Former Tiger Craig Monroe hit two three-run homers for the Pirates against the Braves on Saturday. He's still Pittsburgh's fourth outfielder. (Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)
Death, taxes and a Pirates losing season.
Well, don't look now, but the Bucs are 8-6 and coming off back-to-back victories over the Marlins, the hottest team in baseball at 11-1 before they arrived in Pittsburgh.
Quality pitching has been the key for the Pirates, whose 3.00 ERA is the best in the National League, second in the majors (the Mariners, seriously, are at 2.94). But they've got a bit of punch offensively, too, and a bit more than they thought they had when they signed Craig Monroe to a minor-league deal this winter.
Monroe, 32, the former Tigers hero with his fourth team in three seasons, rode a hot spring (eight HRs, 16 RBIs, .325) to a spot on the 25-man roster, then emerged in a major way last weekend when he belted two three-run homers in a 10-0 whupping of the Braves on Saturday.
"I really feel like this team is taking the right steps," Monroe told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, speaking of a Pirates club that, on this 16-year skid of losing seasons have taken enough bad steps to wear out more than a few pairs of nice kickers walking across the Allegheny Bridge.
"We're not getting ahead of ourselves. We've had some good pitching and, all of a sudden, the hitting comes, and you start jelling. I'm telling you: This could be a long and fun season for us."
How Monroe will factor in remains to be seen. He's still the fourth outfielder, behind West Michigan native Nate McLouth, Nyjer Morgan and Brandon Moss. But taking advantage of the next few starts thrown his way will at least give manager Jim Russell something to think about.
Prime prep
If you haven't heard the name Patrick Schuster yet, you're forgiven. He's just a high school senior, but one on a record-setting mission.
On Saturday, he threw his fourth consecutive no-hitter, striking out 17 in helping his Mitchell High team beat rival Pasco, 5-0, in New Port Richey, Fla. When asked by ESPN to describe the biggest threat of a hit, the left-hander responded:
"Their leadoff batter, Josh Johnson , hit a groundball. 'Cause he's real quick, so anything on the ground, it would have been close. But he fortunately hit it straight to the second baseman, and he made a clean play."
A routine grounder? Seriously? Sheesh, some drama.
The four straight no-hitters is a Florida record. The national mark is six (Chris Taranto of Biloxi, Miss., in 1961; Tom Engle , of Lancaster, Ohio, in 1989).
Engle's employment at ESPN must make Schuster's story especially intriguing inside the walls of its Bristol, Conn., campus.
At 6-foot-2, 165 pounds, Schuster isn't the most intimidating presence. But he gets a whole heckuva lot out of that modest frame, not unlike his idol, Rays left-hander Scott Kazmir . With his 90-mph fastball, a curveball, slider and change-up, he's 7-0 with 110 strikeouts in 55 innings.
The next scheduled start for Schuster, 18, is Tuesday in a district playoff game.
Truth be told considering the past week has been an exhausting one, thanks to one interview request after another, from ESPN to the New York Times, he sounds like a kid who's just fine seeing the streak end if it means his team's season continues.
"This is a lot of fun, but I hope it doesn't last much longer," Schuster, who will play at the University of Florida unless the baseball draft convinces him otherwise, told the St. Petersburg Times. "Winning a state championship would be icing on the cake."
The Lowe-down
Braves starting pitcher and Dearborn native Derek Lowe , 35, recently gave a lighthearted video interview to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The highlights:
Grand finale
Padres ace Jake Peavy went 1,284 1/3 innings without allowing a grand slam in the majors until Edgar Renteria came to the plate Tuesday and parked an 88-mph fastball into the left-field seats at AT&T Park, sparking an 8-3 Giants victory.
Only Astros pitcher Brian Moehler had a longer active streak, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The right-hander is at 1,360 innings and counting.
"I can't make a pitch like that with the pitcher on deck," Peavy, 27, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Renteria is a .455 lifetime hitter against the right-hander. He's hitting .250 for the Giants, with five of his six RBIs coming Tuesday.
Around the horn
San Francisco Chronicle writer Bruce Jenkins isn't surprised Yankee Stadium isn't filled to the facade, given the price tag of elite seats (none of the first five games sold out). But why's he gotta pick on the Grosse Pointe South kid? "New York has a social strata all its own, with more millionaires than any other city in the country, but $2,625 to watch Damaso Marte stare down Chris Getz ? Even if I had that kind of money, I'd be embarrassed to admit such a thing," Jenkins wrote.
Diamond digits
5: Double plays in five consecutive innings for Cleveland starter Aaron Laffey on Tuesday, which Elias Sports Bureau says hasn't happened for one pitcher in the same game since Detroit's Les Cain pulled it off May 6, 1970, against Minnesota.
18: Consecutive at-bats Nationals pitcher Daniel Cabrera , 27, struck out to start his career until the fourth inning Sunday, when he grounded out to first base and, subsequently, drew some nice applause from the Nationals Park crowd.
2.95: ERA of Angels starting pitchers (through Tuesday), tops in the American League and second in baseball despite a patchwork rotation that's without three horses -- right-handers John Lackey (forearm), Ervin Santana (elbow) and Kelvim Escobar (shoulder) -- and coping with the death of rookie Nick Adenhart .
4/23/00: In the Yankees' 10-7 victory over the Blue Jays, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams became the first teammates to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game. On Opening Day this year, Felipe Lopez and Tony Clark became the second to do it, in the Diamondbacks' 9-8 victory over the Rockies.
Buyer's remorse?
Yankee Stadium opened last Thursday, and the club that first popularized the home run in Babe Ruth's roaring '20s appears to boast a new home where long balls, again, are the rage. Compared to the other stadiums opened in the past decade, the new cathedral has seen unprecedented offense the first five games:
| Park (city) | Year opened | HRs | First HR | Runs |
| Yankee Stadium(Seattle) | 1999 | 9 | Russ Davis | 45 |
Not-so-friendly confines
With Royals right-hander Sidney Ponson getting shelled in Tuesday's 8-7 loss to the Indians, his Progressive Field ERA shot to 10.06. Only four active players have ERAs of 10 or higher at any stadium (min. five starts):
| Pitcher | Park (city) | G | W-L | ERA |
| Dave Bush,(Cleveland) | 8 | 0-5 | 10.06 |
Source: Elias Sports Bureau, Detroit News research
Tony's top five
Tony's bottom five
Note: Last week's rankings in parentheses.
More online: For the complete weekly power rankings, as well as more news and notes from around MLB, visit Tony Paul's Covering the Bases blog at detnews.com/tigers.
Quote of the week
"You look like Abraham Lincoln. That's hilarious."
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