Pirates Journal

The Pirates carried their win over the Dodgers in their finale this weekend into a four game winning streak with three straight wins over the Astros.  The Pirates got some top notch pitching in all three games as the Pirates now find themselves at an even 10-10.

On Tuesday, Paul Maholm won his first game in a very nice outing.  He gave up just three hits and a walk with four strikeouts in a complete game shutout.  Ronny Paulino went two for three and he hit a solo homerun while Jason Bay went three for four with two RBIs in the 3-0 win.

The pitching wasn’t as good in the other two games but it was solid enough.  Yesterday, Salomon Torres blew another save and he gave up two runs in the ninth.  Seven innings later, Adam LaRoche singled home Jack Wilson in the bottom of the sixteenth to win it.  Shawn Chacon threw four innings of shutout relief in extra frames and John Wasdin threw two shutout innings and he picked up the win.  A nice start by Zach Duke (one run in seven innings) was almost wasted.  At the plate, Chris Duffy went three for six and LaRoche finished the game with two RBIs.

The Pirates finished the sweep this afternoon.  Tony Armas had his best start of the season and he gave up one run in five innings while Jonah Bayliss picked up the win with two shutout frames.  Torres was hit hard in the ninth and he gave up two runs before he gave way to John Grabow for the save.

The Pirates look to extend their streak with three games against the Reds this weekend.  It’ll be Ian Snell against Eric Milton tomorrow in the opener.  I like our chances in that one.

The Pirates are sliding fast and they needed a win in their series finale with the Dodgers to just avoid a sweep.  Friday’s game was downright ugly.  Tony Armas, Jr. was hammered for eight runs in just 2 2/3 innings and the Pirates picked up just two runs in the 10-2 loss.  Jack Wilson scored both runs and Jason Bay went two for four.

Saturday’s game was close even if the score doesn’t reflect it.  Ian Snell threw a very nice game and he gave up just two runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts in seven innings of work.  Unfortunately, Salomon Torres blew another save and gave up a run in the ninth and then Shawn Chacon gave up a game ending grand slam in the tenth inning as the Pirates lost 7-3.  Jack Wilson had three more hits and he both scored and drove in a run.

Tom Gorzelanny came to the rescue yesterday and he improved to 3-o with a solid outing.  He gave up three runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts in six innings of work.  This time Torres shut down the Dodgers and he picked up his sixth save and Chris Duffy had a big game.  He went three for five with three runs and Adam LaRoche hit a solo homerun in the 7-5 win.

The Pirates have tomorrow off and then the Astros roll into town.  Paul Maholm gets the start in the series opener.

The Pirates dropped both games of their two game series with the Brewers and in each of the games, Pirates pitching gave up seven runs.  In the opener, Paul Maholm was hammered and he gave up five runs on ten hits with three strikeouts in six innings.  The loss dropped his record to 0-2 on the season.  Jason Bay was the hitting star in the 7-3 loss. He went three for three with a walk, a run and an RBI.

In today’s game, the hitters did their job but Zach Duke took it on the chin. He gave up seven runs on eleven hits and a walk in four innings and the loss dropped him to 1-2.  Xavier Nady provided most of the offense in the 7-5 loss.  He went three for four with a homerun, three RBIs and two runs.

Next up is a tough three game series against the team with the best record in baseball.  Tony Armas will throw in the opener and the Dodgers will throw Randy Wolf.  You wonder if .500 is going to be a distant memory after this series.

Huh, maybe that time off did the Pirates some good.  They hit the road and took both games in their series against the Cardinals.  They got some very good pitching and the end result is a .500 record.  They even passed the Cardinals in the process.

Yesterday, it was Ian Snell who threw a good game.  He threw seven solid innings to pick up his first win of the season. He gave up one run on three hits and four walks with six strikeouts.  Salomon Torres picked up the save with a shutout ninth and he ended a pretty tough stretch.  Xavier Nady had the bit hit with a two run single and Jason Bay drew a bases loaded walk to account for the Pirates three runs in the 3-2.

Tom Gorzelanny was even better today.  He pitched 8 1/3 and he held the Cards to just a single run on four hits.  He walked three and struck out two in the 6-1 win.  Adam LaRoche had the big hit of the game.  His three run homer put the Pirates up comfortablely 5-0.  Jack Wilson had two hits and he scored twice in the win.

Next up is a two game series against the Brewers.  Paul Maholm gets the start and hopefully he can get back on track tomorrow.

It looks like Barry Bonds will be back after all.  After two homeruns in the Friday opener, the Saturday game was postponed and then so was the entire doubleheader yesterday (which included Saturday’s makeup game).  So the Pirates and Giants got to just play two games and it was an 8-5 beatdown.  The score looks closer then this one was because the Pirates picked up three runs in the ninth.

Zach Duke had a very rough game and he dropped to 1-1.  He gave up seven runs on seven hits and two walks in just two innings of work.  Chris Duffy hit a three run homer in the ninth and Ronny Paulino tried to hit out of his slump and he went two for four with a run.

Fortunately, the Pirates hit the road and head west to take on the Cardinals.  Ian Snell gets the start and he’ll take on Anthony Reyes in a nice matchup between two good young pitchers.

You had to wonder how long this would last and it was the world champs who put finally put the Pirates in their place.  After a 4-2 start, Pittsburgh now sits at 4-5 after three straight losses to the Cardinals.

In all of the games, the pitching was there but the hitting wasn’t in a 2-0 loss.  The Pirates were shutout on Monday and held to just three hits.  Ian Snell had a nice start in which he gave up just a single run on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts, but for all that, he ended up with the loss.

Yesterday, the Pirates blew a two game lead as Salomon Torres finally showed a chink in his armor when he gave up two runs in the ninth to send the game into extra frames.  Then in the twelth, John Wasdin gave up the game winner in the twelth.  A very good start by Tom Gorzelanny went to waste as he threw seven shutout innings and he gave up just four hits.  Jose Bautista hit a solo homerun and Freddy Sanchez had three hits and a run in the 3-2 loss.

Today it was more of the same.  Paul Maholm threw a solid game and gave up two runs on six hits in five innings and the game went into the ninth tied.  Then Torres again blew the game and gave up a solo homerun as he took his first loss of the season.  Chris Duffy had three hits and Jason Bay walked three times in the 3-2 loss.

The Pirates get a day off to regroup and then a struggling Giants team will roll into town.  Zach Duke will get the start in the opener and this will be the only time all season Barry Bonds and his homerun parade will roll into town.

At least the Pirates won heading into today’s home opener.  Freddy Sanchez made his debut and he went two for four with a solo homerun.  Four other Pirates had two hits and Brad Eldred and Jason Bay both went yard in the 6-3 win.  On the mound, Zach Duke was solid and he picked up the win.  He gave up just three runs on five hits with five strikeouts in six innings of work.  Salomon Torres pitched the ninth and he picked up his fourth save already.

The earlier games didn’t go as well.  The Pirates couldn’t get their bats going and Paul Maholm didn’t have his best stuff.  The only Pirate run that came in the 6-1 loss was when Jack Wilson scored on Ronny Paulino’s single and Ken Griffey, Jr.’s throwing error.  In the Saturday game, the Pirates scored their fare share of runs but Tony Armas, Jr. was knocked around as the Pirates lost 7-5.  Adam LaRoche homered and drove in two runs while Chris Duffy singled twice and scored.

The world champion Cardinals come to town for this afternoon’s home opener.  Ian Snell will try to follow through on a great start his last time out and hopefully the Pirates can knock around Braden Looper.  Game time is 1:35.

I’ll have to check and see the last time the Pirates started 3-0 but that’s where they stand right now with another one run win over the Astros.  Jose Bautista had a big game at the plate.  He went three for five and he drove in three of the Pirates five runs and scored another.  Xavier Nady scored twice and Jack Wilson had two hits.

Tom Gorzelanny had a nice start and he picked up the win.  He gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts.  Salomon Torres picked up his third save in as many games.

Are the Pirates for rea?  We’ll see as they get a day off and then they face the Reds in Cincinnati.  Paul Maholm will get the start in the opener.

This hurts.  The Pirates first round draft pick last year, Brad Lincoln, is going to have elbow surgery which will cause him to miss the entire 2007 season.  All signs pointed to his rehab working but it looks like there was a set back.

And not to knock Lincoln, but the Pirates took him over guys like Andrew Miller and Clayton Kershaw.  Miller could be in our rotation right now but the Pirates must have been scared because of the amount of money he was probably looking for.  Hopefully Lincoln can make it back from this because in a few years, we’ll be needing him.

For the second straight game, the Pirates came from behind to beat the Astros and for the second straight game, they won by the score of 3-2.  This time, it wasn’t all homeruns though.  Xavier Nady hit his second homerun in as many days to put the Pirates on the board before the Astros scored two to take the lead.  Then in the eighth, Ronny Paulino singled home Jack Wilson to tie the game and then Nady struck again and singled home Jason Bay to give the Pirates the lead.

Ian Snell struck out eleven in his six innings of work and he gave up two runs on only four hits with one walk.  That’s a nice strikeout to walk ratio there and for his troubles, he didn’t even get a decision.  Salomon Torres did pick up the save though, and that’s his second in two games.

Tom Gorzelanny will try to make it a sweep tomorrow in a night game.  The Astros will have Woody Williams throwing.