Pirates notebook
All-star pick difficult one for NL manager PITTSBURGH (AP) – As usual, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ all-star choice will be difficult for the NL manager – in this case, Arizona manager Bob Brenly.
This time it’s because they have several viable choices, rather than a representative chosen only because All-Star rules dictate that every team must be represented.
(That rule, by the way, dates to the time when there were only 16 teams, not the 30 of today, and baseball owners wanted to make certain there was interest in baseball’s showcase midseason game in every city.)
With left fielder Brian Giles (.310, 18 homers, 45 RBIs) enjoying another solid season, he would seem to be the logical choice to be selected for a third consecutive All-Star game.
But right-hander Kip Wells (9-4, 3.09 ERA) – who could be in double digits in victories by the July 9 game – and closer Mike Williams (21 saves) also are contenders. Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon plans to argue Williams’ case with Brenly.
Wells’ chances are hurt not only by the Pirates’ below-.500 record, but the fact that seven other NL starters had nine victories or more before the start of play Thursday. Also, Wells went nearly three weeks without a victory before beating Montreal 7-4 Wednesday night.
Williams led NL closers in saves earlier in the season, but now trails Eric Gagne of Los Angeles, John Smoltz of Atlanta and Danny Graves of the Reds, and All-Star managers rarely choose more than a couple of closers.
“We’ve got guys performing like All-Star players,” McClendon said. “The All-Star process isn’t perfect … and a lot of guys get pinched out and this year will be no different. But we’re proud of the way we’re performing.”
Williams, for the record, doesn’t expect to be selected and thinks Giles will be the Pirates’ representative in Milwaukee.
Unlike Boston pitcher John Burkett, who said he won’t go if selected because the Brewers are owned by commissioner Bud Selig’s family, none of the Pirates are talking about boycotting the game. Burkett is unhappy with the slow pace of the owners-players labor negotiations.
REACHING TERMS: Taber Lee, a switch-hitting shortstop who was the Pirates’ third-round pick in the amateur draft earlier this month, agreed to terms Thursday.
Lee, 21, batted .355 (87-for-245) with 15 doubles, 47 RBIs and 14 stolen bases in 65 games at San Diego State. He is the brother of Philadelphia first baseman Travis Lee.
The Pirates have signed 17 of their 43 draft picks.
LES MISERABLES?: Thursday’s game might have been the last between the contraction candidate Montreal Expos and Pirates, who once were NL East rivals.
When the Pirates last won the World Series in 1979, they didn’t beat out Montreal to nail down the division title until the final day of the regular season. That pennant race featured several important doubleheaders between the clubs and some of the clutch homers that helped future Hall of Famer Willie Stargell share the NL MVP award at age 38.
The early days of the rivalry, in 1969 and beyond, featured some of Stargell’s longest homers ever, including a ball that cleared a swimming pool beyond the right field wall at the former Jarry Park in Montreal and another deep into the upper deck in Olympic Stadium. The swimming pool homer still is a topic of discussion in Montreal.
“We went into the upper deck during batting practice the day after that one homer he hit there, and the players were so small they looked like stick figures,” former Pirates manager Chuck Tanner said. “We couldn’t believe he hit a ball that far.”
In later years, the rivalry – if there was one – was notable mostly for the empty seats in Olympic Stadium and the fact that the Expos, despite having the lowest revenues in the majors, annually fielded more competitive teams than the Pirates.
The Pirates are 231-197 against the Expos, 143-120 in Pittsburgh and 88-77 in Montreal.
NOTES: Ryan Vogelsong, recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery, will pitch Friday at the Pirates’ spring training complex. … The Pirates are 2-7 during a stretch that finds them playing 16 of 19 at PNC Park until the All-Star break. … The Pirates are setting an unofficial club record for delays in a season, with 16 delays (14 at home) for a total of 19 hours, 52 minutes. The home delays have totaled 16 hours, 14 minutes. … The Pirates are 14-11 in day games. … Manager Lloyd McClendon said before Thursday’s game that 2B Pokey Reese was only getting a day off, then said afterward that Reese has a hyperextended shoulder and sore thigh. McClendon didn’t pinch-hit for P Sean Lowe in the sixth because he wanted to save his only healthy bench player, Craig Wilson, the emergency catcher. C Keith Osik (cramping in his right side) was already out of the game.