Game 80: Pirates 7 Nationals 2

So the point of the protest was to show displeasure with the ownership, not the players. And that means that it would be wrong to short the players that won tonight a recap just because I was a bit disenchanted with how the walkout went (secretly I hope that Tom Gorzelanny is at home clicking refresh on WHYGAVS wanting to read what I thought about his pitch count tonight... is that too much to hope for?).

Tom Gorzelanny is pretty much the man. He cruised through just about everything tonight, save a two batter stretch in the first where Ryan Zimmerman doubled and Dmitri Young singled, and Ronnie Belliard's homer in the sixth. He did walk three hitters tonight, but six Ks and only five hits in 7 and 1/3 took care of that nicely. I am confused as to why Jim Tracy is actually trying to injure him. With a five run lead after seven against the punchless Nats, Tracy still brought Gorzo out for the eighth. That was really stupid. I know he only threw 107 pitches tonight, but tonight would've been a good night to keep his pitch count way down and we didn't do it. Maybe I should stop harping on this, but I feel like this could be a big deal. I sure hope not.

As for the offense, well, it was nice of the Pirates to do almost all of their scoring before I bounced. LaRoche has such a sweet swing that when he's hitting, it's hard to believe there are times that he doesn't. Unfortunately, there are lots of times when he isn't hitting. Ryan Doumit killed the ball tonight, as well. I can't fathom the fact that this guy #1 was in the minors this year and #2 doesn't get in the lineup every night. Seriously, it baffles me. I mean, it's always baffled me, but he really killed the ball tonight, so I'm thinking more about it. Also, the Freddy and Jack combo added two key hits in the big second inning that brought in two runs apiece.

It really was a nice win for the Pirates to get to that magical number of, umm, 10 games under .500. Woo-hoo?