McLouth homer saves the day!

Nate McLouth was down to both his and the Pirates last strike of the game and he made the best of it with a three run blast into the stands off Dodger closer Takeshi Saito that erased the Los Angeles lead and made Pittsburgh's in a 6-4 Pirate win.
McLouth continued with his season long hitting streak with the homer (2) and continued to show that the Pirates made the correct decision in giving him the centerfield position.
The Pirates took an early two run lead on a Jose Bautista homer (1) in the second and after the Dodgers tied the game regained the lead on an RBI double in the 6th by Xavier Nady.
The Dodgers then scored two in the bottom of the 6th for the lead that would exist until the McLouth homer.
Tyler Yates improved to 2-0 with the win for his scoreless 8th inning and Matt Capps closed the show in the 9th for his 4th save.
Same two teams tonight in LA.

Pirate Hooks
Gold:Nate McLouth-Game winning homer
Silver:Jose Bautista-Two run homer
Bronze:Pirate Bullpen-kept the game close.

Pitching Matchup
Pittsburgh:Matt Morris (0-1) at Los Angeles:Hong-Chi Kuo (0-0) 10:10

Bullpen Notes

I only watched the first two innings of the game,but listened at work via the XM.
I am not a Dodger fan,actually I have always disliked them.
I have always thought that had I grown up in the 40's or 50's,I would have been a New York Giant fan,perhaps that could be why I dislike them so.
But Dodgers fans are lucky to have the legendary Vin Scully in the booth for a few innings and then the underrated Charley Steiner taking over for the legend for the second half of the game.
I know that I say this every time I listen to a Dodger broadcast,but it gets no better than that.

In another rarity-Congratulations to the NHL for quickly dealing with the BS antics of Sean Avery.
I hope Mr.Avery is investing his money well,he will need it when he is shortly out of the league and in the AHL.
Why?
Teams will not want to put up with the bad pub and worse,the referees beginning to call penalties on him for his act.
It will happen-ask Tyson Nash about that.


Avery is another reason that the instigator penalty needs to be eliminated or at least modified.
I would wholeheartedly support a rule that gives a player that verbally instigates a fight and then refuses to fight the same penalty as the player that throws punches.
That will take away even more of chippiness from the Averys of the league.

And finally,this nonsense of digging up finished concrete to dig up a jersey is ridiculous.
And I am not sure if it even takes the Bronze medal for dumbness.
The media is silly for giving it attention and the Yankees front office guy acting like this equates with the Soviets invading Prague is even more so.
Not to mention the moron that brags about this BEFORE all the work is done,so it can be removed.

Photo Credit:
McLouth:AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian