D'Backs 8 Pirates 7

I didn't see/hear any of this game until about 8ish, when I was able to flip it on the car radio. It was 4-3 at that point and it sounded like Duke had a rough start, got some bad defense, and settled down a bit. He promptly served up another run, but Wehner and Lanny were talking like he hadn't pitched badly for some reason. I got back to my apartment, saw that the starting lineup was the best and most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, then turned around to see Sal Torres serve up a three run double. Lots is being made about the bad signings of Burnitz and Randa, but the Torres signing may hurt this team even more in the long run, since it will be stretched out over two years and he's been downright awful this year. Anyways, at 8-3 I decided I could find better things on my TV and did, though I kept the game on Gamecast out of morbid curiosity. I of course saw "Jason Bay, home run (13) to right field" and flipped back to check it out. Seriously, the dude is out of his mind. 7 homers in 7 games, I don't know if I've ever seen him this hot. He's trying to carry the team for all of the naysayers out there, but there's a lot of deadweight. Anyways, that had my interest piqued. Valverde didn't impress me in the first game of the series so I figured there was an outside shot at a comeback. After a promising start, the comeback stalled by about a quarter of an inch on Jason Bay's swing, a swing on which he nearly hit a pop-up to the warning track (as Bob Walk noted, if you move that ball a quarter of an inch on the bat and it's still in the air), and the rally died by about the same margin on Craig Wilson's deep flyout to left center (both guys represented the go ahead run at the plate). I know, horseshoes and handgrenades. Still, tonight was promising in that Tracy actually got a clue with his lineup and Craig Wilson showed signs of coming out of his slump with a 4-for-5 night and his first homer since Odin had two eyes. Of course, I'm sure that all Tracy will be able to think about was how he couldn't come through in the clutch and somehow cost us the game tonight. He's probably right, I haven't actually played baseball in a couple years and I'm a little rusty.

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