Pirates 9 Indians 6

Maybe it was a trip to an AL stadium, but the Bucs played some American League ball at the Jake tonight, blasting four homers in all kinds of important situations (leading off the game, two on in a tie game, one on in a close game, insurance shot in the ninth), lead by two off the bat of Jason Bay who looks just a little more like the Jason Bay we all remember from last year. As I mentioned earlier, I was at the Jake tonight with what seemed like a pretty good number of Bucco fans. Growing up almost smack in the middle of Pittsburgh and Cleveland this was not my first trip to Jacobs Field, but it was the first time the Pirates and I have been their simultaneously. One thing that is often said of Steeler fans was obviously true about the Pirates' fans in Cleveland tonight, they are not afraid to show their colors. There was black and gold everywhere tonight, including a lot of Pirates jerseys (though my favorite jersey of the night had to be the 80s style Indians jersey with the name "DORN" on the back, leading me to think of Burnitz... after all, he's just high priced). The Indians fans were pretty courteous to the Bucco fans in the section I was in, though it appeared a scuffle broke out in the lower stands and every time someone started waving a Terrible Towel, the boos started (I wonder why...). Still, there was lots to like as a Bucco fan in this one. McLouth lead the game off with a homer, managed to actually draw a walk at a later point in the game (!), then stole second AND third, and scored on a Jack Wilson sac fly. Jose Castillo continued his insanely hot streak with a monster homer, and the bullpen (especially Gonzo) was lights out tonight. Ian Snell was... something. I don't know quite how to describe his outing. He didn't get hit particularly hard (save Sizemore's homer) and three of the runs he gave up were unearned, but something was off. He walked a ton of people, but his control didn't seem to be that bad. I don't know, it was just an odd outing. It was good enough to get through five innings and get his first career road win, and I suppose we should be happy with anything besides his last start, but something just didn't feel when he was on the mound. Still, beggars can't be choosers.

As a final note, the Homestead Grays and Cleveland Buckeyes unis were great, as throwbacks usually are. It does bug me that they don't go the whole nine yards and do jackets and batting helmets and such, but maybe I'm being too picky. 95-year old Buck O'Neil threw out the first pitch by winding up four times, then running the ball closer and closer to the plate before handing it to Sabathia behind the plate, to the delight of the crowd. Best of all, the Buccos managed to do the Grays proud tonight, leading to an endless slew of "Maybe they should wear these things againt tomorrow" jokes coming from all angles of the crowd, Pirates and Indians fans alike. And there you have it, the one thing that can bring Pittsburgh and Cleveland together, making fun of the Pirates.

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