Down Without a Fight

OK, let's go over the lowlights of the Pirates 10-3 slink-away defeat this afternoon.

Charlie Morton gave up five runs in three innings. The Astros stole six bases off the Bucs. The Pirates failed to move over runners on first and second with no outs, and later failed to bunt them over, losing them a run, maybe two. They didn't turn a sure inning-ending DP, costing them a pair of runs.

Michael Bourn threw out a pair of Pirate baserunners, one a forceout at second on a ball hit to center and another when he caught a runner too far off first after running down a shallow fly. And hey, the umps even piled on; a couple of out calls could have easily gone the other way, and probably should have...but when it rains, it pours.

And this was in the first six innings.

They got fourteen hits - thirteen singles and a double, and stranded nine. Brian Burres and Brian Bass where called up from Indy, and one was supposed to start Tuesday. Instead, they both were used in relief today.

Their call-ups necessitated Daniel McCutchen's demotion to Indy and the DFA'ing of Brandan Jones, leaving the Pirates with three outfielders in AAA with yesterday's trade of Jonathan Van Every.

Jeff Karstens, who has a 1-2 record and 7.31 ERA at Indy, is probably next in line, although both Brad Lincoln and Donnie Veal are on the 40-man roster and wouldn't require any more shuffling.

The suits don't think it's their time yet, but geez, how much worse could they be? And how did the brass manage to screw up the timing of Kevin Hart's start to take him out of the running? This current mess has everyone's fingerprints on it.

The good news? Well, Andy LaRoche has gone 6-for-8 since returning from his back injury, raising his average to .343. And Chris Jakubauskas was released form the hospital with a concussion and bruises, but no fractures. He'll go on the 15-day DL.

There's really not much to add, except that GW has followed Pirate baseball for at least fifty years (yah, GW is one old goat!), and can't ever remember so much bedlam at the start of a season.

And so now it's off to Milwaukee, and Miller Park's chamber of horrors. At least two of the Buc pitchers will be Zach Duke and Paul Maholm; the Tuesday guy will be a grab-bag.