Saturday, May 19, 2007

Bucs stomp Rattlers..

The Pittsburgh Pirates smacked around the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-5 last night at PNC Park.
Xavier Nady was the star of the game,as he hit a 3 run homer to give Pittsburgh an early lead and later threw out Carlos Quentin out at the plate from right field.
Adam LaRoche continued to give hopes for a bat awakening,as he had 2 hits and 2 RBI.
Ryan Doumit added an insurance pinch-hit home run in the 8th to give him 3 RBI for the night.
Ian Snell was terrific for 5 innings,but weakened badly in the 6th.
Snell gave up 4 runs in the inning and was relieved with two outs.
Snell did fan 7 and got the victory,which improved him to a record of 4-2.
This is a payback for some of his early season outings where he pitched great,got no support and did not get the win.
Jose Castillo played shortstop in the game for the mildly injured Jack Wilson.
Wilson fell awkwardly on his shoulder catching a pop-up in the final game vs Florida.
I see this as a showcasing of Castillo,showing his versatility for possible trades.
Castillo has reportedly asked for a potential move elsewhere.
The two "Natural Rivals"(HA HA) play tonight at 7;00.
Tom Gorzelanny for Pittsburgh against Micah Owings of Arizona.
Looking forward to getting a look at Owings.

Update-No television tonight for the Bucs,so we will be covering the Reds-Indians.
Matt "the Pirate Killer" Belisle vs Jeremy Sowers.

Bullpen Notes

The Bucs wore those terrible V-8 uniforms again.
The always inane Greg Brown talked about how much the fans love them,yet I did not see one fan sitting in the stands wearing one of the monstrosities.

More ridiculous Greg Brown-
When Ryan Doumit was pinch hitting,Brown kept calling him "Jeremiah Johnson".
Brown did not give any background on whether he was called this in the clubhouse and why he may be called this,just kept saying it.
So after Doumit's blast,Brown drags Steve Blass into this mess and Blass starts blathering about Jeremiah Johnson and "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog" etc.
Jeremiah Johnson was a Robert Redford film in 1972.
I was 4 years old then!
And Greg Brown is using this is a reference of some kind.
Just one reason why Greg Brown is the worst announcer in baseball.

The Diamondbacks debuted their new uniforms for the Pittsburgh fans for the 1st time.
Very sharp and classy.A huge upgrade over their previous teal and black dreck.
These looked like baseball uniforms should,unlike the old ones that looked like leftover from an XFL garage sale.
Here is a picture of my favorite Diamondback Stephen Drew in the road uniform.
Of course,if the Pirates ever drafted by picking the best player instead of the best player that will sign for they offer,Drew could be our SS instead of the Bucs having to over-pay Jack Wilson.

In a huge shocker-Josh Beckett was placed on the DL for finger problems again.
Ahhh,I miss those days as a fantasy owner of Beckett and having to deal with 4 weeks without a building block starter because he has blisters.

Coverage tonight of the battle to be the number 1 Middleweight contender between Kelly Pavlik and Edison Miranda as well as the WBA and WBC
Middleweight title fight between champion Jermain Taylor vs Cory Spinks.
Pavlik-Miranda looks like a good one.
Taylor-Spinks not so good.

And finally,coming off my huge Derby success (eye roll),here is my Preakness Long Shot.
My rules are a long shot has to go off at 5-1 or more.
Since this is posted in the Morning,I have to use the morning line as my guide.
So with that in mind,lets go with Circular Quay,who qualifies due to his 8-1 odds on the morning line.

Photo Credits
Pirates-AP Photo-Keith Srakocic
Stephen Drew-Getty Images-Jeff Gross

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