2k13: Your record-breaking Pittsburgh Pirates

[madducks]

FINALLY!!!

How fitting that the future of the franchise Gerrit Cole outduels Yu Darvish 1-0 for win #82 !

A big weight indeed DQ. I have to admit that i got a little choked up after the final out tonight when i realized that 20 years of losing baseball was finally over for the Pirates.

[Judge Jude]

Pirates DFA James McDonald.

preseason, I offer McDonald 1 for Cain 35, though I wasn't sure I'd freeze Cain, either.
other owner wants me to "throw in" Daniel Murphy for 1 as sweetener.
lol
I told him where to stick it.

I didn't keep McDonald.

He didn't keep Cain.

In the auction, he bought Cain back - for the same 35 - and bought McDonald - for 4.

I kept Murphy, of course.

He's out of the money.

I'm in it.

#lifeisgood

[dslaw]

I feel good for all the Pirate fans (that does not include joncarlos the traitor) but can you lose a few more so the Reds can do better than a road game for the wild card?

[Don Quixote]

I feel good for all the Pirate fans (that does not include joncarlos the traitor) but can you lose a few more so the Reds can do better than a road game for the wild card?

I hope the answer to that question is, "F*** no."

I've already entered the drawing for Pirates home playoff tickets. It's a longshot, but just the idea of possibly being there for a PLAYOFF game is exciting.

[frae]

I hope the answer to that question is, "F*** no."

I've already entered the drawing for Pirates home playoff tickets. It's a longshot, but just the idea of possibly being there for a PLAYOFF game is exciting.

Yeah my brother has a small season ticket package, but in order to buy playoff tickets he would have had to buy tickets to every possible playoff game through the world series and it would have been $2200 for his 2 seats. Anyway, it does not look like I will be getting to go through him to a game. At least it looks like I may be able to dust off the old green weenie and root, root, root for the Buccos in the playoffs again.

[Don Quixote]

Yeah my brother has a small season ticket package, but in order to buy playoff tickets he would have had to buy tickets to every possible playoff game through the world series and it would have been $2200 for his 2 seats. Anyway, it does not look like I will be getting to go through him to a game. At least it looks like I may be able to dust off the old green weenie and root, root, root for the Buccos in the playoffs again.

For the benefit of those uninitiated in Pirates lore and those with filthy minds--

"The Green Wienie" has nothing to do with sex. It dates back to at least the magical 1960 season, when the Pirates, a doormat of the National League for most of the previous 32 seasons, not only won the league but defeated the Invincible Yankees in a memorable World Series capped by possibly the most memorable home run in WS history, Bill Mazeroski's blast off Ralph Terry. Pirate broadcaster Bob Prince (on KDKA, sponsored by "Ahrn City Beer, the beer that brings you baseball") would invoke "The Green Wienie" as a talisman for a rally when the team was tied or behind, and for that one magical year, it worked. By 1963, when my family moved to suburban Pittsburgh and the team finished 8th out of 10, ahead of only the second-year Astros and Mets, not so much.

"Shake that Green Wienie!" and "A bloop and a blast and we go home a winner!"--Ah, the sounds of my childhood.

Think of it as a "rally cap", or "The Rally Monkey" 40-plus years before the latter debuted in Anaheim.

[Don Quixote]

I got green weenie on a trip to the Philippines once.

That qualifies for both the Department of Too Much Information and the Ministry of Unwanted Visuals.

[Fresno Bob]

I got green weenie on a trip to the Philippines once.

what happened to the other guy?

[Don Quixote]

Win #83 tonight. The magic number for a playoff berth is now 11.

It may not sound that great to some of you, but usually by this time of year we're in single digits on the magic number, and on the wrong end of it.

[joncarlos]

Reportedly Cole is going to work out of the bullpen in the playoffs. Given his stuff, I think he'd be ridiculous, but he's at least the Pirates' #3 starter and arguably higher. I guess they're concerned about innings or experience.

[madducks]

Reportedly Cole is going to work out of the bullpen in the playoffs. Given his stuff, I think he'd be ridiculous, but he's at least the Pirates' #3 starter and arguably higher. I guess they're concerned about innings or experience.

Hurdle did say that could change if Cole keeps pitching the way he did against Texas. Also, if Charlie Morton can't be relied on, then Cole will most likely be expected to take on a bigger role in the post-season. I guess we will just have to wait and see how this all plays out.

[Don Quixote]

Win #85 tonight. Playoff magic number down to 9.

Contending and having a positive magic number in September. This is a vaguely remembered thing.

[madducks]

Wandy Rodriguez shut down for the season.

[Pogues]

Yeah my brother has a small season ticket package, but in order to buy playoff tickets he would have had to buy tickets to every possible playoff game through the world series and it would have been $2200 for his 2 seats. Anyway, it does not look like I will be getting to go through him to a game. At least it looks like I may be able to dust off the old green weenie and root, root, root for the Buccos in the playoffs again.

$2200?? Holy crap...I paid $160 for the three LCS and four WS games back in 1990, total. Damn Cincy beating the Pirates...I wanted to go to WS games!!

[Don Quixote]

$2200?? Holy crap...I paid $160 for the three LCS and four WS games back in 1990, total. Damn Cincy beating the Pirates...I wanted to go to WS games!!

Supply and demand, Pogues. Supply and demand. Lots of pent-up demand, especially from fans who figure they won't need the money for Steelers playoff games this year.

I can remember my father paying $15 per seat for three seats for the 1970 LCS here in Cincinnati--and even at that price, the place wasn't a sellout (granted, it was a weekday afternoon, but still; I didn't see anything like it until Atlanta started making the playoffs every year in the Nineties).

Even better were Dad's seats in '72, because they were FREE (ballplayer seats from a Cardinals player, who gave them to his father-in-law, who lived in another city and who knew my father professionally).