Posted by Bill Baer on Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 4:18 pm

The Pittsburgh Pirates don’t have a lot to look forward to in 2009. PECOTA projects them to win just 64 games in a division in which they have to beat out five other competitors. Even so, the NL Central is as weak as it’s been in quite some time and the Pirates still have no shot.

However, the Pirates didn’t wait until the start of the regular season to start the embarrassment. No, that would be too similar to recent years. What they did today was epic fail defined: they lost to a community college team, 6-4. Granted, it wasn’t their A-squad but it’s still hilarious.

Of Manatee Community College’s 11 hits, four went for extra bases — three doubles and a triple. They threw out nine pitchers for one inning apiece, and only two of them gave up runs (three in the second and one in the third).

The greatest discovery in perusing this box score is that the Pirates have a Minor Leaguer named Henry Henry. Oh, his parents are cruel.

Elsewhere in spring training…

Ryan Howard hit his league-leading 10th spring training home run and knocked in his 24th RBI. Jamie Moyer got shelled again, giving up 9 earned runs in four innings pitched, giving him a cool 8.27 ERA in spring training. Phillies newcomer Jack Taschner gave up two hard-hit home runs (to Cristian Guzman and Alex Cintron) in his inning of work.

Mike Pelfrey gave up 8 earned runs in four innings of work against the Baltimore Orioles. Interesting to note about this game: the Orioles only made one substitution: catcher Guillermo Rodriguez for Chad Moeller. Meanwhile, the Mets had 18 different players log at least one at-bat in the game. The two teams combined for 17 runs and 27 hits.

St. Louis Cardinals new closer Jason Motte continues to impress. In today’s game against the Florida Marlins, Motte had a perfect inning of work with two strikeouts, lowering his spring ERA to 1.46. The Cardinals’ relievers, in fact, did not allow a hit or a walk in four innings. Josh Kinney, Ryan Franklin, and Trever Miller joined Motte in the effort, resulting in a 6-3 Cardinals victory.

Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-2 against the Houston Astros. Jones had hit a home run in each of his previous two games, but settled for two singles today, boosting his spring training batting average to .357. The Braves won, 2-1 behind four innings of strong pitching from Jair Jurrjens, although it was against the Astros’ B-squad.

Francisco Liriano had three strong innings of work against the Boston Red Sox, allowing only one run on two hits, striking out three and walking none. Sox starter Brad Penny gave up three earned runs in five innings. The Twins won 7-3 behind the offense of Michael Cuddyer, who went 2-for-2 with a double and a triple and three RBI.

In progress is a slugfest between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs. It’s 8-6 in the bottom of the sixth and Andy Marte, Shin Soo Choo, Ryan Garko, and Alfonso Soriano have all hit home runs. Former St. Louis Cardinal Anthony Reyes had a disappointing performance, allowing six runs in two innings. Ryan Dempster and Chad Gaudin of the Cubs each gave up three runs, but Dempster struck out seven in four innings.