HT Baseball Preview: Ryan Stasik’s Pirates
In the most exciting baseball/music collaboration since MTV’s Rock n’ Jock, Hidden Track is kicking off our preview of the 2007 Major League Baseball season today. Over the first six months of our existence we have stayed completely focused on music. But Ace and I are just such big baseball fans that we wanted to tie our two passions together in an interesting way.
We have talked to a number of your favorite musicians about their love for America’s Pastime, and over the next few weeks we will bring you their thoughts on the upcoming season. And at the All-Star break and at the end of the season we will check back with these guys to see how things have turned out.
Today we start with an essay on being a Pirate fan by Umphrey’s McGee bassist Ryan Stasik. Stasik grew up as a diehard Pirate and Steeler fan in Pittsburgh. Here’s Ryan’s take on his beloved and dreadful Bucs prospects for 2007…
Where to begin is the question when you have witnessed every season go under .500 since the days of Bonds (beat it), Bonilla, and my hero Andy Van Slyke in 1992. Well, let’s start with hope since we finished the second half of the ‘06 season over .500 and out of the cellar in the NL Central by a game to the Cubs. What a day it is to brag about your team being better than the Cubs!
Here we are again ready for a new season and living in Chicago I am able to breathe that hope in the air for those dreadfully cursed Cubs and their fans, yet I am a realist and know both our teams will blow it! The Pirates by playing like a high school team bountiful of errors and mental mistakes, and the Cubs by injuries and long lasting slumps.
Read on for Ryan’s full preview of the Pirates upcoming season…
I am excited to watch our best players Freddy Sanchez and Jason Bay become consistent scorers and defensive players. We exchanged our closer Mike Gonzalez for first baseman Adam LaRoche (32 HR, 90 RBI, .561 SLG), who I hope has a great season and melds well into the world of the black and gold. Jack Wilson is a good shortstop and decent hitter, but I have problems with second baseman Jose Castillo. I think he sucks quite frankly and would rather see Jose Bautista take third base while Freddy Sanchez gets action at second.
The outfield is strong with all-star Jason Bay and a talented Xavier Nady. Not much arm strength out there, but we are the Pirates and we take what we can get. Chris Duffy will get the start in center and he has the speed to steal over 50 bases this season in the leadoff spot.
Pitching?!? Oh no! Well, we will need big seasons out of our so-called star Zach Duke, as well as Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny, and Paul Maholm. Not much to say in the pitching department except cross your fingers and pray for a lot of defense.
Overall the offense looks all right, Brad Eldred is a nice addition but what I really care about is finishing higher than the Cubs. Lets go Bucs!!! Who knows maybe this year we can finish over .500? Doubt it. But I know one thing for sure: I will be at Wrigley wearing my Roberto Clemente jersey and ol’ Kent Tekulve hat cheering on the Bucs to beat the Cubs during there visit here in May.
Anyone who counts Andy van Slyke as a hero is a friend of mine…his was the first baseball card I had as a kid that I thought was awesome. van Slyke might be one of the cooler last names of all-time.
I’ve got Zach Duke as one of my starters on my fantasy team (late-round pickup, not bad for an Opening Day starter), and I’d love for him to pan out this year. He had it in 2005, but I’m not sure he coulda been more disappointing last year. I’m anxious to see Gorzelanny throw…hear great things.
Thanks for the preview, Ryan. Not get back to the bass!
I can’t imagine being a Pirates fan, that must be painful. At the same time is it better to never be in it, or to lose late in the playoffs every year?
I’ll have to ask a Braves fan.
Thanks for taking the time to write the column, Ryan (great idea, Scotty). You clearly have been keeping up with the Buccos a bit more than I have. After fifteen years of futility, my far-fetched hopes are usually crashed early into June if not earlier. Lets hope we have something good to talk about later this summer . . . (See you on Friday the 13th.)
Fantastic idea gents. Doug Drabek’s son is playing for the ‘Claws this year so we’ll see if any of his Pop’s talent rubbed off on him…or something.
this is great idea for a feature guys! Im a former baseball fanatic… before i bought a guitar, my entire existence revolved around baseball.. a combination of an ahole varsity coach and the strike in 94 kind of made me rebel and distance myself from the game… and buy a guitar…
but i was thinking about trying to actually follow a season again this year. I mean, it sucks when the most relevant addition I have to any conversation about baseball is a joke about Kevin Maas
It’s a good thing he’s a bass player. That means he can grab a random Pirates fan, take his ticket to the game, put the fan on stage with the bass, and we’d all be none the wiser.
Sisto… you must be more of a baseball fan than a music fan. Trust me WE would all be much WISER… there’s no replacing Stasik on the bassik;)
Thanks for putting this together Scotty B! Stasik sure has lots of love for his Pirates! (Maybe someday he will see the light and convert to a Cubs fan!)Also, I couldn’t help but remember some MLB trivia: Stasik mentioned that he was going to wear his Roberto Clemente jersey to a Cubs vs. Pirates game. Well, if Cubs fans will remember, I believe Clemente hit the farthest Home Run in Wrigley Field history. If I am not mistaken, it sailed just to the left of the centerfield scoreboard and out of the park! Let’s unite, Cubs fans, and make sure we heckle Stasik if he is so bold as to wear that jersey! ;-)
-b
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[...] The Hidden Track Baseball Preview is coming to a close with two final columns. Today we feature an essay from Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee about the Chicago Cubs. After we gave his band mates Ryan Stasik and Andy Farag a chance to talk about their teams, we thought it only right to get Joel’s thoughts on the Cubs. UM’s keyboard specialist took his assignment seriously, retuning an essay worthy of the Sun-Times sports section. Kudos to Cummins for taking our bait and landing multiple shots at Stasik’s Bucs. Take it away Joel….. [...]