Tale of two blowouts

The Pirates played two lopsided games with the New York Yankees since our last post and split both blowouts.
On Tuesday,the Buccos managed to tiptoe through the minefield was Tom Gorzelanny's outing and walked away with a 12-5 win.
Gorzelanny lasted six innings and earned the win (6-6) despite walking five Yankees,including pitcher Darrell Rasner TWICE and seeming to be in trouble in just about every inning.
Fortunately,the offense picked him up banging out 19 hits and being paced by two homers by Ryan Doumit (10) and Jose Bautista (9).
Bautista continued his recent power surge in interleague play and was one of four Pirates to finish with 2 RBI on the night.
Doumit joined Freddy Sanchez and Adam LaRoche with three hits in the game as the offense really carried the day in this one.
Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski tossed out the ceremonial first pitch to commemorate the first return of the Highlanders to Pittsburgh since the famous World Series homer by Maz in 1960.

The middle game of the set was not nearly as good for the black and gold as Joba Chamberlain and the Yanks completely shut down the Pirate offense and pounded Zach Duke (4-5) and his reliever T.J. Beam on the way to a 10-0 New York win.
Duke lasted five innings allowing 4 runs (3 earned),but Beam allowed four more in just an inning and that put the game totally from reach.
Jack Wilson went three for three in about the only Pittsburgh bright spot on offense.
The series concludes tonight at 7.

Pitching Matchup
New York Yankees:Mike Mussina (10-5 3.93 ERA) at Pittsburgh:Paul Maholm (5-5 4.41 ERA)
7:05

Bullpen Notes

The Pirates will go with Jimmy Barthmaier to fill the rotation spot of Phil Dumatrait on Friday.
Barthmeier will be making his major league debut after being claimed off waivers from Houston over the winter and has pitched at both Altoona and Indianapolis this season.
No announcement on the replacement of Ian Snell for Saturday's start,but Battlin' Bob's favorite John Van Benschoten is the early frontrunner.

The Pirates also added Denny Bautista to the bullpen from Detroit for Lynchburg righthander Kyle Pearson.
Bautista's numbers look good,but he ran into a numbers game in the Motor City and was therefore available.
However,in the Post-Gazette,a scout was quoted as Bautista being a "Tyler Yates type guy".
Frankly,I am not that enthralled with the original Yates.
This is the fifth stop for the righthander,so there may be something to that comparison!

One of three guys will have to go to make room for Bautista-Sean Burnett,Franquelis Osoria or T.J. Beam.
Beam can be returned to AAA Indianapolis,but Burnett can declare free agency if they attempt to send him down and Osoria must clear waivers.
Beam seems like the most likely due to the ease of shipping him down compared to the others.

Sorry to lose Pearson,despite his pedestrian numbers for personal reasons.
Pearson was a nice guy that was always willing to talk a bit and during a game last season in Frederick,we sat next to his wife Courtney,who was a super nice person.
Always tough to lose good guys,but maybe things will turn around for Kyle with the Tigers.

And finally,a special tip of the hat to Lakewood first baseman Karl Bolt,who was relentlessly heckled on Tuesday night and then blasted a game tying three run homer with the Blue Claws down to their final out.
I especially liked Bolt's motion to this jerk as he ran up the first base line.
I don't have a problem with rooting and some ribbing of players,but this guy rode Bolt all evening long and the look on this guys face after the longball was well worth the price of admission!
The Suns won anyway in 12 innings,so the home crowd went home happy,but clearly that was the moment of the season thus far for me.

Until next time

Photo Credits
Maz:Gene Puskar-AP Photo
Wilson:Peter Diana-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pearson:John Setzler Jr
Bolt:Topps