Big Yellow's View From 142 At PNC Park

Big Yellow's View From 142 At PNC Park When you hear "Bust A Move", look up to the scoreboard and you will see him doing just that. Gettin Down with the Bucs!! LET'S GO BUCS!!

05/25/2026

Well, as we reach Memorial Day, the Bucs are over 500, but in last place in the Central. A big 4-game series begins today against the Cubs. Hope the Bucs can win a few this week, and move up in the standings. While it is bad that the Bucs will be without Joey Bart and Ryan O'Hearn for a few weeks, it does give Garcia and Valdez the opportunity to make an impact. It was nice to see Valdez go deep yesterday, but being that's been his only hit since coming up, it is a concern. I like what I've seen from Endy Rodriguez since he's come up, and Davis is still doing great defensively, but that 139 average sticks out like a sore thumb. Hopefully Jared Jones will be coming back soon, and hopefully he'll be as sharp as the last time we saw him pitch here. Looking forward to the week ahead! LET'S GO BUCS!!

04/30/2026

Well that was ugly. Hopefully it won't be a thing that would torpedo a season like a similar losing streak about this time in 2023. It's wild how things fell apart in each of the 4 games of this series, and at different times. Like Santana on Monday, Ashcraft in the 5th on Tuesday, Skenes in the first inning today. Not to mention the same dilemma of runners being left on time after time. Of course, maybe it's the Cardinals being the Cardinals. While they had struggled in Pittsburgh in 24 and 25, it looks like some new Cardinals hitters are carrying on the legacy left by Puljols, Molina, and Pham among others who tee off on pirate pitching. This week JJ Wetherholt, Pedro Pages, and Nathan Church did bad things to the Bucs, and the Bucs had no answers...or at least not enough to win. It's good to score 16 combined runs over 3 games, but not so good to surrender 26 runs in those same 3 games. Another rough aspect of this week is how whenever the Bucs would get close, the pitching would dig the hole deeper, like today when the bucs got it back to 5-4, Mattson comes in and the Cards (with help from bad defense by Reynolds) add 5 to their lead. When it's going as bad as it has been for the Bucs this week, you almost expect something bad to happen. Hopefully the bats will be strong at the eighr moments this weekend, and the bucs can beat up on Cincinnati before heading out west. Still at 500 right now. Gotta get back to basics to get back (and hopefully stay) over 500 for the rest of the season! LET'S GO BUCS!!

04/17/2026

Well, that was some kind of series against the Nats. Starting pitching was strong except for Keller on Tuesday, and a lot of crazy moments occurred in the series finale. I thought they put rules in place to prevent the interference we witnessed today after Chase Utley and Jung Ho Kang were injured on similar plays. While it was bang-bang on who touched the 2nd base bag first, I'm not sure why New York didn't make the obvious interference call that would have at least had Nunez out at 2nd, instead 4 runs score and it's safe to say Ashcraft was rattled by the non-call. It was nice to see the Bucs tie it up in the bottom half with Ozuna's first longball of the season! Ramirez had some serious control issues today in giving the Nats the lead back. Bucs battled to tie it up in the 9th, and while many will get on Tony Beasley's case with his go-stop-go hand motions, I would have to think what happened on April 9,2023 was in the back of ONeil's mind after seeing the stop sign. It's a shame Joey Bart didn't come through after that. And it was questionable to not have Konnor Griffin run into scoring position in the 10th, but who expected Mangum's hit to be in the most incorrect place it could be?? So this one can be filed in the "ones that got away" along with the game at Wrigley this past Sunday. Hopefully we'll see only about 10 of these in the season, but it isn't good that we've seen 3 (maybe 4 if you count that Padres game) and we are still in April.

So Tampa Bay comes to town tomorrow fresh off sweeping the Chisox, and have won 6 in a row, and currently lead the AL East. Historically, the bucs have struggled against Tampa, and perhaps City Connect 2.0 can help reverse that troublesome trend. Certainly looks like Bubba, Paul, and Mitch will be on the hill this weekend. Hopefully the bucs will be a cut above (thinking how the letters on the jerseys have some sword attached somewhere in the lettering) and the bucs can go on their NFL Draft mandated roadtrip with a little momentum! Gotta reduce those mental errors though. LET'S GO BUCS!!

More from today!!
04/04/2026

More from today!!

The 2026 home season is underway!!
04/04/2026

The 2026 home season is underway!!

03/29/2026

Well, it wasn't the way I expected the season to start, but I like the fight the Bucs are showing so far. Yes, there were many bad things over the first 3 games, but there were times the bucs would seek redemption. Take for example ONeil Cruz, his huge mistakes on Thursday loomed large in the Mets big inning, and it lead many to question why he was still out in Center Field. Yet today (Sunday) he fields the carom on Soto's hit in the 10th cleanly, makes a strong, albeit short-hop throw to Triolo who throws a perfect strike to Henry Davis to get Lindor out, and keeping the 1-run lead for the bucs they would not relinquish. Another example of redemption was Isaac Mattson. Thursday he comes in with 1 out, and the Bucs down a reachable 6-4 in the 5th, by the time he was done, it's 9-4 (including walking in a batter on 4 pitches not even close to the zone) and threw gasoline on the fire. Today, he threw a perfect 8th inning, and only threw 4 balls total on 13 pitches, striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced. I am hopeful Skenes and Hunter Barco will redeem themselves as well the next time they take the mound.

In the long journey that has only just begun, there are things that will need to be worked on, and hopefully will not be season long trends. Most notably after this series, the RISP and LOB numbers. 6/39, including a horrid 2/18 on Saturday isn't going to cut the mustard. 32 LOB for the series was bad, especially considering 29 of those occurred over the last 2 games. Another issue that will need to be discussed are the challenges. For Reynolds not to challenge on the 3-1 pitch that would have put him on base had he challenged is something that needs to be discussed, same with Urquidy or Davis not challenging the 2-2 pitch on Lindor in the 10th. Yes I'm aware they're on the tightrope in that if they lose the challenge there, they are done, but if you're not going to challenge in extra innings when outs (especially of the striking variety) are paramount, when is the time then?? Perhaps they were shy after Cruz cost them a challenge earlier in the game, but considering the 3-2 pitch wasn't even close, and that Lindor came inches away from tying the game, it wasn't right to sit on it, not like you can roll them over to the Cincinnati series. The replay challenge early in the game was a risk, especially since the booth did not feel Horwitz held the bag by the time the ball got there. Hopefully those issues will be fixed as the year goes on. Hopefully Bubba, and Braxton will look sharp in their first starts of the year, and Paul can redeem himself. At least get back to 500 by the home opener!! LET'S GO BUCS!!

03/21/2026

So the Bucs made an announcement after winning their 17th game of the Grapefruit League! The announcement being that Konnor Griffin will start the season in the minors. While an over 800 OPS is pretty good, he's still adjusting to MLB level curve balls and changeups and had a few bad swings and misses. This wasn't totally unexpected, but hopefully he'll "rake" in Indy, and be up by June. Skenes looks ready for the season, and it's good he went through Spring Training and the World Baseball Classic unscathed, and hopefully will get run support on Thursday, as well as the rest of the season. As we head into the final days in Bradenton, there are some things that make me say "should I worry?" Or "as long as they're getting it out of the way now, it should be Ok", especially pertaining to the offensive struggles at the catching position. Since Rodriguez was sent down earlier this week, it looks like Bart and Davis will be behind the dish. Hopefully Henry will at least hit the Mendoza line this season. Still a few more cuts to make in the days ahead, but it looks like Triolo and Nick Gonzales will make up the left side of the infield for now with Alika Williams backing them up. Looking forward to Thursday afternoon at Citi Field! LET'S GO BUCS!!

02/21/2026

Well it was a nice way to start Grapefruit League play with O'Hearn and Endy going deep, and the pitchers keeping the Orioles under wraps for the most part in winning 8-2! Hopefully we'll see more long balls by those 2 when the games start to count! Looking forward to seeing Keller go in the LECOM opener tomorrow!!

And it was hard to hear the news about Maz's passing. Certainly the greatest 2nd baseman in team history, and while everyone will remember the homer of a lifetime, I'd also like to remember the steady hands that were a staple of the Bucs infield throughout the 60's. It was also great that he would go down to Bradenton to mentor the Bucs for years. RIP Bill. Certainly a hall of fame life!!

Fun times at Piratefest!! LET'S GO BUCS!!
01/24/2026

Fun times at Piratefest!! LET'S GO BUCS!!

01/24/2026

Another fantastic Piratefest is in the books! It was nice to see folks I haven't seen since September like Greg Brown, Neil Walker, and Joe Block. There was also a cool "Cy Young panel" discussion with the Bucs 2 previous Cy Young award winners Vernon Law and Doug Drabek! Vernon is still very spry for someone in his 90's, but it's sad to think there are only 4-5 players left from the 1960 championship team! Of course there were swag bags, merchandise areas, and autograph sessions as well. The Q&A was less contentious than previous years, and Travis Williams was straight forward in saying the playoffs are the goal for the 2026 Pirates. Im hopeful the players who were there (including new acquisition Ryan O'Hearn via zoom) can get it done in 2026!! LET'S GO BUCS!!

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