The Brewer woes continue

Yovani Gallardo matched Ian Snell zero for zero for six and a half innings and then grew weary of pitching so well for nothing,as he slammed a Snell pitch over the fence in the Milwaukee seventh for the only run in a 1-0 Milwaukee win.
Snell was a hard luck loser in falling to 1-3 as the Pirates losing streak to the Brewers to 15 games.
The Pirates are off today as they return home for three games against the Cincinnati Reds.

Pirate Hooks

1) With the exception of the pitch to Gallardo,one can make few quibbles with Ian Snell's outing.
Snell allowed just five hits over seven innings,although he did walk five and that is a concern.

2) At the Post-Gazette Q & A on the Pirates for the week,a few writers commented on Snell's 131 pitch output including the always insightful Wilbur Miller.
As someone that often sits in the stands with a pitch counter,I realize the importance of such data and I also see the downside of throwing so many pitches over a compressed time frame.
However,I am not a slave to the stat and I don't think that it is a true tell all on a pitcher's projection of eventual career length.

3) That said,I didn't have a problem with Snell's outing yesterday,but I did have one last week in Zach Duke pitching more than he had to in a blowout of the Padres.
Those are unnecessary innings in a game that is in the bag.
If your bullpen is so bad that you don't feel comfortable with a huge lead that is another problem entirely....

4) More on pitch counts.
I am a believer in this pitch count axiom-pitchers that are babied in the minors can break down under the workload of a major league career.
Perhaps if the minors used a higher pitch number as they progressed through a game,the pitcher would be better prepared for the larger big league number.
Use this analogy-you buy a car from the old fellow next door,the car is five years old and "Fred" has only putted around town to the store,no highway driving,never above 40 etc.
Your friend buys a car,same year and model,but this car has been driven (not abused) to drive 75 miles on the highway round trip every day.
Which car will last longer making 5 highway trips a week?
The one that is used to it,the lower mileage car has aged without building itself up to tolerate the type of wear and tear that the other car is used to.

5) Bad news from the farm as Jose Tabata strained a hamstring and will miss 4 to 6 weeks.
Tabata was off to an average start,so take that with the injury and assume that Tabata will get an August cameo at best as an Indianapolis Indian...

Bullpen Note

Sorry to hear of the passing of Playboy Buddy Rose at his home in Portland.
Rose was one of stars of Portland wrestling in the regional wrestling days and runs in both the WWF and AWA.
Rose may be most remembered by national fans for either his undercard run with his gimmick being his insistence of being 218 lbs in the WWF (He was about 100 more than that) or for his last big run as AWA tag champs with Doug Somers and their classic feud with the Midnight Rockers with a young Shawn Michaels teaming with Marty Jannetty on matches shown on ESPN.
Those matches can still be seen on ESPN Classic...


Photo Credit
Gallardo:Darren Hauck-AP Photo