The King crowns the Pirates

Felix "the King" Hernandez threw 8 shutout innings to lead the Mariners to a 3-0 win over the Pirates in last night's rubber match in Seattle.
The Pirates only threatened once,loading the bases in the 5th,but Nate McLouth struck out to end the inning.
John Van Benschoten gave up 3 runs in 5 innings to get the loss and fell to 0-2.
JVB pitched reasonably well.but the rocky 5th was his downfall,as he gave up all 3 runs and raised his pitch count to the point of his removal at innings end.
Not much else that I can say,other than the Pirates scoreless inning streak is now at 20.
The Pirates play the weekend series in Anaheim vs the Angels.

Pitching Matchups
Pittsburgh:Zach Duke (3-6) at Anaheim:Joe Saunders (3-0) 10;05
Cleveland:Fausto Carmona (8-2) at Washington:Micah Bowie (4-2) 7:05

Bullpen Notes

Listened to last night's game on XM and got the Mariners feed.
Dave Niehaus is the main Mariner voice.
Kinda of a dying breed.
A folksy,borderline homer type.
Was not bad at all.
I will be listening the next two nights,so I will get to listen to the Angels announcers.

The Pirates made an intriguing move in claiming Josh Phelps off waivers from the Yankees.
Phelps has always had a nice bat and never had a long term chance,but I was intrigued by the announcement of the claiming of CATCHER Josh Phelps.
Phelps has not caught in years,but Jim Tracy is in love with having 3 catchers on the roster.
Tracy lives in fear of having to use a non-catcher in an emergency situation,even though that sort of thing happens once every few years.
Phelps joins the team in Anaheim for Saturday's game.

Dan "Matches" Kolb was designated for assignment.
As I once said about Conway Twitty-no big loss.

NHL Draft tonight,have no idea on the BlackHawks plans for the 1st pick.
The Devils do not have a 1st rounder.

I do like the Hawks deal of Adrian Aucoin to the Flames for Andrei Zyuzin.
Chicago gets a comparable player at a cheaper cost.

Great article on proposed NHL expansion by Dan Wetzel .
My thoughts EXACTLY!!

Photo Credit
Hernandez-AP Photo-Elaine Thompson