Saturday, May 12, 2007

Power outslug Suns,Bucs fall to the Braves


The Pirates dropped a 4-1 decision to the Braves last night in Pittsburgh.
Ryan Doumit and Jason Bay continued their hot hitting,however they continue to be the only ones doing so,as the Bucs offensive woes continue.
Kyle Davies dominated the Buccos for seven innings and former Pirates and fan favorite Mike Gonzalez nailed down the save.
Zach Duke pitched well for 5 innings before the wheels went flying off in the 6th.
Atlanta's Andrew Jones and Jeff Francoeur took Duke out of the park and the Braves were on their way.
The series continues tonight with Tony Armas for the Pirates vs Atlanta's Chuck James.
The Pirates wore those horrible V8 tomato juice uniforms again last night.
Have I mentioned how much I hate those?Ha Ha

The West Virginia Power held off a late Hagerstown Suns rally to take the finale of their series last night 11-10.
The Power defeated the Suns 6 of the 8 games played here this season.
West Virginia jumped on top early with 4 1st inning runs as 5 singles added up to produce those runs.
Hagerstown got 2 runs back in the bottom half of the inning on a Chris Marrero homer,Marrero's 5th long ball of the season.
Hagerstown cut the lead to 4-3 in the 2nd as Leonard Davis' double scored Stephen King.
The Suns tied the game in the 5th on a Marrero single.but the Power hung 4 runs on the scoreboard in the 6th,as Taylor Green greeted reliever Zach Baldwin by drilling his 1st pitch over the right field wall for a Grand Slam homer.
Michael Brantley added another Power run with a solo shot in the 7th.
Both Green and Brantley's homers were their second of the season.
Brantley struck again in the 8th with a 2 run single that at the time did not look important.
However,it would prove to be the difference in the game,as the Suns scored 5 runs in the 8th to make the final tally 11-10.
Chris Marrero slammed his 2nd homer of the game and his 6th of the season as the big blow in the inning.
Chris finished the evening with 6 runs batted in.

I know I promised a look at Mike Ramlow and Alex Periard for this post,but I want to do something different with that than I originally intended.
Ryan has pics that both guys allowed Ryan to take and I want to post the pics when I do that one.
So I hope to do that one later today,Mike reads the blog,so hang in there-Hopefully we can get this done today!

Bullpen Notes

On the signing front
Got the newest Sun-Reliever Erik Arneson on his Vermont card,but the biggest catch for me
were signed baseballs from Mike Ramlow and Alex Periard.
Very cool and thanks to both guys.

I was wondering about something odd during this series.
West Virginia manager Mike Guerrero went to home plate every night to exchange lineup cards with the arbiters and the Suns,but the Suns sent a player every night...
I thought that was strange,but during the game that topic came up among the Power players in the stands and it seems that Suns skipper Tom Herr has some heat towards Guerrero and does not even want to participate in formalities with him.
Do not know if that is a 1st place vs last place deal or if this stems from an unknown incident.

I think Chris Marrero is quite a hitting prospect,but someone needs to tell him do something about his pants.
His pant cuffs literally drag on the ground around his spikes.
If a spike catches them while he is running (especially in left field),that is an easy way to break an ankle.

Oakland extended Ohio State's Nick Swisher a new contract to keep him in Green and Gold a while longer.
Good move for Nick and the Athletics!
And it gives lazy announcers the easy out to talk about Moneyball further during games.

Jack Cust launched another long ball yesterday.
I always have soft spot for the long time minor leaguers and hope to see Cust keep things going.

Hopefully back with more later !

Photo Credit
AP Photo-Gene Puskar

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