Weekend Wrap Up

Good Morning to all our loyal few. It has been a while since my last posting, as I took a 4 day weekend while Pucks_and_Pols headed to camp. The Bucs went 2-2 Friday through Monday, now losing 11 of their last 17 games with another L to the Mets last night. I will attempt to wrap up the extended weekend that was in  Pirates baseball.

Friday- the Bucs took on the Cubs at Wrigley Field in an afternoon showdown. After taking 2 out of 3 in the season opening series, the Bucs were hoping to find the offense and get on a roll, they got plenty of help along the way. The Bucs threatened in the first, with Tabata leading things off with a single and a stolen base. After a Pearce strikeout, Cutch singled Tabata to 3rd giving the Bucs first and third and one out with Neil Walker coming to the plate, batting from the right side. Although enjoying an excellent season, Neil was 0 for his last 17 prior to this at bat and he failed to improve that stat by hitting a one hopper to former Bucs Aramis Ramirez. A-Ram was playing even with the bag and fired home to catch Tabata, who made an incomprehensible decision to try and plow catcher Koyie Hill. Tabata was out by a country mile and laid wincing at the plate. I am not sure if it was his body or his ego that was hurting, but it looked like typical Buccos baseball at it's finest. Matt Diaz, the righty brought in to hit lefties but is only batting .205 against lefties, grounded out to end the inning. The Cubs managed a baserunner in the bottom of the 1st after a Steve Pearce error, but they were unable to capitalize.

In the top of the 2nd, it was the Bucs who would get some production via errors. If you have read my recaps or my glossary here at the Mutiny, you are probably aware of my position on the Pirates inability to manufacture a run without giving up 2 outs and all their baserunners to do it. Today, they found two new ways to "Manufacture a Run the Pirates Way". After Chris Snyder walked and Overpaid singled, Ronnie Cedeno bunted to the pitcher. Davis made a terrible play on the ball and all baserunners safely moved up a station. Kevin Correia was the next batter and he hit a major league ground ball to 3rd, but A-Ram could not come up with it and the Bucs were on the board with the Bases still loaded and nobody out. Tabata was next but he went down looking. Pearce followed with a sac fly and the Bucs had a 2-0 lead. Correia cruised through the 2nd and 3rd innings, bringing the Bucs to the plate in the 4th in what would be another embarrassing inning for the Cubs.

After Overpaid flied out, Cedeno walked and Correia bunted him over to second. Tabata then walked and Pearce was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Cutch, who also walked to bring in the third run for the Bucs. Neil Walker followed with an "infield single" that was more like a fielder's choice in which Steve Pearce beat A-Ram to the bag. Either way, the Bucs took a 4-0 lead. The action was pretty uninteresting the rest of the way until the bottom of the 9th when Jake Taylor called on Joe Beimel to hold the 4 run lead for the squad. Beimel, as has been the case recently, failed miserably to do so, walking Carlos Pena and surrendering a 2-run home run to Soriano. At this point, it looked like the Bucs were going to give another one away that had been handed over on a silver platter. However, Hanrahan jogged out of the pen and absolutely dominated the Cubbies, striking out the side and earning his 14th save in 14 attempts. When you are struggling to score runs, take 'em any way you can get 'em. Final tally: Bucs 4 Cubs 2.

Player of the Game- Kevin Correia- 7.1 IP, 4 H 0R, 2 BB, 2 K. Hanrahan gets an honorable mention for his save, striking out the side after Beimel let the Cubs back in teh game.
Headscratcher of the Game: Take your pick if you're a Cubs fan, anything in the 2nd or 4th innings would suffice.
Facepalm of the Game- Beimel letting the Cubs back into the game in the bottom of the 9th, not even getting an out!

Saturday, the dormant Bucs bats woke up and finally they did it for Paul Maholm and never has a pitcher been more deserving. If I were to recap this entire game, it would take an hour or so, thus I will give a condensed version:

Maholm was excellent, going the distance for a CG shutout, needing only 92 pitches to do so and allowing only 3 hits and striking out 4. He was perfect through 4 1/3 but that came to an end when Cutch could not field a deep flyball off of Soriano's bat. AVS would have caught it with his eyes closed. Remember when "experts" said McLouth wasn't a very good fielder after he got a contract extension but the FO disputed that, pointing to his Gold Glove as proof the "Experts" were wrong, only to say "the experts said he wasn't a good fielder" after they traded him? Anyways, the Bucs offense came from the place the Bucs offense usually comes from and that is from Home Runs, four of them to be exact. Cedeno, Overpaid, Snyder and Cutch all went yard for the Bucs with Cedeno's being a 3-run bomb and Cutch's producing 2. Snyder and Overpaid hit solo shots, accounting for 7 of the 10 runs. Steve Pearce also singled in a pair of runs and G.I Jones knocked in Tabata to tip the tally to double digits. While this was a greaet offensive showing, it was proof yet again that the Pirates offense is not very good. They rely mainly on home runs to score, but they are 27th in the league in that category.......... Final count- Bucs 10-, Cubs 0.

Player of the Game- Maholm, without a doubt.
Headscratcher of the Game- Any MLB team allowing this offense to put up double digits on them.
Facepalm of the Game- Cutch's inability to make a slightly above average catch.

Sunday was back to reality for the Bucs, carving out only 2 runs, via an Overpaid 2-RBI double and allowing an error to be the difference in a 3-2 loss. a 3-2 game between these 2 teams if pretty much as awful as it sounds. The game was delayed for several hours because of rain, Karstens wasn't stellar, but he wasn't awful, either, going 5IP and allowing 2 ER, but 3 total with the extra run coming courtesy of another Cedeno gaffe. The fact that it was only his 4th error of the season was actually a huge surprise to me. It seems like he's had far more, but I guess you don't get errors for "balls Jack Wilson would have got to and made it look easy". And oh yeah, Ryan Doumit is on the DL again after being injured in this contest. Final score Cubs 3, Bucs 2

Player of the Game: Ryan Dempster, 6IP 2ER
Headscratcher of the Game: Overpaid driving in more runs!
Face Palm of the Game: Cedeno's costly error.

Monday night, the Bucs headed to NYC to battle the Mets in the first of a four game series, donning hideous Red, White, and Blue hats. With Joese Reyes absent, the Mets still managed to handily dispatch the Bucs on their home turf. Chris Snyder started the socring off with a 2-Run home Run in the 2nd but the fun would be short lived. A passed ball on a strikeout was extremely costly, allowing Daniel Murphy to score and Pride to reach first base while also extending the inning. the Mets tied the affair at 2 with an infield single from Tejada (not that Tejada) but it wouldn't be until the 5th when another run would cross the plate. With another infield single allowing the Mets to take a 3-2 lead. The Bucs would tie the game up in the 7th when Cedeno grounded into a Fielder's Choice, scoring Overpaid again. Jake Taylor decided to close the book on Morton, after another solid outing, and insert the Guy Who Cried. Bad move as D.Cutch surrendered a 2-run double to give the Mets the lead for good. The Metropolitans would double their lead in the 8th off of Jose Ascanio and that was the last of the scoring. Mets 7, Bucs 3.

Player of the Game- Tie Dillon Gee, going 7IP and giving up 3 ER on 5 H to improve to 5-0 and Charlie Morton, going 6IP allowing 3 runs but only 1 earned. He did give up 11 hits, but did not walk anybody!

Headscratcher of the Game: Jake Taylor using the Guy Who Cried, a righty, against 2 left handed batters who were a combined 3 for 40 on the season against LHP. The guy who was 1 for 16, Josh Thole, drove in the deciding runs off of the Guy Who Cried! Classic Bucs management.
Face Palm of the Game: Chris Snyder's 2, count 'em 2, passed balls in one freaking inning allowing 2 runs to cross.

So there you have it, the Bucs split the extended weekend series but look no worse for the wear. Doumit is on the DL, again. The hitting is still overly reliant on Home Runs, and the starting pitchers aren't getting good defense behind them.

SmizBlog is beginning to discuss trade options today. I would love nothing more than to see the Bucs in the playoffs and if the FO and Nuthouse want to prove they are serious, they might want to consider some potential upgrades. Hell, the Mets ownership group thinks Beltran and Reyes are overpaid and want no parts of extending them. Why don't we do what other teams always do to us and trade a couple of 26 year old career minor leaguers for 2 proven rent-a-players and make a run at this thing.

Ant then I woke up..........