Paul Maholm (1-3) was the winner against Washington with Joel Hanrahan notching save six on the campaign.
Hanrahan was the loser against the Giants (0-1) with Garrett Jones (4) hitting the only Pirate homer over the two games.
The series continues tonight at 7:05
Pitching Matchup
San Francisco: Madison Bumgarner (0-3 7.79 ERA) at Pittsburgh:James McDonald (0-2 10.13 ERA) 7:05
Pirate Hooks
1) Paul Maholm was strong in his first win of the season,Maholm pitched seven innings and retired the last 13 batters that he faced.
Other than his two run first inning,Maholm pitched very well and considering his performance thus far,he deserves a 3-1 record more than the inverse record.
2) Brandon Wood started both games playing third against Washington and short against the Giants.
Wood knocked in the first two Pirate runs with a double into the gap,but his first at bat was similar as the ball was ripped to the same spot,but the Giants were playing Wood to the gap and made the catch.
3) The claiming of Wood has been somewhat controversial to some Pirate fans and I am on the fence on Wood.
I think he still has potential and is worth a flier especially on a team with Ronny Cedeno on it,but I am strongly against yesterday's claim of Dodger outfielder Xavier Paul.
Paul brings some speed,but little power and to either lose John Bowker or send Steve Pearce to Indianapolis over Paul makes me question this claim strongly...
4) The fourth inning rain delay might have meant the difference in the game as John Lannan looked to be out of sorts after the delay.A walk to Steve Pearce was followed by the game tying double by Wood.
Pittsburgh would take the lead in the inning and never threaten thereafter....
5) Last night's loss was a tough one as Charlie Morton bounced back from his previous start and pitched very well.
Morton deserved the win with allowing just one run over six innings and left the game with the lead.
6) Evan Meek must have issues that the public does not know about.
Meek looks more like the wild Rule 5 version than the All-Star of last season.
Meek's control issues make me think there is more to his "stiffening" of earlier this season than has been reported.
7) The winning run scored by Darren (I'm not signing that Bowman) Ford on a grounder to a drawn in Neil Walker comes down to this-Walker is still learning second.
I am not making excuses for Walker,his glance and resulting soft toss to first allowed Ford to have the opportunity to score,but he is learning still on the job.
Nonetheless,part of playing infield at any spot,is looking the runner back and offering more than a cursory glance...
8) I spoke about Xavier Paul being claimed earlier and that I wasn't thrilled,but more because either a possibly productive player would leave his second team without getting a true chance (John Bowker) or a hard working player that does nothing but bust his hump gets sent down to AAA (Steve Pearce).
Why guys like Bowker and Pearce always seem to get the short end in favor of others makes me wonder about people in this game sometimes...
9) Jameson Taillon makes his pro debut tonight in Charleston with Low A West Virginia against,you guessed it-Bryce Harper and the Hagerstown Suns.
Wish there were some TV available for this one.
Harper has been on a tear of late and here is hoping that he keeps up the sizzling pace!
10) Our friend Wilbur Miller has begun to question Neal Huntington and his ability to judge major league talent.Wilbur takes an interesting look at the issue at Bucs Dugout...
I will be back later with the Browns preview for sure.
I have plans tomorrow so I may have do another two game combo post on the Wed and Thursday games against the Giants,but count on a post tomorrow on the newest member of the Cleveland Browns!
1 comment:
Read the article by Wilbur.. very good stuff!!1 And almost dead on..
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