Pirates shut out in San Diego

John Van Benschoten was rumored to have his back against the wall.
If this start was a poor one,he could lose the remainder of his scheduled starts,but the answer is cloudy.
JVB allowed 3 runs,5 hits,walked 3 and struck out 2 in 5 innings and lost (0-6),but didn't seem to pitch that badly.
Not sure whether he will get another start or not.
In any event,Jack Cassell won his first major league game and three Padre bullpenners fired a scoreless inning each as the Bucs fell 3-0.
Pittsburgh rapped out ten hits,but only threatened once in the 5th after a JVB double and Nyjer Morgan infield single put runners at 2nd and 1st with no outs.
But a Jose Bautista double play and a Freddy Sanchez tap back to the mound ended the threat quickly.
Same two tonight in San Diego.

Pitching Matchup

Pittsburgh:Tom Gorzelanny (14-7) at San Diego:Greg Maddux (12-10) 10:05

Bullpen Notes

Listened to the game at work via XM and had the Padre announcers.
Not good at all as Jerry Coleman called JVB "Van Schoten" all night while the other guy (didn't catch his name) sounded like a bad Paul Harvey impersonator.

Boise State is exploring a possible move to the Mountain West conference from the WAC.
This would be a move up the ladder for Boise State and would add a solid program for the Mountain West.

A terrific post by our good friends over at Wooden's World of Baseball.
Good Stuff!

If you haven't voted in the poll,do so soon as I am planning a new poll soon.

And finally thanks to David Akers of Philadelphia for drilling his late field goal in the waning minutes of the Eagles loss and allowing us to win the office NFL pool for Week 2!
Thanks David!

Photo Credit
JVB-Lenny Ignelei-AP Photo