Back to work-Baseball Edition

Looks like things are back and running at normal speed,so look for two editions today if possible.
This will deal with baseball and the other will catch up on the various mails that are stuck in the in box.

The Pirates have lost all three games since the last post.
The most painful was the finale' at Wrigley Field with a 8-5 loss to the Cubs.
After a fast start that gave the illusion that this was a Pittsburgh day,the Cubs pulled away.
Ryan Doumit's first inning single was misplayed by Alfonso Soriano,as the ball hopped by the left fielder to allow Nate McLouth to score and Brandon Moss hit his first Pirate homer in the second on a long homer to center and a 2-0 lead.
But the Cubs scored the next five runs of the games with four off ,the worsening by the start, Ian Snell before the dramatic eighth.
With two out and down by three,Doumit singled to score Doug Mienkiewicz to cut the lead to 5-3.
Andy LaRoche then drilled a two run shot over the ivy (3) to tie the game.
Craig Hansen retired the first two Chicago batters in the bottom of the frame before walking Geovany Soto.
John Russell removed Hansen (who would get the hard luck loss 0-1) for Sean Burnett.
Burnett then allowed Reed Johnson to take him deep for a two run homer and that was the game,but Burnett was not finished as he then allowed another moon shot to Alfonso Soriano to end the scoring.
What a tough loss.....

On Monday night,the Pirates looked to take advantage of the return of Freddy Sanchez and a three run first inning against Diamondback starter Dan Haren and grab a win,but by the end of the second,Yoslan Herrera had evaporated the lead and walked from the dugout straight to Altoona,where he was optioned to after the game in favor of Romulo Sanchez as the latest member of the Exxon Valdez pen.
Surprisingly Herrera didnt get the loss and the Pirates hung in the game until a six run Arizona eighth,the loss went to Herrera's rotation replacement Jason Davis (1-1).
Doug Mienkiewicz (2) and Jason Michaels (7) each homered in the 13-7 loss.
In more wonderful news-Andy LaRoche injured his thumb in this game and will miss at least tomorrow and likely the first game against the hated Phillies,which means more playing time for the disgruntled Jose Bautista.
If all falls into place perfectly,LaRoche could have Bautista back on the bench then and that is fine with me as anything that keeps Greg Brown off my television rambling about "Joey Bats" is a damn good thing!

Zach Duke pitched his best game of the season as he allowed just 4 hits in seven innings,but sadly one of them left the field of play with a runner on base and that was all Arizona needed to take away a 3-1 win behind their ace Brandon Webb.
As good as Duke was in getting the loss (4-10),Webb was,well,Brandon Webb and that was more than the Bucs could handle.
Webb scattered nine hits but a ninth inning Doug Mienkiewicz single that sent Freddy Sanchez home was the only one of significance.
Despite the loss,I was impressed by Duke in the game as he was able to keep the ball down and use the ground effectively.
Duke needs to do that as he will never be a huge strikeout hurler.
The series concludes today at 3:35.

Pitching Matchup
Pittsburgh:Jeff Karstens (1-0 0.00 ERA) at Arizona:Randy Johnson (9-7 4.35 ERA) 3:35

Bullpen Notes

Anyone else waiting to see Randy Johnson vs Doug Mienkiewicz after their harsh words earlier this year in Pittsburgh?

Blog favorite Jared Hughes was promoted to AA Altoona and won his first Eastern League game with a six inning,one run outing against Akron.
Hughes struck out six in the game.

Bryan Morris made his Hickory debut yesterday and was dominant in allowing just two hits in a 9-1 loss to Rome.
Morris pitched five innings and left the game tied at 0-0.

Ten days to go before the signing deadline and the Pirates have yet to sign any of their top picks.
It matters little whether you go by round (first,second,fifth and sixth unsigned ) or by talent (many hard to sign gambles still unsigned),the Pirates need to get some of this filled in.
It would be unrealistic to expect all of these guys to sign,but some would be nice!
The Pirates are playing the negotiating game with Pedro Alvarez and Scott Boras with this assigned value nonsense,but Boras knows the PR hit that Pittsburgh would take without signing the Vandy slugger and he also knows that Alvarez's value could decrease with a poor senior year.
Alvarez will get done,but how many of the others will?
And that will determine both a successful draft and just serious Frank Coonelly is about truly changing the culture at PNC Park.

Bill Cover sends us this note on the possibility of two California League teams moving to the Carolina League.
It would be nice to see the league add two teams and Richmond would be a good fit,but not sure on Fayetteville NC.
Minor ball has failed there a few times already (Fayetteville Generals and Cape Fear Crocs) ,an independent league team is currently in town and they hold the stadium lease!
Two sleeper thoughts with absolutely no information on these towns about this-Columbia SC (would add another South Carolina stop for a Myrtle Beach Swing) and Wilmington NC (adds an Eastern NC stop to join Kinston).
I thought that perhaps Greenville would be a High A possibility with Columbia taking over Greenville's SAL slot,but that is likely not to work with Greenville designing their park to look like Fenway for their Boston affiliation and Boston now owns Salem in the Carolina League for 2009..

Longtime Braves announcer Skip Caray passed away at 68 in Atlanta.
Caray made the Braves worth watching with his dry wit and ironic commentary.
I may be in a vocal minority,but I much preferred Skip to his more famous father,former Cardinal and Cub voice Harry.
Harry was a bit too over the top for my tastes and Skip was more my kind of announcer-someone that knew the game and had humor,but you had to be smart enough to "get it" and listen closely or something might blow right on by you.

Skip still lives on in Hagerstown though,Battlin Bob does the best Skip Caray that I have heard yet.
Everyone does Harry,but only the Battler does Skip and it is dead on.
Ask him to do it,if you see him around!!

Will be at the Muni for the final visit of the Lakewood Blue Claws with three cards.
That's right-three.
Why so few?Lakewood still has not released their team set yet.
Why even bother to put it out now?

Still worth going to see the phenomenal Dominic Brown though as he finishes up his SAL season.

Until later

Photo Credits
LaRoche:Charles Arbogast-AP Photo
Wilson:Matt York-AP Photo
Duke:Ross Franklin-AP Photo
Battlin Bob:Ryan Heimberger