Astros 5 Pirates 4
Before we get to how badly that one sucked, let's run through the positives. Jason Bay is doing things that I never thought I would see a Pirate do in my lifetime, plain and simple. He's out of his mind at the plate right now. Jose Bautista also came up with a big three run homer that should've sealed this one by all means in the 7th. Oliver Perez finally had a good start. Not an adequate one, not an OK one, a good one, very good in fact. He threw a ton of strikes, struck a lot of guys out, kept the velocity around 92-94 on his fastball, and threw some nasty breaking pitches. He's not throwing quite as hard as he did in 2004, but if this is the Oliver Perez that shows up every five days, we'll be in good shape.
That being said, the ninth inning was an embarassment. I know Jim Tracy is "old school" and "old school" managers like Jim and Dusty Baker don't put much stock into pitch counts, but Ollie hasn't thrown more than 112 pitches in any start before today, and he only topped 100 in 4 of his 9 starts before today. 121 pitches is too many to let him start another inning unless he's throwing a no-hitter or something. That's it, end of story. On the same hand, Mike Gonzalez threw 32 pitches over two innings last night. I know it was a "save" situation, but something in your head has to think that maybe bringing him out for the 9th isn't the best idea after last night's game. I know something in my head thought that. Torres only threw 14 pitches last night. I know he's been bad lately and I know I've bitched about him quite a bit, but in all honesty you don't have to be that good to get three outs before four runs score, even with two guys already on base. On top of that, I know Jeromy Burnitz is hitting the ball lately, but is it too much to ask for him to be able to catch a pop-up? I thought Greg Brown and Steve Blass were going to be sick on the radio when he misplayed Preson Wilson's pop-up to load the bases in the ninth. Then, after failing to make the catch he needed to, he outhustled himself and made a tough catch in foul territory with the tying run on third, leaving him no chance to throw the runner out at the plate. I realize that you can't give up outs, but somehow Burnitz screwing up the catch he needed to make and making the one he didn't seems very appropriate. Sheesh. I'm not even going to start on the stupid idea of bringing Mike Edwards up to pinch hit so he can lay a sac bunt down, maybe I'll tackle that one tomorrow. This loss was sickening, and likely reverses any carry-over we might've gotten from winning that dramatic game last night.
That being said, the ninth inning was an embarassment. I know Jim Tracy is "old school" and "old school" managers like Jim and Dusty Baker don't put much stock into pitch counts, but Ollie hasn't thrown more than 112 pitches in any start before today, and he only topped 100 in 4 of his 9 starts before today. 121 pitches is too many to let him start another inning unless he's throwing a no-hitter or something. That's it, end of story. On the same hand, Mike Gonzalez threw 32 pitches over two innings last night. I know it was a "save" situation, but something in your head has to think that maybe bringing him out for the 9th isn't the best idea after last night's game. I know something in my head thought that. Torres only threw 14 pitches last night. I know he's been bad lately and I know I've bitched about him quite a bit, but in all honesty you don't have to be that good to get three outs before four runs score, even with two guys already on base. On top of that, I know Jeromy Burnitz is hitting the ball lately, but is it too much to ask for him to be able to catch a pop-up? I thought Greg Brown and Steve Blass were going to be sick on the radio when he misplayed Preson Wilson's pop-up to load the bases in the ninth. Then, after failing to make the catch he needed to, he outhustled himself and made a tough catch in foul territory with the tying run on third, leaving him no chance to throw the runner out at the plate. I realize that you can't give up outs, but somehow Burnitz screwing up the catch he needed to make and making the one he didn't seems very appropriate. Sheesh. I'm not even going to start on the stupid idea of bringing Mike Edwards up to pinch hit so he can lay a sac bunt down, maybe I'll tackle that one tomorrow. This loss was sickening, and likely reverses any carry-over we might've gotten from winning that dramatic game last night.