Game 90: Astros 6 Pirates 4

Look, John Van Benschoten is not very good. I know that, you know that, and he knows that. I'm sure it's a lot rougher on him than it is on us. This revelation isn't lost on the Pirates either. The reason JVB keeps getting run out there to get pummeled is because it has to be him. Barthmaier clearly isn't ready yet and Taubenheim probably isn't either, even with his one good start up here. They need the AAA work, even if they're better pitchers than Van Benschoten is. Gorzelanny has some issues that I think the Pirates would rather have him work on outside of the spotlight in AAA games, rather than getting bombed in the majors like he was.

Tonight was one of JVB's better outings, which doesn't say a lot. He obviously has no idea where the ball's going when it leaves his hands, but his stuff isn't all bad. I'm still pushing for a move to the pen , but seeing him walk Brian Moehler (0-for-19 with 13 strikeouts this year) twice isn't terribly inspiring. That in itself was the Pirates' problem tonight. Not the specific walks to Moehler, but the nine walks and ten hits the Pirates gave up. If you give a team that many chances, they're going to score some serious runs, even if they are the Astros. The Pirates played awful all night and still should've won the game. When the season ends and we're 15 games under .500 talking about where we went wrong, don't think about our record against the Cubs. Think about losses like this one.