Sunday, July 8, 2012

Lineup, Notes, Cutch In HR Derby, Zoltan the Movie Clip

Today's rubber match will be decided by the Giants RHP Tim Lincecum (3-9, 6.08) and A.J. Burnett (9-2, 3.74 ERA). Lincecum has had a terrible year, certainly by his standards, and AJ was shook and rattled last time out, so both guys will be looking for some redemption today. It's also the last contest before the All-Star break. The game begins at 1:35 and will be shown on Root Sports.

The lineup: Drew Sutton LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones RF, Casey McGehee 1B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Rod Barajas C, Clint Barmes SS, AJ Burnett P.

  • Cutch will replace Giancarlo Stanton (knee surgery) in the MLB Home Run derby Monday night. As he tweeted, he's "...pretty pumped to be a part of it." Other Bucco reps were Bobby Bo in 1990, Barry Bonds in 1992, and Jay Bay in 2005. Bonds was the only one to homer, and he just had two. Won't take much for McCutch to jump ahead of that group. And no, we're not worried about him changing his swing. It's all good, raising both his profile and the club's.
  • The post All-Star rotation: James McDonald, Kevin Correia, AJ Burnett, Jeff Karstens and Erik Bedard. J-Mick and AJ will no longer be back-to-back so the Bucs won't be quite as top heavy for any particular series, especially with Karstens behind them.
  • Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports said on his Full Count vid that Shane Victorino could be a fit for the Pirates and added that Pittsburgh also likes Carlos Quentin but his asking price is way high.
  • J Brady McCoulough of the Post Gazette has a piece on serendipity and AJ Burnett.
  • Happy B-Day, Josh Harrison, who turns 25 today.
  • Bill Brink of the Post Gazette wrote "McCutchen...MVP?" Bob Cohn of the Tribune Review also featured McCutch in his article "Center of Attention."
  • At Indy, OF Starling Marte extended his hitting streak to 12 games and C Tony Sanchez has a six game string.
  • West Virginia's RHP Robby Rowland allowed six hits and fanned three as he worked six scoreless frames. The Bucs got him from Arizona in exchange for Brett Lorin. The 21 year old was a 2010 third round draft pick, and he's 5-2 with a 2.75 ERA since arriving. 
  • And here's Zoltan's big scene for those who want to actually see the Bucco icon, bubblewrap and all:


Zoltan from "Dude, Where's My Car?"

No comments: