Pirates 4 Brewers 2

It struck me during tonight's game that the Craig Wilson trade was even stupider than we thought (it's like this thing gets worse by the day, first it was bad, then Chacon got shelled and it was worse, then we found out Chacon was hurt, and so on) because Shawn Chacon isn't even better than Victor Santos. Santos was nothing special tonight as he did his usual Victor Santos thang, putting tons of guys on base and trying his damndest to not let the game get out of hand. The only inning that was troublesome for him tonight was the second which he got out of with only two runs crossing the plate, runs we got back quickly. We put up singles in each of the first four innings, two on solo homers by Burnitz and Castillo (in the 2nd and 4th respectively) and two scored by Chris Duffy (who picked up two more hits tonight) on groundouts by Freddy Sanchez and Xavier Nady. Watching Castillo, I think the "benching" (I don't know if sitting 3 of 4 games is even really a benching) may have actually lit a bit of a fire under him. He made a nice grab on a pop-up today, which is a play that he RARELY makes. Or it could be (read: probably) coincidence. The pen did another great job tonight with Torres, Grabow, Capps, and Gonzo each pitching a shutout inning to close out the win.

There was one thing that drove me nuts tonight. With runners on first and second and no outs in a tie game in the third, Jim Tracy elected to bunt Freddy Sanchez. Now I realize that the bunt worked and that it ended up allowing Duffy to score on Nady's groundout, but are we seriously taking the bat out of our three hitter's hands? I mean, the guy is hitting .345, he's knocked in 64 runs this year, and he's doubled 41 times. Regardless of whether the bunt worked, it was a stupid play. The bunt ended up letting one run score, but a double scores two.

Jack Wilson left the game in the seventh inning with a hand contusion, which allowed us the pleasure of seeing Jose K man shortstop for a couple innings. And if you're keeping track at home, the Pirates are undefeated since September of 2004 in games in which Jason Bay has sat out. Sadly enough, Jim Tracy has made important decisions with similar sample sizes.

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