Clemens wins debut and Gas Can goes on the DL

The Pirates scored 3 runs off Roger Clemens,but it was not nearly enough as the Yankees won going away 9-3.
Pittsburgh got a run quickly off Clemens as Adam LaRoche singled home Jose Bautista,but the Yanks scored 3 in the bottom of the inning off Paul Maholm to take the lead.
Jack Wilson tied the game in the 4th with a two run double,but the Bucs folded the tent from there as the New Yorkers scored the final 6 runs of the game.
Maholm wound up pitching 5 and a third,allowing 5 runs,but only 3 were earned and drops to a horrific 2-9 .
John Grabow and Tony Armas mopped up in a pair of bad outings.
Armas is the long man/garbage time guy,so I do not expect much from him,but Grabow is a Littlefield favorite and seems to have other teams interested in trading for him on occasion.
Remember the possible acquisition of Ryan Shealy last year that was lost because of Littlefield's refusal to part with Grabow???
Shealy has not really panned out in Kansas City yet,but was certainly worth Grabow.
These are the type of high reward,low risk gambles that the Pirates never take.
Imagine if you move Grabow for Shealy and plug Shealy in at 1st,then you can look at moving Mike Gonzalez for an outfielder instead of Adam LaRoche.
Or perhaps you move Grabow for a 3rd base prospect that was blocked somewhere.
But you cannot do anything with you refuse to move a guy that is not very good to begin with!
Anyway,Grabow has been poor all year,hell to me he has been bad for 3 years, and he was bad today.
If he is so wanted by other teams,by all means-let us help one of them out.
Of course,Littlefield will just trade him for a reliever for Indianapolis anyway.......
Series ends tomorrow with B.P.Chacon vs Tyler Clippard.
Let's see Chacon can do what he rarely did with the Yankees--help the Yankees win.....

Bullpen Notes

Well,Gas Can Torres has been placed on the DL.
Torres complained of right elbow soreness after his wonderful effort in last night's loss to the Evil Empire.
Masumi Kuwata,the 38 yr old former Japanese star,was brought up from Indianapolis to take Torres' spot on thee roster.
Do not get excited by this,the emphasis is Former star.
Kuwata's numbers over the last few years have been poor(best ERA since 2003 has been 5.9) and our Japanese baseball consultant Brandon Siefken says Kuwata is long over the hill.
But there will be piles of Japanese press around the Bucs,so at least someone is excited.

Shawn Heimberger was placed on the DL as well.
Heimberger complained of a sore throat,acid reflux and an upset stomach.
The ailments were brought on by watching Gas Can Torres and John "needs a nickname"Grabow pitch,the selection of Daniel Moskos in Thursday's draft and the nausating pile of bull laid on by Bob Nutting and Dave Littlefield yesterday...

Here is a good read on Scott Boras.
I am not a fan of the guy,but I do agree that the MLB needs to be able start trading draft picks.
That way when small teams that cannot afford a Boras guy,they can trade down and at least get something instead of nothing when they pass them over-like the Dollar General Pirates do.

And finally-a nice story.
The city of Cleveland has begun to work on plans to restore League Park.
League Park was the original home of the Indians of the Tribe until 1946,but now has just a small run-down section still standing.
I have thought about visiting the remnants,but have read and been told that it is located in a dangerous neighborhood .
The picture to the right is the remains of League Park's grandstand.
Here is a link for more information and pictures of League Park.

Photo Credits
Bautista-AP Photo-Kathy Willens
League Park-Andrew Clem