Snell don’t wanna be a loser no more (He’s not a loser, his team just sucks a lot)

Ian Snell is having a breakout year of sorts. The Pittsburgh righty has compiled a 3.62 ERA and 1.21 WHIP with a very good 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 131 2/3 innings. I like what he’s done enough to have mentioned him in a previous post regarding All-Star snubs. Too bad he plays for the Pirates or else he’d probably have a better record than 7-8.

And his family probably wouldn’t call him a “loser”.

Following last night’s pitiful performance by the Pirates defense, Snell, who was removed from the game after only four innings and 63 pitches thrown, made some not too subtle comments to reporters regarding his teammates.

“All I know is that I’m going to take the blame,” Snell said. “Everything’s my fault. I don’t want to put any pressure on the team. Nothing.” He paused again, then made a 180-degree turn.

“There were some balls I thought we could have caught. We could have given up only three runs. I could have stayed in the game. I threw 50 pitches, and I’m out of the game. But they didn’t give those guys errors, either, so … it didn’t work out in my favor.”

In the guy’s defense, the gloves behind him in the fourth inning in particular were pretty horrendous. After getting Carlos Delgado to fly to left for the first out, Paul Lo Duca lofted a high flyball that was well short of the warning track in left-center. Instead of it being the 2nd out of the inning, CFer Xavier Nady, usually (and wisely) used as a corner outfielder, couldn’t get to it in time while it looked like LFer Jason Bay simply gave up. After Shawn Green drove Lo Duca home with a bullet up the middle, catcher Ronny Paulino unsuccessfully tried to backhand a slider that was barely in the dirt - Tom Emanski would not approve - which advanced Green to second. Lastings Milledge then proceeded to hit a laser right at 3rd baseman Matt Kata who let the ball go through his legs, scoring Green from 2nd. For the icing on the cake, Mets pitcher John Maine swung at a high fastball and took it over the fence for a 2-run homer.

If the Pirates OF did not consist of two below-average corner outfielders and a catcher (Ryan Doumit) , Lo Duca’s double would have been an out. If Kata knew how to catch a ball that he didn’t even need to move for, Snell would’ve been out of the inning. Instead, there were four runs on the board - all earned, thanks to the scoreboard keeper inexplicably giving Milledge a hit - and Snell was done. It was comical to everyone but Pirates fans and players.

Snell certainly didn’t think it was funny. When questioned by reporters how it felt to, well, suck as much as the Pirates do, Snell told them to ask his teammates that same question. He continued dramatically:

“I’m starting to break. I’m getting stressed out. I don’t know about these other guys, but I just want to win. I don’t want to be called a loser. Man, even my family calls our team losers, and I don’t want anyone to say that about our team.”

Dude, that’s really bad. Especially when your family comes from Dover, Delaware.