Rebecca Foor and eight other family members and friends made the 2 1/2-hour drive last week from Everett, Pa., to PNC Park to see something on the scoreboard a few minutes before the game.

It was her husband, Technical Sgt. Tony Foor of the local 911th Airlift Wing, offering well-wishes to the Pirates by video from Kirkuk, Iraq.

A couple days later, Kathie Rumbaugh and a neighbor drove to PNC from Washington, Pa., for the same reason: Her daughter, Technical Sgt. Katjie Rumbaugh of the 171st Air Refueling Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, was on the scoreboard shouting, "Go get 'em, Buccos!" from Bagram, Afghanistan.

It was the first visual contact between mother and daughter since Feb. 19.

"It was really neat seeing my little girl on the big screen at PNC Park," Kathie Rumbaugh said. "That 20-second visit meant a lot. Though we communicate daily via e-mail, seeing her on the screen reassured me that all was well in her world."

The Pirates are the only team in Major League Baseball engaged in this program, which can be seen roughly five minutes before the first pitch of each game.

It was the brainchild of Eric Wolff, who oversees and orchestrates in-game entertainment. He said the thought came to him during the holiday season, when salutes to the military are more common.

"Soldiers are fighting and away from their families year-round, right?" Wolff said. "This seemed like a good forum."

Arranging it was not -- and is not -- simple. The Pirates are working with all five branches of the Armed Forces not only to arrange the shooting of the videos, which is done by each base's media center in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also to make sure that all videos have strict security clearance. Some already have included footage where certain background elements were blacked out.

The program appears to have been enthusiastically received by the local military community.

"I was delighted that Eric and the Pirates would offer such a program, not only for the families and the deployed military members, but also for the fans," said Lt. Col. Don Accamando of the 171st Air Refueling Wing. "It serves as a reminder that, while many of us enjoy the relaxation America's pastime offers, others are in harm's way. What a great way to say thank you."

Morris explained again

The question has risen anew in the aftermath of the Pirates' release of Matt Morris: How could owner Bob Nutting approve Dave Littlefield's acquisition?

A rehash ...

Littlefield approached his San Francisco counterpart, general manager Brian Sabean, on the morning of the 3 p.m. trade deadline July 31 of last year, and offered to take Morris' full contract. The Giants asked for little in return and agreed to take outfielder Rajai Davis.

From there, Littlefield and a few of his baseball people rushed to Nutting for approval, given that the Pirates would have to assume $14 million. The rationale presented was twofold:

1. Nutting had given a green light earlier in the year for Littlefield to offer free-agent starter Jeff Suppan a two-year contract at his going rate, which, like Morris, was $10 million annually. The Milwaukee Brewers ended up giving Suppan that salary over four years. So, the argument to Nutting went, here is a pitcher better than Suppan -- few could dispute that, even though Morris had begun to decline with the Giants -- and for much less guaranteed money.

2. The Pirates would not be parting with significant prospects.

On the day Nutting fired Littlefield, he was asked repeatedly about approving the Morris deal and, choosing not to bury Littlefield in public, limited his answers to this: "I have to trust my baseball people. That was the move Dave wanted to make."

According to some close to Nutting, his feeling was that, if he could not trust Littlefield, he should fire him immediately. At that point, he was not prepared to do so.

It was only later, after conferring with other top baseball executives, which Nutting concedes he did too late, that he realized the folly of the trade.

That also was a prime motivation for Nutting to hire as team president Frank Coonelly, someone steeped in knowledge of the business of Major League Baseball, to make such authorizations in the future.

Still more on Morris

For all the dissecting that can be done with the Pirates' release of Morris -- not the least of which is that the total of $14 million they paid him, including last season, came out to $4.6 million per victory -- there also is this ...

This season alone, their major-league payroll includes a total of $10.16 million that will go to non-injured players who are not participating on their team: That includes the $8.97 million prorated remainder of Morris' $10,037,283 salary, plus the $390,000 that Yoslan Herrera is guaranteed despite being at Class AA Altoona, Tony Armas' $500,000 buyout and Cesar Izturis' $300,000 buyout.

All happened on Littlefield's watch.

Moreover, there already is $1,397,500 in wasted money committed to the 2009 payroll, including Morris' $1 million buyout, Byung-Hyun Kim's $300,000 buyout and Juan Perez's $97,500 buyout.

The latter two came on Neal Huntington's watch, but Perez's comes with an asterisk because he was injured, and his buyout actually saved the Pirates money.

Nothing gets past this guy ... anymore

A tip of the mask this weekend to Steve Lerud, the Pirates' fourth-round pick in 2003 and the catcher at Class A Lynchburg, for producing perhaps the most impressive statistic in all of minor-league baseball in the opening month.

Two years ago, he had 35 passed balls in 97 games, most in professional baseball.

Last year, he had 25 in 84 games, again worst of any player being paid to catch anywhere.

This season, it took until Monday when Lerud allowed his first of 2008, that in an 8-7 loss to Myrtle Beach. He had one last night, too, but that is still just two in 27 games.

On top of that, Lerud, still a prospect at 23, is coming off a spring training in which he impressed the major-league staff with his poise and, more important, has begun to fulfill some of his promise for power and patience with five home runs and a .381 on-base percentage.