Cubs 2 Pirates 1

There are certain games that make me wonder why I waste my time with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tonight was one of those games. To start with, Victor Santos pitched a great game tonight. 7 innings and only one unearned run is great, as was the way he managed to sneak out of the jam he had himself in in the fourth (bases loaded no outs for the Cubs). Can't ask for more of Santos, and I don't think we'd ever expect more. The only stain on his night was the throwing error he made that lead to the one run being scored. Still, can't ask for more than a quality start out of Santos, ever. Lets get to the frustration...

In the eighth inning of a tie game with runners on first and second and no outs, Jim Tracy elects to pinch hit Chris Duffy for Santos. Rather than taking three shots at scoring the runner from second, Tracy would apparently prefer two shots to score the runner from third. No one in the Cubs outfield has a particularly good arm (unless Murton does, I don't know much about him) and a ball in between someone out there would probably score even Paulino from second. Duffy struck out (shocking) and we went down meekly from there. Duffy and McLouth have been awful at the plate, but I dunno, I hate senseless wasting of outs like that (especially when it yields nothing at all, I'd rather have McLouth get three hacks at the ball then Duffy missing two bunts and missing badly on a third strike, that's for sure).

The game then turned on the choice to bring Grabow into a close game in the bottom of the 8th. He got the first two guys out, then walked Todd Walker on four straight pitches. Torres came in and battled Aramis, who hit a grounder up the middle. It was a tough play and it took an in between hop, but it's a play that Jack makes probably 19 out of 20 times. Tonight he bobbled it and it ended up an infield hit, leaving the door open for Murton to single in the winning run. Just an all around revolting turn of events. I'm too angry right now to even keep thinking about this game.