岩村 明憲

In what is sure to be the first step towards making the playoffs next year the Pirates acquired Akinori Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays for reliever Jesse Chavez.

Here the two are together at the international gold chain convention.  According to Wikipedia, Iwamura is commonly referred to as “Aki” and he has also been called by the nickname “Gan-chan”.  I googled Ghan-chan and came up with this:

But most importantly to this blog Aki does have supernatural abilities which could help break the curse of Bonds.  Midway through the 2008 season, Iwamura got a mohawk haircut, thus inventing the “Rayhawk”  hairstyle which soon spread to many of his teammates and Rays’ fans. The team went on to become American League Champions.

Can’t wait to see what hairstyle he comes up with to propel the Buccos to victory. My suggestion “The Bucco Bowl Cut”

Oct. 14

Happy (or unhappy) October 14 day.  Today is the 17th anniversary of game 7 of the 1992 NLCS, Barry Bonds game in a Pirate uniform and the last time the Bucs were in the post season.

Bob Smizik summed up October 14 in a recent blog post “The inning that will live in infamy”

Take some time and read the whole summary of the game but here is an excerpt.

The Pirates were one out from the World Series.

Francisco Cabrera batted for Jeff Reardon and the rest, as they say, is history. Barry Bonds fielded Cabrera’s softly hit ball in short left-center with remarkable efficiency and got the throw off very quickly. Unfortunately, Bonds did not have a strong arm and since he was throwing against his body could get his full strength behind the throw. It was slightly off target, just enough for Bream to slide in safely and give Atlanta a 3-2 win and the Pirates 17 consecutive losing seasons.

So beware the eve of the Ides of October!

SI Jinx

The Pirates only lost 99 games!  Thanks to Dejan for some ominous numbers that confirm that some high power (Barry Bonds) is at work.

In a season dominated by the number 17 — the years of losing, the losing streak to Milwaukee and the 17-2 loss in Chicago — another was added: The Pirates were shut out 17 times, the most since 19 in 1985.

Also Jalapeno Hanna lost 17 races.

So now that counting down to 17 losing seasons and counting up to 100 loses is over it time to get back to keeping track of the Bonds Curse threat level.  For the time being the curse threat to the Pirates is being set at its lowest level “Not Bad.”

With the Pirates season over Bonds may have been at least partially to blame for  keeping Jim Leyland’s Detroit  Tigers from making the playoffs tonight by losing a tiebreaker game with the Twins.

The Tigers end of the season meltdown was historic they became they had a seven-game division lead with three weeks remaining.  But tonight they became the first team to fail to clinch a division title after leading by three games with four remaining.  Perhaps it was the Curse of Bonds on Leyland but that is not likely.  Maybe it was because Miguel Cabrera was drunk.  Or maybe it was the SI jinx.

The Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx is a myth that states that individuals or teams who appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated magazine will subsequently be jinxed (experience bad luck).

Last time the Pirates were featured on the cover of Sport Illustrated  May 04, 1992.

Since that time we all know what has happened.

Winning streak

The Pirates have won a few games and are now only one win away from avoiding a 100 loss season, thanks in part to mother nature.  First Cubs players were attacked by the ivy at Wrigley, this also could have been the work of Brandon “Mossman” Moss’ special plant communication abilities.  Secondly last night’s game was canceled due to rain.  Is Bonds’ curse on the Pirates weakening?  Or does he just not care anymore?  Is mother nature a Bucco fan?  Or does she just hate Barry Bonds?

Familiar Free Agents

Finally we are starting to see the beginings of Neal  Huntington’s brilliant plan.  Dejan from the PG gave us a glimpse into to the future in his article Pirates will pursue familiar faces in free agency

The Pirates plan to be more aggressive in free agency than last year, general manager Neal Huntington said yesterday, and that could include a pursuit of recently traded players.

“We will look into the free-agent market, and we have some money to apply to the right situation,”

“We are open to all avenues and, just because a player left here, we haven’t closed the door on anyone,” Huntington said. “Without getting into specifics or tampering, we’re open in all areas to bringing some players back if there’s the right financial fit and they think it’s the right fit for them.”

Neal is a genius trade players away get some other players that might be good, avoid paying some of the money to your teams best players because you traded them, then sign some of the same players that you just traded away back as free agents with the money you saved by trading some of those same players away!  Not really sure if am completely smart enough to understand how brilliant this is.

Here is our projected 2010 opening day line up.

Outfielders

Jason Bay

Andrew McCutchen

Lastings Milledge

Infielders

Andy LaRoche

Jack Wilson

Freddy Sanchez

Garrett Jones

Catcher

Ryan Doumit

We assume Paul Maholm will start and John Grabow will make an impact in there somewhere.  Also Andy LaRoche will be traded when Pedro Alvarez is ready.

In 100 loss news the Pirates would need to go .500 over their final 14 games to avoid the 8th 100 season in franchise history.

G-20

Well the Bucos keep losing and no one in Pittsburgh seems to care. But one thing Pittsburghers do seem to care about is the G-20. What is the G20? At first I thought it had something to do with rapper 50 cent.

But he is busy in the studio.  So I did some more research and found out it has something to do with a new Gatorade product.

But that also turned out not to be true.  So I turned on the news and everyone talking about this thing is dressed like a polar bear.

Not sure why these polar bear haters have chosen Pittsburgh.  The only polar bears I know in Pittsburgh are Anana, Aurora, Koda and Nuka at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium.  So I stopped to ask them about the G20.

They all had no comment.

So how does this all relate to the Pirates?  Well during the G20, on Sept 24-25, while most businesses in Pittsburgh will be closed, due to the fear of polar bear attack.

The Pirates will be playing baseball.

According to the Tribune Review they are even welcoming these masked Polar bear haters.

The Pirates offer preferred seating to groups of 20 (can you believe it?) or more. Those groups also get recognized on the scoreboard during the game.

Protesters probably could get boffo box seats where they would enjoy superior views of our inferior team, as well as a Jumbotron greeting something along these lines:

“THE PIRATES EXTEND A WARM WELCOME TO ALL G-20 AGITATORS FUTILELY ATTEMPTING TO CONVERT OTHERS TO THEIR OVERLY IDEALISTIC WORLD VIEW.”

We hope all goes well and no one is hurt, especially the Pirate Parrot.  We will keep you updated on the Pirates race to 100 loses.

17th Losing Season Shirt

Even though nobody bought a Forgive Barry shirt I decided to give the t-shirt business another shot.  Commemorate the Pirates 17 consecutive losing seasons with this t-shirt.

Get if from Zazzle.  I think you can get it for 12.95 for a value shirt.

17 years.

They did it!  17 losing seasons.  It took 17 losing season for the media to finally acknowledge The Curse of Bonds.  Howard Bryant ESPN.com

Francisco Cabrera singles to left. Justice scores to tie it, with Bream, the sore-legged former Pirate, creaking painfully around the bases behind him. Barry Bonds uncorks the throw home, accurate but too soft. The Braves win the pennant 3-2.

“In 1992, I had my World Series tickets, ” said Paul Hannah, a 37-year-old Pirates fan from Ligonier, about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. “We knew Bonds was leaving. We knew it was the end. I know we’ve had a lot of AFC Championship Game losses with the Steelers, but none of those hurt as much as that one.”

Six weeks later, Bonds signs a record six-year, $43.75 million free-agent contract with the San Francisco Giants. The Pirates lose 87 games the next year, and haven’t been .500 or better since. They’ve lost at least 94 games the past four seasons and over the past 16 years have lost at least 93 games seven times.

And from the same article Josh some guy who works at the Jerome Bettis grill.

Josh, who works at the restaurant, bellows out, “It’s the Curse of Barry Bonds!” to explain the Pirates troubles. Then he gets serious.

“They’ve got to give us more than just fireworks,” he says. “They’ve got to give us a team!”

Also Robert Rubino (not sure if this guy can really be counted as media) mentioned baseballs most prolific curse on his blog Old School.

Can we call it the curse of Barry Bonds? I think we can.

That pretty much sums it up.  Look out Wikipedia.

Also as a service to fans we are starting a countdown to 100 loses this season.  I will assume the Pirates lose tonight as they are losing 9-2 in the bottom of the 7th.

17 to go

This Day in Baseball History

Today could be the day  the Pittsburgh Pirates record their 82nd loss and clinch their historic 17th consecutive losing season, the longest in professional sports.  Lets look at the date MLB history.    

1905:  Frank Smith no-hits the Tigers,15-0 in the biggest no-hit rout in major league history. The White Sox right hander will toss another no-hitter in 1908, beating the A’s, 1-0.

1912;  Jeff Tesreau becomes the third rookie in major league history to throw a no-hitter. The 24-year old right-hander holds the Phillies hitless in the Giants 3-0 victory in the first game of twin bill at the Baker Bowl.

1968:  Jerry Koosman sets a new franchise mark for victories getting his 17th win of the season when the Mets beat Pittsburgh, 4-1. The rookie southpaw breaks the team record established last year by Tom Seaver.

1995:  Cal Ripken breaks Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game record playing in his 2,131st straight game. When the game becomes official in the middle of the fifth inning, the new ‘Iron Man’ takes a victory lap around Camden Yards during the 22-minute standing ovation from the sell-out crowd, including President Bill Clinton.

2001:  Barry Bonds becomes the fifth major leaguer to hit 60 home runs in a season. The 37 year-old Giant left fielder, who is the oldest to join this elite group, reaches the historic plateau the quickest needing only 141 games to reach the milestone. 

Just 8 years ago today Barry added an impressive stat to his resume and possibly today he will add another, a curse on the Pirates resulting in the longest consecutive losing season in pro sports.  Some national outlets are carrying the story but none are mentioning the curse of Bonds.  If 17 consecutive losing seasons does not convince you look at the teams run to clinch this dubious distinction.  The Pirates have lost 9 straight games.  The 9th lost came despite a stellar performance from “Super Genius”  Ross Ohlendorf  who struck out a career-high 11 in 8 innings. including a 7th inning where Ohlendorf struck out the Cardinals 3 batters in the minimum 9 pitches.  Ross is only the 43rd pitcher in MLB history to do so.  So the curse is strong.  Enjoy history today.

10,000 Greatest Pirates Home Runs

Uh, Well 10,000 is a lot of home runs so  I will skip forward to the top 5 in our list of the top 10,000  Pirates Home Runs all time.

5. Ralph Kiner April 22, 1950  Kiner’s 560 ft home run at Forbes Field.

4.  Barry Bonds  June 4, 1986  1st of Bonds career beginning of the end of the Pirates Franchise.

3.  Willie Stargell October 17, 1979 Two-run homer game 7 World Series.

2.  Roberto Clemente October 17, 1971  Game 7 World Series.

1. Bill Mazeroski October 13, 1960.  Walk off homerun game 7 World Series.