Hey, it wouldn't be Pittsburgh without a little April shower, right? But not enough tonight to deep six the game; it was just delayed an hour or so. Then Porky Chedwick, the 93 year-old "Daddio of the Raddio" threw out the first pitch and took a tumble. He was helped off the field, and seems no worse for the wear and tear.
After looking fairly inept at the dish during the last series against the Fish, the Bucs recovered their first inning mojo and jumped on the soft-throwing Livian Hernandez for five get-go runs.
McCutch singled and Jose Tabata doubled to put runners at second and third; a Lyle Overbay single brought home a run and had Bucs on the corners. Neil Walker K'ed, but a Garrett Jones double and Dewey knock made it 3-0, runners still at the corners.
Ryan Doumit was caught stealing, but Ian Desmond dropped the ball on the tag to allow him to keep the base, and it cost the Nats a pair when a Pedro bouncer and Ronny Cedeno single made it 5-0.
The Nats got a run back when an Adam LaRouche smacked a leadoff double and was chased home on a Michael Moses knock. The Pirates countered when McCutch walked, stole a base, went to third on a bad throw by C Wilson Ramos and came home on a Tabata sac fly. It was 6-1 Pirates after two innings.
Jayson Werth homered in the fourth; a pair of two-out walks in the sixth followed by an Overbay single kept the margin at five.
Karstens gave the Pirates six solid innings, but was gassed for the seventh. A leadoff double followed by a single put runners on the corners for Washington, and out came Captain Hook. Clint Hurdle didn't waste any time summoning Chris Resop to the hill. JK went six innings, surrendering two runs on six hits with a walk and three K's, throwing 85 pitches.
Resop came through big-time, whiffing the first two batters he saw and getting Father Time, Matt Stairs, to line out to Pedro to keep the Nats off the board. Joe Beimel and Evan Meek closed it out, and the Buccos start this home stand with a strong 7-2 win.
The Bucs had nine hits to go with three walks, and stranded just five runners, going 5-for-9 with RISP. McCutch stole two more bases, and Tabata added one. All in all, a good way to start the home stand.
Kevin Correia will try to keep things rolling when he takes on Jason Marquis on easter at 1:35 PM.
-- Brandon Wood was given Jack Wilson's #2 as his uniform number.
-- Evan Meek now has six consecutive scoreless appearances.
-- Ron Burkle, deep-pocketed Penguin owner who was said to be sniffing around both the Pirates and Nationals, has joined Steve Garvey's group that is trying to purchase the Dodgers, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
-- Nat's OF Jason Werth is Ducky Schofield's grandson; Schofield, a utility infielder, played a big role in the 1960 championship, taking over short when Dick Groat was injured. Werth told Jen Langosh of MLB.com that "People come up to me all the time, especially people from Pittsburgh, and they tell me they remember my grandfather and what he did for the team and the organization and the city, and it's pretty special for me."
-- Jay Bay finally returned to action for the Mets. He went 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI.
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