Though I haven't actually, you know, seen any of these games against the Nationals because of the stupid blackout policy, I'm fairly certain that the Pirates have won the first three games of this series without actually playing well in any of the games. This is, I suppose, both a statement about the Pirates (who in the past have often been on the exact opposite side of statements like this) and the Nationals (who are terrible).

Whatever the case, the Pirates have a chance for a rare four-game sweep in DC tonight, which would be a pretty fantastic way to start their season-long 10-game road trip. Ian Snell gets the start against rookie Craig Stammen, who was called up to make his Major League debut against the Pirates tonight. After a rough go in his first stint at AAA last year, Stammen's put up some pretty good numbers with Columbus this year. In the past, I would immediately assume that the Pirates would make this kid's debut an awesome one, but with the way we're playing right now, I'm kind of holding out hopes that we give him a properly rude welcome to the bigs.

Kevin Goldstein has a mock draft up at BP today. He's got the Pirates taking Missouri's Kyle Gibson fourth, with Strasburg, Ackley, and Donovan Tate off the board. He's also got Tanner Scheppers going fifth to the Orioles. There's been a lot of talk about Scheppers lately that I haven't touched on, but he's looked great in workouts and in his few starts with the St. Paul Saints.

It's worth remembering that Scheppers went unsigned last year because of his health, which I think a lot of people forget. He fell to the second round because of rotator cuff and labrum issues. He told the Pirates that he wanted first round money. It's always hard to know exactly what goes on in the negotiations, but after the Pirates watched him pitch last year, they didn't seem to be thrilled with his health and offered him less than slot value to sign. They seemed perfectly willing to pay him what he wanted had he been healthy, but he wasn't. Even now, a lot of questions remain about that shoulder. Going back to my post about the draft last week, I'd put Scheppers firmly on the list of guys that I'd be avoiding as a GM. Drafting a pitcher with an existing arm issue that high seems like a great way to add to the long list of failed pitchers taken in the first round.

Alternately, here's another mock from the Minor League Ball diaries that has the Pirates taking Jacob Turner at #4. It seems like the only thing that most people agree on right now is that Strasburg and Ackley are going 1-2.

And a well-researched diary at Charlie's about the draft. And there's lots of draft media here.

The wonderfully named Viva Derek Bell had a run-in with the Pointy-Haired Blogger in his comment section over Miguel Angel Sano.

Here's an interesting piece about how umpires influence games at The Hardball Times.

Not Pirates-related, but this video of Sidney Crosby dominating what is supposedly Austin Lemieux rocked my face off.

After beating the Nationals in a 12-7 shootout, then beating them in a weird extra inning game that they certainly deserved to lose, the Pirates completed the sweep picked up their third straight win against the Nats with a 2-1 win in a pitcher's duel last night. Paul Maholm threw six strong innings and the bullpen kept off the board long enough to ensure that their bullpen would betray them again.

In the end, a sweep against the Nationals has to be taken with a grain of salt, but it's still a sweep. People like to play the "if we had beaten the Brewers ..." game, but that's not actually a whole lot different than saying, "If we lost to the Nationals ..." You play the teams on your schedule, and that's the end of it.

So we've spent two games proving what we already know: that the Nationals are not a very good baseball team. The real question now; can the Pirates sweep a series that the "should" sweep? A win tonight brings the Bucs tantalizingly close to that magical .500 mark. Is this something that we as fans want? For the Pirates to play with our hearts again?

Paul Maholm and John Lannan are your starters tonight. Two of Maholm's last three starts have ended in hard luck losses for the Pirates, though he wasn't saddled with the loss in either of them (he was terrible in the start sandwiched between them; he did get the loss for that one). In fact, we've lost Maholm's last four starts. Tonight seems like a good night to bring an end to that trend.

OK, let's make this concrete. WHYGAVS Night 2009 will be on Friday, June 12th as the Pirates play the Tigers. Like last year, it's just easier if everyone's responsible for their own tickets. We chose a similar game (Friday night, interleague, bobblehead) for WHYGAVS Night last year and had no problem getting bleacher general admission tickets for everyone that showed up.

Last year we met at Firewaters (on Federal St.) around 6:00 before the game to hang out and have a few drinks before the ritual slaughter involving Jimmy Barthmaier and Scott Kazmir took place on the field and so I think I'm going to go ahead and say that's the plan again this year. As for t-shirts, I'm working on the design right now and when they're ready to go, I'll put up a post and ask for orders. We can also get into more details later, but I wanted to set a firm date so everyone's that interested can set their calendars.

Everyone that came last year had a lot of fun, so I'd certainly encourage anyone that's on the fence about it to try and stop by, whether you're a regular commenter, a reader, or just someone who wants to watch a Pirates' game with some other Pirate fans.

Yesterday afternoon, I got an e-mail from my dad. It read, in part:

It's 5-19-09, and what are the Bucs, 17-21?  A year ago on this date the Bucs were 21-23.  And yet, why does it seem that I and many others feel like this year's version is better than last year's version?  Optical illusion?  Did we drink the Kool-Aid?  Have we been snowed?

I thought about that a bit, and though I agree with the sentiment that these Pirates are better than last year's, I was unable to adequately verbalize a reason and actually, I still haven't responded (though I suppose this post counts). I just have a feeling that this team is different. I don't think they're a playoff team or a .500 team, but I do think they're different, if that makes sense. They're not necessarily good, but for the first time in a long time, I feel like maybe they're at least headed in the direction of something good.

This win is a perfect example. It had all the debilitating hallmarks of a bad Pirate loss. Early lead? Check. Complete offensive disappearance? Check. Late comeback by the terrible opponent? Check. Inevitable feeling of doom while the other team rallied in the bottom of the ninth? Check. And then somehow, Tom Gorzelanny, suddenly recast as a reliever, came it and got a huge strikeout of Willie Harris to end the Nats' rally in the ninth. And sure, it was just Willie Harris, but did anyone see them getting out of that jam? And after that big strikeout, the offense that had been completely dormant (as in no hits and only one base runner) since Andy LaRoche's home run in the third inning suddenly came alive for three runs in the top of the tenth. And sure, it was just the Nationals bullpen, but who saw that rally coming?

This is what occaissionaly drives me insane about baseball. This game was one that, empirically, the Pirates should've won easily, especially after the 5-0 lead in the third inning. And then they blew that easy win to smithereens, deserved to lose the game, managed to not lose only because the Nationals are terrible, scored the winning runs against an awful bullpen, and here I am feeling like the accomplished something with this win. My rational and objective brain is screaming, "It's just the Nationals! None of this means anything because they're so awful!" and my subjective Pirate fan heart that wants to believe in anything at all is yelling back, "No hits for six innings! Nats had the winning run on third base in the ninth! We still scraped out a win!" Who knew being a Pirate fan could be so complicated?

Nyjer Morgan's back for the Bucs tonight and batting leadoff, so the scorching-hot Delwyn Young is pushed to the bench. Jeff Karstens gets the start for the Pirates against Shairon Martis, the guy that threw a no-hitter for the Dutch in the first World Baseball Classic. There's not a lot else to write home about in this one, but Karstens has pitched pretty well his last two times out and gotten very little offensive/bullpen support. Now that he's pitching against a bad team, he'll probably bomb and give up ten runs in four innings.

OK, he's jinxed now, isn't he?

There's been a lot made lately of DK's story in the PG last week about 16-year-old Dominican super-prospect Miguel Angel Sano and the Pirates' chances of signing him. The dollar figures being thrown around with Sano's name are staggering. It seems likely that Sano's signing bonus could top $4 million and people are wondering whether (or maybe more accurately, how) a 16-year-old is worth that kind of money.

There are a few things to remember that aren't generally mentioned in this sort of discussion. The first is that Sano is a free agent. He wouldn't be worth $4 million as a draft pick, but then, Pedro Alvarez would've been worth far more than his $6 million tab if we'd signed him as a free agent last year. Much of Latin American scouting is trying to find kids that other teams aren't finding. On the open market, prices are always going to get driven upwards.

Re-read some of DK's stories about Rene Gayo's operation in the Dominican and start extrapolating. How many players does he see in a year? How many does he see that other teams see, too? How many players is only he interestedin? How many players does he have to bid against someone else for? With such sheer volume, it's easy to see why so many players are signed so cheaply. Remember, though, that even though the DR is approximately 1/30th the size of the United States (9.7 million vs. 306 million), around 10% of the players in Major League Baseball are Dominican right now. There is talent to be had and some of it can be found by casting a wide net. That's what was so insane about Littlefield's lack of Latin American operations; he didn't cast a net at all. A blind squirrell may find a nut, but not if it just stands there starving to death.

But again, you can't forget that all of these kids are free agents. While the vast majority are signed for a relatively low price because Gayo thinks he sees something even though that everyone else might not see and other teams might chose to spend their money on other kids that Gayo doesn't like, it's an open market and in some cases the bidding is going to get driven way up. This might seem obvious and I don't want to seem like I'm talking down to anyone, but that's what's going on with Sano. The Pirates didn't find some kid in a sandlot in the Dominican and consider offering him a $4 million signing bonus. The bidding is being pushed so high because everyone is interested.

So is he worth that money? There are a lot of things to be considered. First off, some pointy-haired bloggers would have you believe that there's no real way to evaluate talent in a 16-year-old. It's certainly not easy to project a 16-year-old, but I'll make the same point that I made when talking about the draft last week; if talent and talent development were truly random, then every team that scouts the Dominican would find the same amount of talent and have the same level of success. This would imply the only difference between good teams and bad teams is the ability to keep talent in town, which boils down to money. We know this isn't true; some small market teams succeed where other's fail. Some big market teams fail where others succeed. The difference between good organizations and bad organizations isn't money; it's talent evaluation and talent development.

We can go back to the chicken/egg argument of identifying talent vs. developing it, but I'm sure the Pirates would tell you that part of the value of Sano is that he's sixteen. Don't you think they would've loved to get their hands on Tanner Scheppers before Fresno State's coach ran him into the ground? The Pirates get to control every facet of this kid's development and don't have to worry about a high school coach or college coach more worried about personal glory stepping in the way of it. Sure, 16 is young, but the Rays gave $6 million to Tim Beckham and he was just two years older. That can be a lifetime in prospect years, but we scout juniors in high school in the States. It's young, but is it too young? I'm not sure.

In recent Pirate history, $4 million is one year of Joe Randa. It's three months of Jeromy Burnitz. It's two years of Ramon Vazquez. It's half of Yoslan Herrera's signing bonus. Even if Sano never comes close to Pittsburgh, $4 million is better spent on him than on anything we used to spend it on. And if we're spending that kind of money in the region, we're making a name for ourselves. Sign with the Pirates! Maybe they can't offer you the best contract, but they have Miguel Sano! They have a beautiful facility! This team is serious!

If you trust that Neal Huntington and Rene Gayo have done their jobs and that Kyle Stark will do his, Miguel Angel Sano is worth $4 million.

I didn't see much (read: any, because of the stupid MLB-induced blackout and the hockey game) of this one, but I'm not sure there's much to say. When you're facing a guy making his (for all itents and purposes) big league debut and the Nationals bullpen is backing him up, you should score 12 runs. Do I understand how the Pirates scored 12 runs on 12 hits tonight when less than a week ago, they scored 1 run on 12 hits? No, I don't, but that's the way the ball bounces sometimes. Plus, we should probably always win when Jack Wilson gets four hits.

Whatever the case, it's nice to see the offense bail the rotation out for the second night in a row, even if it was in a game that Kip Wells was involved in. Since that ugly losing streak ended, the Bucs are 5-2 and they're undefeated in games that Tom Gorzelanny has pitched in this year. Surely this is a trend that can continue, right?