Bay's triple makes the difference

It looked like a high scoring night after 2 innings as each team had scored three runs and neither Paul Maholm or Brandon Backe have ever reminded anyone of Bob Veale or Larry Dierker.
But,both starters and their bullpens settled down and only 1 more runner crossed the plate for the
remainder of the game-Nate McLouth and that turned out to be the difference in a 4-3 Pittsburgh win.
After Houston scratched out an unearned run in the first off Paul Maholm,Jason Michaels gave the Bucs a 3-1 lead with his second homer of the year.
For those of you wondering why Michaels was listed as hitting his second homer last week and his total stayed at two,Last time I counted his only homer in Cleveland and from here on,I will only be counting his Pittsburgh homers.
Nate McLouth beat out a "swinging bunt" with two out in the fifth to set the stage for the game winning triple for Bay on a ball that could have been caught by Jose Cruz Jr,but he either dropped it shying away from the wall or the ball popped out after brushing the wall.
Either way,the game was essentially over from then on as Maholm cruised through the Houston lineup from then on in moving his record to 4-5.
The Mississippi State product ended up with eight strong innings with allowing 3 runs (2 earned) scattering eight hits and struck 1 Astro out.
Matt Capps pitched the ninth for save number 13.
The Arizona Diamondbacks hit town for their only visit of the year for a 4 game set tonight.
Good luck tonight in facing the best pitcher in the league.

Pitching Matchup
Arizona:Brandon Webb (10-2 2.69 ERA) at Pittsburgh:Ian Snell (2-5 5.94 ERA) 7:05

Bullpen Notes

I loved the Pirates first day of the draft.
Tanner Scheppers was a top ten talent that fell due to injury concerns,but if healthy was the best pitcher in this draft.
Without the injury concerns,he goes at worst 12th and the Bucs add him at 44?
Great pick.
A gamble?
Sure,but those are the type of gambles that need to be made.
I also liked Jordy Mercer of Oklahoma State in the 3rd and especially Texas outfielder Robbie Grossman in the 6th-IF they can get him signed.
The Pirates also added lefty Justin Wilson,a teammate of Scheppers at Fresno State in an effort to be Fresno East!
More on the draft over the next few days and look for our 2nd annual shadow draft in a few weeks.

After last night's win over the Astros,the Pirates activated Ryan Doumit and demoted Ronny Paulino to Indianapolis.
This could salvage the career of "the jogger" by showing him what it takes to be a big leaguer or ruin it if his attitude is wrong.

To make room for Paulino,the Pirates released Brian Rogers from the I-Tribe.
Rogers was acquired from Detroit for Sean Casey in 2005 and made two brief and less than memorable stints in Pittsburgh.
The numbers for Rogers look nice,so unless his soft tossing stuff was the reason for his release-I can only think off off the field concerns for the move.
Please do not get the idea that this upsets me as AAA has loads of guys similar to Brian Rogers.

Ryan sends us this note on CBC battling over fees to continue using the popular Hockey Night in Canada theme.
This will get done-CBC is the big loser in such a scenario,so I would not fret over it yet.

Photo Credits
Michaels:Gene Puskar-AP Photo
Scheppers:Juan Villa-The Collegian