Put away the brooms

The bats were willing, but the pitching was weak. Throw both Ian Snell and Frankie Osoria on the mound the same day, and the results are pretty predictable right now.

Bring on them Yankees!

On the Pirate front: The Pirates today will place Phil Dumatrait on the DL because of an unspecified left shoulder injury, and will promote reliever T.J. Beam from Indy, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

This came out of the blue to us - we expected Xavier Nady, not Dumatrait, to go on the DL - and there are still lots of questions involving the makeup of the Pirate's roster without him. There's no immediate need for a starter with the scheduled off day tomorrow. So we're in wait-and-see mode at this point.

Beam, 27, has been Indianapolis' best reliever lately, having allowed just 3 earned runs in 22 1/3 innings over his past 16 appearances. He has a 2.02 ERA in 26 appearances, and his opponents have been held to a .202 average. Beam has 39 Ks and 14 walks. The Pirates signed him from the Yankee system.

> Look for Pittsburgh to throw every left handed bat they have into today's fray. Blue Jay starter RHP Dustin McGowan has a 4.15 ERA. His road ERA? It's 6.27. His ERA against lefties? It's is 5.61.

> Jack Splat became one of five players in franchise history to make 1,000 appearances at shortstop last night. The others are Honus Wagner (1,887), Arky Vaughan (1,381), Dick Groat (1,242) and Jay Bell (1,103). Pretty good company.

On the hot stove front: Damaso Marte has been mentioned in a lot of deals, but the Pirate's have a pretty high value on him. If he continues to pitch the way he has been, he'll be a Class A free agent if the Bucs offer him arbitration, and will earn Pittsburgh a couple of very high draft picks if he's signed elsewhere.

If the other teams can't beat the deal that's already in hand, the Pirates won't be moving him. There's no reason to. So when you hear the other teams crying about the Buc's overinflated demands, remember that these new guys do have a solid process in place to determine the worth of their players.

On the minor league front: RHP Jimmy Barthmaier continues to tear it up at Indy. He allowed 1 run and 4 hits in six innings. He struck out 8, with no walks, running his record to 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA. 1B Steve Pearce went 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs and is hitting .266.

> In Altoona, RHP Derek Hankins pitched six scoreless innings and allowed two hits. He struck out 5 and walked 1. He's 2-3 with a 3.57 ERA. Chris Duffy is hitting .235 in his first week with the Curve.

> At Lynchburg, 3B Jim Negrych shows no signs of slowing down. He went 3 for 4 with a triple, double and walk. He's batting .360.

> Hickory's RHP Brad Lincoln allowed 3 runs and 7 hits in six innings. He struck out 3 and walked 1. His record is now 4-2, with an ERA of 2.97. 1B Miles Durham, batting .338, hit his 13th home run, a three-run shot, and went 2 for 4 with a double.

> At State College, SS Jordy Mercer, the recently signed third-round draft pick, went 2 for 5 with a triple.

> Brooklyn Cyclones designated hitter Ralph Henriquez is a switch-hitter. Staten Island pitcher Pat Venditte is ambidextrous and has pitched that way all his life. Hilarity ensued when they met in Class A yesterday.

One would switch batters boxes, the other would switch gloves. The umps finally decided enough already - they told the batter to pick a side, pitcher responds - once. They ended up righty vs righty, with Venditte striking out Henriquez. The rules committee promised to come up with a clarification to cover such oddball situations. Just when you think you've seen it all...

It reminds us of former Central Catholic and Pitt pitcher Brant Colamarino who also threw from both sides of the mound. He now plays Class AA ball in the Oakland farm system as a first baseman.