Behind a surprisingly good outing from winning pitcher Daniel McCutchen (1-3),the Pittsburgh Pirates were able to slide by the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 at PNC Park.
Octavio Dotel pitched the ninth for his 17th save.
The middle game is tonight with Ross Ohlendorf (0-6) vs Jamie Moyer (9-6).
Pirate Hooks
1) Last nights start for Daniel McCutchen was the best that I had seen him look.
McCutchen didn't get behind in counts and have to come in with a fastball like he had in being lit up in past starts.
2) The only mistake that McCutchen made was to Wilson Valdez,who hammered a fastball over the Northside Notch for the Phillies first run and the only earned run that McCutchen would allow.
Valdez is not considered to be a power hitter,so seeing him slam the ball that far was a surprise.
3) John Russell moved Pedro Alvarez to second in the batting order in an attempt to have Alvarez see fewer breaking pitches.
It worked to a degree as Alvarez hit an opposite field double for an RBI in the third inning....
4) Evan Meek fired two scoreless innings drop his ERA under one and even batted in the seventh in order to pitch the eighth,laying down a nice sacrifice bunt.
I laughed at first about the beginning drumbeat for Meek to make the All Star team,but upon reflection-why not?
It isn't like the Pirates have a super qualified player that would lose out and it would be a nice statement to have a dominant pitcher that isn't a starter or a closer make the team.
5) Andy LaRoche was given a throwing error from second that led to the second Phillie run and maybe LaRoche should have just ate the baseball,but he made a nice play to just reach the ball and had the run not scored,it could have been argued that it should have been scored a hit.
6) Tonight is Ice Cream Bowl giveaway night.
From those terrible Pirates commercials that act like the home shopping club,they look pretty neat and sturdy too.
I just might be attempting (at the right price,of course) to attempt to build a four piece set of those....
Photo Credits
Meek/Doumit-Peter Diana-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Bowl: Pittsburgh Pirates.com
Hope to have time to clean the inbox later....
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