Disappointment

The Pittsburgh Pirates allowed their supposed strength in pre-season to let them down again as closer Matt Capps allowed three ninth inning runs (0-3) to waste seven shutout innings from Paul Maholm and a shaky but scoreless eighth from Tyler Yates and John Grabow in a 3-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
Craig Monroe ripped a sixth inning single for the only Pirate RBI.

Pirate Hooks

1) The Rockies could have tied the game in the eighth,but the third base umpire called Seth Smith out for leaving third base too soon on a flyball to Nyjer Morgan.
The play looked pretty close to me,but that call usually isn't made in the majors-if the call is that tight.

2) Smith should never have placed the umpire in that position anyway.
Hasn't anyone in the Rockie dugout or their advanced scouts seen Nyjer Morgan throw??

3) The Pirate offense continues to be anemic,but the Pirates have to be pleased with the output that they have recieved from both Jason Jaramillo and Robinzon Diaz in the absence of Ryan Doumit.
I wouldn't be surprised if either finds a new home when Doumit returns after their fine play.
Indianapolis seems to be a waste of talent for the unlucky one that returns there....

4) I know that Matt Capps isn't exactly Mariano Rivera,but he seems to not only be pitching poorly,but he seems to have lost a bit off his fastball and looks similar to his outing last season before he went on the DL.
Besides when you have a higher ERA than Tyler Yates,doesn't that tell you anything???

5) The Buccos added another power arm in former Yankee Eric Hacker from the Yankee AAA affiliate in Scranton.
Hacker had been designated for assignment by New York last week.
No word on the cost of obtaining Hacker.

Bullpen Notes

Well,one thing that I planned on including in my Devils off season advice occurred before I could type it as Niclas Havelid signed to play in the Swedish pro league for next season.
Havelid played horribly for the Devils and the loss of Anssi Salmela hurts a ailing defense even more,especially when you consider he was sent packing for basically a bad rental...

ESPN has an interesting article on new Xavier coach Chris Mack,who seems like a quietly excellent hire.
Could Mack be the coach that finally sticks around to move the Muskies to the next level???

Photo Credit
Hawpe-Gene Puskar-AP Photo