Pirates take two from Texas,Tribe splits with the fish

Sorry,I missed today.Too much to do,so I will catch up on two days.

The Pirates took two games from a team that are just as bad as they are-the Texas Rangers.
Of course,the Rangers are without two of their best three players in Mark Teixeira and Hank Blalock.
But when you are as bad as the Bucs,you take any wins that you can.
Tuesday,Pittsburgh took a 7-5 win that was paced by 3 homers from Jose Bautista(5th),Adam LaRoche(8th) and Xavier Nady (11th).
Bautista's shot led off the Pirates from their opening time at bat and was just 1 of his 3 hits on the night.
Zach Duke pitched a good game for the first time in a while as he allowed 2 runs in 6 innings to improve to 3-6.
The Bullpen allowed Texas to chip away at a sizable lead to the point that Texas had the tying run at the plate in the 9th before Matt Capps was summoned to close the show in gaining his 3rd save of the year.

Tonight,the Buccos jumped out to a 8-0 lead and cruised to a 8-1 win,.
Ian Snell went the distance and just missed the shutout as the run he allowed was un-earned.
No homers tonight,but Jose Bautista did have 3 more hits and three more RBI to continue his hitting surge of late.
Freddy Sanchez knocked in 2 as well.
Snell's complete game was the first of his MLB career and the win moved him to 6-4
Snell and Tom Gorzelanny each should have at least 2 more wins than they have.
They certainly have pitched well enough for All Star consideration.
For the 3rd game in a row,Jose Castillo has been at shortstop for Jack Wilson.
Could the Pirates be waking up to the fact that Wilson,although Ok.is not worth the amount of money they are paying him?
And therefore becoming disenchanted?
One of the few decent position prospects in the Pirate system is Brian Bixler of AAA Indianapolis,so it is not like Wilson could not be replaced for a cheaper costing player.
"Nickels" Nutting might like that idea.

On Monday two excellent young pitchers went nose to nose and one pitch separated them.
Fausto Carmona's pitch to Miguel Olivo was popped over Casey Blake's head and cleared the bases in the seventh inning for all the games runs in a 3-0 Florida win.
Scott Olsen pitched 7 innings and gave the Tribe just 3 hits(none for extra bases) off him in his portion of the game.
Carmona fell to 7-2 with the hard luck loss.

The Wahoos used a wild 6th inning to pace them to a 7-3 win in Florida on Wednesday.
The Marlins led 3-0 entering the 6th,but the Tribe used a Dan Uggla throwing error and a ground out by Ryan Garko to plate three runs and David DeLucci hit his 4th homer to score three more.
In the same inning,Marlins manager Freddi Gonzalez,1st baseman and former Indian Aaron Boone and pitcher Taylor Tankersley were all ejected.
Tankersley hit Grady Sizemore with a pitch,an inning after an altercation that cleared both benches following Cliff Lee's plunking of Miguel Cabrera.
Lee earned the win to move to 3-4 as he won his 1st game in a month.

Pitching Matchups
Texas-Brandon McCarthy 4-4 at Pittsburgh-Tom Gorzelanny 6-3 7;00
Cleveland-Jason Stanford 0-0 at Florida-Dontrelle Willis 7-5 7;00

UPDATE-McCarthy out for Texas with a blister.
Kameron Loe 1-6 will get the start for Texas.

Bullpen Notes

Another rain out in the Hub City as tonight's double-header between the Hagerstown Suns and Lakewood Blue Claws bit the sod.
I would imagine that the next Blue Claw visit will have 2 doubleheaders,due to the rain-outs.
The Lexington Legends come to town tomorrow for 4 games led by 3rd baseman Koby Clemens (Yes,his dad is someone) and Houston's 2006 1st round pick last year in catcher Max Sapp.

We will be there for at least 3 games.
On Friday, the Potomac Nationals are in Frederick and of course we will say hello to all the former Suns,but the Nationals number 1 starter John Patterson will be on rehab assignment and will pitch in that game.
ATTENTION,BATTLING BOB-you need to see that game!!!

On the Signing Front
Just a few Suns,most notably Leonard Davis signed their 2006 Savannah Sand Gnats cards.
In a move that was smart,the Suns offered last years Savannah sets in their gift shop for 5 bucks.
Good work to whoever thought of that!!!

The Kinston Indians clinched the Carolina Leagues Southern Division on Monday.
The K-Tribe is above the rest for now,as the Northern Division is weak beyond belief,as ALL 4 teams have a losing record and only 2.5 separates first from last.
Lynchburg (Pirates) is currently leading this sad bunch.
Pretty soon Captain Dave and Brian Graham will be pointing to this as an indication of the strong Pirate farmhands.

TV's "Mr.Wizard" Don Herbert passed away at 89 on Tuesday.
Herbert spanned 3 generations of children and showed them how to enjoy science in a basic and fun way.
I always gave Nick's "Mr Wizard's world" to Ryan to watch for school all the time and I would do same for Rachel,if it was still shown today.

News on Mike Ramlow-Mike got the win in the wild 24-13 West Virginia win over Hickory last week.
Mike is now 3-2 on the year.
The game tied the SAL record for most runs scored in a game and West Virginia led 17-0 at the end of the 2nd inning!!

Finally heard what the injury was to Alexandre Periard-Just an ear infection and nothing serious.

Rumors are flying that the New Jersey Devils are going to make a major push to sign
Chris Drury away from Buffalo.
I would love this move as it would fill the leadership role that has been vacant since the retirement of Scott Stevens.
The money is there to sign Drury as Scott Gomez is expected to sign elsewhere.

CFL pre-season starts tomorrow as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats battle the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Hamilton and Winnipeg will be playing each other home and home in pre-season.
The CFL regular season is 18 games,with just 2 pre-season games.
The NFL should consider a similar schedule.
The Tabbies have a 3 way battle at Quarterback between former Oregon Duck Jason Mass,Hawaii's record-setting passer Timmy Chang and former NFL journeyman Shaun King.
Look for a brief game review here on Friday.

Wanted to thank some of you for the nice emails on my two Cavalier posts recently.
I know not everyone posts,but it is great to know that our readership keeps growing.

Plus wanted to welcome a new person to the mailing list.
Welcome to Jason Truby Lusk.
Jason is a great guy,who I met through tape trading and wanted to make him feel at home.

And finally on a personal note.
Today would have been my late Aunt Edna Dayton's 90th birthday.
Edna basically did the large majority of the raising of Shane and I and her passing two years ago left a hole in all of our lives.
Just wanted to acknowledge her and what she meant to us on her birthday..

Photo Credits
Bautista and Snell-AP Photo-Keith Srakocic
Scott Olsen-AP Photo-Alan Diaz