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Pirates Prospects Daily

P2Daily: Happy Pittsburgh Pirates Opening Day!

We all follow the game of baseball for a different reason. It typically relates to our childhood. The game has a certain energy level...

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Piratefest 2011 – General Public Q&A (1 of 2)

On Friday, I went down to the Convention Center to represent Pirates Prospects at Piratefest 2011. The goal was to take in the general...

Luis Heredia to Start in GCL

Dejan Kovacevic reports that top Mexican pitching prospect Luis Heredia will start his career in the Gulf Coast League in 2011.  That's a somewhat...

Pirates to Sign Joe Beimel

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been looking for left handed relief, although the market is currently very thin, with very few options remaining.  One of...

I Just Realized…

This past Sunday, January 23rd, marked the second "birthday" of Pirates Prospects.  On January 23rd, 2009, I opened the site, which at the time...

Keith Law’s Prospect Rankings

Keith Law has released his top 100 prospects in baseball, along with his organizational top 10 prospects, both on ESPN Insider. In the top 100,...

RBIs For Milledge and Gimenez; Two Homers For Latimore

Ten weeks until Opening Day for the minor league season....  just in case anyone besides me is counting.

Three playoff games on Wednesday evening, plus the Australians begin their playoffs early on Thursday morning.  I'll be away from the computer for a couple of days, but we'll catch up after that.

PUERTO RICAN LEAGUE
Criollos de Caguas  7,  Leones de Ponce  2  --  
Los Criollos forced a seventh game with a win over Los Leones.  Caguas broke a 1-1 tie with 2 runs in the top of the 4th, on a hit batter and a pair of RBI doubles.  That 3-1 score lasted until the top of the 9th, when JR Rodriguez took the mound in relief for Ponce.  Rodriguez had an uncharacteristically tough night, giving up a single and a walk, and then having a batter reaches on a fielding error to load the bases.  Then Caguas' 3B Rey Navarro smashed a grand slam to seal Los Leones' fate.  Ponce added one more run with a single, a walk, and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th.  The final game of the series will be played on Friday night.

 
VENEZUELAN LEAGUE
Tigres de Aragua  8,  Caribes de Anzoategui  4  --  
Los Tigres won their first game of the championship series tonight, with both LF Lastings Milledge and 1B Hector Gimenez contributing an RBI.  The game began in a shaky way for Los Tigres, as the first three Caribes' batters in the top of the first all walked, then a run scored on a sacrifice fly.  A solo home run began the top of the 2nd for Los Caribes, and a single and a double added another run.  Los Tigres got going in the bottom of the 2nd with a double and a   fielding error, then an RBI double by Milledge and a sacrifice fly by Gimenez.  Aragua tied the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the 5th with two walks, including one by CF Jorge Cortes, and an RBI single.  Los Caribes went ahead with a solo homer in the top of the 6th, but Los Tigres tied it again in the bottom of the frame with three singles, one by Gimenez.  Aragua took a definitive lead in the 7th with a 3-run homer, then added an insurance run in the 8th with a walk, a hit batter, and an RBI single.  Wil Ledezma came out to pitch the top of the 8th for Aragua.  He walked the first batter he faced, then got a strikeout, then another walk, and was removed.  Another reliever came on to strike out the next two batters to end the inning.  

Introducing the 2011 Pirates Prospects Annual

You may have noticed that things have been kind of slow at Pittsburgh Lumber Co. the past couple months. I have not been posting regularly, and I apologize for that. However, there was a reason for this inactivity. I have been busy working on a new project, the 2011 Pirates Prospects Annual.

Should the Pirates Have More Top 50 Prospects?

The MLB.com top 50 prospect list came out yesterday, and the Pittsburgh Pirates only had one player on the list, with Jameson Taillon coming...

Aaron Thompson Video Recap

On December 23rd, the Pittsburgh Pirates claimed left hander Aaron Thompson off of waivers from the Washington Nationals.  Thompson was a first round pick...

Ponce Takes The Lead In Puerto Rican Series

Again just two winter league playoff games on Tuesday night -- the Venezuelan championship has the night off.

Signing news:  C Robinzon Diaz has signed a minor league contract with the Rangers.




PUERTO RICAN LEAGUE
Leones de Ponce  4,  Criollos de Caguas  2  --  
Los Leones took a 3-2 game lead in this 7-game series with a win tonight.  Ponce got right down to business with a run on two hits, a throwing error, and a ground out in the top of the 1st.  Los Criollos tied the score with a walk, a double, and an RBI ground out in the bottom of the 1st.  Los Leones made use of another RBI grounder to break the tie in the top of the 3rd, with a run driven in after a single and a double.  An RBI single made it 3-1.  Los Criollos got within one run in the 6th, scoring on a single, a walk, and (guess what?) an RBI ground out.  A solo home run added an insurance run for Ponce in the top of the 9th.  Caguas threatened in the bottom of the 9th, when SS Luis Figueroa was hit by a pitch and moved to third base on a ground-rule double.  A walk loaded the bases, but two fly outs ended the rally and the game.  Figueroa singled in the 3rd and walked in the 7th, but could not come around to score.  Ramon Vazquez struck out in a pinch-hitting appearance.

 
MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE
Algodoneros de Guasave  2,  Yaquis de Obregon  1  --  
Pitchers ruled in this game, as Guasave tied the 7-game series at 2 games each.  Los Yaquis were held to 4 hits, and scored their only run with 3 of those hits, all singles, in the top of the 8th.  Their only other hit, another single, came in the 1st inning.  Guasave had just 6 hits, and half of those came in the first two innings.  Their first run was a solo home run in the 6th inning.  they scored again in the 7th inning, when a single, a sacrifice bunt by 1B Yurendell de Caster, and two walks loaded the bases.  An RBI single brought in what turned out to be the winning run.  De Caster had one of the Guasave singles in the 2nd inning.

Jameson Taillon Finishes 18th on MLB.com’s Rankings

MLB.com released their top 50 prospects for the 2011 season tonight, and Jameson Taillon rated 18th on the list.  Taillon was the only Pirates...

Gimenez’s and Milledge’s Hits Aren’t Enough

Just two winter league playoff games tonight, since the Dominican League is done and the Puerto Rican League has a night off.  That 7-game series is tied at 2 games each (Ponce and Caguas).

In other news, former Pirate Andy LaRoche signed a minor league deal with the Oakland A's.  

VENEZUELAN LEAGUE
Caribes de Anzoategui  8,  Tigres de Aragua  7  --  
Los Caribes took a 2-game lead in the championship series with tonight's win over Los Tigres.  Los Tigres began this game almost like last night's, with a solo homer in the top of the 1st.  Los Caribes came back with a 2-RBI double and an RBI single in the bottom of the inning, for a 3-1 lead.  Aragua began the top of the 2nd with three consecutive walks, including to DH Hector Gimenez and LF Lastings Milledge.  A throwing error on a pickoff attempt (trying to pick Milledge off first) allowed a run to score.  Then Los Tigres took a 5-3 lead in the 3rd.  A walk, a double, and a fielder's choice brought in one run.  A single loaded the bases, then a single by Gimenez and a walk by Milledge both drove in a run.  But Los Caribes regained the lead in the 5th.  Two singles and a walk loaded the bases.  A hit batter forced in a run, then a bases-clearing double added 3 more runs, to give Los Caribes a 7-5 lead.  A solo homer gave Los Caribes their final run in the 7th.  Los Tigres scored twice more -- one in the 7th on a walk, a single, and an RBI ground outs, then a solo homer in the top of the 8th.  Wil Ledezma pitched the bottom of the 8th for Los Tigres.  He hit the first batter he faced, then turned a bunt back to the mound into a force out at second base.  Two strikeouts ended the inning.  


MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE
Algodoneros de Guasave 12,  Yaquis de Obregon 3   --  
Guasave picked up an early lead with 3 runs in the 2nd inning, on three singles and an error.  They added to that lead with a run in the 4th and a solo homer in the 5th.  Then they put the game out of reach with a 6-run 7th inning, which featured a lead-off triple, two RBI singles, a double, and a 3-run homer by 1B Yurendell de Caster.  De Caster also drove in a run in the 8th with an RBI ground out.  Obregon scratched out a run in the 6th and had a 2-run homer in the 8th, as they managed only 4 hits in the game.  Each team committed 2 errors.  Los Yaquis lead the 7-game series 2-1.

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