Roloson in his younger days. Does anyone even remember who that #71 character is?
The Alexei Kovalev experiment is failing. James Neal, while not scoring as much, has been the far superior acquisition.
Oh, and Ben Lovejoy apparently thinks he's Bobby Orr now. He wasn't even this good in Wilkes-Barre.
Pirate season always sneaks up on me. It never fails. I'm not going to act like I think we're playoff bound, but...
Wiz Khalifa is a believer.
Here's the thing about the 2011 Pirates though. It IS a little bit different this year. Looking up and down the lineup, it's actually (almost) impressive:
1. Jose Tabata
2. Neil Walker
3. Andrew McCutchen
4. Pedro Alvarez
5. Lyle Overbay
6. Matt Diaz/Garrett Jones
7. Snyder/Doumit/Jaramillo/Whoever
8. Ronny Cedeno
9. Pitcher #1-5
That's not bad. In fact, that's probably the best opening day lineup the Pirates have fielded in the past few years.
But the big issue that still hasn't been addressed is the complete and utter lack of starting pitching. Until the Pirates can at least have one guy that they can count on in the rotation, we can forget about a winning season. No matter how decent the bullpen may be, it's not going to be effective if it has to pitch 4-5 innings a game. I'm pretty sure if I were to show up at PNC Park on any random day, I'd probably be the fourth starter.
In fairness to the other pitchers though, I do throw a 65 mph fastball. Unhittable.
I could list more reasons why I don't think the Pirates can be a .500 team this year, but you know what? Hope springs eternal. And I'll always back my Buccos.
Let's go Bucs/Pens/Power
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