Sunday, May 8, 2011

Who would have thought catcher would be strength?

The Pirates got back to the .500 mark and stay in contention a little longer. They did so by winning their series with the Astros 2 games to 1 despite dropping game 1. Karstens did not pitch poorly, but it was not great either. He labored, and the Pirates ended up couching up a game. Morton then did amazing in game 2 getting ground ball after ground ball. Game 3 was another masterful performance by McDonald. He was consistently around 91 MPH, but his curve was killing people at about 77-78 MPH. McDonald hit 93 when he needed it and had a career high in strikeouts. Sadly, that did not give him the win as his 2-0 lead evaporated when Resop did not get anyone out and a bunt scored a run from second. Really that was Walker's fault as Wood fielded the bunt cleanly, but had to double pump while Walker got to the bag. This made the runner at first safe and Walker's throw home was late. Daniel McCutchen gave up his first run of the year in the next inning, but Ryan Doumit hit a three run homer to give the Pirates a one run lead. Hanrahan made that lead stick.

The bullpen could be an area of concern as Resop has had a couple of sub-par outings. Crotta has had a couple of bad outings in a row, although in game 1 Crotta got stuck with two runs because the only two hitters he faced got infield singles to Ronny Cedano. Both were weakly hit, and at least the second one could have been turned into an out at second had Cedano come up with it. Tough play, but a decent short stop makes one of those two plays.

Something to be excited about is the catcher position. Snyder has the highest average on the team, and is hitting great. Doumit is only hitting about .250, but is hitting for some power. He had a grand slam the other day, and his clutch 3 run homer tonight shows what Doumit can bring to a team. His trade value is probably going up.

Up next is the Dodgers. The Pirates are on a good streak. Let us see what the top of our rotation can do for us.

Also Jameson Taillon allowed 1 run in 5 innings with 5 strike outs and no walks. He has had three outings now and has looked very good.

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