Monthly Archives: November, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  
Everyone has probably seen that Zach Duke has been traded to Arizona for a player to be named later.
Also, former Pirate Bryan Bullington, who was removed from the Kansas City Royals' 40-man roster last week, was released by the Royals yesterday.  Then Bullington signed a contract to play in Japan for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp for 2011.

Cheering for Pirates' players and friends in the winter leagues on Wednesday..... 

VENEZUELAN LEAGUE
Tiburones de La Guaira  4,  Bravos de Margarita  1  (Game 1)  --  This was supposed to be a 7-inning game, but the score was still tied at 1-1 after 7.  A bases-loaded walk forced in Los Bravos' run in the bottom of the 1st.  Los Tiburones tied the score with a run on a single, a ground out, and another single in the 3rd.  Anthony Claggett had pitched a scoreless 7th inning -- he gave up a single, but then picked the base runner off first.  But he started the top of the 8th with a single and a sacrifice bunt, and was then relieved.  The next pitcher loaded the bases with a pair of walks, then he was relieved too.  Two singles and a sacrifice fly brought in 3 runs for Los Tiburones, with the first one charged to Claggett, making him responsible for the loss.  Margarita won the second game 3-0, holding Los Tiburones to just 3 hits in the 7-inning game.  Former Pirate farmhand Ronald Belisario allowed one of the hits along with a walk in the 7th inning, earning his 8th save.

Tigres de Aragua  7,  Navegantes del Magallanes  5  --  Both SS Ronny Cedeno and 1B Hector Gimenez hit 2-run homers for Los Tigres in this win.  Gimenez's blast got Aragua going in their 4-run 1st inning, and Cedeno's homer made the score 6-1 in the 2nd inning.  Gimenez also doubled in the game.  CF Jorge Cortes walked and scored for Los Tigres, and C Raul Chavez was 0-for-3 at the plate.  

Pirates' outfielder Quincy Latimore has continued to chomp on Australian pitching, while playing left field for the Adelaide Bite of the new Australian Baseball League.  The North Carolina native went 6-for-14 with 3 homers (2 in one game) and 8 RBI and two stolen bases in the Bite's first 4-game series against Melbourne.  The Bite played against the Perth Heat in their second weekend's action, and in that series, Latimore went 9-for-20, with 3 doubles, a triple, another homer, and 4 more RBI.  That gives him a .441 overall average, a .486 OBP, a .941 SLG, and a 1.428 OPS.  His 15 hits, 4 homers, and 12 RBI lead the league.  

Nov 17th --  Perth Heat 4,  Adelaide Bite 2 --  We looked at this game last week, but to recap:  Former Curve Paul Mildren suffered the loss when he allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks in 5.2 innings.  Latimore doubled in the top of the 1st, contributing to the Bite's 1-run rally.  He also singled in the 5th inning, but was left on base.

Nov 18th --  Bite  7,  Heat  3 --  The Heat out-hit the Bite 10-9, but it was the 6-run top of the 6th that gave the Bite the edge.   Adelaide sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning.  The first batter of the inning doubled but was picked off second base.  Then the onslaught started:  a solo homer, a walk, and an RBI triple by Latimore for the second run of the inning.  Latimore scored on 1B Ben Wigmore's double, and Wigmore scored on the next double.  After a pitching change, a walk and another double drove in the 5th run, and a walk and a sacrifice fly made it 6 runs.  Perth hit back-to-back homers in the bottom of the inning.  Then Latimore homered to lead off the top of the 7th, increasing the score to 7-2.  Perth added one more run in the bottom of the 7th.  Latimore was 2-for-5 for the game.

Pirates' infielder Benji Gonzalez is on the roster for Los Gigantes de Carolina in the Puerto Rican League.  He has not been seeing a lot of playing time, but he did get into the game on the 17th, starting at second base.  Gonzalez went 0-for-4 and struck out 3 times.  Los Indios de Mayaguez beat Los Gigantes 6-5.  
Ramon Vazquez has not been playing a lot either.  He was at third base for Los Criollos de Caguas on Sunday, and went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.  He led off the 4th inning with a walk, and he later scored when another walk with the bases loaded forced him in from third base.  Carolina beat Caguas 5-4, when a hit batter forced in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.  
Vazquez went 1-for-3 on Tuesday night, as Los Criollos beat Los Senadores de San Juan 4-1.  Caguas scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st.  Former Indy Indian SS Luis Figueroa singled with one out, then moved to second base on a passed ball.  Vazquez walked, then an RBI single plated Figueroa and put Vazquez on third.  A sacrifice fly brougth in Vazquez.  Figueroa had his second single of the game in the 3rd inning, and he scored on an RBI double.  Both Figueroa and Vazquez singled with two outs in the 7th, but that time they were both left on base.  A solo home run gave Los Criollos their final run in the 8th.  San Juan scored their one run in the top of the 5th. 

Pirates' Rogelios Noris has not gotten into any games for his hometown Venados de Mazatlan in the Mexican Pacific League since he pinch-ran and scored in the game against Guasave on the 14th.  

Looking in on the Pirates' players and friends in the Dominican League over the past few days...

Starling Marte went 1-for-4 for Los Aguilas Cibaenas on the 17th.  After reaching base on a grounder force out,  he scored one of the 4 runs in the 3rd inning.  Then Marte singled in a run in the 8th inning, as Los Aguilas beat Escogido 7-2.  The next night, Marte grounded out in the 2nd inning, then was removed from the game in the middle of the top of the 4th -- no explanation given. 
SS Pedro Ciriaco beat out an infield hit in his one plate appearance as a late-inning defensive replacement for Los Toros del Este on the 17th.  On Sunday, Ciriaco singled in the 3rd inning, then scored on a triple, as Los Toros beat Los Gigantes 7-3.  
Mike Dubee earned the win for Los Gigantes del Cibao on the 19th, beating Los Tigres del Licey 12 - 10.  Los Gigantes jumped out to a big lead with a 6-run 1st inning, and they added 4 runs in the 5th and 2 in the 8th.  Licey scored 4 runs in both the 4th and 7th, and one run in each of the 5th and the 9th.  Dubee came into the game in the 5th with two runners on base and one out.  He gave up an RBI single to Indy area native Jake Fox, then ended the inning with a grounder force out and a strikeout.  Dubee then pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th.  Los Gigantes scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 5th, and Dubee was the pitcher of record.  
C Jason Jaramillo went 0-for-2 for Los Toros on the 19th. He has not been getting much playing time lately.  

Tuesday's action:
Tigres del Licey  7,  Gigantes del Cibao  6  --  A double, an intentional walk, and an RBI single gave Licey the walk-off win in the bottom of the 11th.  Los Gigantes started things with a 5-run 1st inning, on an RBI double, a 2-run homer, and a pair of singles.  A sacrifice fly brought in another run in the 5th.  Los Tigres caught up with 2 runs in the 1st and one in the 2nd, then a 3-run homer by 1B Jake Fox in the 7th.  Unfortunately, that homer came off Mike Dubee, who had just entered the game in relief of Juan Perez.  Dubee was charged with a Blown Save.  

A quick look at what some of the Pirates' players and friends were up to in the Venezuelan League recently:

Anthony Claggett joined Los Bravos de Margarita, and has made two relief appearances.  On the 17th, he pitched one inning, giving up only a 2-out double, then finishing the inning with a groundout.  On the 21st, Claggett pitched 2 innings and allowed only a single to former Indy Indian Jorge Cortes, who he then erased in a double play.  
Los Tigres de Aragua got two hits each from1B Hector Gimenez, SS Ronny Cedeno, and C Raul Chavez on the 17th.  Unfortunately their only run in the game was Gimenez's solo home run.  Brian Bass made the start for Los Tigres on the 19th.  He pitched 5 innings and gave up 4 runs -- one run on a pair of singles and his own throwing error in the 1st inning, and 3 runs on a homer then two walks and 3 singles in the 3rd.  The score was tied when Bass left the game.  Lastings Milledge contributed a 2-run homer for Los Tigres in the 1st.  Aragua won the game in the bottom of the 10th on a walk-off RBI single by Cortes.  
Also on the 19th, Sean Gallagher suffered his third loss of the season for Los Navegantes.  He pitched 4 innings against Los Aguilas del Zulia and gave up 4 runs on 8 hits.  In the 3rd inning, he allowed a 2-run homer, then in the 4th, Gallagher gave up 2 more runs on a walk and 3 singles. 
Justin Thomas earned the win (his first in Venezuela) for Los Bravos de Margarita on Saturday the 20th.  He was first charged with a blown save when he gave up a solo home run in the bottom of the 7th to Los Navegantes del Magallanes.  But he was then credited with the win when Margarita hit a 3-run homer in the top of the 7th.  Corey Hamman also was charged with a blown save for Magallanes in that same game, when he faced 3 Margarita batters in the 5th inning and gave up a homer, a single, and a double.  Jean Machi pitched the top of the 9th for Magallanes and got three ground outs.