Just Not Their Night

I will ignore the fact that more people turned out to watch Hines Ward win the Mirrorball Trophy than watch the Bucsc and Braves do battle last night. Actually, I had to mention it.....

Anyways, the Bucs were blanked for a second straight game, this time by Bravos ace Jair Jurrjens, once rumored to be 'Burgh bound in exchange for Jack Wilson. Charlie Morton was good enough to win, but couldn't get any run support, even inflicting damage on himself by failing to get a bunt off properly. The Bucs had their chances, but couldn't capitalize.

Morton got through the first with relative ease, walking Larry Jones but fanning Brian MCann to end the inning. The Bucs went down in order in the first, with GI Jones hitting what appeared to be a singled up the middle but SS Alex Gonzalez was positioned perfectly behind 2nd base to record the out. After getting Eric Hinske to ground out to begin the inning, Morton surrendered a single to Gonzalez and another to Freddie Freeman with a nice piece of hitting with a runner on the move. A-Gon moved to third and was sac flied home by Brooks Conrad. Morton retired Jurrjens to end the inning down 1-0, recovering nicely from having 1st and 3rd and only 1 out.

The Bucs would threaten in the home half of the 2nd, with Overbay singling with one out and Chris Snyder singling after a Brandon Wood K. With 2 on and 2 out, Ronnie Cedeno smoked a line drive up the first base line but was snagged on a tremendous diving effort from Freeman. The Bravos doubled their lead in the 3rd when Jordan Shaefer drew a lead off walk and scored on a Prado double to left. Although Shaefer is very speedy, I felt Tabata's effort on this play was lacking as he appeared to lolly gag his way to the ball. 2-0 Braves.

As expected, the game was pitchers duel and not much happened until the 5th. Morton allowed Jurrjens to reach base on a leadoff single, but seemed to work his way out of it by getting Shaefer to line out to Cedeno and Prado to hit into what could have been an inning ending double play. Overpaid made a nice diving stab and throw to Cedeno for 1, but Prado beat Ronnie's relay to Morton. The next batter was Larry Jones and he almost make Morton pay big time, crushing a drive to deep right center and appearing to leave the yard. However, a less than brilliant fan reached over the wall in an attempt to catch the ball and Jones was awarded a double as a result of fan interference. Replay upheld the ruling and Morton got McCann to ground out to Overpaid.

In the bottom of the 5th Wood flied out but Snyder and Cedeno singled to put 2 men on for Morton, with one out. Morton's attempt to bunt failed miserably as he pooped up to 3rd, forcing Larry Jones to put his aging body on the line to make a tremendous diving grab in foul territory. Cutch was up next and followed one all too familiar lack of fundamentals with another: attempting to pull an outside pitch. The result was a harmless fly out to 2nd base.

After this, and I am not kidding, I fell asleep and woke up in the bottom of the 9th to see the Pride of Pine Richland fan to start things off. Overpaid followed with a ground out and Doumit K-ed to end the game. Final count- Braves 2, Pirates 0.

Player of the game- Jair Jurrjens 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1BB, 4K , 0 R
Play of the Game- Freddie Freeman's snag in the 2nd and his single to move Gonzalez from 1st to 3rd on a hit and run.
Headscratcher of the Game- Brandon Wood almost allowing Larry Jones an infield hit after focusing too long on looking Gonzalez back to 2nd on a routine grounder
FACEPALM of the Night- Morton's botched bunt followed by Cutch's popout.

The Bucs have had trouble bunting and hitting outside pitches to the opposite field for years. Tonight, both of those issues plagued the team on consecutive plays. Up next is an afternoon tilt with the Bravos and a chance for the Bucs to walk away with a split. J-Mac vs some unknown Braves pitcher who has 9 career MLB starts and a 10.38 ERA on the year named Mike Minor. He will probably throw a no hitter.