[Tuesday loss Recap]
[Wednesday Win Recap]
First things first:
That was a pretty wild trip to New York.
We of course had the rainout on Monday, setting up a great matchup, Snell vs. Santana, for Tuesday, when nobody in Pittsburgh could watch it.
Santana, arguably the league’s top pitcher and pitching in one of his best chances for another special accomplishment, promptly opened the game by giving up a homer to Nate McLouth on his second pitch of the night.1-0. Bye bye, no-hitter, shutout, whatever.
Johan would only give up one more hit the rest of the way. That hit was a solo shot off the bat of Jason Bay. 2-0.
Ian Snell imploded in the 5th to give up 4 runs, mostly as a result of poor control. One should have been unearned, thanks to a Freddy Sanchez drop that turned a double play into nothing.
Both starters were gone before 6 innings had been completed.
The Bucco bullpen was phenomenal in this one. Marte came in with 1 out and bases loaded and got 2 K’s. Osoria tossed 2 scoreless. Grabow was excellent yet again.
LaRoche walked in a run to make it 4-3, but the Pirates missed so many scoring chances that it wasn’t funny. After that walk, Bautista and Paulino both made harmless outs, stranding 3. Similar occurrences happened almost every inning.
In the 9th, closer Billy Wagner (who’d given up 1 hit and 0 runs all year) came in to end it. Doumit reached on a lazy throw by Reyes. Bixler (pinch-runner) took second on a wild pitch. Gomez and McLouth were retired, but Frederick the Great blooped one to center to miraculously tie the game.
Then, the all-too familiar template came in to play.
Extra innings. Pirates can’t seem to score. Bullpen great……..until…..they run out of arms.
They didn’t exactly run out of arms, but after 10 Russell could choose from Meek, Capps, or Van Benschoten. JVB (1-10 career in majors–was tearing up the minors once again and was called up after the Morris release) came in–to my shock. How could you leave Capps sitting in the bullpen? Well, it turns out Capps was sick in his stomach, and was only a last resort. JVB gave up a single (0-2 pitch), 2 walks, and a walk-off base hit (David Wright) while only recording 1 out (sac bunt). He doesn’t seem to have changed much.
So that was that. Would have been great, but we didn’t expect to have a chance anyway, right? Plus, the Pens won (what else is new?).
Today:
To start, we were delayed by a water main break outside Shea. The game started about 40 minutes late.
Ollie was the Perez we all knew and hated, thinking too much on the mound and not throwing strikes. The 2nd inning: the Pirates scored 7 runs on 2 hits. There were a mere 5 walks, plus an error. Suddenly the game looked like a laugher.
Not so fast with Gorzo on the mound, though. Tom has been erratic (at best) this year, and with his ERA 7 runs would still result in a loss. Gorzo walked 5 men in 5 innings, bringing his total this year to a super-alarming 27BB in 27.1 IP. But, it’s the “R” column that counts, and Tom put up 5 zeroes there. He then left the game in pain, to what effect we aren’t sure of yet. There have been rumblings of an injury all season, though, so to some it was no surprise.
That would do it. The offense would score more garbage runs, and JVB and Meek both got work in with a comfy lead. Finally, a win that doesn’t make us nervous. Well, except that our best pitcher from last year got hurt…
The final was 13-1. We’ve tied the Reds for 5th and head to Washington for 4 (by train) with a record of 11-16.
One note from this series: Gomez played SS in both games, for the first 2 times all year. He’s a WAY better option at the plate than Bixler/Rivas, and if he can do the job in the field, what were we waiting for? He couldn’t have been worse (on offense or defense) than the other two, and actually was very good this week. Hope to keep seeing him there until Jack returns.
Oh, and paging Adam LaRoche: today is the last day of April. That is all.
