Game 57: Dodgers 6 Pirates 5

What a bad game. It went from the pain of seeing a no-hitter coming to the even worse pain of having opportunities and not cashing in on them. I'm not sure which one is worse (yes I am, it's the second one).

This could've been avoided a number of ways. Paul Maholm ran out of gas but was left in an inning too long. Josh Sharpless was brought into a close game. Then again so was Tony Armas, but we avoided further disaster there. Jason Bay could've done something other than hit a broken bat grounder in the ninth. Jack Wilson could've not jumped on Broxton's pitch, no matter where it was (who am I kidding, no he couldn't). We could've tried getting a hit in the first six innings. We didn't need to do all of these things to win tonight, just a couple.

And so the homestand concludes. That was a really shitty homestand. All of the five losses sucked. By my count, four of them could've been avoided. I know it's to wish that the Pirates went 6-1 over seven games against the Dodgers and Padres, but 4-3 would've been great. At least it would've been encouraging. What actually went down was not so encouraging.