Astros stop sweep attempt

John Van Benschoten did about what one could expect-4 runs in the first inning,walked six batters in a 4 and two thirds inning night,but the Pirate bats bailed him out by tying the game and giving him a no decision,but Houston was able to score two runs off the Pirate long men and avoided a sweep in Pittsburgh with a 6-4 win.
As hard as it is to believe,Van Benschoten actually lowered his season and career ERA with the outing.
I do believe that says it all.
Sean Burnett allowed 1 run from the bullpen and was the losing pitcher (0-1).
The Bucs chipped away at the Houston lead with a run in the second on a Adam LaRoche ground out and then two in the third on a Ryan Doumit single and Jason Bay double before a Freddy Sanchez sac fly tied the game in the fifth.
The Astros then salted the game away in the seventh scoring a run each off Burnett and T.J.Beam.
The Pirates were scheduled to be off today,but instead will be playing a makeup game against the Yankees before hosting the Cardinals in the final games before the All-Star break.

Pitching Matchup
New York Yankees:Mike Mussina (11-6 3.64 ERA) at Pittsburgh:Paul Maholm (5-5 4.05 ERA)
7:05

Bullpen Notes

Van Benschoten was sent down to Indianapolis after the game.
No word on a replacement that will likely add depth to the bullpen for the next four games.
I would like to see Jesse Chavez get an opportunity,but a Marino Salas return is more likely.

Arron Asham left the Devils and signed with the rival Philadelphia Flyers.
I liked Asham,but it appeared that he and Brent Sutter didn't really mesh well.
Many Devils bloggers are quite happy to see him leave New Jersey,but I would have rather seen him elsewhere than Philly.
My best Asham memory was this great slugfest with Riley Cote of the Flyers in what may have been the Devils fight of the year.


I had an interesting discussion with a few members of the Hagerstown Suns organization during last nights game and during it, I had the chance to say something that has been a thorn (in my opinion) in the Suns side for years-the problems that they have drawing fans during the Little League season.
As as been noted before,this area is insane for Little League baseball more than any area that I have ever seen and I really didn't have any answers for them that would help.
But now I have had my interest piqued by this and will work on offering a few ideas/solutions on a slow day here in the future.

And finally the answer to the age old question-which is the better way to place the toilet paper on the roll-over or under?
Well,the environmentalists over at Treehugger say that Over is the winner.
They argue that you will use less paper with the over method than the under and therefore take less from the planet via the trickledown method.
They have loads of charts and graphs to show the difference.
Someone had WAY too much time on their hands over at Treehugger this week.

Until tomorrow with Interleague cleanup,Suns-Asheville Tourists and on the signing front on Asheville before the Hickory Crawdads come to town!

Photo Credits
JVB-Gene Puskar-AP Photo