Ty Wigginton's 8th inning homer completed a Houston comeback as the homestanding Astros avoided a sweep with a 5-4 win.
The Pirates had built a 4-1 lead,paced by a two run single by Adam LaRoche and a solo homer by Freddy Sanchez (10),but the Astros chipped away at the lead before finally grabbing the lead for good on Wigginton's shot off B.P.Chacon.
B.P. picked up the loss in falling to 4-4.
Dont you just hate when guys that were god awful as Pirates then move on and become serviceable players elsewhere?
Wigginton was awful in Steeltown,but has become a decent player in first Tampa and now Houston.
Wigginton was obtained for Kris Benson in yet another tremendous (Insert laugh here) trade for Captain Dave instead of the offered Ryan Howard( Insert sob,scream or yelp of pain here) in a possible deal with the Phillies
The Pirates return home tomorrow for a doubleheader against the Reds.
Here is hoping we skip Matt Belisle,who is a BP pitcher against everyone else,but is Juan Marichal vs Pittsburgh.
Bullpen Notes
After the game,the Astros fired Manager (and Pittsburgh favorite) Phil Garner,along with GM Tim Pupura.
I would not have fired Garner so quickly,but I can certainly see the firing of Purpura after some of his moves over the last year.
That is a big difference between a team that wants to win and one that has to win.
Purpura sets things back over a 18 month period and he is gone,before he can make the situation worse with other bad moves.
While in Pittsburgh,Dave Littlefield is allowed to screw up for 6 years,before it is even begun to be considered to remove him.
As a result,it could take years to clean up his disaster.
Meanwhile,the PTBNL going to San Francisco for Matt Morris was righty reliever
Stephen MacFarland.
MacFarland pitched at Hickory this year and didn't post spectacular numbers there after an intriguing start last year at Williamsport.
I must admit that I figured the Giants would take a closer to big league ready player,but
never mind. I forgot that the Captain is the Pirates GM not the Giants GM.
It is a long shot on MacFarland ever being a Giant,but these are the times that you take chances on hitting the home run if you really like a players upside potential.
In a note skipped yesterday,the Bucs brought up Romulo Sanchez from AA Altoona to replace Gas Can Torres,who was placed on the DL.
The Pirates have always been quietly high on Sanchez and believe it or not despite him always seeming to be on teams that I get to see,I have never seen him pitch.
The Daniel Moskos watch continues as 1 day after being "removed from game action",he returned last night in the State College game vs Williamsport.
The Pirates supposedly were embarrassed by the slow start by Moskos and concocted this "flaw" to take away attention from themselves.
However it backfired,as rumors quickly spread that Moskos was injured and brought even more heat about the selection,so they had to get him back in the saddle to cool those rumors down.
But his performance sure did not quiet the critics as he allowed 2 runs in an inning and a third,although he did strike out 3 batters as we grasp for a silver lining.
On the Signing front...
Was not much that I had for the visiting Lakewood Blue Claws,since a mailing snafu cost me their team set.
The always great Adrian Cardenas signed a couple of his team USA cards and Scott Mitchinson signed his 06 Lakewood card.
Mitchinson is attempting a comeback after an arm injury last year.
Hard to believe that this time next week besides a visit to State College,the signing season is over.
The 2007 Arizona Fall League rosters are out.
If you are a collector that does the through the mail collecting,you might want to try the Arizona and Hawaii fall leagues,Ryan and I did quite well last year through those leagues.
The link to the rosters are here.
Finally,a big hello to my friends over at the Northern Ohio Sports Forum that might be visiting us for the first time.
The NOSF is filled with passionate Ohio sports fans and I am often found there during this time of year.
Photo Credit
Wigginton-AP Photo-Dave Einsel
No comments:
Post a Comment