Back to back

Two back to back losses for the Pirates since our latest post as Florida concluded a winning series with a 4-2 win over Paul Maholm (7-12).
Andrew McCutchen's solo shot in the ninth inning (12) was the only Pittsburgh long ball.
Last night,the New York Mets came into town for a weekend series and promptly spanked the Buccos and Jeff Karstens (2-10) 7-2.
Ryan Doumit's solo homer (10) was the only offensive highlight for the Pirates.
Tonight's pitching matchup is one that I am looking forward to seeing as James McDonald (2-2) takes on former Hagerstown Sun Jon Niese (7-5) in a battle of young pitchers that have pitched well lately.

Pirate Hooks

1) Alex Sanabia of the Marlins looked awful sharp for a last minute starter in the loss to Florida.
Sanabia replaced the injured Sean West and allowed just four hits to Pittsburgh.
Steve Blass kept commenting about when he would fall apart,but it never really happened as the Pirates actually hit Florida closer Leo Nunez better than Sanabia.

2) The Pirates entered the final inning against Florida down 4-1,but between McCutchen's homer and Neil Walker's single actually brought the tying run to the plate.
Nunez then whiffed both Garrett Jones and Pedro Alvarez to end the game.

3) Jameson Taillon was in Pittsburgh for his press conference and sat in on an inning on the Pirate broadcast.
Taillon seems like a really likable young man and his appearance was about the only good thing for the Pirates over the last two days.

4) Taillon said that both he and Stetson Allie will traveling with State College for the last two weeks of the season,but will not be pitching in games there.
State College,huh?Hmmm.....

5) Jeff Karstens was hit early and often in the Mets loss,but I wont even comment on his pitching.
What drives me nuts is his deliberate style in which it took almost 20 minutes for the Mets to finish the top of the first.
Karstens kept throwing over to first,which I understood for Jose Reyes,but for Chris Carter?
The same Carter that hasn't stolen a base all season?????

6) The Pirates have clinched a losing record for the 18th season in a row.
Never saw that coming....

7) The Pirates announced a two year renewal with State College as their rookie league team.
Pittsburgh has now committed to Altoona,Bradenton and State College.
Indianapolis and West Virginia are still open,but West Virginia is likely a formality...

Photo Credit
Keith Skarocic-AP Photo