Paul Malholm was dominant tonight at PNC Park,as he and the Pirates shut out the Houston Astros 3-0.
Malholm fired a 3 hitter and gave Bucco fans some hope for him after a slow start.
Malholm now 1-2 on the season,never allowed an extra base hit to Houston and just as important was able to keep the ball on the ground.
A pitcher with his style needs to keep the ball down to be effective,especially when you are not a overwhelmingly hard thrower and not a high strikeout pitcher.
Ronny Paulino hit a solo homer for Pittsburgh.
Perhaps Paulino has heard about the torrid hitting of Ryan Doumit down at Indianapolis and needed to get things moving.
I do not have a firm opinion either way on which catcher to play,but I do know this-the Pirates have a history of disliking the type of player that Ryan Doumit is.
Power potential,multi-positional,some defensive questions etc.
While Paulino and his "intangibles" seems to fit the Pittsburgh mold the better of the two.
In the end,I think Doumit will be the one that is moved out of town.
And likely for little return,if Dave Littlefield's history shows anything.
The other 2 RBI goes to Jack Wilson and Jason Bay.
Back to Malholm,this is the type of outing that gives hope to Pirate fans.
If he can pitch reasonably close to this consistently,maybe Littlefield's plan has a small window of opportunity.
More likely-I am just overly happy with a guy that I like having a great performance.
The two teams play again tomorrow at 7;00 with the Astros pitching Matt Albers vs the Buccos and the struggling Zach Duke.
Photo Credit-AP Photo-Keith Srakacic
1 comment:
I would say that the Pirates have an advantage with Duke vs. Albers, but I said that about Duke vs. Russ Ortiz also.
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