NL Wild Card: Pirates vs. Giants

Choosing who to root for tonight is basically a no-brainer for me. The most obvious reason is the fact that the Giants have won two World Series titles in the last five years, while the Pirates haven't tasted victory in over three decades.

But as I've noted in this space before, the Pirates boast a player from my home town of North Conway, NH (population: 2,349). Though Jeff Locke isn't starting tonight's game, if Edinson Volquez can best Giants starter Madison Bumgarner, the Redstone Rocket is likely to get a chance moving forward.

The entire region is fiercely proud - we didn't boast nearly as much about our two winter Olympians a few months back as we do about Locke. It's simple supply and demand: if you live in the north mountains, excellent skiers are a dime a dozen, while baseball season is often snow-shortened, making professional-caliber players a rarity.

It's likely that Locke won't see the field tonight - he is, after all, a starter - but I can promise that New Hampshire will be watching for a glimpse of him in the dugout, and rooting for the Pirates to take the win so we can cheer him on in the next round.

It would be difficult for tonight's Wild Card game to top the drama of the Royals twelfth inning walk-off last night, but nothing is impossible in baseball!

Wild [Card] Choices

The leaves are changing, the air is cooling, and playoff baseball is here again! Though yesterday's events ensured there would be no one-game playoffs to reach tomorrow and Wednesday's Wild Card one-game playoff, the excitement begins in earnest tomorrow, and I'm in a strange position.

The Red Sox are out of it (and have been for what feels like forever), and I'd be pretty much okay if any of the remaining playoff teams won the whole thing. Sure, I have a preference for the Nationals - I spent six weeks this summer covering them. Watching from the press box and interacting in the clubhouse, I discovered that the Nats are an easy group to like - plus, the franchise hasn't ever won it all, in Washington or Montreal.

But I can find a reason to root for nearly every team involved - except perhaps the Cardinals, mostly because I'm over shenanigans like these.

Just out of the teams playing in the Wild Card games tomorrow and Wednesday, there's no bad choice. Sure, I'm rooting for the A's over the Royals, but mostly because Jon Lester is on the mound for Oakland, and I want to see more Jonny Gomes postseason antics. Plus, the A's are like a Red Sox alumni club: Lester, Gomes, Jed Lowrie, Josh Reddick, Coco Crisp, Brandon Moss, and Nick Punto are all on the active roster.

But if the Royals come out on top, I'll have to be happy for their fans: they haven't had anything to cheer for in October in almost thirty years.

On the National League side of things, the Pirates have an edge in my heart. Partly because Pittsburgh fans have endured years of futility, but also for a more personal/regional reason. One of the Pirates starting pitchers, Jeff Locke, hails from my home town.  We're used to Olympic skiers up here in New Hampshire, but a professional baseball player is much more exciting for us - we've all been converted Pirates fans since he was traded to Pittsburgh in 2009.

But I became a (casual) Giants fan during their 2012 World Series run. Marco Scutaro is no longer in San Francisco, but they have former Red Sox pitcher Jake Peavy, as well as their own unique cast of characters - how can you root against a guy who's nicknamed Kung Fu Panda?

It's kind of nice to know that no matter which teams make it out of the Wild Card round, I won't be crushed by the outcome. Sure, I have my preferences, but I can find it in my heart to be happy for whichever team wins. Nothing that happens in the next month will measure up to last year - but it's time for the playoffs! With or without the Red Sox, October is the most wonderful time of the year.

Congrats, Jeff Locke!

I've mentioned Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jeff Locke before in this space, because he's the first major leaguer that my hometown of North Conway, New Hampshire, has ever produced.

Of course, locals have followed Locke's career closely, from the time he was drafted by the Atlanta Braves, through the trade to Pittsburgh, and every step up the minor league ladder. He made his major league debut as a September call-up in 2011, and his friends and family made the trek to Pittsburgh to see him.

Last season, he made six starts for the Pirates, racking up a 1-3 record.  This year, Jeff Locke has officially been named the fifth starter in the Pirates rotation coming out of spring training, and my Facebook newsfeed has absolutely blown up with hometown pride.

Locke will be one of three southpaws in the Pirates rotation, joining Wandy Rodriguez and Jonathan Sanchez, while the other two spots have been claimed by righthanders James McDonald and AJ Burnett.

Local hero > local 9

Last night's spring training game was a strange one for people from my hometown. Being from the White Mountains in New Hampshire, most people are diehard Red Sox fans; sure, you get people transplanted from other parts of the country who bring their fandoms with them, but anybody local is a Red Sox fan for life.

But last night, there was a conflict of interest. No, not because there are an unusual amount of Pittsburgh expats around, but because local hero Jeff Locke was starting for the Pirates. Locke took the loss, giving up three runs in the first inning, but the thrill of watching him pitch on NESN won't wear off for residents of Mount Washington Valley anytime soon.

Unlike Californians and Floridians who frequently see their local high school heroes playing in the bigs, Jeff Locke was a once-in-generation second round pick for northern New Hampshire. As such, he is followed closely by local fans, who are much more used to producing world class skiers than major league ballplayers.

It's simple to root for Locke when he's playing against 28 of the thirty major league teams, but there's a certain feeling of conflict when he faces off against the local nine. Most New Hampshirites hoped that the Red Sox would select him in the 2006 draft, but the Atlanta Braves got there first (Locke ended up with the Pirates as part of the 2009 Nate McLouth trade).

Yesterday was the first time Locke faced off against the Red Sox, and given this year's schedule, it will be the last for a while (barring a trade, of course). But I know I'm not alone in saying that yesterday I rooted for Locke, and I'll root for him again - the Boston Red Sox will always be a household name in baseball, but watching a local hero become a national name is something new and exciting.

2013 Bill James Projections - Joel Hanrahan

2011: 70 games, 40 saves, 68.2 IP, 1.83 ERA, 16 BB, 61 SO
2012 projection: 69 games, 37 saves, 67 IP, 3.36 ERA, 23 BB, 67 SO
2012: 63 games, 36 saves, 59.2 IP, 2.72 ERA, 36 BB, 67 SO
2013 projection: 59 games, 40 saves, 57 IP, 3.63 ERA, 26 BB, 58 SO

Despite spending his entire career with the mostly less than respectable (pre-2012) Nationals and Pirates, Joel Hanrahan has pretty respectable numbers. It's unclear how the Red Sox will be handling the Andrew Bailey/Joel Hanrahan closer balancing act, though the online depth chart does designate Hanrahan as the ninth inning guy.

Hanrahan spent some time at Fenway Park this week, and seemed willing and ready to share time with Bailey: "...we'll get along great. All you can do is root for each other to have success and pull for the team. That's what we're going to do, I believe. He was in a tough spot. Any time you injure your hand in spring training, that's not fun. Especially coming over to a new team. I'm sure he's got to prove this year." (quote via Boston.com's Extra Bases blog).

Hanrahan also commented on the increased media presence at Fenway as opposed to his old home with the Pittsburgh Pirates, conceded that he was bound to say some stupid things, and reassured everyone that he would just roll with the punches.

Overall, Hanrahan seems like a good fit for the Red Sox. The projections that James and his team did were calculated under the assumption that Hanrahan would be the closer for the Pirates, so it's possible that he'll see more save opportunities - though it's nice to know that (barring a trade), the Red Sox will have two established closers waiting in the bullpen.

Help - I'm being taunted by a Cleveland fan! [Part 2]

You may remember my friend Mike from this post back in April.  Sadly, we're into late June and despite the fact the Red Sox have won FOUR MORE games than the Tribe, he's still finding things to laugh about.

So today I'll keep it simple, and just hope the Sox shut him up :)

Optimism or Idiocy?

According to this Boston.com poll (screengrabbed by me), there are 28 people out there who think that the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to win the NL Central. In case you were wondering, the last time Pittsburgh had a winning season of any kind was nearly twenty years ago, in 1992 (96-66), when some guy named Tim Wakefield was on the team. The best the Pirates have done since then was 1997, when they went 79-83.

I appreciate the optimism (or morbid humor attempt) by those 28 fans, but in recent years the best thing to be said of the Pirates is that they serve as a wonderful farm system for the other 29 teams. In a state of perpetual rebuilding, the once-proud franchise routinely ships off their only good player in exchange for a few prospects... and once those prospects have developed, the process begins anew!


It's too bad, but at least Pittsburgh has the Steelers and Penguins to tide them over for the foreseeable future: if the Pirates win the NL Central, I'll eat Jim Leyland's awesome Pirates hat.