Snell

BRADENTON, Fla. — Whenever the Pittsburgh Pirates sent Ian Snell to the mound two years ago, it was like opening a can of attitude.

Snell was excited about finally reaching the majors, but this wasn't what he envisioned big-league life to be — a top prospect throwing mostly in long relief, or not pitching at all. Snell was inactive for long stretches and, to make it worse on his ego, fellow rookie Zach Duke was thriving as a starter.

To suggest Snell was disappointed and discouraged would be an understatement.

"You don't pitch for like a month and a half, it's kind of different," Snell said Friday, exaggerating slightly. "He came up and went right into the rotation, I came up and I pitched one or two days out of the bullpen and then I'd just sit there — forever. It seemed like an eternity. It bothered me I was sitting there and they didn't give me a chance."

That's one reason why he was determined to do something when he returned in September to make three starts. He beat Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros by pitching eight shutout innings for his first major league victory on Sept. 15, 2005, a victory that convinced him he belonged in the big leagues.

Last season, it was Snell — not Duke, who was 8-2 with a sub-2.00 ERA in 2005 — who became the ace of a promising staff that has only one starter older than 25. The right-handed Snell went 14-11 with 169 strikeouts for a last-place team, in a league in which no pitcher won more than 16 games.

Maybe he had a reason for being displeased when the Pirates used him so little following his initial call-up in 2005.

"To me, and I hope people don't take this the wrong way, it's the way I grew up," Snell said. "My parents taught me that I was the best, that no one's better than you on the field."

Call it the arrogance of youth, but it's a mind-set that Pirates starting pitchers haven't always had during the club's ongoing streak of 14 losing seasons. Of course, having a fastball that reaches the mid- 90s and a nasty slider like Snell's can help develop such an attitude.

To Snell, there's no reason why a pitcher can't display a little passion, a little emotion. Especially in Pittsburgh, where he admittedly is jealous of the long-successful Steelers and fast-rising Penguins and wishes the Pirates could start winning, too.

"I want to win so bad, I want PNC Park to come to life," Snell said. "I want the fans to come out like they do for the Steelers and Penguins, I want that atmosphere at our stadium, too. I want to help get this organization back to where it was (in the 1990s), win some playoff games like they did when (Andy) Van Slyke and (Jay) Bell and those guys were here."