Pirates 7 Reds 2

I think I know how to keep Oliver Perez pitching well, and it has nothing to do with Ronny Paulino (though I'm waiting with baited breath to hear how much of an influence he had on Ollie tonight, if enough people believe something does that make it true?), Tracy or Colborn just has to keep insulting Perez before every start. In the spring, Tracy said he didn't feel Perez was an ace and he responded with a gem against the Red Sox in his last Grapefruit start. Then, prior to the Opener, Tracy said that he felt Ian Snell was the only strikeout pitcher on the squad. Ollie responded with 9 Ks in less than 6 innings against the Brewers. Now, Tracy and co. more or less told Ollie that today was it, screw up again and he's gone. Perez responds with six solid innings tonight, keeping his fastball generally over 90 and mixing in those same nasty breaking pitches we saw in the opener against Milwaukee. Perez's only good season came under Spin Williams and Lloyd McClendon, guys that have been derided by the current pitching staff as being excessivly negative and deconstructive with their criticism. Perhaps that's the only thing that Oliver Perez responds to. It's certainly something to think about.

As for the rest of the game tonight, forget about the "timely hits" crap I'm sure Tracy is spewing right now, if you put 17 guys on base, chances are good you will score enough runs to win. Tonight we churned out 13 hits and took four walks with the McLouth/Sanchez/Bay threesome garner 7 of those hits (2/3/2 for the trio) and Paulino and Castillo adding a pair each. Even Ollie got in on the act with a 2-RBI single and stolen base(!). I wasn't too impressed with Arroyo at all, in fact watching his wisp of a frame throw flat breaking balls all night I thought to myself "No wonder the NL hasn't won a World Series games in 2 years, this guy is suddenly a Cy Young candidate in this league" though I'll admit it's likely that he didn't have his best stuff in the early innings.

All in all, we're looking at a second good win in a row here, Perez's start was rather encouraging, Sanchez is killing the ball, Jason Bay is coming around, and Castillo and McLouth are finding their way out of the dense fog they were in. In fact, minus Burnitz, there's very little to be pissed off about the lineup we've been trotting out recently. Tomorrow afternoon we get Jack Wilson back, which should be a boost, and send Victor Santos (gulp) out to try and finish the sweep of the Reds against our old buddy, Dave Williams. Of course with the return of Wilson, more complex decisions must be made with who plays and who sits, and I'm not sure I trust Tracy in that situation yet.