 |
 |
|
|
Bax’s Bucco Blog: Hello, Pitching!
This was one of the better weeks I can remember being a Pittsburgh sports fan. After the shock and anger of last week’s Nate McLouth trade, I needed a week like this. First of all, the Buccos seems to pull together despite a pair of one run losses early in the week to Atlanta and finished the week with a stellar 4-3 record. Even better, the team’s pitching staff woke up in a major way and was excellent throughout the week. I also got to have a great time at two Pirate games this week as the Buccos swung through my current locale in Atlanta and the Buccos looked very solid in person.
Finally, there’s the small matter of the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the Stanley Cup on Friday night in a thrilling seven game series. For those of you keeping count, that means Pittsburgh currently boasts the Super Bowl Champions and the Stanley Cup Champions, the first city to ever accomplish such a feat! It is also the 30 year anniversary of the ‘City of Champions’, when then 1979 Steelers and Pirates both won titles. Can the Pirates go .500 and earn the city a 3 rd parade in a year?
A few key happenings with the Pirates this week: Jeff Karstens was officially moved to the bullpen after a mostly tumultuous two and a half month stint as the #5 starter, with new acquisition Charlie Morton taking his place. However, we got to see very little of Morton as his first start was only an inning, thanks to a pulled hamstring. Your next shot at seeing Charlie will be this Saturday in Colorado.
The bullpen was also very good this week. Despite taking two losses, the bullpen had two separate efforts of 8 innings or more and only allowed a combined two runs in those marathon efforts! The Bucco pitching in general was very good and gives us continued hope that this team will continue to have a realistic shot at a .500 record.
This week began with a split series with the Braves in Atlanta, where every game was either a one run game or decided in the 9 th inning. After the first game, where Atlanta scored 7 runs, the Pirates didn’t allow more than 4 in any game. That kind of stellar hurling will win you a lot of ballgames.
The Pirates followed that up by winning 2 of 3 games against the Detroit Tigers. Perhaps bolstered by civic pride in the Stanley Cup victory, the Pirates pounded the ball in the final two games in front of huge crowds, both of which were among the 4 largest of the year. Sunday’s game honored the Penguins, with many of the players being introduced before the game, capped off by Captain Sidney Crosby holding the Stanley Cup aloft on the infield before the game.
With the week’s 4-3 record, the Pirates crept one game closer to the .500 mark, bringing their season record to 30-33.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Monday: Atlanta 7, Pittsburgh 6___________ The Pirates opened the week with a 15 inning barnburner with the Braves. A rare shaky start by Zach Duke (6 innings, 6 runs) was absolved after the Pirates scored three times in the 7 th inning to tie things up. However, the Bucco bullpen was forced to throw 8 straight innings of shutout baseball as the offense couldn’t get anything going, the closest call being Craig Monroe being thrown out by a mile on an Andrew McCutchen double. The game ended in controversy in the 15 th as the Braves loaded the bases with one out. A sharp groundball was hit to Jack Wilson and he immediately went home for the force. His throw beat the runner but the umpire felt that it pulled catcher Jason Jaramillio’s tie off the bag and the Braves were given the win. Yours truly was sitting in the 5 th row behind the plate at Turner Field and it looked like the umpire just wanted to go home. McCutchen went 4 for 7 with two triples and a double in the losing effort.
Tuesday: Atlanta 4, Pittsburgh 3___________ The Pirates began a streak of excellent starting pitching with a quality start from Ross Ohlendorf. However, the Bucco bullpen couldn’t hold a 3-2 lead in the 7 th inning and the Pirates went down in defeat for the 2 nd game in a row. Atlanta’s Derek Lowe pitched 7 great innings for the win.
Wednesday: Pittsburgh 3, Atlanta 2________ _The debut of Charlie Morton was cut much shorter than expected after Morton only managed to pitch one inning before leaving with a strained hamstring. To the rescue came the man he replaced, Jeff Karstens, who pitched 4 2/3 innings in relief, allowing only one run and earning the victory. Atlanta’s Jair Jurrjens deserved better as he only allowed 2 runs in 6 innings of work to take the hard luck loss. Adam LaRoche had two RBIs in the winning effort and Matt Capps earned his 14 th save to give the Pirates their first win in Atlanta this year.
Thursday: Pittsburgh 3, Atlanta 1__________ _Paul Maholm and Atlanta’s Javier Vazquez engaged in one of baseball’s best pitching duels of the year, combining for 15 innings, 1 earned run and 20 strikeouts! Your faithful Bucco blogger managed to alter his work schedule to attend this afternoon dandy of a game and I was not disappointed. The game entered the 9 th inning tied at 1, the only damages being a solo home run by the Pirates’ Delwyn Young and an unearned run by the Bravos in the 4 th. However, Braves closer Rafael Soriano (ERA: 0.98) couldn’t keep the Pirates off the scoreboard as Andy LaRoche hit a 2 run single to give the Buccos their eventual 3-1 margin of victory. Matt Capps’ 15 th save was a very interesting one as a massive thunderstorm loomed over the stadium and Capps’ game ending strikeout of Brian McCann came less than 2 minutes before the skies opened up. Reliever Steven Jackson earned the win with a scoreless 8 th inning.
Friday: Detroit 3, Pittsburgh 1______________ All eyes in both cities were on Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, which meant that most people missed the superhuman effort of Detroit’s young superstar starter, Rich Porcello. Porcello accounted for 7 innings of 1 run baseball but he also managed to drive in two runs in his first major league game at the plate. Pirates starter Ian Snell had to be shaking his head after his 2 nd consecutive quality start was blemished only by the efforts of the opposing pitcher. The Pirates couldn’t muster any offense and fell 3-1 in what will go down as perhaps the least watched game in either team’s history. Bucco fans won’t mind though as the Penguins clinched the Stanley Cup with a 2-1 win in Detroit about an hour after this game came to an end.
Saturday: Pittsburgh 9, Detroit 3___________ The Pirates delighted a huge Saturday crowd, flush with joy after the previous night’s Cup championship, by jumping all over the Tigers in the first 4 innings. Starter Armando Galarraga allowed 4 runs in the second inning and reliever Nate Robertson wasn’t any better, allowing a 4 th inning grand slam to Freddy Sanchez. Every Pirate position player had at least one hit in the offensive explosion and Sanchez and Adam LaRoche both homered. Starter Zach Duke allowed two home runs (both solo shots) but managed to hold the Tigers to 3 runs over 7 good innings to get back on track after Monday’s disappointing effort and earned his 7 th win of the year.
Sunday: Pittsburgh 6, Detroit 3___________ _Dontrelle Willis walked a whopping 8 batters and the Pirates scored 6 runs in the first 4 innings to make this game rather boring. The crowd had a lot to cheer about early, as the Stanley Cup Champs were introduced on the field and then the team provided the early fireworks. Robinzon Diaz drove in 3 runs, Eric Hinske had 4 walks and Delwyn Young pounded out 3 hits in the offensive effort. Starter Ross Ohlendorf was excellent for the second time this week, allowing only 1 earned run in 6 innings of work. Closer Matt Capps came on for his 16 th save of the season as the Pirates evened their record in interleague play.
> Pro Baseball Fans features a great selection of & Pittsburgh Pirates apparel & jerseys online.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
1) THE STANLEY CUP: The City of Champions now holds two of the three major sports titles which its teams compete for. That means that only the Pirates are left to complete the trifecta. That said, a .500 record by the Pirates after so long would be the same to many Pirate fans as a championship. Can the Pirates ride the wave of civic pride to a .500 season?
2) ROSS OHLENDORF: Two quality starts, a 1-0 record, 12 innings pitched, 4 earned runs. Ohlendorf was excellent and two great starts deserve plenty of recognition. Ross now has 6 wins on the year and a 4.56 ERA. That’s great production from your #4 starter.
3) DELWYN YOUNG: It was a big week for Young, who appears to be forcing his way into the lineup nearly every day. Young’s solo home run was the only offense that the Buccos mustered in Thursday’s pitcher’s duel and he added a 3 for 4 effort on Sunday. His season batting average is all the way up to .358!
4) FREDDY SANCHEZ: Freddy got his groove back at the plate this week, highlighted by his grand slam on Saturday against Detroit. After struggling a while back, Freddy has continued his march towards a 3 rd career season batting over .300 with his .311 mark on the year.
5) THE BULLPEN: Capps earned 3 saves this week, the bullpen pitched nearly 28 innings and allowed only 7 runs, which amounts to a 2.25 ERA. Factor in how much work the pen put in this week and that’s downright excellent despite taking two of the team’s 3 losses on the week. If the bullpen can continue to pitch so well then the Pirates are going to continue improving their record.
Honorable Mention: Paul Maholm, Adam LaRoche, Jason Jaramillio, Eric Hinske
THE NEGATIVE
1) SO CLOSE TO 7-0: When you lose three games by a total of 4 runs, you have to lament how close the Pirates were to a perfect week. There were so many close plays that could have gone the Pirates way this week. Looking back, 4-3 is almost disappointing.
2) BRANDON MOSS: Moss had a really rough week. He was 0 for 15 at the plate before getting plunked on Sunday. That’s right, the highlight of Moss’ week at the plate was getting beaned. Manager John Russell gave Moss a few days off from starting to clear his head. I hope he can because he’s been massively disappointing thus far.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Monday : OFF DAY
Tuesday , 8:10 PM EST @ Minnesota, Paul Maholm (4-2, 3.61 ERA) vs. Glenn Perkins (1-3, 5.36 ERA)
Wednesday : 8:10 PM EST @ Minnesota, Ian Snell (1-7, 5.25 ERA) vs. Francisco Liriano (2-7, 5.99 ERA)
Thursday : 1:10 PM EST @ Minnesota, Zach Duke (7-4, 3.10 ERA) vs. Nick Blackburn (5-2, 3.31 ERA)
Friday : 9:10 EST @ Colorado, Ross Ohlendorf (6-5, 4.56 ERA) vs. Jason Marquis (8-4, 3.77 ERA)
Saturday : 9:10 EST @ Colorado, Charlie Morton (0.00 ERA, 1 IP) vs. Jason Hammel (4-3, 4.10 ERA)
Sunday 3:10 PM EST @ Colorado, Maholm (4-2, 3.61 ERA) vs. Jorge De La Rosa (2-6, 5.08 ERA)
The Pirates begin a weeklong road trip after an off day Monday, traveling up to the Land of 10,000 Lakes to face off against the Twins in a 3 games series. With the off day, the Pirates are skipping Charlie Morton’s turn in the rotation to give him some rest and thus Paul Maholm will start on his usual 4 days rest with the off day.
The Twins have won their last two series and are playing well. However, the Pirates will avoid two of their top starters, as both of the Twins’ first two starters have ERAs over five. Meanwhile, the Pirates will send their top two starters to the mound and a rejuvenated Ian Snell (who has pitched well in 3 straight outings). The pitching matchups seem to favor the Buccos continuing their push towards .500.
The Pirates will follow that up by facing off against the hottest team in Major League Baseball, the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies have an 11 game winning streak going into this week and have found new life under new manager (and old Pirate skipper) Jim Tracy. The pitching matchups appear to be even in this series, so if the Pirates can take two of three on the road against a red hot team, it will definitely be a success.
After a week that rebuilt my faith in Pittsburgh fandom, I’ve found a newfound positive attitude towards the Pirates’ push to .500. Their pitching, which has been very good all season, is the primary reason for my hope, though the immediate emergence of Andrew McCutchen has certainly helped me deal with the McLouth trade. I’m hopeful that in this new era of the City of Champions that the Pirates can perhaps find their mojo and continue their run at a .500 record. I would like to add that the Pirates are only 4 games out of first place in the NL Central right now. If the Pirates can go 4-2 or better this week, I’ll be very happy.
Expect Bax’s Bucco Blog to be a weekly feature every Monday. If you have any comments, questions, grievances, Bucco sob stories or general insults, feel free to email me at matt.baxendell@gmail.com
By: Matt Baxendell
MLBcenter.com Pittsburgh Pirates Correspondent
> View all of the MLB baseball news articles from ProBaseball-fans.com.
Advertisement