Pirates embarassing,Hatton stops Castillo

In an effort that should be seen as embarassing to the Pirate organization,the Bucs were crushed by the Angels in Anaheim 10-1.
Ian Snell gave up 5 runs in the 3rd and the arson squad allowed a 4 run 8th,but the players seem to have given up on Jim Tracy,the season or both.
Ronny Paulino did have the only Pittsburgh RBI,but his non-effort on defense continues on a nightly basis and this is from a guy that plays because his manager loves his defense and pitch-calling.
Yet both are lacking to me and further,he simply seems to sleepwalk through games with little care or effort.
How many base running gaffes,defensive lapses,throwing to the wrong base etc do we have to watch before someone is held accountable??
Honestly,I would rather see Littlefield fired before Tracy,if I must choose,but I would like to see a total house cleaning.
Littlefield,Tracy,Jim Colborn,the @#$%&ing bunch including "Nickels" Nutting need to get out and let someone real run the team.
But that is not going to happen.
Instead the players are going to have to pick it up some,at least the few players on this team that has real talent and want to at least TRY to win.
This article in the Post-Gazette shows that some of the players do care.
But Paulino,the top offender of the who cares gang,was as expected-"Unavailable for comment".
Also known as went back to the hotel to eat 3 or 4 steaks.
Snell picked up the loss in moving his record to 6-5.
The yuccos finish the inter-league slate vs the Angels in today's finale.
At least there is one nugget of good news today.

The Indians used a three run homer in the 9th by Victor Martinez(14th) to take the lead and then an unusual 1-2-5 double play with the bases loaded in the Washington 9th to pull out a 4-3 win in the Capital city.
Felipe Lopez hit a bouncer back to Joe Borowski,who fired home to Kelly Shoppach to force the runner at home.
Shoppach then saw the Nationals Nook Logan had rounded third by a wide margin and gunned the ball to Casey Blake to tag Logan and end the game.
Note to Ronny Paulino-That is how one plays this game.
Grady Sizemore homered (12th) in the 6th inning for the other Cleveland run.
Tom Mastny earned the win to improve to 5-2 ,while Borowski took the shaky save,his 21st of the year.

Pitching Matchups
Pittsburgh:Tom Gorzelanny (7-4) at Anaheim:Bartolo Colon (6-3)-3:35
Cleveland:Jake Westbrook (1-2) at Washington:Jason Simontacchi (4-5)-1:35

Bullpen Notes

We were way off on our prediction on the Hatton-Castillo fight.
Hatton won and it was not close,as a punch to the ribs of Castillo in round 4,deflated him and ended the fight.
We had Hatton winning the 1st 3 rounds easily.

The Post-Gazette says the Pirates are interested in Atlanta's solid young backstop Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
I am sure they are,but I cannot see Captain Dave giving them what they would want and if the price was Snell or Gorzelanny,I am in agreement.
But anyone else on the staff,I am all over that one.

Rumors are flying about Bill Cowher and the Browns already talking quietly about Cowher coming to Cleveland in 2008.
Two Words-HELL NO.

Here is a good column for the two readers here that root for Pitt and Penn State.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review covers why they should play each other and why Joe Paterno is the reason that they don't.
Doesn't surprise me any- that old goat lost it years ago.
They should play each other though in my opinion.
Penn State quit playing many of their long time rivals with their joining the Big 10.
Pitt,West Virginia and Maryland all rarely,if ever appear on the schedule for the Nittany Lions anymore.
I do understand that you cannot play them all,but Pitt and Penn State are the two biggest football programs in the state and should always be on the schedule.
Maybe once senile Joe moves on,the schools can get together and do the right thing.

Photo Credits
Paulino-AP Photo-Chris Carlson
Tribe-Getty Images-Greg Fiume
Boxing-AP Photo-Eric Jamison