Bang,Zoom to the Moon!

The Pirates were down to their final three outs, looked to have lost to yet another lousy pitcher in Runelvys Hernandez and their losing streak was about to reach six games.
Worse yet,Hernandez was gone from the game and closer Jose Valverde was in.
So this looks over,right?
I mean these are the Pittsburgh Pirates.
But as Howard Cosell used to say on the Monday Night Football halftime highlight-But No!
Jason Bay (20) and Adam LaRoche (12) each sent Valverde offerings over the wall and Freddy Sanchez then smacked an inside the park job (6) off Tim Brydak to cap a seven (yes,that is seven and not a misprint) run ninth and a 9-3 Pirate win.
And as an added bonus-John Van Benschoten pitched passably in allowing three runs (2 earned) in 5 innings and his ERA dropped to 75 on the season (just kidding,but it did drop to 8.27).
JVB walked 4 which is way too many,but this clearly was his best game this year and likely earned him another 2 or 3 starts of getting his head pounded in.
The Pirates had scored single runs in the 3rd and 5th as Bay and Sanchez each singled in a run to set up the heroics.
Bay finished the night with four hits and Sanchez,along with Nate McLouth,added three.
Give some credit to the bullpen too,four pitchers combined to keep the Astros off the board for 4 innings and keep the game tight.
Tyler Yates was the beneficiary of the offensive barrage as he picked the win from the scrap heap and improved to 4-2.
I was able to watch the first seven innings before leaving for work,so I missed the grand finale'.
Damn Central Time Zone games!
Series continues tonight at 8.

Pitching Matchup
Pittsburgh:Paul Maholm (6-6 4.10 ERA) at Houston:Jack Cassel (1-0 6.28 ERA) 8:05

Bullpen Notes

The New Jersey Devils made a few signings to add veteran leadership to the Lowell Devils and add depth in case of injury to the Devils.
Center Fedor Fedorov returns after two years of playing in the Russian league and the former Ranger and Canuck will likely be at Lowell for most of the season.

Scott Clemensen returns to the Devils organization after a year in the Toronto system.
Clemmensen will likely be the part time goalie and veteran mentor to Jeff Frazee in Lowell.

Prospect Petr Vrana was also re-signed to a new contract as well.
Vrana is expected to compete for a spot on the parent roster in training camp.

Starting later today,We start a four part interview with Wilbur Miller on the state of the Pirates farm system.
I may add a few comments with them as we go along or I may add my take on things after everything is posted.
Thanks to Wilbur for taking his time to do this.

Until next time!

Photo Credit
Sanchez:Pat Sullivan-AP Photo