Okay, the team is poor, but can anyone explain the huge discrepancy between
the home and away records? How can this bad of a team have one of the best
home records in the NL?

"diesel" <diesel@power.org> wrote in message
news:451b2b2c$0$97227$892e7fe2@authen.yellow.readf reenews.net...

They play all the weak teams at home and all the good teams on the road. ;-)

I know I'll get slammed for this by people analyzing the specific team
detail for detail, but I'll throw this out as a generality.

Teams have the opportunity to tailor their personnel to their home park
and vice versa. Take, for example, two teams from two separate
decades. The St Louis Cardinals of the 80's played on fast carpet with
deep fences. Power hitting teams such as the Cubs couldn't get the
ball to the Busch Field fences as often as in Wrigley. The Cards
picked up a bunch of "track stars" such as Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith,
and later Ray Lankford. The guys could use the spacious outfield to
drop base hits and leg them into doubles. They could beat out many of
the infield grounders with greater ease than the "built for power, not
speed" teams. They picked up pitchers such as John Tudor and Joaquim
Andujar (sp?) who enticed hitters into hitting grounders.

On the other side of the spectrum you had the Colorado Rockies who,
from the beginning, built for power. Dante Bichette, Andres Gallaraga,
Vinnie Castilla, Jerald Clark and the others were not picked up because
they could run bases. Big Cat was about the only above-average fielder
among them, but was certainly no speedster. They would flat-out try to
outslug you. Of course, this led to problems when bashers like the
Pirates (Bonds/Bonilla), Phillies (Inky, Head, etc), et al came to
town. They had reasonable success against the speed-centric Dodgers
and Padres. Only when the Rockies lost their power hitters and
acquired the Larry Walkers and Todd Heltons--hitters for average--did
their park change and the fences moved out.

A smart organization can sync their team make-up with the
characteristics of the field and vice versa. Perhaps the one positive
about this year's Pirates squad is that it is built for PNC.

diesel wrote:

Makes sense, to a certain extent. But how often do teams change their
ballpark's dimensions? Maybe more than I realize, because I, like most
people probably wouldn't pay much attention to stuff like that, though I
would guess the teams themselves for the most part would not want fans to
know about such shenanigans. Or maybe it's just the opposite? Whadoo I know?
:-)

Home/away issue is really a sports mystery though. I mean, it's still the
same game being played. Do people cheering or not cheering you on really
make a significant difference in how you would perform after a while? I can
see a rookie being effected, but not so much a seasoned player. The Pirates
are a young team though... if they can improve the road record to around
..500... ...I'll stop there. I no how it upsets some people to speak in such
manner. ;-)

Go Pens! Do they have a new arena deal yet?

gig

"Don Tootin'" <capngroovy@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1159462061.085283.105380@m7g2000cwm.googlegro ups.com...

"Don Tootin'" <capngroovy@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1159462061.085283.105380@m7g2000cwm.googlegro ups.com...

Yeah, but are you saying that other teams, which that are definitely better
and smarter than the Pirates (like Atlanta), but with a worse home record,
have not built their teams with their respective home fields in mind?

>

I might be. Every team follows its own philosophy--there's not one
single way to guarantee success, as is proven annually by the Yankees.
I can't say for sure that the Pirates follow that philosophy; it's a
theory.

In some cases, the plan must be altered by other factors. Some teams
are built one way but due to injuries are forced to change their
mind-set. Others find that players of their mold are not available.

The dimensions probably aren't changed that often, but groundkeepers
can make a WORLD of difference in other ways. A damp infield could
gain baserunners a step.

Again, I don't profess to know anything, but am throwing out
suggestions.