2007 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 2007 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 126th season of the franchise; the 121st in the National League. This was their seventh season at PNC Park. The Pirates finished sixth and last in the National League Central with a record of 68–94.

2007 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record68–94 (.420)
Divisional place6th
Other information
Owner(s)Robert Nutting
Kevin McClatchy
General manager(s)Dave Littlefield
Neal Huntington
Manager(s)Jim Tracy
Local televisionFSN Pittsburgh
Local radioWPGB-FM
(Steve Blass, Greg Brown, Lanny Frattare, Bob Walk, John Wehner)
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Overview

The Pirates began 2007 with a new majority owner, Robert Nutting, and the dreary fact that they could surpass the Philadelphia Phillies as owners of the longest consecutive losing seasons record in baseball, having last had a winning season in 1992. However, in spite of finishing 5th in the NL Central, the Pirates were hoping that their 2nd half momentum from 2006 would carry over into 2007.

In addition to NL batting champion Freddy Sanchez and slugger Jason Bay, the Bucs acquired Adam LaRoche from Atlanta in January, hoping to boost offensive power. In addition, they re-signed pitcher Shawn Chacón, acquired from the Yankees last summer, and signed Tony Armas, Jr. to help bolster their starting rotation, led by Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny.

Just before the All Star game, team CEO Kevin McClatchy announced at the end of the season he would be stepping down from the position. He maintained that he would "remain as the active leader of the organization" to give the team ample time to find a successor and "ensure a smooth transition into the next chapter of Pirates history."

Regular season

The Pirates' season started well, as they swept the Houston Astros in Houston for the first time since 1991, when the Astros played in the Astrodome. However, that initial success didn't carry for very long, as the Bucs proceeded to lose 11 of their next 13 games. The Pirates pulled out of their early slump to post a 12-12 record at the end of April. May, however, would to be quite tumultuous, as Tony Armas was sent to the bullpen for poor performance, Zach Duke struggled mightily, the bullpen blew several late leads, and closer Salomón Torres was stripped of his closer's duties, in favor of youngster Matt Capps after Torres blew a 2-run ninth-inning lead against the San Diego Padres on May 31.

After the All-Star Break, the Pirates started off by losing 7 games in a row, and 8 out of 9 overall. Paul "Big Poison" Waner's number 11 was retired in a pregame ceremony at PNC Park July 21, 2007, conducted in part by members of his family and Pirate greats Bill Mazeroski and Ralph Kiner.

Fans protest

Frustrated by the consistent losing, poor drafting, and the ownership's inability to retain players due to payroll constraints, fans led by Pittsburgh Business Executive Andrew Chomos organized a much-publicized walkout for June 30.[2] There were also a pre-game protest rally outside the stadium, including the appearance and speaking of former Pirate Doc Ellis, who stated he has been "embarrassed to be called a Pirate over the last 15 years". Despite the best efforts by the Pirates to downplay the protest, it became so publicized that management was forced to acknowledge its existence. Then Pirate CEO Kevin McClatchy resigned 2 days after the protest. The protest periodically appeared in news articles as it did in the August 2010 issue of Sports Illustrated and was also a topical conversation on ESPN and CNN programs.

Season standings
NL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago Cubs 8577 0.525 — 44–37 41–40
Milwaukee Brewers 8379 0.512 2 51–30 32–49
St. Louis Cardinals 7884 0.481 7 43–38 35–46
Houston Astros 7389 0.451 12 42–39 31–50
Cincinnati Reds 7290 0.444 13 39–42 33–48
Pittsburgh Pirates 6894 0.420 17 37–44 31–50

Game log
2007 game log (68–94)
April (12–12)
May (11–18)
June (12–15)
July (7–17)
August (17–13)
September (9–19)
Legend:         = Win         = Loss         = Postponement
Bold = Pirates team member       Source = baseball-reference.com[3]

Record vs. opponents
2007 National League Records

Source:
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL WSH AL
Arizona—4–24–22–48–106–15–28–102–53–45–15–410–810–84–36–18–7
Atlanta2–4—5–41–64–210–83–34–35–29–99–95–15–24–33–411–74–11
Chicago2–44–5—9–95–20–68–72–59–62–53–48–73–55–211–56–18–4
Cincinnati4–26–19–9—2–44–34–112–48–72–52–49–72–44–36–91–67-11
Colorado 10–82–42–54–2—3–33–412–64–24–24–34–311–810–83–44–310–8
Florida1–68–106–03–43–3—2–34–32–57–119–93–43–41–62–48–109–9
Houston2–53–37–811–44–33-2—4–35–132–53–35–104–32–47–92–59–9
Los Angeles 10–83–45–24–26–123–43–4—3–35–54–25–28–1010–83–35–15–10
Milwaukee5–22–56–97–82–45–213–53–3—2–43–410–62–54–57–84–28–7
New York4–39–95–25–22–411–75–25–54–2—6–124–22–44–25–29–98–7
Philadelphia1-59–94–34–23–49–93–32–44–312–6—4–24–34–46–312–68–7
Pittsburgh4–51–57–87–93–44–310–52–56–102–42–4—1–64–26–124–25–10
San Diego8–102–55–34–28–114–33–410–85–24–23–46–1—14–43–44–26–9
San Francisco8–103–42–53–48–106–14–28–105–42–44–42–44–14—4–13–45–10
St. Louis3–44–35–119–64–34-29–73–38–72–53–612–64–31–4—1–56–9
Washington1–67–111–66–13–410-85–21–52–49–96–122–42–44–35–1—9–9

Detailed records

Roster
2007 Pittsburgh Pirates
Roster
Pitchers
  • 46 Tony Armas, Jr.
 Catchers

Infielders

  •  2 Jack Wilson
 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Opening Day lineup
Opening Day Starters
NamePosition
Chris DuffyCF
Jack WilsonSS
Jason BayLF
Adam LaRoche1B
Ronny PaulinoC
Xavier NadyRF
José Bautista3B
José Castillo2B
Zach DukeSP

Statistics
Hitting
Pitching

Awards and honors

2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians International League Trent Jewett
AA Altoona Curve Eastern League Tim Leiper
A Lynchburg Hillcats Carolina League Jeff Branson
A Hickory Crawdads South Atlantic League Gary Green
A-Short Season State College Spikes New York–Penn League Turner Ward
Rookie GCL Pirates Gulf Coast League Tom Prince
Rookie DSL Pirates Dominican Summer League N/A
Rookie VSL Pirates Venezuelan Summer League N/A
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References
  • Game Logs:
1st Half: Pittsburgh Pirates Game Log on ESPN.com
2nd Half: Pittsburgh Pirates Game Log on ESPN.com
Walkout by Pirates fans gets blacked out
Pirates Fan Protest, Walkout Still On For Weekend
Pirates fans group pushing in-game walkout Saturday
'Fans for Change' ready for Pirates protest
  1. From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
  2. Fans Protest / Walkout:
  3. "2007 Pittsburgh Pirates Schedule and Results". Baseball-Reference.com.
  4. "Major League Baseball Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates.
  5. "Major League Baseball Stats | pirates.com: Stats". Pittsburgh Pirates.
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