Out of the office: April 29 - May 8
I'm heading to the U.K. and then Italy for a bit of a holiday and won't be back until May 8.
I may have internet access periodically. If I do, I plan on becoming the first person to blog the Pirates from Europe. But if Batting Third goes silent for a short while, now you know why.
Cheers mate. And arrivederci.
Dog days of April
Yes, we have entered the dog days of April. Typically its the dog days of summer, but not when you are a Pirate fan. Anyway, despite the win last night, the slow start has put the entire Pirate blogosphere into a general malaise. Even Rowdy is barely averaging a post per day. The rest of the usual suspects are eerily quiet.
As for this space, I apologize for the lack of quality here since the season began. But there really is NOTHING interesting about this team. There just isn't. It's pointless to add to the 'fire Mac', 'this team can't hit', 'McClatchy is cheap' noise. And I have neither the patience nor the talent to invent some kind of angle that is worth a long thread.
So, what do we do? We wait for something interesting to happen and dream of the days of Bill freaking Landrum. Yes, it's that bad.
And don't tell me sending David Ross back to AAA is interesting. Yes it's going to happen this weekend. But no, it doesn't count.
Lost Pirate: Bill Landrum
This week's Lost Pirate comes to us from the golden days of the Leyland era. Bill Landrum was signed after the 1988 off-season for the paltry salary of $75,000. The then 31 year old journeyman had nothing in his background that would hint at the type of success he would have with the Pirates.
Landrum exploded on the scene in '89, turning in one of the finest seasons in relief the franchise has ever seen. He finished with 26 saves and a 1.67 era in 81 innings as a replacement for the injured Jim Gott.
Landrum went on to have 2 more fine seasons as part-time closer while the Pirates slowly phased in ill-fated closer of the future, Stan Belinda.
Landrum was cut in spring training prior to the '92 season, and was signed by the Expos. He completely fell apart after leaving the Bucs and would only pitch another 42 innings in his career.
Though his stay with the team was short, I'll always remember the straight over-the-top delivery and the huge wad of tobacco.
Phew
Yesterday might stand as the most important game the Pirates play all season. Why? Because we received confirmation that Oliver Perez was NOT abducted by aliens and replaced with a less-able replica.
Perhaps his bad start was due to his off-season inactivity after all, and not some hidden injury as I first suspected.
Now that we've got Perez straightened out, what's wrong with Craig Wilson?
