Duke pitches well,Bucs lose anyway.

The Pirates seemingly had all the items for victory.
A nice effort from Zach Duke,3 hits(Including a HR) from the slumbering Adam LaRoche and the lead entering the 8th.
But it was not enough as Florida used Josh Willingham and Miguel Cabrera's back to back doubles to turn a 3-2 Pirate lead into an eventual 4-3 Marlin win.
The normally reliable Matt Capps was the culprit tonight,but the encouraging thing from tonight was Adam LaRoche.
Could it be that he is finally beginning to get things together and give Pittsburgh the bat they need?
One can only hope that is the case.
Duke looked the best that he has looked all year,giving me hopes that he too,may have turned a corner.
If he does,3 quality starters can go a LONG way in this division.
The series concludes tomorrow at 7;00,Tony Armas vs Ricky Nolasco.
This could be Armas last shot at staying in the rotation according to this.

Bullpen Notes

Looks like I was wrong about the Hickory pitching.
Only one starter with an ERA below 4.00 and that is Jared Hughes at 3.79.
Guess I was deceived by how easily they handled the Hagerstown Suns,who turned out to be a last place team.

Funny poll on the Cleveland Browns official site.
Who of the these 4 second year players will make the most impact in 2007?
Travis Wilson,Lawrence Vickers,Jerome Harrison or Chris Barclay
If that does not tell you the lousy drafts the Browns have had,nothing will.
Impact players ? On a wild card level team,at least 2 of this list wouldn't make the team!

Looks like the Devils will be looking for a new home for their team owned AHL franchise.
Lowell Massachusetts wants to break the arena lease.
My guess is that the Devils will move the AHL team to Trenton NJ,where their ECHL team is located and look for a new home for that team.
Makes sense to have your top farm team as close as possible for call-ups etc.

Finally on MinorLeagueBall.com,I have been selected as the Farm Director for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their annual 5 round mock draft.
If anyone is interested in helping or just wants to read how things are going,click here.
First time for me doing this,but I cannot do worse than Littlefield can I????
Well,I can say this,at least,It is highly unlikely we will be taking a college pitcher!!

Photo Credits
LaRoche-Pittsburgh Post Gazette-Peter Diana
Littlefield-AP Photo-Al Behrman