Buc Bats Bop

Hey, GW had a tough night. The storm sewers backed up, so he and the eldest had to bail, yo ho ho. Mrs. GW bundled the telephone, TV, and PC with Comcast - so none of those are available, either. Geez, all from one little tornado.

But fortunately, the hard times didn't extend to the Buccos. They cranked out three dingers, from Andrew McCutchen and the LaRoche boys (the first brothers to homer in the same game for Pittsburgh since Paul and Lloyd Waner, aka Big and Little Poison, in 1938) and Ian Snell only suffered through one two-out meltdown as the Pirates repaid the Twins 8-2.

Snell and John Grabow in particular ran through the raindrops, but in a bit of role reversal, it was the other team that went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, a very welcome change.

The Pirates send Zach Duke (7-4, 3.10) out against RHP Nick Blackburn (5-2, 3.31) in what should be a dandy of a getaway game.

-- When Doug Miller of MLB.com asked who the flashiest gloves in baseball were, he got this reply from Trever Miller of the Cards: "Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez. Any play they make up the middle, that tag team. They're the best players to watch night in and night out."

-- Aaron Gleeman of NBC's "Circling The Bases" has this to say about Ian Snell: "...his track record suggests that Snell could be a pretty effective reliever.

Focusing on his fastball-slider combo while ditching his changeup would help Snell, given the lack of success that he's had with his third pitch over the years, and his shaky command would play better out of the bullpen."

-- A couple of good performances from the bushes: Lynchburg's Pedro Alvarez (.233) hit his 13th and 14th home runs, going 2 for 7 with six RBIs in a doubleheader split.

West Virginia's LHP Rudy Owens (7-1, 2.20) pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing one hit while striking out nine with no walks. He's been a pleasant surprise this year and may be stepping up in class sooner rather than later.