Wood not Woodward

Tim Wood pitched more like Bob Woodward last night in Washington and it was the difference in a 2-1 Pittsburgh loss in Washington to the Nationals.
Wood took the deserved loss (0-3) in a game that once again featured little from the Pirate bats.
The series continues today with a doubleheader with no television for Game 1 (More on that below).
The Pirates will send James McDonald (5-4 4.52 ERA) in the first game against Livan Hernandez (5-8 3.81 ERA) with Brad Lincoln making his season debut against John Lannan (5-5 3.48 ERA) in the nightcap.

Pirate Hooks

1) If you really wanted to blame someone besides Tim Wood for the ninth inning,try Clint Hurdle.
Hurdle pulled Charlie Morton,who had pitched brilliantly too early,forced him to use Tony Watson in the sixth instead of the seventh and then used three more pitchers (McCutchen,Moskos and Resop) in the seventh and eighth.
Wood really was the only choice if you do not want to wear out Jose Veras and Chris Resop by using both every night,but with more judicious use by Hurdle,it could have been one of the already used hurlers on the mound in the ninth instead of Wood.....

2) Great job by Chris Resop,who killed a Nationals threat in the eighth by striking out all three Nationals batters with the lead run on third.Resop's stuff was just nasty in this one....

3) Charlie Morton was sharp as well in his return to the rotation after skipping a start for some needed rest.
Morton allowed just three hits in just under six innings of work and other than his homer allowed to Roger Bernadina,looked like the pitcher that started the season so strongly....

4) The Pirates offense continues to slumber with just six hits and no player with multiple hits on the day.
Much of this is due to the constant shuffling of players in and out due to injuries,but if the Pirates want to stay in the NL Central chase,the hitting needs to pick up.
I do not see the pitching getting any better in the second half and it is more likely to drop a bit,so the needed punch has to make up the difference...

5) The first game of today's doubleheader is not televised due to the silly MLB restrictions on the Fox game of the week also known as the Yankees and/or Red Sox game of the week.
I normally rail about paying for the Extra Innings package and missing these "paid for" games,but this time it is worse when you consider that the game is involving Washington and in my MLB "local area" and it still is not televised?
MLB's television policy is the worst of the four major sports-Bar None!

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