manto said. "It's a very unselfish spot. When you find a good No. 2 guy like we have, it a tremendous asset."

Wilson is an old-school two-hole hitter. In seven-plus seasons, he has hit 45 homers and 76 sacrifice hits/bunts.

"He's done a terrific job," Tracy said.

Even with the Pirates struggling to score runs this year, Tracy has been steadfast about keeping Wilson in the two-hole.

"To me, that's a misconception of numbers," Tracy said. "What part does the player play in the success of the club? What is his role, and is he fulfilling it?"

After all, Tracy noted, nobody complained much about non-power threat Jay Bell batting -- and mostly bunting -- second while the Pirates were winning division titles in the early 1990s.

Tracy could put lefty slugger Adam LaRoche, switch-hitter Ryan Doumit or right-hander Jose Bautista into the two-hole. But simply sticking a power guy into that spot is not the right fit for everyone.

"It's different for every team," Wilson said. "I don't consider Juan Pierre a perfect two-hole hitter, but for (the Dodgers), it works. I might not be a two-hole hitter on someone else's team, but for this team it might be the best situation.

"It depends upon the manager. It depends on what the team's in need of. It just depends on the team."


Rob Biertempfel can be reached at rbiertempfel@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7811.

Gorzelanny springs ahead for Pirates

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

By Paul Meyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny delivers against Reds at PNC Park last month.


CHICAGO -- Overlooked in fans' frustration -- perhaps even their furor -- over Adam LaRoche's slow start in his first season with the Pirates is the fact that there is another left-handed hitter who's doing even worse offensively.

But nobody boos him. Ever.

And that despite the fact this left-handed hitter -- well, left-handed batter -- doesn't have a major-league hit. Not this season. Not ever.

This guy is 0 for 32 lifetime. With 19 strikeouts.

Pathetic.

Shouldn't this guy be receiving some boos by now?

"When he comes to the plate? Absolutely," LaRoche said. "I mean, 0 for 32? I don't know how you could be that bad. This is a guy we count on to drive in runs for us, and he's not doing it. The poor guy."

LaRoche paused. He couldn't continue the setup for this story. He shook his head.

He laughed.

Tom Gorzelanny, sitting a few feet from LaRoche in the Pirates' clubhouse with his cover blown, smiled.

In his own way, Gorzelanny is feeling the same pressure as is LaRoche. It has just gone unnoticed outside the clubhouse because of his success on the mound.

After all, Gorzelanny will take a 4-1 record and a 2.97 earned run average to the mound at Wrigley Field in his hometown tomorrow night.

Pitching is his job. Hitting is LaRoche's job.

But that hasn't stopped LaRoche from making a mysterious bet with the offensively challenged Gorzelanny.

The stakes?

"I'll tell you when it's over," LaRoche said. "He has four more starts to get a hit."

Which could be a tall order.

"I've been working with him a little bit -- as you can tell," LaRoche said with a grin. "That's why he's still 0-for. But I told him, 'Honestly, I hope I lose. I want to see you start getting some hits.' "

Getting one -- that elusive first one -- tomorrow night in Chicago would be something for Gorzelanny.

"It would be awesome," LaRoche said.

For his part, Gorzelanny isn't particular.

"It would be a cool to get a hit in any town," he said. "I don't care where I am. I just want to get a hit. It's very frustrating for me. A lot of guys say, 'Aw, don't worry about it.' And I don't worry about it. I don't take it out on the mound or anything, but it's just one of those things where I want to do my part at the plate as well.

"Plus guys kid me about it all the time."

Gorzelanny came close to getting his first hit in his start in Milwaukee Thursday night. Twice he hit decently struck bouncers to second base. A few feet to the left or right and -- bingo!

"His bat path is fine," Pirates hitting instructor Jeff Manto said. "I think his timing is fine. He'll ask, 'How did that look? Did that look all right?' I say, 'Yeah, fine. Just keep on swinging.'

"Something's going to fall. I know this -- he's not going to retire without a hit."

"It's a work in progress and I'm getting better," Gorzelanny said. "My last few games I've had better at-bats."

Sounds a bit like LaRoche, who was 5 for 11 in Milwaukee to hoist his batting average from .132 to .167.

But the difference between LaRoche and Gorzelanny is only one of them has been productive throughout the first month of the season.

Gorzelanny has pitched at least six innings in all six of his starts except his first. And he has yielded three earned runs or less in all of them except his fifth.

He and Ian Snell, tonight's starter, have been the Pirates' most consistent starters by far.

And in Gorzelanny's case, that consistency has been there despite a spotty spring.

In fact, there were some people who thought left-hander Sean Burnett, whose spring numbers were much better than Gorzelanny's, should have made the season-opening rotation.

But Gorzelanny never had to fear for his spot -- primarily because of what he did in his final nine starts for the Pirates last season. In those, he compiled a 3.25 earned run average.

"We saw a guy come up here [from Class AAA Indianapolis] and compete extremely well, throwing three pitches for strikes," manager Jim Tracy said. "He has a real feel for pitching.

"And there was his competitive nature. From what I've seen of Tommy, he takes it as a personal challenge each time he goes out there. He does not like to not do well."

But the Burnett factor?

"Something I was told a long, long time ago," Tracy said, "is that when you have an opportunity to compare and contrast things you see during a championship season vs. what you're looking at in spring training, there are a number of times where if you allow yourself to be led in that direction, you can be fooled very, very badly by things you see in spring training.

"[Gorzelanny] did not have a good spring, but in assessing the situation, you know one guy [Burnett] is going to pitch for us probably at some point this season, but he's one year removed from [rehabbing from] a couple surgeries and had a season you'd expect that first year back."

Last season with Indianapolis, Burnett was 8-11 with a 5.16 earned run average in 24 starts.

"You're going to get this," Tracy said, moving his left arm up and down, "a roller coaster-type effect. You're going to get a good start, a couple bad ones, then another good one, and that's exactly what we saw last year with Sean. This year, you're hopeful that it levels off and you see an extreme measure of consistency."

But was there ever a point in spring training where Tracy even remotely considered picking Burnett over Gorzelanny?

"It was intriguing," Tracy said. "But the thing that always grabbed a hold of me is, this is a player that a year ago went through ups and downs that you'd expect and you're just going to say that he's completely ready to go after 112/3 innings pitched in spring training?

"Why not allow the process to continue and let him put together a string of real consistent starts and continue to see him throw the ball where it's coming out of his hand like you remembered it when he was a rookie [in 2004]?

"See that on a regular basis and then move on it instead of being too quick on the trigger and end up bringing him up here [out of spring training].

"You wonder about this, too -- what would have been the psychological effect if he comes up here and those 112/3 innings end up going in the complete opposite direction and now you have to call him in and send him out?"

And bring up Gorzelanny, who might not have been in the best of moods had he begun the season with Indianapolis.

"Exactly," Tracy said. "You show the confidence in the Tom Gorzelanny you saw in the regular season instead of just pretending like you didn't see what you saw for a number of starts last year and potentially mentally lose him. He loses faith -- 'They don't trust me.'

"So you get a very good Tom Gorzelanny, who knows that even if he didn't get it done in the early part of the 2007 season, well, 'They gave me the opportunity to right myself. And I'm aware of that so if I had to go back, it's because of me."'

But what about Burnett's mood when he was told late in spring training that he'd begin the season with Indianapolis?

Burnett was highly upset the morning he got that message in Tracy's McKechnie Field office.

"You expect that," Tracy said. "But one thing you feel pretty good about is that you are upfront with your players and you tell them exactly the way it is, and that's exactly what we did with Sean.

"During the conversation, I said, 'Hey, you're upset. You don't like it. And you know what? I'm OK with that right now. But at some point in time, get over it. Figure out a way to get over it and get done what you need to get done and force our hand and force us to be in a position where we say, 'Hey, we've got games to win at the major-league level and this guy can help us. Let's get him up here.'

"You're hopeful you end up with two very brilliant projects here eventually."

Gorzelanny can empathize with Burnett, who's 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA in six starts for Indianapolis.

Gorzelanny had a decent spring in 2006 but didn't make the rotation.

"I knew I wasn't going to make the team," Gorzelanny said. "I just wanted to show them that I'm ready to make a statement. I wanted to show them who I am -- tell them who I am -- and [then] go to Indy and have a good year there and get called up as soon as possible."

"He was kind of in a similar boat last spring," Tracy said. "He was pitching great. He was a little bit disenchanted when we sent him out.

"I told him, 'Hey, you go down there, you do your thing, you come back up here and maybe this will be the last time we have to sit down and talk about something like this.' "

Gorzelanny followed that script perfectly.

In 16 starts for Indianapolis, he was 6-5 with a 2.35 ERA. The Pirates brought him up June 30.

Burnett can only hope something similar happens with him.

Ron Cook: A sorry situation

It was an especially tough weekend for Pirates fans, who watched the team's fortunes sink once again, while the rising Brewers clearly display that it's not impossible for a small-market team to succeed

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The right words always are so hard to come by at a difficult time like this.

All I can say is you have my deepest sympathy.

There can't possibly be anything worse than -- and we're talking sports now -- being a Pirates fan.

That is especially true this morning, now that the lousy events of the weekend have fully sunk in.

It's bad enough that the Pirates lost three out of four to the smaller-market Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park, making it five losses in six games against the Brewers this season. The primary difference between the clubs is clear: The Brewers' ownership group has a clue. Milwaukee took a major league-best 21-10 record into its home game against the Washington Nationals last night. The Pirates are 13-17, 71/2 games behind the Brewers after the loss Sunday, looking very much like they always do, a bad team headed toward a staggering 15th consecutive losing season.

But that's only half of it. About the time the Brewers' Prince Fielder was rubbing the Pirates' Matt Capps' nose into it Sunday, attention was called to the owner's box at Yankee Stadium. There, Roger Clemens announced to the world he was rejoining the New York Yankees. Imagine being among the 52,553 on hand, thinking you had shown up to see a win against the Seattle Mariners and getting that sort of bonus surprise. Then again, if you were a Yankees fan, you would be used to it.

"The sole mission of this organization is to win a championship," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement after the signing of Clemens.

It must be nice.

"I believe that winning is the most important thing. A baseball team has to win baseball games," Pirates owner Robert Nutting said earlier this year.

Doesn't quite mean the same thing, does it?

Hang in there, Pirates fans:

Bryan Bullington could be on the way!

I know, I know. It's not exactly a breaking story that the system is stacked against teams such as the Pirates. To fill their needs, they must look within. When the Yankees need a pitcher after their rotation crumbles and they fall 51/2 games behind the hated Boston Red Sox, they go out and sign the great Clemens for $4.5 million per month, which is more than any of the Pirates but shortstop Jack Wilson will make all season. Steinbrenner doesn't even mind the additional $7.4 million in luxury tax he must pay because of Clemens. He just figures it's the cost of doing business the right way.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be envious.

You should be downright green, actually.

Not so much of Steinbrenner. There's only one New York after all.

Of the Brewers' ownership. The Brewers' payroll is about $20 million more than the Pirates' payroll even though the team plays in a city two-thirds as big. So much for that small-market excuse that always seems to be heard around here a little more often than it is in Milwaukee, Oakland and Minneapolis-St. Paul. The Brewers' owners don't appear to be pocketing all of their profits. On the contrary, the money they get from baseball's $3 billion television contract, its new Internet and international revenue streams and from the Steinbrenners of the game in revenue sharing seems to be going back into their product. They actually are trying to win.

What a concept.

And what are you stuck with?

You know the sad answer to that question:

The worst ownership in sports, one that has shown no signs of the accountability that Nutting promised when he emerged from the shadows last winter to replace Kevin McClatchy as the face of the franchise, even as the losses are starting to mount again and the same silly mistakes keep happening on the bases and in the field and the lame offense continues to produce virtually nothing.

At least Nutting was honest about one thing when he publicly took charge in January.

"There's really no change in how we're doing business," he said.

Lucky you.

Poor, poor, pitiful you.

Condolences hardly seem like enough at a moment like this.



(Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.)

Pirates' Doumit shows defensive strides

By Rob Biertempfel
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, May 7, 2007


MILWAUKEE - It's just a matter of time before word gets out about Ryan Doumit.
It's no secret Doumit can hit. Last year, he clubbed six home runs in 149 at-bats with the Pirates. This year, he is hitting .441 with two homers and seven RBI.

However, Doumit is making the biggest strides with his defense. Saturday night, Doumit turned in a solid effort in right field in just his eighth career appearance there.

"I watched him run a ball down in the gap and cut down the distance with a sense of certainty that strongly (showed) he's more comfortable," manager Jim Tracy said Sunday. "And what about that throw he made?"

The catch came in the third inning, when Doumit sprinted back to smoothly snag Bill Hall's deep fly ball at the wall.

The throw happened in the first inning. J.J. Hardy was at first base when Prince Fielder bounced a single to right field.

Hardy rounded second hard and went for third. The ball -- straight from Doumit's hand to Jose Bautista's glove -- beat Hardy by more than a step.

"Obviously, I'm new out there, so third base coaches don't quite yet know what I'm capable of doing," Doumit said. "Hopefully, I sent a little message (Saturday) night."

Friday afternoon, the Pirates held an early pregame workout -- extra batting practice, bunting drills and such -- at Miller Park. Tracy saw Doumit coming up the dugout steps. But the hottest hitter on the club wasn't there to work on his swing.

"He runs out to right field to practice taking balls off the bat," Tracy said. "Give the kid credit. He's working at it. And when you work at it like that, you will get better. And the same is true for his catching."

Yesterday, Doumit was behind the plate when Tony Armas uncorked a wild pitch. Craig Counsell ran to second base, then kept going when he saw the ball roll back to the screen.

Doumit threw out Counsell at third with ease.

Good with the bat and improving with the glove, Doumit ought to be a fixture in the lineup, right? Not quite.

"It's very tricky," Tracy said. "We're trying to (play) him as much as we can. The hard part is, trying to get other people going (offensively). The way they're going to get going is to get them out on the field."

Doumit can play at catcher, first base and right field. The regulars at those three spots each are wrestling with issues.

Catcher Ronny Paulino got off to a rough start and has just two hits in his past 14 at-bats. First baseman Adam LaRoche is in the deepest batting slump of his life. Right fielder Xavier Nady has a tender hamstring.

Doumit has started nine of 11 games since April 26, when he was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis. Five of those starts came in right field. Yesterday afternoon against Milwaukee, Paulino was given the day off after catching the night before, so Doumit was behind the plate.

Tracy indicated that Nady, LaRoche and Paulino will be in the lineup Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs.

It might be tempting to sit LaRoche, a left-handed batter, since the Cubs will start lefty Ted Lilly. But Doumit, a switch-hitter, is better from the left side, and LaRoche is showing signs of getting it together at the plate.

LaRoche had a season-high three hits Friday. Yesterday, he stroked a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning.

"It feels better, I can tell you that," LaRoche said. "I'm seeing the ball longer, taking some close pitches. Getting back to normal."

Pirates knock off Brewers, 4-2

Bautista, Paulino hit back-to-back homers to fuel victory against NL Central leaders

Friday, May 04, 2007



Pirates' Jose Bautista, second from left, receives high fives from his teammates after his two-run home run in the seventh inning against the Brewers at Miller Park in Milwaukee.


By Paul Meyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


MILWAUKEE -- The Pirates last night did something they had not done in 224 innings. They had a big inning.

Held to two hits by right-hander Dave Bush over the first six innings, the Pirates scored four times in the seventh inning and beat Milwaukee, 4-2.

The four-run burst matched their largest inning of the season. They also had a four-run rally in Houston in the fifth inning April 4.

It would not seem, though, that staging a four-run inning once every month is going to do much for the Pirates.



Brewers' Bill Hall is tagged out at home plate by Ronny Paulino in the fourth inning last night.


"Offensively, we have a whole lot of mountains to get over," manager Jim Tracy said, mindful his team has scored three runs or less in 14 of its 27 games.

Freddy Sanchez opened the seventh with a double into left-center field. Jason Bay's pop-fly double into short right field on a 3-2 pitch got Sanchez home, halving a 2-0 Milwaukee lead.

"Jason Bay battled through a tough at-bat and flipped it into right field," Tracy said.

After Ryan Doumit bounced to third and Xavier Nady lined softly to first base, Jose Bautista drove a 1-1 pitch into the seats in left field for his second home run.

"A terrific at-bat," Tracy said.

Two pitches later, Ronny Paulino sent his third home run over the right-center field wall.

It was the first time the Pirates had hit back-to-back homers since Aug. 13, when Bay and Joe Randa homered against Jason Marquis of St. Louis.

"Our opportunity to win was a direct result of a couple of good at-bats," Tracy said. "But what put that together was the job our starter did. If [the Brewers] put up any more runs, I don't think that opportunity has a chance to happen."

Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny battled the Brewers well in his seven innings, allowing six hits and two runs and earned his fourth victory.

"Just another terrific performance," Tracy said.

After Matt Capps pitched a perfect eighth, Salomon Torres brushed aside a two-out walk to pinch-hitter Geoff Jenkins in the ninth and pocketed his ninth save.

Milwaukee took a 1-0 lead in the third when Bush's one-out bouncer rolled down the left-field line for a double. After Rickie Weeks popped to shortstop, J.J. Hardy walked on five pitches. Prince Fielder, however, bounced a 2-2 pitch past a diving Sanchez and into center field for a run-scoring single.

On the first pitch to cleanup hitter Bill Hall, the Brewers inexplicably tried to "steal" a run. Fielder broke for second, and Paulino threw to second as Hardy charged for the plate. Sanchez's return throw nailed Hardy.

Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said Fielder ran on his own.

Whatever, the Brewers could not get another runner in from third base in the fourth.

Hall's infield hit -- on a smash behind third base on which Bautista made a fine stop -- and a wild pitch put a runner on second with no outs. Hall moved to third on Johnny Estrada's ground ball to second.

With the Pirates' infield playing in, Kevin Mench bounced sharply to Wilson, who threw out Hall at the plate. Milwaukee scored a second run in the sixth after Hardy's leadoff double to right-center field that extended his career-high hitting streak to 14 games. Fielder's fly to right moved Hardy to third.

The Pirates again brought their infield in, but it mattered not. They had nobody playing behind Paulino. Gorzelanny's first pitch to Hall was high and outside and skipped off the lunging Paulino's glove, permitting Hardy to score.

The victory was just the second in the past six games for the Pirates.

"I think we're doing a tremendous job of weathering a situation that we know is not yet where we want it to be," Tracy said. "There are some inconsistencies with our game right now. We've done a nice job of keeping our heads afloat. I'm very anxious to see what we look like as a ball club when we get a few guys untracked offensively. We haven't seen much of that.

"Pitching-wise the past week, we've had some ups and downs. We've had a few bumpy starts."

That the Brewers are a solid team is no surprise to the Pirates. And shouldn't be to anybody else.

"You saw it coming the last couple years -- that they were on the verge of doing some good things," Sanchez said.

"Obviously, they're a much-improved team," Tracy said. "But we feel our team has improved some, too."


(Paul Meyer can be reached at 412-263-1144.)