This Could Be Bad

I didn't watch any of last night's game, but I see from the gamethread that a lot of people were upset by JR's decision to let Zach Duke bat with the bases loaded and the Pirates already in a pretty deep hole. The decision made was essentially, "Welp, we're screwed tonight, let's at least try and keep the bullpen fresh." It is a maddening decision, but maybe tonight it'll make sense. To say that I don't have high expectations for Yoslan Herrera's debut would be like saying that the sky is blue. Nothing he's done since starting in the Pirates' system has indicated that he can pitch at a major league level, and yet here we are. If he can give us four innings and give up less than seven runs, I'm going to be pleasantly surprised. He'll face off against Todd Wellemeyer, who's tailed off a bit lately but is still one of the main reasons the Cardinals haven't faded out of the NL Central race yet. After being dominated by Kyle Lohse last night, I just hope we score a run.