MVN - Most Valuable Network

Game #86: Pirates at Brewers

Miller Park | 7:05 | Maholm vs. David Bush | Box

Pre-Game Thoughts
David Bush is in the middle of a not so stellar year. He is 4-8. His ERA is over 5.00. He went 3-3 in June and lowered his ERA by nearly a run. He was beaten by Pittsburgh on May 22. His career mark against the Pirates is 1-4 with an unsightly 6.17 ERA. He is 20-12 with a 3.76 ERA at Miller Park.

Nate McLouth is 5-10 and Freddy Sanchez is 7-16 against Bush.

Paul Maholm is 5-5 and will try to push his record over .500 for the first time all year. He has won his last three decisions. He was beaten by the Brewers back on May 20th. He is 2-3 with a 4.26 ERA against Milwaukee. He has not beaten them since 2006.

Maholm hasn’t fooled many of the Brewers. They are hitting .336 against him as a gang. Bill Hall is 9-15 with two homers and seven runs knocked in. Mike Cameron is 5-6 with a homer. Prince Fielder is 0-10.

Game #85: Hall and Sheets Stop Bucs

Miller Park | 2:05 | Gorzelanny vs. Ben Sheets | Box

Bill Hall has been in a season long slump. He had his first three hit game in over a month and his first three RBI game in over two months. Ben Sheets didn’t look great but was more than adequate.

Hall provided all the offense the Brewers would need with a two run homer in the second. He also drove in a run in the decisive five run fifth inning that busted the game wide open. J.J. Hardy started the fifth inning barrage with a two run dinger. He has hit in 16 straight games.

Tom Gorzelanny was hit like a slow pitch softball pitcher. He didn’t make it out of the fifth inning. The Beer Makers had eleven hits and four walks to score eight runs (seven earned). Sheets went 5-2/3 and gave up eight hits and a run. Four of those hits were doubles, yet the Pirates were unable to put together a big inning. Carlos Villanueva tossed 3-1/3 IP of strong relief to get his second career save.

Hitting out of the lead off spot for the fifth time all year, Jack Wilson collected a pair of hits. Chris Gomez played second base and hit ninth. Seems like Jack should be spending time near the top of the order (he is hitting .356 when hitting second) and Freddy Sanchez should be dropped lower. Sanchez is hitting .250 out of the lead off position and just .221 hitting second.

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Pirates recklessly giving away valuable outs

Being a Pirate fan for more than two decades, I have become accustomed to the frustration that generally accompanies watching a game. In fact, I am almost immune to this frustration these days. I expect poor play, and the team usually delivers. But occasionally, the Pirates manage to dip below my expectations, leaving me speechless from the absurdity in front of me. Last night was a great win. The offense kept battling, not matter how many leads the bullpen gave away, and eventually pulled together an 11-inning win. But the amount of outs that we simply handed to the Reds left me incredulous.

In the third inning, Jack Wilson singled to lead off the inning. After a Nate McLouth fly out, a pitch to Freddy Sanchez bounced in front of the plate. Jack immediately broke for second, but catcher David Ross had picked the ball cleanly. He was easily thrown out. That hurts, but it is hard to fault Jack on the play. He has always been aggressive on those types of plays, and often gets an extra base out of the situation. This past Sunday, he moved himself into scoring position on a similar play, and eventually scored a crucial run because of it. This is comparable to a base runner stealing on a pitcher’s first move. Sometimes you get burned. We will return later to Jack’s adventures on the base paths.

In the sixth, Ryan Doumit was on second and Jason Bay was at third with nobody out. Adam LaRoche drove a double to the center field warning track, apparently scoring two. But Doumit misread the ball and was heading back to second when it landed. As a result, he was unable to score. Still not satisfied, he took a wide turn at third and was tagged out trying to get back. Fortunately, third base umpire Chad Fairchild was out of position and missed the call. Doumit was lucky to score on a sacrifice fly.

In the seventh, with runners at first and second and nobody out, Freddy squared to bunt. I would have let him swing away, but the decision did not upset me. Freddy has struggled all year, and I was not very confident that he could reach base. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful, failing to lay down the bunt before reaching two strikes. As the next pitch was delivered, Freddy squared and stabbed at the ball. It rolled harmlessly outside the first base line. My eyes shot to the top of the screen. Maybe I was confused. Nope. Freddy had just attempted a sacrifice bunt with two strikes. I was stunned. After a loud expletive slipped out of my mouth, I stared at the screen in silence. The camera focused on the Pirates’ dugout, possibly searching for the same explanation the viewers sought. Sanchez and John Russell never appeared to discuss the incident. All seemed to be fine in the world of Pirates baseball.

In the ninth inning, Chris Gomez led off with a single. Jack immediately squared to move him to second. He got the bunt down, but it was too hard, and Gomez was forced at second. After wasting one out with one of the hottest bats on the team, the Pirates searched for more. Jack broke for second on the pitch, but McLouth somehow was able to halt the play by asking for time. After Wilson returned to first, Russell chose to stick with the steal/hit-and-run. Maybe he was over-thinking with the simple mind of Dusty Baker in the other dugout. The Reds pitched out, and Jack was thrown out by ten feet. Just another out handed to the Reds.

Again in the 11th, Jack came to the plate with a man on base. This time, Russell let him swing away. As a result, the Pirates managed to score two runs and consequently win the game. After the game, Russell seemed shocked that the strategy was successful.

I have mentioned that I can look past Russell’s poor tactical decisions as long as he keeps the players focused and motivated. Some nights, that is more difficult than others. Especially when the players seem eager to give away outs as well.

Game #84: Longballs Lead to Victory

Great American Ballpark | 7:10 | Van Benschoten vs. Daryl Thompson | Box

The Pirates and Reds combined for six home runs. Neither starter was very effective. John Russell should be credited with the move of the game. He pulled John Van Benschoten with one gone in the third after Van Benschoten had given up five runs and three homers. Russell did this despite a pitching staff that was already plagued with issues and got more bad news - Matt Capps was put on the DL.

Dusty Baker left Daryl Thompson in for 5-1/3 innings and he was hit for seven runs.

The Pirates gave JVB a four run first inning to work with four consecutive hits that was followed by two straight RBI groundouts. By the end of the second, the Pirates were down. Jay Bruce had hit two homers and driven in four and Adam Dunn had also homered.

After Van Benschoten was pulled, Xavier Nady homered in consecutive at bats to put the Pirates up 7-5. That was all that was needed, but the Bucs tacked on two late runs. Adam LaRoche tripled home one run and Jose Bautista added a solo jack.

Denny Bautista showed no ill effects from being hit in the arm earlier this week. He was the first man out of the bullpen and he tossed 3-1/3 innings of scoreless ball to pick up the win. Overall the bullpen tossed 6-2/3 innings of two hit ball.

LaRoche had his third straight multi-hit night - it is July after all. With three more hits and three more RBI, Nady continued to make his All-Star case.

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Halfway there - what’s next?

Just past the halfway point of the season, the Pirates sit at 38-44. While they have performed marginally better than last season, the team is still in last place in the NL Central, 11.5 games behind the first place Cubs. So what does the first half tell us about what may occur during the remainder of the season?

Obviously, the offense has outperformed most expectations. Due to the additions of Nate McLouth and Ryan Doumit to the lineup, along with the revival of Jason Bay, the Pirates have scored the eighth most runs in baseball. After ranking 23rd in 2007, that is an encouraging improvement. But they are 25th in on-base percentage and 21st in slugging. Unless those numbers improve, do not expect the runs to continue scoring at this pace.

The pitching has been abysmal. The team is 26th in ERA, 26th in WHIP, 13th in walks allowed, 25th in strikeouts, 27th in OPS against, and 23rd in home runs allowed. The pitching needs to get healthy and perform much better for the Pirates to expect success in the second half. Defensively, the team is average to below average virtually everywhere on the diamond.

None of this bodes well for the second half of the season. But the biggest issue the team will face is the prospect of losing critical players in trades this month. The outfield has mostly carried the team thus far. How will the team look if Bay and Nady are dealt? Here is an even more frightening thought. What will happen if Damaso Marte and/or John Grabow are sent packing? The 2008 bullpen has been a rollercoaster as it is. Imagine what it would look like if we lost two of our top two relievers. Scary. It may happen.

I have mentioned before that we should not focus too much on the 2008 season. This team is better than some that we have seen in recent years. However, despite hovering near .500 earlier in the season, the Pirates just do not currently have the talent to compete. Enjoy the rest of the season, and hope that the Bucs keep things interesting into September. Just keep your expectations realistic.

Game #83: Romulo Had Them All the Way!

Great American Ballpark | 7:10 | Duke vs. Edinson Volquez | Box

Somewhere in the Romulo Sanchez‘ hometown in Venezuela, they are celebrating the big right hander’s first career save. It didn’t come without some drama.

The Pirates led the Reds 3-1 in the 8th when Brandon Phillips tied it with a two run homer off of Damaso Marte. It appeared the Pirates had won it in the 10th after Jason Michaels doubled hom Jason Bay. But for the second straight day, Matt Capps blew the save. After Adam Dunn doubled to lead off, Ken Griffey, Jr. drove a ball to the shadow of the deepest part of the outfield wall at GABP. Dunn advanced to third and came home when Phillips hit a chopper down the third base line past Jose Bautista.

The Pirates struck for two in the 11th. The Bucs went double (Xavier Nady), triple (Jack Wilson), single (Nate McLouth) to plate two off of losing pitcher David Weathers. That set the stage for Romulo. He gave up two singles and a walk to score one run, but got Corey Patterson to fly out to end the game.

Zach Duke was effective before tiring in the sixth. In six plus innings he gave up one run and six hits. He actually outpitched Edinson Volquez who gave up three runs in 5-1/3 on seven hits and three walks. I was driving home from Columbus tonight and caught the first couple of innings on 700 WLW out of Cincy. Jeff Brantley (sorely missed by me on Baseball Tonight, but loved by all in Cincinnati) noted that Duke’s delivery was different than it has been in years past. He said that he isn’t coming straight overhand like he used to. Anyone have any thoughts on that? That was news to me.

One of the runs scored off of Volquez was a bit of a gift. With runners on the corners, Adam LaRoche doubled (his second straight multi-hit game) and drove home Bay. The Reds threw behind Ryan Doumit who had strayed to far off third base. Edwin Encarnacion applied the tag to a quickly diving Doumit. However, third base ump Chad Fairchild missed the call and Doumit was safe. Encarnacion exploded and must’ve said the magic word before taking another breath, because he was tossed out of the game almost immediately. Doumit scored on a sac fly from Doug Mientkiewicz, making it 3-1.

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