Pirates Closing In On 2010 Milestones

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REPOSTED from 3March2010:  For those new Pirates fans after hearing Octavio Dotel tell Rocco he is 20 strikeouts from 1000, we felt it was important to let everyone check this out again.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have important milestones that could be reached during the 2010 season. When the Bucs raise the jolly roger for the 71st time this year, John Russell will have 200 wins in his managerial career for the Bucs. It will put the Bucs skipper at number 15 on the Pirates Manager All-Time Win List.

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Paul Gurner Maholm could reach 1000 innings pitched in his career with a healthy 2010. Maholm would need to pitch 204 innings. He pitched 206.1 in 2008 and 194.2 last season.

After Maholm went yard last year, Maholm needs just 474 homers to tie Willie Stargells’ All-Time HR record. [Baseball Reference Maholm]

Zachary Thomas Duke reaches 500 career strikeouts when he rings up victim number 91. God please let it be Ryan Braun. Duke can also reach 1000 innings pitched in his career if he can spin it for 194.2 innings this season. Also with four base knocks this season, Duke will reach 50. Zach has five career doubles leaving him 553 shy of the all-time record which is held by Pirate great Paul Waner. [Baseball Reference Duke]

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Octavio Eduardo (Diaz) Dotel needs 17 saves to reach 100 and with 60 strikeouts, Dotel will make it 1000 for his career. [As Dotel pointed out on Pirates Extra Innings, this is down to 20 strikeouts now.]

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Brendan ‘Born on the Fourth of July’ Donnelly needs to play in 52 games and have 57 strikeouts to reach 400 in each category. [Baseball Reference Donnelly]  [Donnelly has appeared in 28 games thus far.]

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Ryan Matthew Doumit needs 144 hits to reach 500. Fellow Pirate backstop, Manny Sanguillen was intentionally walked 92 times which ranks fifth all time. Doumit has been intentionally walked 14 times in his career, so with 79 intentional free passes Doumit jumps Manny? That’s not too far fetched. Heh, Sangy…records were made to be broken. Also, if Doumit can throw out 31 runners this year, he will reach 100 for his career. [Baseball Reference Doumit]

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Aki Iwamura needs just 121 hits to reach 500 in his North American MLB career. [Baseball Reference Iwamura]  [Aki with his red hot pre-All Star Break start has this all the way down to 91 after he crushed 30 hits in 165 at-bats thus far in the season.]

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Ryan Church is 44 hits away from the popular 500 mark.  [With Church being on a tear, this number is down to 20 for the always clutch Ryan Church.]

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Robert Edward Crosby needs to hit 39 homers in 2010. If he does that, not only do the Bucs finish above .500, but it gives Crosby 100 for his career. I will give you $100 if that happens too. No, make it $500.  [Crosby has this number down to 38 now after 135 at-bats.   Thanks for covering my ass Bobby]

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PNC Park Beer vendors will set new records for tips as Bucco fans also set a new record in beer consumption. RumBunter sees the best talent on the diamond in PNC Park history later this summer. Combine the Pedro Alvarez, Brad Lincoln, and Jose Tabata hype machine with the cabin fever Pirate fans have after the worst winter since Honus Wagner had an OPS + of 205 way back when, and add in the best sales team in baseball. It all makes for a big spike in Pirates attendance. Cabin Fever + Talent Buzz + Great Sales Team = Beer Buzz $$$

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PNC Beer Vendors. We Will.

2010 Pirates Motto entry one. Thats a contest waiting to happen. I will get a sponsor and get that one started.

Have a great weekend