Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Astro-Notes

Charlie Morton and JA Happ will do the honors tonight at Minute Maid. The game starts at 8:05 PM and will be aired by Root Sports.

Tonight's lineup: Jose Tabata LF, Matt Diaz RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Neil Walker 2B, Lyle Overbay 1B, Brandon Wood 3B, Mike McKenry C, Ronny Cedeno SS, Charlie Morton P.

Regular run-of-the-mill lefty lineup now that Cedeno is back home at the eight hole.

  • The Pirates' MLB pitching stats, from Fangraphs: 8th in ERA (3.51); 4th in ground ball rate (47.6%); fourth in strand rate (75.1%); fourth in BABIP (.282). Wonder what Joe Kerrigan is doing now?
  • Hey, not only is Ray Searage doing a great job with the pitchers, but Nick Leyva has got the defense playing the way Perry Hill was supposed to.  The team's UZR/150 this year is 4.8, 5th in MLB. Last season it was -8.5, worst in the show.  
  • Mostly because of that great pitching line, the Pirates are only four games back in the NL Central, and just three back in the loss column. That's not a bad place to be in mid-June, especially compared to where the team usually sits - they were 12-1/2 games behind the Reds at this time last year.
  • Garrett Jones' is starting to stroke again, and all it took was just a small tweak. They've been pitching him away, and he's been trying to pull the ball. Now he's going with the pitch, so his swing is shorter, his head's on the ball, and the hits are beginning to fall.
  • C Wyatt Toregas cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Indy after his brief stay with the Buccos. He'll share the catching duties with Eric Fryer, at least until JJ's return.
  • Texas Tech redshirt junior LHP Robbie Kilcrease has signed as an undrafted free agent with the Pirates. In his three year career as a Red Raider, he made 58 appearances (18 starts) with a 10-4 record and 5.97 ERA in 146-1/3 innings. He struck out 101 batters and allowed 72 walks while opponents batted .309. If the numbers seem a bit high, he had TJ surgery in 2010; the Bucs want to see him how he deals when he's healthy.

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