The win on Monday can be credited to the bullpen as they completely shut down the Astro bats after Houston had ripped Battlin Bob's guy Phil Dumatrait for seven runs over a three and a third inning period and allow
ed them nothing else for the remainder of the game.Denny Bautista pitched tremendously after being pounded in his last outing and earned the victory (2-1) after pitching two and two third of hitless baseball.
Tyler Yates and Damaso Marte finished the final three innings with Marte earning his second save.
Dumatrait allowed three runs in the first,but the Pirates responded with four of their own in the bottom of the inning as four Pirates all had RBI singles in the stanza.
Nate McLouth added to the lead in the second with a two run shot to left for his 16th homer and a 6-3 Pirate lead,but that was a lead that was short-lived as Houston drove Dumatrait to the showers with 4 runs in the fourth and erased the Pirate lead.
However,the Bucco bats regained the lead for good in the bottom of the inning as Ryan Doumit hit a two run homer (11) and Denny Bautista and Jack Wilson each added RBI singles to end the scoring on the evening.
Nice win and again showing some heart after the pitching placed them behind the eight ball and a nice job from the bullpen.
I am not counting on much from them,so it is always a welcome and pleasant surprise when we can get mileage from them!
The Buccos slogged their way through two rain delays that lasted
ove
r three hours between them to escape with a win over the visiting Astros.The Pirates didnt score until the 5th when a Nate McLouth solo homer (17) trimmed a Houston lead to 2-1.
The Astros had built the lead on two homers of their own in the fourth and fifth innings,one off starter Ian Snell (returning from the DL) and the other off T.J. Beam.
Snell pitched pretty well in his 3 and two thirds and was removed only due to the rain delay.
The Pirates took the lead in the eighth as the suddenly sizzling Adam LaRoche tied the game with his 10th homer and Nate McLouth finished off a three RBI night with a game winning two run single.
Damaso Marte finished up the game in the ninth in picking up save number three on the year.
The Pirates go for the sweep tonight at 7:05 with Battlin Bob's other favorite-JVB taking the ball for Pittsburgh.
Pitching Matchup
Houston:Brian Moeller (4-4 4.13 ERA) at Pittsburgh:John Van Benschoten (1-2 10.64 ERA) 7:05
Bullpen Notes
Before last nights game,the Pirates returned Steve Pearce to Indianapolis to make room for Snell on the roster.
Pearce batted just three times with one hit.
If the idea was just to bring someone up for the bench,other players would have been a better choice for the week.
A note on JVB that Battlin Bob will love:
Van Benschoten owns the worst career ERA (9.04) in baseball HISTORY among pitchers with at least 75 innings of work. The right-hander, a first-round draft pick in 2001, is 1-10 with an 8.82 ERA in 16 career starts.
HISTORY!
All the years that this game has been played and those are the numbers?
And this is a guy that will be running to the mound as part of your rotation?
Good Grief!
Now that makes you feel really good about tonight's game doesn't it?
We attempt to be fair when we deal with the Hagerstown Suns and we have been far from shy from drilling them in the past,but part of being fair means giving credit and criticism.
So here is some credit,I thought the Suns handled Mondays Feed Your Face night rainout about as well as one could expect and better than I expected.
After a FYF face rainout last year that was poorly handled,I figured for sure that we would see a replay in which the food lines would be closed ASAP to save money and minimal effort would be applied to attempt to make the field playable.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a real effort made to get the game in (Good call on the cancellation) and keeping the food stands open for the fans to continue to eat was a positive and fan friendly move.
Two other moves that I was surprised with and again in a positive manner were these.
With one exception (a hot dog eating contest between Suns employees),the Suns were content to let the fans just sit and enjoy the company of the people that they came with and attempt to ride things out instead of their usual efforts to entertain (Usually loudly) with attempts that are lacking to be charitable.
I thought that added to the laid back atmosphere and honestly the rain delay did not seem that bad when you are not getting crushed by overly loud music,the Sunsations running around attempting to liven up the crowd (oh brother) or an extreme amount of relentless "entertainment" that is far from such.
I thought they handled it very well in all manners and I hope they consider continuing to do things that way.
But the most pleasant surprise came after the official cancellation.
The rain check would be good for ANY game this season.
Last year the FYF rain check was good for any game OTHER than a feed your face game,which screwed over people that paid that price and then would not get to attend the promotion.
We commented on that last year and whether they listened to us or not-they made the smart and fair move.
Good work to the guys at Municipal Stadium.
A final note on the Hot Dog eating contest.
Think about pulling two fans from the stands to compete with one of your employees next time.
Some of the problems with the stunts is that they look too staged (which of course they are),but the secret is to make them look not so staged.
Pick two fans from the crowd and let them go at it against one of the guys,that way at least the people that came with the contestants are interested.
Just a thought.
Not sure how I feel about the Rich Harden trade.
Oakland did not get any really top prospects,but at the same time with the injury history Billy Beane could have thought that this was the best he could get with the chance that Harden could break down at any minute.
Harden is devastatingly good when he is healthy,so Chicago has a chance to win the deal if things go right.
Ryan has to wonder which of his teams will do better in the deal or in the perfect world-both teams do well.
Until tomorrow
Photo Credits
Bay:John Heller-AP Photo
Marte:Gene Puskar-AP Photo
Charlie Brown:Schulz/UFS
Hot Dog:Ecartoonlogos.com
Harden:AP File
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