Wednesday, November 14, 2007

PIRATES REMODEL BASEMENT, FIND GREAT FOOSBALL TABLE

I'm still looking for something, anything that commends new Pirates skipper John Russell.

"We knew going into last season that our strength in the minor leagues was going to be from [high Class A] down," Arbuckle said, "and that our weakest team was going to be at [Class AAA] -- and it certainly was.

"But when I was there in August, John still had his team getting after it and competing with nothing to play for. You've got to be a pretty good manager to get a team to do that. John did a great job with a team that was extremely thin talent-wise."

The Lynx finished 55-88, the 55 victories being the lowest in the International League. They were last in the league in runs scored (553), home runs (59) and team earned run average (4.77).

Russell, a former major-league catcher with Philadelphia, Atlanta and Texas, ended his playing career in 1993. He successfully managed for eight seasons in the Minnesota minor-league system before being picked by then-general manager Dave Littlefield to join the Pirates' major-league coaching staff as third-base coach after the 2002 season.

Then-manager Lloyd McClendon yesterday declined to comment on Russell.


He can take losers and turn them into high-energy losers. Terrific. Can't wait.

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