Astros down Pirates 7-4

The Pirates lost their third game in three nights in Houston to the Astros 7-4.
Hunter Pence homered off starter Tom Gorzelanny in the second for a 2-0 Astro lead.
Pittsburgh tied the game with runs in the fourth and fifth with Adam LaRoche's 19th homer (solo) and a run scoring double by Nyjer Morgan.
Houston scored 5 runs off losing pitcher Denny Bautista (4-3) four of those off the grand slam smacked by Miguel Tejada in the sixth to put the game away.
The Pirates did score two runs in garbage time as Nate McLouth and Adam LaRoche each hit RBI doubles.
The series concludes tomorrow night in Houston.

Five Thoughts

1) Tom Gorzelanny left the game with a "Irritated finger" in the third inning.
I think that it might be a good idea to consider just shutting the lefty down for the season and let him get a head start on being primed and ready for spring training in February.

2) Another day,another Nyjer Morgan in and Steve Pearce out.
You are tired of reading it.
I am tired of typing it.

3) I wish that I could blast Denny Bautista for another poor outing,but I cannot.
Name a pitcher in the Pirate bullpen(used in a similar role) that would do any better?!

4) Each of the first three pitchers for the Pirates in this game (Gorzo,T.J. Beam and Bautista) each pitched no more than 2 and two thirds innings and each walked two batter in that span.
Think the staff will be looking at at least one veteran for the pen next season with a low walk ratio?

5) Think that the Bucs want to get home after tomorrow?
This road swing has produced a 3-6 record against not exactly powerful competition.

Pitching Matchup
Pittsburgh:Zach Duke (5-13 4.87 ERA) at Houston:Roy Oswalt (14-9 3.72 ERA) 8:05

Bullpen Notes

The Cleveland Browns lost another starter and this one is a huge loss as their top player in the secondary-Safety Sean Jones will miss 3-5 weeks with arthroscopic surgery.
The fifth year veteran from Georgia was expected to be the leader of the defensive backs and the Browns will miss him badly Sunday night against the Steelers....

The loss of Jones hurts as the Brown other starter at safety,Brodney Pool is expected to return for the Steeler game.
Pool missed the opener with issues that stemmed from a concussion.
Mike Adams,who started for Pool against Dallas,will shift to the safety spot vacated by Jones.

The Seattle Seahawks roster shuffling continues.
As we wrote yesterday,starting guard Rob Sims was placed on injured reserve.
Former Chief wide receiver Samie Parker was signed and replaces Sims on the roster.
Seattle is the third stop in the last month for Parker,who had been released by Denver and Carolina before signing with the Hawks.
Jordan Kent made it through waivers and was added to the Seattle practice squad.

Sadly,Justin Forsett did not as the Indianapolis Colts claimed him and added him to their roster.
I had feared that he would not clear after how great the California rookie had played in the pre-season.
This was a senseless loss of talent as Seattle attempted to get Forsett through waivers while keeping rookie kicker Brandon Coutu as the kickoff specialist.
Those guys are dime a dozen.
Dumb,Dumb,Dumb.............

NFL Films will continue their excellent work with a five episode series entitled "The Missing Rings".
The series will focus on five great teams that didn't win a Super Bowl,but the qualification had to be that the teams involved had to never have won a Super Bowl.
I wish that the 1980 or 1986 Browns had been involved,but perhaps more could be in the works,
The five teams are the 1969 Vikings,1981 Chargers,1988 Bengals,1990 Bills and 1998 Vikings.

The Charleston Daily Mail seems to think that the Pirates are the front runners to take over as the parent club for the West Virginia Power.
I would miss Hickory as the Pirates SAL club,but the Power will make two visits here next season compared to the Crawdads one.
But,it will take a LOT to get used to those horrible West Virginia uniforms though!

Yesterday,the Post-Gazette seemed to think that the Pirates and Lynchburg were headed for a divorce-Carolina League style.
If the Pirates wish to remain in the Carolina league and not be forced to the California League,it looks like they only have two choices.
Kiss and make up with Lynchburg or head to Winston-Salem,which seems to be the only other city in the CL that might be available.

Until next time
Gorzelanny:David Phillip-AP Photo
Jones:Scott Boehm/Getty Images