School, work, and other important life activities have taken their toll on the amount of time that I can commit to working on my blog.  Since I’m not posting as regularly as I did over the summer, I’ve decided to cancel my paid account with MLBlogs and shift "A New Pirates Generation" over to blogspot.  If you want to check me out, you can still read all about the Pirates and other Pittsburgh sports at http://piratesgeneration.blogspot.com.

Thanks to those of you who have read and commented on my work throughout this 2006 campaign.  Hopefully I’ll see you all over at blogspot.

Yours in baseball,

Cory

Shawn Chacon’s ERA is 6.75.  Jeff Weaver’s is 5.92.  Both pitched in the American League earlier in 2006, and both were awful.  Chacon and Weaver were imported to the NL Central, and they have continued to be less than impressive.

Saturday night, the Pirates shut out the Cardinals, 1-0.   The starting pitchers?  Shawn Chacon and Jeff Weaver.

How it happened, no one knows.  When I hear "Chacon shutout," I think of phrases like jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly, and same difference.  There are no better example of oxymorons.

Do I think that Shawn Chacon will ever put up numbers like he did in 2004?  No.  His career year stats weren’t even that impressive–eight wins, ten losses, and a middle-3′s ERA–and in his single season of work as a closer, he went 1-9 with a 7.11 earned run average and nine blown saves.  Do I think that Littlefield got fleeced in the Wilson-Chacon deal?  Yes.  Do I have a feeling that DL might be praying for starts like these from Chacon so that he can keep him around for 2007 to make himself look less idiotic?  Yes, unfortunately.  I have nightmares about that.

It’s not like Shawn pitched all that well Saturday.  His 5 IP, 4 H, 4 BB line easily could have led to three or four runs instead of zero.  The horses in the bullpen, Matt Capps and Salomon Torres, did the lion’s share of the shutout’s work, tossing four brilliant innings of relief.  My doubts about Torres’ spot in the 2007 pen are being erased with each appearance he makes.  And though it’s probably not appropriate to talk about bright spots on an 82 loss team, Capps has to be one of many (think Sanchez, Gonzo, Paulino, Gorzo, et al).  It was impossible to predict a 6-1, 3.41 ERA year from a kid who started 2005 in A ball.

Since I haven’t done it for awhile, let’s take a trip around the bigs as we enter the last month of the regular season…

• If the playoffs started right now, you’d see playoff matchups of Yankees-White Sox and Tigers-A’s in the AL and Mets-Padres and Cardinals-Dodgers in the NL.  Those could lead to some interesting LCS and World Series matchups.  A Subway Series?  Definite possibility.
• There’s almost a full month of baseball to be played, however, so the eight teams within five games of the wild card lead in the National League still have a legitimate shot at being on the field in October.  Heck, even the Bucs are only 15.5 games behind San Diego.
• I’d really like to see the Phillies overtake the Padres just so I can watch Ryan Howard play another four games.  If the rumors were true and we could’ve gotten Howard for Oliver Perez within the past year, DL is more of a fool than I already think he is.  I mean, it’s not like the biggest need for the 2007 roster is a LHB that can mash.  Oh wait, it is.  It sure would be nice to have the league leader in HR sandwiched in a lineup between batting average champion Freddy Sanchez and perennial All-Star Jason Bay.
• September 6 is Roberto Clemente Day around MLB.

As an aside, I’m going to be in Cincinnati this coming weekend for a birthday celebration.  It’s no coincidence that the Bucs are also playing the Reds starting Friday.  If anyone who knows anything about Cincy happens to stop by A New Pirates Generation before then, I’d greatly appreciate a comment letting me know the city’s (and ballpark’s) hotspots.  Thanks in advance!

Today, it’s a Snell-Reyes matchup.  Should be fun to watch–but then again, last night’s game was supposed to be a flop.  Guess we’ll find out a little after 2 p.m. EST.  I’m in the mood to take another series from the division leaders, how about you?

It’s A New Pirates Generation, everybody shout "Let’s Go Bucs!"

Chris Carpenter held the Bucs to three hits and one run in a complete game victory on Friday night.  Zach Duke looked sharp as well, holding St. Louis to three runs through seven innings of work, but ultimately was outmatched by the Cardinals ace.

The fourteenth consecutive losing season for the Pirates took a backburner on the news scene yesterday, however, as both the baseball world and the City of Pittsburgh were shocked by devastating news.

Early Friday evening, it was announced that 22-year-old John Lester, a starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a treatable form of cancer.  Arielle at Red Sox Teen Nation posted before the official announcement with her thoughts on the matter.  It appears as if Lester should recover fully and be able to play baseball at a Major League level again, but obviously any cancer diagnosis is a serious matter.

The news went from bad to worse:  A little before 9 p.m., Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O’Connor lost his battle with primary central nervous system T-cell lymphoma, tragically ending his life at age 61.  Luke Ravenstahl was sworn in shortly after O’Connor’s passing and, at 26, becomes the youngest mayor in Pittsburgh history.

Losses like these put our nation’s pasttime into perspective.  From April to October, many of us eat, sleep and breathe baseball; the sport can bring great joy (and conversely, much sorrow) to its fans.  At 7 o’clock on a summer’s night, you know that your favorite team is ready to entertain you, to thrill you, to bring you together with friends and family in celebration of America’s game.  Without our loved ones, though, baseball loses its luster.  Some may say that baseball is life, but while it does serve as a tremendous bridge between people and across cultures, we need to remember that there is more to the game than batting averages and winning percentages.  It’s the players and coaches who wear the uniforms that matter most.

To Mr. Lester, I offer you my well wishes and hope for a speedy recover.  To the family of Mr. O’Connor, I offer my condolences.  My prayers go out to all who were affected by Friday’s sobering news.