3 
1James McDonald might not have had his best stuff going, at least not consistently, last night. He was little bit wild, he gave up 8 hits (all singles I believe) over 5.1 IP, but he when he left the game with a 3-0 lead, he had fanned 9 Braves and put the Bucs in position to steal another W.
J-Mac put 2 Braves aboard with 2 outs in the 2nd inning before fanning Alex Gonzalez to get the final out. He started the bottom of the 3rd by allowing his mound opponent to lead off with a single (after he appeared to strike him out) followed by another single by Martin Prado. After a line drive double play off the bat of Jason Heyward, Larry Jones singled to put 1st and 3rd with 2 outs and after Jones swiped 2B, it was 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. But McDonald struck out Freddy Freeman to end the inning. The bottom of the 6th saw back to back 1 out singles from Freeman and Dan Uggla followed by a catcher's interference to load the bases for good measure. But Chris Resop came on to retire Cornerstone Nate McLouth and Gonzalez to end it.
The Bucs didn't manage much offensively, but it was enough to win. Tim Hudson was working with the Obligatory Atlanta Braves/Greg Maddux strike zone while J-Mac was working with a pill box. Hudson struck out the side to start the game, but the Bucs got to him in the second inning. Cutch and Kdro drew consecutive walks and each moved up 90 feet when Overpaid flew out to deep center. Cedeno's groundout was enough to get Cutch home and Fort McKenry's 2 out single plated Alvarez for a 2-0 lead. The Bucs struck again in the 6th after GI Jones drew a 1 out walk and moved to 2nd on a Walker groundout. Cutch singled to center to score Jones for the 3-0 lead.
Larry Jones, activated yesterday from the DL for the 427th time in his career, lead off the bottom of the 8th with a solo shot off of the Guy Who Cried. After walking Freeman, Veras came on to retire the side and the Bucs went down in order in the top of the 9th to bring about Hammer Time. Hanrahan wasn't looking to make it interesting, getting Gonzalez to line out to 2B, fanning PH Julio Lugo, and getting Martin Prado to fly out to end the game. RTJR! Bucs 3, Braves 1.
That's 2 in a row where the Bucs used duct tape and spare parts to notch another W, but that all important W is all that matters. 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 errors probably doesn't win you a game every time, but it was good enough to do the job last night. Xavier Paul, who many Pro's believe is a ML lead off man, went 0 for 4 with 2 K's last night, dropping his OBP to .275 for the season and lowering his K to BB ratio to 36 to 5. Yes, he is fast, but that does no good when he can't get on base. Walker went 0 for 3 and is 1 for his last 18 after being red hot for most of July. He also hit into his 294th double play of 2011, which I'm sure Smizik will be all over since he always has a I hate Neil Walker Bullet in his chamber ready to fire at any time.
Player of the Game:
Future All -Star Chris Resop- 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K. Inherited a bases loaded 1 out situation in a 3-0 game and didn't flinch. He has been that good all year, man, what a find.Head Scratcher of the Game- Can't we get anybody but Xavier Paul to lead off? I don't blame Hurdle for batting him 1st, I don't think he had much of a choice. Plus, he's made chicken salad out of chicken shit all year long. But Paul is 14th on the team in OBP (Bucs are 12th in NL in that category) among players with a similar number of at-bats. He's lower than McKenry. His K to BB ratio is worse than Alvarez's. I guess it's really just the injury bug, but I figured maybe we had someone else who could step in there.
Face Palm of the Night- Sorry folks, I had to do it. First batter of the night for the Braves and Kdro boots a routine grounder for his 8th error in 37 games. Thats on pace for 35 over a whole season. After that, though, Kdro did have a solid game: 1 for 3 with 1 BB, 1 K, and a run.
Karstens will take the bump against Tommy Hanson tonight in what should be another low scoring affair. Here's hoping the Bucs can find some offense in a hurry! I will actually be taking this one in at the Fox and Hound on McKnight Rd if anybody wants to join, e-mail me: mutinyontheallegheny@gmail.com
J-Mac has ace potential, but he throws too many pitches. Once he can learn to keep his pitch count down he can really be something special.. Right now he doesn't go deep enough in games for me.
ReplyDeleteResop has been great. I don't know what his strand rate is, but I'm guessing he is one of the better guys in the league at that.
Dog
Great effort by McDonald last night. I think that for the most part throwing strikes and getting ahead of hitters has been a big part of the success of the starting pitchers. Last year you had Karstens nibbling, Morton and McDonald falling in love with their curveballs. Other teams would take until they had to groove a pitch to get back in the count. You cannot give up walks and especially leadoff ones. That is one of my concerns about Veras and Resop this year too. I do not know how the pitching coach rectified this from last year, but he deserves heaps of credit for the turnaround.
ReplyDeleteA question for all, have we seen the last of Snyder in a Pirate uniform? I ask this with the thoughts of McKenry’s emergence on the scene. You’ve got to like the energy and ability he brings to the team. The caught stealing throw he made last night was text book. He also took advantage of the poor throwing decision of McLouth and advanced a base on his single. Smart base running is something the team has been lacking and they all could take a lesson from that play last night. Snyder was supposed to be a defensive specialist but this kid has all the tools that the Pirates needed behind the plate.
ReplyDelete@Virgil,
ReplyDeleteI think we have indeed seen the end of Chris Snyder as a Bucco. I fear his career in PGH will be most noted for a former high school wrestler coming to his wife's rescue in a BP parking lot.
McKenry is a solid guy, excellent behind the plate and calling games. Ok hitter, nothing special there. However, as you noted, very heads up player.
I also wonder about Doumit, whose club option is worth $7.25 next year. Do you want that on a guy who can't field his position and you can set a clock to his annual trip to the DL? I sure dont.
I'd use McKenry and Jaramillo and use the saving from Doumit and Snyder to put towards trying to find a power bat on the market.
I agree about the Hudson strike zone last night. I thought Greg Maddux had made a cameo.
ReplyDeleteDog,
ReplyDeleteMany strikeout pitchers have higher pitch counts, obviously. He actually had his pitch count in check last night for most innings, but like many of his starts he had one inning that killed him in the pitch count department.
I don't know if he loses concentration or confidence or whatever, but if he can eliminate that, there's no reason he can't pitch 6-8 innings every start while racking up 9-12 K's.
His stuff is nasty when he's on. No doubt.