Morris pitched his best game in a month as he allowed just 1 run in a seven inning effort and most surprisingly struck out seven.
That is a pretty high number for Morris and the win finished the season for Matt at 10-11 overall and 3-4 in Pittsburgh.
Xavier Nady reached the 20 homer mark with a 5th inning solo blast in the victory.
The game was halted for 59 minutes in the second inning by a brutal thunderstorm that made it difficult for the grounds crew to even get the tarp on and for a bit they were using temporary tarps on the plate and mound sponsored by McDonalds.
The other Bucco RBI went to Nyjer Morgan on a 4th inning single.
The series concludes later today at 12:35.
In more Pirate news,the Pirate clubhouse was "in a shudder"according to the Post-Gazette when new GM Neal Huntington uttered the words "Rebuilding" and "Reallocating".
The article refers to players wondering how the Pirates can devote more money to the minors and spend the same total budget without taking away from the Parent club.
And that makes sense to me,but this team is so messed up from top to bottom that I would live with a few more years of losing-if it meant that the rebuilding was done the proper way and gave the Pirates more of a long-term chance to win.
If that is what the Coonelly/Huntington team is thinking,I agree with them totally.
If the Pirates having a 84 win season in 08 or 09 means that the cost to do so means the status quo,count me out,but I don't think that is the way they are looking at things.
I still want to see more,but for now,I am cautiously optimistic on the new brain trust.
Freddy Sanchez will miss the remainder of the season to have shoulder surgery.
Sanchez had been dealing with the injury since spring training.
Sanchez still finished at .304 despite a slow start and he is expected to be at full speed for the Grapefruit League.
The guys at the P-G cannot decide if they like the idea of the Pirates doing things similar to the
Cleveland Indians or not.
Paul Meyer seems to like it,while Dejan Kovacevic is already growing weary of hearing about Cleveland.
Me?
I just like someone that is going to use a plan that does not involve guys like Matt Kata long term!
Pitching Matchup
Arizona: Brandon Webb (17-10) at Pittsburgh: John Van Benschoten (0-6) 12:35
Bullpen Notes
Almost finished reviewing the Seahawks win over the Bengals and I will do a review on my thoughts when I am finished.
Bad news for the Browns.
Kellen Winslow looks hampered by a bad shoulder and may not play against the hated Ravens Sunday.
Going to be very hard to defeat Baltimore without the star TE.
DCRTV is reporting that Chip Caray is the leading candidate to replace Bob Carpenter in the Nationals TV booth.
I liked Carpenter's work a lot,but Caray would be an excellent replacement for him.
Speaking of members of the Caray family,Is anyone else surprised that TBS is not using Skip Caray as one of the four play by play for their initial coverage of the baseball playoffs?
Seems like a slap in the face to one of the guys that helped TBS get on the national map to me.
But I will get by without Skip.
I will just mute the TV,invite Battlin Bob over and have him do the play by play.
The Battlin' one does Skip Caray almost as well as Skip Caray!
Just a quick welcome to the 3 new subscribers that signed up yesterday via FeedBurner.
Welcome and feel free to come over to the actual site and participate in polls and add comments as well.
And finally ESPN in their never ending battle to "prove" that people want to hear what Stephen A. Smith has to say has now given Smith an hour each day on ESPN radio.
How many failures does someone have to have before the switch goes on and realize that no one cares?
Some people never learn...............
Photo Credits
Morris-Gene Puskar-AP Photo
Sanchez-Upper Deck cards
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