Braves 4 Pirates 2
I hope Ian Snell was taking notes tonight. Snell had great stuff tonight, as evidenced by his 10 Ks, but wasn't as sharp as he needed to be with Adam Laroche at the plate and gave up 2 homers that ended up being the difference in the game. Smoltz showed no such lapses (though maybe it was the opposition) in his 7 strong innings, giving up only 1 run on six hits in those seven innings. As good as the Smoltz/Snell duel was tonight, everyone is probably more interested on what the new Pirates looked like, so here's some early impressions.
- Xavier Nady said before the game that he's past his disappointment from being traded off of the Mets and said he's ready to win some games with the Pirates. He looked pretty good at first base tonight, making an especially nice play on a ball that bounced off of the first base bag to throw out a runner at second, and went 1-for-4 at the plate, hitting everything right around the shortstop.
- Duffy said before the game he was thankful to everyone for the second chance to play in Pittsburgh. I really hope he means it and that the earlier quote was a misunderstanding or something along those lines. He wasn't so hot at the plate tonight going 0-for-4 with 2 K's (he shouldn't be hitting leadoff, I don't think), but he looked pretty good in center and even threw out a runner at second (though it was the leadfooted Brian McCann).
- Finally we have my favorite story of the night, Josh Sharpless. Seeing his interview before the game made me more or less feel like it was me on the mound pitching for the Pirates. Clearly, his heart was in his throat the entire inning he was out there, but he managed to aquit himself fairly well. He walked the bases loaded (talk about nerves) but no one really hit the ball hard off of him and he got out of the inning unscathed. I'd imagine that things will get a little smoother from here.
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