WE WILL: See .500 Again

Astros 3

Pirates 5

SWEEP!

The Bucs had to work harder for this sweep than
a Grandma with OCD

When looking at this series with the Astros I felt good about the first two games, but today's afternoon affair was the one I circled as a trouble spot for the Buccos. Little did I know that Cota was going to get pine splinters in his butt from riding the pine too much and require a stint on the DL. That opened a spot for the hot hitting Ryan Doumit on the roster and in the starting rotation.

This lady has seen more time on the field than Cota

Somehow Cota managed to injure himself on the field while NOT EVEN PLAYING, the height of patheticness. I wouldn't be surprised if this injury was faked in order to get Doumit up to the bigs while he still has a hot bat. Regardless, this is the biggest contribution Cota has made all year.

Doumit didn't leave his bat at AAA Indy and didn't leave the Pirates thinking he should be on the bench. He delivered the game winning hit in the 8th, tacking on 2 much needed runs. Doumit came up with the hit that Adam La-La-La-Laloser LaRoche could not.

That guy stinks!

This team keeps winning while not getting contributions from players they did last year. When Torres, LaRoche and Paulino find their way out of the desert and back to the promise land the Pirates will stop being in these nailbiters.

Show them the way Charlton Heston

Let me take you back to the third inning. Doumit led off with a double and Baustista failed to put the ball in play and move him up. Armas Jr. comes to bat with Doumit on second and one out. I immediately think he should bunt and move Doumit to third. I'm no idiot, I know there is 1 out and the bunt would make out number two, thus eliminating the chance of the sac fly. Let's face it, Armas Jr. has a 1 in 10 chance of getting a hit. Because Doumit does not run so well, its not a 1 in 10 chance that he will then be driven in, its more like 1 in 25. So the odds say that Armas is going to make an out, let his out be productive. If Doumit is on third, even with two outs, he is in much better position to score on any hit Duffy, the guy more likely to drive him in than Armas, can put in play. Even with two outs, Doumit does not run well and a Duffy single would not guarantee that Doumit would score from second. This isn't about giving away outs, its about making productive outs that gives the man who is more likely to drive in the runner the best chance to do so. These are the kinds of small plays the Pirates have been failing to execute most of the year.

What's that you say about sound baseball? You look like
an idiot when you talk like that.

Torres is done as closer after tonight. Even if its just a temporary "punishment" ban to set up role, Tracy has to take action. The team is battling too hard to let them be disappointed by someone who is off to a slow start. The Pirates bullpen has been doing a fantastic job of picking up Torres, but they will need him in the long run. Tracy has to handle this delicately to make sure Torres comes back to productive form... especially come the trading deadline.

I've got an aging, ineffective closer here. who wants him?

Torres' stink again was not strong enough to keep us from raising that beautiful flag.