Two great pitching performances,Misawa dies in ring.

The Pirates split the last two games both by the same score of 3-1 as they defeated Atlanta on a getaway afternoon contest before losing to Detroit in the interleague starter yesterday.
Steven Jackson was the winner against Atlanta (2-1) with Matt Capps picking up save 15.
Delwyn Young hit his first Pirate homer in the win.
Ian Snell pitched well,but not well enough in the loss to the Tigers and fell to 1-7.
The series is continuing with the first pitch shortly....

Pirate Hooks

1) The Pirates ran into two dominant pitchers in the two games.
Javier Vasquez had the type of stuff that I was thinking in inning one that could be a no hitter type afternoon.
Vasquez didn't pull that off,but allowed only two hits and fanned 12 Pirates in getting the no decision.
Other than the Delwyn Young homer,Vasquez was flawless and looked in top notch form...

2) Rick Porcello was not quite as good as Vasquez,but more than good enough in allowing just one run over seven innings.
This was the first time that I had seen the touted twenty year old and was very impressed with his toolbox.
Porcello came out of the 07 draft with large salary demands that teams like the Pirates didn't want to deal with and fell to the bottom of the first round where the Tigers pounced on the righty.

3) Porcello's situation is why MLB needs to push for a slotting scale for the draft in the next CBA negotiations.
Only then can teams truly select the best player regardless of money and only then can we truly take the players college commitments seriously...

4) The Pirates signed top pick Tony Sanchez and had him in Steeltown for the day yesterday.
Sanchez is headed to Florida for the next 10 days or so before being assigned to Low A West Virginia,so at least their plan is being followed.
Whether it works or not remains to be seen..

5) The Pirates made a nice pickup in signing former Cardinal top pick Tyler Herron.
Herron is just 22 and was surprisingly released by the Cards.
His numbers were not glowing at AA Springfield,but not awful either.
These are the type of low risk high reward signings that the Bucs need to continue to attempt to make.
Herron was assigned to AA Altoona.

I plan on working on the Devils coaching situation soon and look for that in the off days as well as a post on the tragic death of a few hours ago of one of the best wrestlers that the sport has ever known in Mitsuharu Misawa.
Misawa was reported to have taken a routine suplex in a match,suffered a heart attack and died in the ring.
Misawa holds the record for the most five star matches (24) by the Wrestling Observer of all time,which says more than I can type about the greatness of Misawa.
We will have quite a bit on Misawa as soon as time warrants.,but here is a Youtube tribute for now.