I made an avocation into a vocation in scouting basketball then football and turned them into a full time livelihood conducting basketball and football camps. I was fortunate to have the correct people around me and working with me for this to materialize. But I always had a love of the game of baseball. It was very difficult to break into baseball as a scout. I think I understand a little about the great game of baseball. Above and beyond having 17 straight losing seasons and a continuation of trading solid players away mid-way through the season, 2 events really perplexed me about the 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates. Number 1 was the trading away of Nyjer Morgan who was a very talented guy. Morgan was a nice lead off hitter, when he got on base as a lead off guy, he had the unique ability to drive the pitcher crazy. He could stretch his lead off first base because of his quickness, he could flip his hips and fly to second base attempting to steal, and he disrupted the pitcher's concentration on the batter. He was not bad defensively as a left fielder and his arm strength was not bad either. It was a bad trade, you can always use a speed guy and he turns only 30 this summer. Actually after leaving Pittsburgh, his batting average for Washington was .345(Not to shabby). Next was the pulling of Zach Duke in a game late in the season after he pitched 8 2/3 innings with an 8 run lead. Do not hit me with the pitch count routine. Let Duke attempt to finish the game and get a complete game. Why not? He just went 8 2/3 innings. I will talk about pitch count later. Do they talk about pass count in football on how many times a QB throws the ball in warm-ups and during the game? Did anyone out there ever hear of Pass Count?
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