Thursday, April 1, 2010

Florida Vacation Over...Back To The Daily Grind

The Bucs leave Florida with their tails dragging, compiling a Grapefruit league record of 7-19-1, worst in the Sunshine State. The latest down-the-drainer was today's 4-2 loss to the Phillies.

Daniel McCutchen, as has most of the Pirate staff, pitched respectably. He gave up three runs in 5-1/3 frames, two earned, and had at least three misplays behind him in the field. Of course, you can't blame the team for McC walking the pitcher once and the eight man another time (he scored), either.

Hayden Penn got in and allowed two hits while striking out two in his 1-2/3 innings of work. Octavio Dotel gave up a homer, struck out two, and walked one in the eighth.

The Ryans, Church and Doumit, provided the O with homers.

The Pirates leave Bradenton with a workable rotation, a bullpen that hasn't quite lived up to its promise (maybe because of some nagging injuries), fielding that's in no way as sharp as it was when they broke camp last year, physically or mentally, iffy base-running, and an offense that struggles mightily to put up runs consistently.

And they still haven't settled on a roster; they have until 3PM Sunday to reach 25 players.

There were a lotta questions going into spring training, and not too many answers have been found yet. But we'll get them, starting Monday.

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