Monday, September 6, 2010

Spoiler Alert! (24-48)

The Pirates continue to confuse by playing great today and following up a couple of series losses to pathetic teams by beating the Leaders of the National League East Atlanta Braves 3 to 1. Make it even stranger Brian Burres, who stinks so bad out of the bullpen, won his third game this year (all starts) by throwing a quality start, six innings of one run baseball.

It started great. The Pirates leader, Andrew McCutchen got a lead off walk, stole second base, and took third when the Braves catcher threw it into center. Why the Pirates do not put more pressure on teams by running more with McCutchen and Tabata is beyond me. Tabata showed his worth by getting the RBI ground out and the Pirates were up one to zip. Burres gave up a run in the second, but did get out of the mess. Neil Walker followed up a Tabata hit with a two run blast to cap the scoring in the 6th, just in time to get Burres the decision. The Great Pen of the Pirates struck again with Resop holding down the 7th, Meek the 8th, and Hanrahan the 9th. This is the potential the Pirates have.

The problem is also laid bare in this. The bottom of the order was awful, and produced no runs. Alvarez had one hit. Doumit had a hit (and a walk), but they never get together to drive anyone in. Cedano continues to be a joke in the line up and problme of right field today turned out to be Dwelven Young. As long as the top three are the only ones doing anything, then the Pirates have to have quality starts. That has been rare. But today shows that if they get them, they can win even against good opponents. All three of the bullpen guys should be back next year, and the bullpen is good enough to close out most games.

Despite the problems still in the Pirate line-up, I am just going to celebrate a victory.

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