The Pirates play the Chicago White Sox tonight.  It’s not the most exciting match-up ever.  I should say it wasn’t the most exciting matchup ever until it was announced that Pedro Alvarez would be starting at third base.  I don’t have time to cover this in detail, but I thought it was worth reposting the image above on this occasion.  Here’s how I explained the interpretation of the image from the original post….

What’s really exciting is just how far he can hit the ball though, we’re talking Stargel far here. Rumor has it that he hit batting practice OVER the pond outside field 1 at Pirate City. I was curious, so I grabbed a google shot of Pirate City and another one from PNC Park. I made a line that represented a homerun right down the line, over the pond. I then made a hash mark at first base (click the picture to blow it up, look close). Copied the line, pasted it on to PNC Park and resized it so the hash mark touches first base. By this (admittedly crude) estimation I have him knocking the ball not just in to the Allegheny, but in to the DEEP waters, over the kayakers for sure.