The penultimate home game

Jimmy Barthmaier makes his second big league start tonight against Brian Moehler in the next to last home game of the season. Barthmaier got ripped in his only other start in Pittsburgh this year, which coincided with WHYGAVS Night back in June and as a result, my memory of his start is a bit hazy. I know people lumped him in with Van Benschoten and Taubenheim and Bullington and all of the other AAA All-Stars we had in Indy that could never break through with the Pirates, but that's not being entirely fair to Barthmaier. He's only 24 and he had a fairly nice breakthrough season with Indy this year, striking out 71 in 79 innings with a decent ERA (3.53) and a nice WHIP (1.22). He's certainly not going to set the world on fire, but he is worth keeping an eye on because he's young enough with the right peripherals to not write off yet. Sadly, that seems like the nicest thing I can say about any Pirate pitching prospect.