Thanks,Teddy!

Thanks to Teddy and a strong 3:30 AM thunderstorm,I now have time to hammer out a recap of the Pirates 2-0 blanking of the San Francisco Giants.
James McDonald earned his first win of the season with six shutout innings and Joel Hanrahan fired the ninth for his seventh save.
The Giants leave town after a 12:35 matinee that sees them start former Pirate (and awful one at that) Ryan Vogelsong.
Now,there is a name that I would have bet I would not have seen in Pitching Matchups again!

Pitching Matchup
San Francisco: Ryan Vogelsong (0-0 0.00 ERA) at Pittsburgh: Jeff Karstens (2-0 3.94 ERA) 12 :35

Pirate Hooks

1) James McDonald looked like the pitcher that finished 2010 and not the double digit ERA hurler from his first few starts.
After working his way through the first two innings and keeping runners in scoring position from scoring,McDonald was downright dominant during the rest of the game and I thought it was through his curve.

The curve was baffled the Giants wasn't the 12 to 6 curve across the plate,rather it was the curve down and away out of the zone that made McDonald so effective.

2) The Pirates caught a break with the first run of the game on Chris Snyder's RBI blooper as Aaron Rowand was playing a bit too deep.
Had Rowand been playing a normal depth,Snyder would have been out and maybe Neil Walker doesn't score on a tag up.

3) Brandon Wood started at short in place of Ronny Cedeno,who Clint Hurdle benched for jogging up the up on a grounder in the loss on Tuesday.
Could Cedeno become "joggin' Ronny II"?
In any event,it is nice to see Cedeno accountable for his lack of hustle for a change....

4) Steve Pearce started at first and hit the ball solidly in all three at bats,two of them being base hits.
Could Pearce become a regular,at least against lefthanders,which he murders?
Makes sense to me.

5) John Bowker was designated for assignment to make room for the incoming Xavier Paul.
Bowker would have to clear through waivers in order to be sent to Indianapolis.
I'd rather keep Bowker than add Paul,but that's just me....

6) Jameson Taillon's West Virginia debut was rain shortened against the Hagerstown Suns with Taillon allowing a run on three hits over two innings and a tornado watch.
Taillon was clocked at 97 and walked Bryce Harper in their only head to head battle.

7) Now that Ryan Vogelsong has returned to face the Pirates,what terrible former Pirate pitcher should be your pool entry in worst pitcher to leave Pittsburgh and unlikely to return derby?
I think Bryan Bullington (now in Japan,where Vogelsong was for a few years) looks like a promising candidate-If he pitches well there.

Photo Credit-AP