Pirates smashed and the Suns destroyed.

The Pirates winning streak ran into the buzzsaw that was Aaron Harang and could only scrape together two hits on their way to an 8-0 loss to the Reds.
Jason Bay and Matt Kata's singles were the only Bucco hits in a game that showcased Harang's bid for Cy Young consideration.
Not much to say other than maybe tomorrow when the series concludes.

Meanwhile in the Hub City-the Hagerstown Suns were pounded about as badly as a team could be in a 14-1 loss to the Delmarva Shorebirds.
The visitors hammered the Suns for 16 hits and scored runs in every inning but the eighth stanza.
Again not much one can say.

The Suns attendance during this homestand has been anemic at best,but should be picking up for the last 3 home games of the season.
Thursday being Thirsty Thursday should bring the drunken crowd out,Friday is fireworks which should be a decent crowd and Saturday will not be too bad since it is the last game of the year.

Will Smith and his gang have had a tough road to travel in the final week of the season.
You have a last place team, the Suns are playing the two teams that they play the most throughout the year,kids are back in school and the weekday games have had no giveaways.
The Suns management only has control of 1 of those things.
Other than attempting some more free gimmicks to help the turnout on these late season games,there is not much that he can do.
The readers here know my opinions on how things are done by the Suns,but you just cannot blame them too much for this one.

I am looking forward to Fan Appreciation Day on Saturday though.
Hopefully,there will be some lessons learned from last year's FAD failures and the Suns can end the season strongly.

Pitching Matchup
Cincinnati: Matt Belisle (7-8) (OH NO) at Pittsburgh: Matt Morris (8-8) 7:05

Bullpen Notes

Forgot to mention that pitcher Pat Bresnehan was promoted from Lynchburg to Altoona.
This time last year,Bresnehan was at Williamsport so his rise through the system has been the fastest of any of the Pirate 2006 draft picks.

Here is a funny note from our friends over at the Crawdads blog that reports that Captain Dave was in Hickory taking a look at the Northern Division leading Crawdads and got smacked in the face by a single serving of Hamburger Helper!!!

Speaking of the Helper,a belated note from the trip.
Every ballpark that we visited (and I mean EVERY) had a huge sponsorship logo on their wall from Hamburger Helper.
Is this a southern thing or maybe the parent General Mills is a southern company?
If anyone has any answers,let me know for full credit here!

The Big Ten network goes on the air tomorrow,anyone besides the most devout Big Ten fan even mildly excited?

A hilarious parody of Dragnet on Keith Olbermann's Countdown last night poking fun at the Senator Larry Craig fiasco.

On the signing front
Not much to get really from Delmarva, just a few players,but most notably a few Billy Rowell's that I was unable to get the first time Rowell came through town.

Until next time..........

Photo Credit
Harang-AP Photo-Gene Puskar