Pittsburgh Pirates

Rockies top Pirates 7-1

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Esmil Rogers allowed four singles while pitching into the eighth inning, Troy Tulowitzki homered and drove in three runs, and the Colorado Rockies beat Pittsburgh 7-1 on Thursday to wreck the Pirates' home opener under new manager Clint Hurdle.

Rogers (1-0) won the Rockies' No. 5 job with a strong finish in spring training. He looked more like their ace, mixing a devastating 95 mph fastball with a few breaking pitches to overwhelm the Pirates over 7 1-3 dominant innings. After giving up singles to the first two batters, the right-hander retired 22 of 23, including 18 straight.

Tulowitzki connected for his third homer in the fourth off Paul Maholm (0-1) to make it 3-1 as the Rockies won their fourth straight. The All-Star shortstop is batting .451 (46 of 102) with six homers and 18 RBIs in his career against Pittsburgh.

Andrew McCutchen drove in Pittsburgh's only run.

Following a 4-2 trip to Chicago and St. Louis, the Pirates, who won only 17 road games last season, were welcomed home warmly by 39,219 fans. The second largest crowd in PNC Park history was eager to see if a team full of youngsters that lost 105 times in 2010 had grown up.

It's still too early to say.

Hurdle's first home game for Pittsburgh came against the Rockies, the team he took to the World Series in 2007 and skippered for eight-plus seasons before being fired two years ago. It was also a homecoming of sorts for Colorado manager Jim Tracy, a close of friend of Hurdle, who managed the Pirates in 2006-07.

Hurdle was certainly familiar with many of Colorado's players, but never managed Rogers, who didn't make his big-league debut until the end of the '09 season.

Rogers overpowered the Pirates and silenced their fans.

In the hours leading up to the opening pitch, generations of Pittsburgh fans, many of them too young to remember when the beloved Buccos were a contender, geared up for a home schedule they can only hope is more enjoyable than so many before.

After 18 consecutive losing seasons, the Pirates are way overdue.

Older fans wearing Roberto Clemente's sacred No. 21 mingled with youngsters sporting McCutchen's No. 22 and the No. 18 of Neil Walker, the local kid who grew up rooting for the Pirates and believes he and his teammates can finally fill the void Pittsburghers feel between seasons of Steelers football.

"We're most certainly moving in the right direction," Walker said following batting practice. "You can just feel it around here."

During pregame ceremonies, the Pirates paid tribute to part of their past by honoring late manager Chuck Tanner, who guided Pittsburgh to their most recent World Series title in 1979, when Sister Sledge's disco hit "We Are A Family" became a championship anthem.

Walker's throwing error in the first helped the Rockies take a 2-0 lead.

With one out and a runner at first, Walker cleanly fielded Carlos Gonzalez's tailor-made double play ball but threw wildly to second, the ball skipping past shortstop Ronny Cedeno and into foul territory. By the time the Pirates corralled it, Dexter Fowler had scored and Gonzalez was at third. Tulowitzki's sacrifice fly made it 2-0.

The Pirates got one back in the bottom of the inning on McCutchen's RBI groundout, one of the few hard-hit balls off Rogers.

http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Rockies-top-Pirates-7-1-1327392.php#ixzz1IsJa0KDS


Cardinals waiting for bats to come alive

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Six games in, the St. Louis Cardinals have yet to top three runs and Matt Holliday can't get back from his appendectomy soon enough.

With or without their cleanup man, St. Louis hasn't done much with a grand total of 15 runs and four regulars batting below .200. That group includes Albert Pujols, who grounded into three double plays for the first time in his career in the opener and is batting .182 with three RBIs.

It's a time of year hated by slow starters, when a few 0-for-4s or a blown save can lead to snap judgments. They can also cause manager Tony La Russa, who has pledged to be kinder and more tolerant, to snarl, like he did after Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the Pirates.

Some fans are already labeling new right fielder Lance Berkman a foolish free-agent expenditure after he mishandles a couple of balls. Closer Ryan Franklin gives up a game-tying homer in the opener, and his age (38) and a relative lack of pitching speed ramps up speculation about possible successors.

The Cardinals are batting only .231 and are last in the National League with a .182 average with runners in scoring position and eight extra-base hits.

The lack of support has Chris Carpenter 0-1 despite a 2.08 ERA. Kyle McClellan's first career start was solid, but he left with the game tied 2-2 after six innings.

"The sky is not falling," shortstop Ryan Theriot said. "We're going to be fine. I think it's only a matter of time."

A few clutch hits, a few peaceful ninth innings, and the collective blood pressure goes down.

"If you have a five- or six-game stretch in the middle of the year when you're not swinging the bat well and run into some guys who are hot on the mound, it's no big deal," Berkman said. "Here, everybody's like, 'Oh my gosh, is this going to be a trend that'll continue?

"That's when you go to the track record and say we have the personnel."

Berkman believes Holliday's loss is the lineup equivalent of the rotation regrouping after Adam Wainwright's reconstructive knee surgery in February. Holliday is expected back early in a 10-game West Coast trip that begins Friday at World Series champion San Francisco.

"Obviously, we're missing a big guy in our lineup right now," Berkman said. "When he comes back, it's going to be a lift and we're going to be fine."

Pujols' early woes inevitably prompt suggestions he's somehow distracted by the uncertainty of looming free agency, which also would provide an opportunity for the three-time NL MVP to become the subject of a bidding war.

Nah, he says. Just an early cold spell.

"You have to find yourself. You know you know where you want to be, but you know that also it's early, but you find a way to get it done," Pujols said. "Believe it or not, if I stay healthy I know what I can do."

After dropping two of three to both the Padres and Pirates, La Russa cut short his postgame news conference Wednesday with a 50-second rant. He expressed disbelief that anyone can be that down on the team already.

"I mean, are you going to pick and choose what you like and don't like about our club?" La Russa asked. "I think it just depends on your frame of reference and I always have a problem with it.

"This is a brand new year, so we'll see what happens."

The three-game series at San Francisco begins Friday, another day, 156 games to go. Not much time for the players to dwell on what's gone wrong so far.

"Really, the season does it for you," Berkman said. "Before you can sulk there's another game and you're facing another guy and you're out there competing again. Every time you turn around you're in the batter's box again."

http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Cardinals-waiting-for-bats-to-come-alive-1327263.php#ixzz1IsJgvzn1


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