The callups

The Pirates are calling up TEN players for tonight's game in Cincinnati. I can't personally remember calling up so many, but let's take a look at the ten.

Ross Ohlendorf- He's going right into the rotation and starting tomorrow, presumably to help limit Paul Maholm's innings down the stretch. His transition to the rotation has been a pretty successful one in Indianapolis, with 40 strikeouts and only 8 walks in 46 2/3 innings there, making his 3.47 ERA and 1.16 WHIP look pretty nice. Since he's got some high-90s gas to go with everything else, his performance makes me a little more hopeful that he might be a useful starter than I was when we acquired him. I guess we'll see.

Luis Cruz- Interesting call-up because he's not on the 40-man. He's raked in Indy and he's only 24, but his minor league numbers before getting to AAA are abjectly terrible. This is a sample size problem. I'm guessing he's getting a call mostly to help Bixler spell Freddy at second base.

Brian Bixler- He is what he is. He's probably a more useful big league player than Cruz will be, but that doesn't say a whole lot. The fact that Cruz is getting called up as well does not bode well for Bix.

Steve Pearce- He's going to have to earn his playing time over Jason Michaels, which will frustrate me to no end but is probably ultimately meaningless. He didn't hit particularly well after his demotion and he's still waiting for his first major league home run (which will be cause for a celebratory drink).

Ronald Ballgame, Esq.- Ronny KILLED the ball in 30 games with Indy this year and I'm guessing he'll see some playing time to give Doumit some much-needed rest and to maybe showcase him for an off-season trade.

Robinzon Diaz- Robinzon is one bad ass name. Extra Z's pretty much enzure awezomeness when they come in the middle of the name inztead of the end. I have no idea why we needed to call two catchers up, especially since Diaz struggled so mightily at AAA this year and isn't all that interesting beyond his high batting average, but I guess he might be getting a look as Raul Chavez's replacement for 2009.

TJ Beam- You know all about his pitching ability. His line out of our pen has been decent, but his 17 walks and 15 strikeouts are terrifying. Fun fact: his middle name is Lester. Theodore Lester Beam somehow becomes TJ.

¡Romulo! Sanchez- You believe this guy's only 24? His strikeouts in AAA are way down from his AA numbers last year. Of course, he's ¡Romulo!, so your hopes for him probably weren't high enough to be worried about him.

Craig Hansen- Likes to walk people and swear about it.

Marino Salas- Likes to walk people, but if he's swearing about it, it's either not in public or not in English. I need to learn how to swear in a different language. That Salomon Torres trade was really pretty awful (meet the other reliever we acquired, Kevin Roberts).