Gorzo gonezo,Maholm's effort goes for naught.

Paul Maholm tossed an excellent start for eight innings and that should have taken an immense amount of stress off the suspect bullpen.
However,Maholm could not stay in the game forever and after lifting him,Tyler Yates came into the game,walked the first batter and allowed him to score on a Prince Fielder single which lifted Milwaukee to a 2-1 win.
Why on earth is Tyler Yates pitching in a tie game in the ninth inning with his noted control issues?
Beats me,but to be entirely fair-you can replace Yates name with any other member of the relievers with the arguable exception of Damaso Marte and ask the same query.
This pitching staff is going to be pretty tough to watch for the next few weeks for sure.
The bullpen is awful with only Marte and maybe John Grabow being above mediocre (I am being kind) and the starters are no better with Ian Snell on the DL and now Tom Gorzelanny is out of the rotation for his poor performance and will be toiling in Indianapolis for the foreseeable future.
I can see the demotion-Gorzelanny has been pretty bad,but looking at a rotation that for now looks like this-Maholm,Zach Duke,the returning from the DL Phil Dumatrait and who knows?!
The Pirates look like they are going to keep running John Van Benschoten out there,Ty Taubenheim could get another try and after that????
Jimmy Barthmaier was likely rushed here,Bryan Bullington was designated for assignment,maybe now is the time to throw Yoslan Herrera up against the wall and see if he has anything to offer?
In any case,you have not likely seen the worst yet....

But we will try to be positive and look at the improvement that Paul Maholm has shown over the last six weeks.
Last night he allowed just 4 hits and if one of those stays in the yard,he gets a win instead of a no decision.
The Mississippi State Bulldog has allowed 4 runs only once since late May and clearly is the best pitcher on the staff right now.
Sure,he does not strike many out,but that is not his type of pitcher.
Looking at the bright side of things-Maholm seems to be shaping up as a decent middle of the rotation starter and right now that is enough to be this teams ace.

Pitching Matchup
Pittsburgh:Zach Duke (4-5 3.88 ERA) at Milwaukee:Jeff Suppan (5-6 4.30 ERA) 2:05

Slow day otherwise,so until next time.........

Photo Credit
Maholm:Morry Gash-AP Photo
Gorzelanny:Bill Gentry