Sunday, July 29, 2007

Phillies complete sweep of Pirates

The Phillies completed their sweep of the Pirates today in Philly with a 5-1 win.
Saturday,The Pirates lost a early lead and lost 10-5.
I don't have too much to say on that game,as my power went out when the Bucs had the lead and came back on after 8 Phillie runs.
Shane Youman had most of the shellacking and therefore picked up the loss that dropped him to 2-3.

Today's game was pitiful in a different way.
Lack of effort.
Ronny Paulino gave the Phillies 1 run with a horrendously poor effort on a Ian Snell pitch,that was amazingly scored a wild pitch.
In the Pittsburgh 9th,Xavier Nady stood at second instead of tagging up on a long fly ball by Jose Castillo.
I know the score is 5-1,but weirder things have happened.
Poor,poor effort today.
Ian Snell allowed 3 runs over 6 innings and was the loser and fell to 7-9 on the year.
Not a great outing,but his best since the all-star break.
Nate McLouth hit a solo homer (3rd) for the only Pirate run.

After yesterday's post,John Van Benschoten was demoted to AAA Indianapolis and Jonah Bayliss was recalled to join the bullpen.
Why did the bullpen need additions?
Because Tony Armas was placed back into the rotation!
Please,anyone tell me what Tony Armas has done to given this chance????
This season is over,pick someone else from Indianapolis to take a look at.
We know what Tony Armas will give the Pirates and he is gone at season's end anyway.
Why not see what someone else might be able to do?

For the record,I disagree with the demotion of JVB.
Not for the record that he compiled,that is worthy of demotion.
I think after the hype given to the "reworking" of his mechanics with the noted "rebuilder" Jim Colborn,to give him just 1 start is pretty weak and borderline unfair.

The Pirates return home Tuesday for a series vs the Cardinals.

Bullpen Notes

Kyle Kendrick was the winning pitcher for the Phillies today over Pittsburgh and improved his record to 5-1.
Kyle signed for us last year when he was a Lakewood Blue Claw and seemed like a pretty good guy.

Speaking of nice guys,Good luck to former Brown Tim Couch.
Couch is attempting a comeback and signed a two year contract with the Jaguars.
I am not convinced that Couch would have ever been a franchise QB in Cleveland,but I don't think anyone could have been,if they were depending on some of the Browns offensive lines during that time period for protection.

Former Pirate Bill Robinson died today at 64.
Robinson was working for the Dodgers as a minor league instructor and is most noted to Pirate fans for his solid run as a Pirate in the late 70's with 3 20+ homer seasons and a 100 RBI season as well.
Robinson was also a Pittsburgh native.

The Astros designated Morgan Ensberg for assignment.
This is the type of player that Pittsburgh needs to take a chance on.
The cost will be minimal and the rewards could be huge.
Just two years ago,Ensberg hit 36 homers and knocked over one hundred runs.
He has struggled since a shoulder injury,but still well worth a flyer.

Steven Pearce was promoted to AAA Indianapolis today from AA Altoona.
This is a smart move by the Pirates and gives Pearce a months worth of AAA pitching to give him more of a chance to prepare for a possible bid for the big roster in spring training.
Glad that I was able to get his cards signed last week at Altoona!

Back tomorrow with the promised post that was supposed to be done over the weekend.

Photo Credit
McLouth-AP Photo-George Widman

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

boy that was good timing on the Altoona trip.. glad we got the cards signed by him..and i totally agree with you about Armass.. bring up someone and let them try, ship his worthless a@@ to wherever!!

Shawn said...

Yeah,I would not have been able to
"get pearce next time"-LOL

Armas was worth a gamble,but it didnt work out.
Lets take a look at as many arms as the Bucs can before this horrible season is over!