Somehow, things don't get any better

One would think that after being shut-out by Kyle Lohse (sorry, no recap, what is there to say about that game?) that it would be hard pressed for things to get much worse for the Pirates in a year when Matt Morris, Phil Dumatrait, Jimmy Barthmaier, Ty Taubenheim, and John Van Benschoten have all started games for the Buccos. Then Dumatrait went back on the DL because his shoulder is still bothering him (red flag! red flag!) and the Pirates called Yoslan Herrera up from AA to make his start tonight.

You'll surely recall Herrera as Dave Littlefield's attempt to circumvent any need to scout in Latin America by simply signing defected Cubans. The problem with Herrera has been that after he took a couple years off in defector's hell, he came back without a fastball. He's got a nice ERA in Altoona, but most of his peripherals are all kinds of ugly, with only 53 strikeouts and 32 walks in 92 and 2/3 innings. He made one decent spot start for Indy, but he's not very good and he's certainly a non-prospect, and the thought of him starting a game for the Pirates is terrifying on about 11 different levels. THIS is what we've come to?