PirateFest, Adjusting to Indiana and more...

Pirates Fest is taking place in Pittsburgh this weekend. I am not there. I've never been one to get especially excited about these sort of events. It's just basically a convention and 99% of the people there are Pirate fans like me. Since I've lived most of my life in California, I have not spent a lot of time around other Pirate fans. I kind of feel like I wouldn't like them. It's kind of like what Woody Allen's character Alvy Singer said in Annie Hall: "I would never want to belong to a club that would have someone like me as a member." Also, I'm not sure how I would react to seeing my Pirate "heroes" in person. I've never been one to obsess over celebrities too much, or go out of my way to follow them. I'm certainly no celebrity stalker. (Okay, so one time my wife and I were walking behind Teri Hatcher for a while, but I promise, we just happened to be walking in the same direction. That's all.) And what would I say to Nate McClouth if I ended up standing by him? 'Golly, sir. You sure are good at the baseball.' I would either say something trite or something stupid. And it's not like I really have anything to say to him anyway. Right now, under no social pressure, all I would want to say is 'Nice season last year. I'm glad you're a Pirate.' That's it. I have no insight to offer and I'm certainly not qualified to offer any suggestions. So anyway, my point is, even though I have had no desire to attend these sort of events before, I kind of feel like I'm missing out this year. Maybe it's because I'm only 400 miles away this year instead of the usual 2400. A day's drive might be worth it next year. Also, the Cincinnati Red's caravan came through town a couple days ago. I missed that one too. I didn't even know about it until I read the paper the next day. I am no Reds fan by any means, and I don't even think Dusty Baker is a very good manager, but I absolutely would have gone to that. Absolutely.

Before we moved here from California, I wondered what the pro baseball team of the area would be. Is there even a primary team that this area lays claim to? Since the Red's caravan came through, and Cincinnati is only 2 or 3 hours away, it could be them. Chicago is only 4 hours away, so there are two more choices there. Within a day's drive, we also have Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. And the Pirate's AAA team is in Indianapolis, but they've only been there a few years and I really don't think that's enough time to build up much of a minor league fan base. So I really don't know. I haven't done any research either. I'm waiting for the answer to come to me. My guess is a Cubs/Reds split. But for television purposes, is there a home team? I know there'll be Cubs and White Sox games on WGN, and I assume the MLB network will televise some games, but will there be a local network that carries a particular team? If so, I'm hoping for the Reds. Once again, I don't like them, but it will present more opportunities to watch the Pirates.

In actual Pirates news, it appears that Braden Looper has popped up on the Pirate's radar. I mentioned previously how I would like the Bucs to acquire someone in the Jon Garland mold, a solid experienced starter who might come on the cheap for a one-year deal. Looper fits. Pedro Martinez has also been mentioned, but there would be more injury concern there. If he's healthy though, Pedro would be great. But adding an experienced started in general is a very good idea, especially with Jeff Karstens hurting a bit. Let's say Looper is signed, the rotation consists of Looper, Maholm, Snell, Gorzelanny and Ohlendorf, that will leave Karstens, Duke, other McCutchen, Dumatrait and Barthmaier as viable options should an injury occur. This sort of depth is crucial and seriously absent from last year.