Sugar-Sweet Sweep
Being a Type-1 Diabetic, the deadly substance sucrose (aka sugar) is something that I rarely discuss. However, after seeing the Pittsburgh Pirates conquer the sweet-drink stadium of Minute Maid Park, lovable sugar became a hot topic. The Bucs served Houston up with another season series sweep, as the Astros were outscored 25-12 in the three-game set. Cecil Cooper's bullpen tumbled a bit out of control, aiding in the re-birth of a dormant Buccaneer offense.
It was a tough weekend in Denver after the Pirates compiled just nine runs in a four-game series against the Rockies. The Bucs luckily brought back the mighty 'o' on Monday, scoring seven very late runs to clobber Astros' closer Jose Valverde for another atrocious blown save. The Buccos left right-hander John Van Benschoten off the hook following (arguably) his best Major League start (5.0 IP 6 H 2 ER 4 BB 4 K - eggh). The runs kept pouring in on Wednesday, as backed by a terrific start from lefty Paul Maholm, the 'rats went on to capture the series pretty quickly. Nate McLouth showed off his godliness with his 20th long ball, and catcher Ryan Doumit continued his post-DL tear with big fly number 12.
Though the onslaught of runs was still there, Thursday's contest was much different from the earlier two. Pittsburgh was tied with Houston until the top of the seventh where Doug Mientkiewicz did his thing, plating the go-ahead run with his fourth hit of the afternoon. The veteran utility infielder upped his average to .274 and continues to shock me with his consistent play. 'Ace Out of The Hole' Ian Snell suffered another setback outing, leaving in the fourth after allowing five runs. Snell finally racked up a respectable six strikeouts, but throwing 85 pitches threw three frames is in excusable.
Next on TBB: Aside from Maholm, if the Bucs can't square off at least two more solid starting pitchers, the State of the 'Burgh will not see anywhere close to .500. Cuban righty Yoslan Herrera will face the hideous San Diego Padres' offense at PNC Park tomorrow night. After a 1 1/3 performance in Coors Field last week, I have a feeling Yoslan will do a much better job against the anemic Padre hitters. Catch that game at 7:05 PM ET.
Leave a comment