Beating Yourself

Hey, the Cards and Tony LaRussa are a lot of things, but mostly what they are is NL Central champs much of the time and a team that doesn't beat itself often. The same cannot be said of the Pirates.

They did so many off the wall things tonight to last them the summer. The Cards won 4-3, gifted with three unearned runs and the game-winner scored by a guy the Bucs refused to tag out.

Of course, it wasn't all physical errors. JR and the braintrust decided that the outfield shift was such a potent concept that they'd try it with the infield, shifting radically towards the third base side against select righties...and guess what? It didn't work.

Two singles hit through the shift's hole, a walk and a Ronny Cedeno error put the Bucs down 2-0 before they got to bat. The Cards added another when Andy LaRoche's error came around to score with two outs.

Lastings Milledge singled in a run in the fourth, while Ryan Doumit doubled home another in the sixth. A tying run scored on a wild pitch in the eighth.

Ah, the eighth inning. With LaRoche on third and Andrew McCutchen on first with no outs, Garrett Jones hit a chopper back to the mound. Mistake #1 - runner on third, no one out...

Mistake #2: LaRoche got caught in a rundown between third and home, and McCutchen took third. As did LaRoche. With both runners aboard, McCutch got tagged and was out. A mistake, but a defensible one.

Mistake #3: LaRoche thought he was out instead of McC, headed toward the dugout, and in a self-fulfilling prophecy, was tagged out for a DP.

It's easy enough to blame LaRoche, but it does kinda make us wonder what third base coach Tony Beasley was during the festivities. Apparently whatever he was doing, it surely wasn't coaching.

Still, they tied the game on the wild pitch. In the ninth, Evan Meek struck out the side. But in between the K's, the Redbirds scored when pinch runner Joe Mather went to steal second with two outs. The Pirates sniffed it out, called a pitchout, and had him thrown out easily at second.

But Mather pulled back his lead hand diving into the base, and Aki Iwamura tagged the dirt. And hey, Yadier Molina had the shift on, and punched the ball the opposite way for a double to drive Mather in with the game-winning run.

Lost amidst the self-inflicted wounds was a bounce back performance by Zach Duke, who lasted into the seventh and scattered nine hits without allowing an earned run.

JR, please quit with the smoke and mirrors defense. The Bucs could have recovered from errors by their two most dependable infielders if the defense played straight up. A manger is supposed to put his team in position to win games, and this new found love affair with trick defenses doesn't allow them that chance.

After all these years of frustration, is a little fundamental baseball too much to ask for?

Bucs Bop

"Take Me To The River..." was a big hit for Al Green and the Talking Heads, but if you're talkin' the Allegheny, it's an even bigger hit for the Pirates. The Bucs ran their PNC Park record to 8-4 and 13-15 overall with an 11-1 waxing of the Chicago Cubs.

Randy Wells, who had walked five guys all year, issued free passes to the Pirates' first two hitters, Aki Iwamura and Andy LaRoche, on eight pitches. Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones singled them in, and Ryan Doumit and Lastings Milledge doubled in three more, making 5-0 before the beer got warm.

Brian Burres, the lefty who is cementing his position as the Bucs' number five starter, filled the dish with strikes after being staked to the big lead. He went seven innings of three hit, shutout ball, walking three and striking out four. Burres threw 99 pitches, 58 of which were strikes, and raised his record to 2-1 while dropping his ERA to 4.09.

The Bucco attack wasn't overpowering - they only had nine hits - but was opportunistic, taking advantage of seven Cub walks and three errors. The middle of the order really was clutch tonight, with Milledge collecting four RBI, Jones three, and Doumit a pair. The 1-2-3 hitters, Iwamura, LaRoche, and McCutchen, touched home seven times.

Hey, we even had a moment of hilarity in the fourth frame. With the bases juiced, Milledge lined a shot towards the Milledge People section in left. He raised his arm rounding first, Tim Neverett called it a home run on FSN, and the fireworks went off.

The only problem was that it didn't quite carry and hit the top padding, the ball still in play. Milledge was tagged out trotting between second and third. The Pirate kangaroo court will be in session tonight.

But the Bucs are washing away the bad taste of the recent road trip, primed by some solid pitching which was a long time coming. It's the first time they've broomed the Cubbies since 2006, and they're 8-7 in the division.

And the pitching best remain sharp. The Cards come into town tomorrow, and will send Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, and Brad Penny to the hill. The Pirates will counter with Zach Duke, Jeff Karstens, and Paul Maholm.

-- If everything goes well with Ross Ohlendorf's side session, he's penciled to go against the Reds Monday. But he admits he's still not 100%, so if he's still tight, Ohlie may get one more rehab start.

There's No Place Like Home

Hey, all kind of good things happened tonight. Charlie Morton pitched a solid game, the bullpen zipped up the final three frames, the Bucs played flawless defense, and most importantly, the Pirates scored that critical fourth run as they tamed the Cubs 4-2.

First, Morton continued his long climb back to respectability tonight. He had, as usual, one bad inning, but got out of it before it exploded. In the fourth, the first three Cubs singled, two of the hits being well placed rather than well struck.

Morton went 3-1 on Aramis Ramirez, and had no place to put him. He didn't give in, and after an eight pitch at-bat, got him to hit a sac fly. Morton escaped giving up a pair of runs, and shut the Cubbies down in the next pair of innings.

His line was six innings, two runs, four hits, and three K's. More importantly, his command was excellent except in the fourth, and he didn't walk a batter. He handed the ball off to the back end of the pen after a lead off single in the seventh, and Evan Meek, Joel Hanrahan, and Octavio Dotel threw goose eggs.

JR juggled his line up and came out smelling like a rose. Bobby Crosby took over at second, and had a pair of knocks and a run. Ryan Church got the call in left and homered for the second straight night.

Steve Pearce started at first, and while hitless, made a pair of great saves on bad throws to get the out. And remember, a couple of errors led to Morton's downfall during his last outing, so Pearce's grabs may have well kept Morton's head in the game.

Brian Burres goes against Randy Wells tomorrow as the Bucs try to broom the Cubs.

-- The top four in the Pirate order, Crosby, Andy LaRoche, Andrew McCutchen (back a day earlier than expected from a sprained ankle) and Garrett Jones went 7-for-16.

-- Ronny Cedeno, who's had four hits in the two Cub games after a 2-for-28 spell on the road trip, was the culprit behind returning the pitcher to the nine spot. He wasn't getting on enough to set the table. Now that he's hot, maybe JR will return to using his new toy.

-- Charlie Morton, who had a 50% ground ball rate over his first two years, was down to 40% in 2010 before tonight's start. He wasn't giving up more flies; his line drive rate jumped from 18% in 2009 to 32% this season. So it was an encouraging sign that he got ten ground ball outs tonight.

He's also been using his slider more and fastball less this year, according to Fan Graphs, which offers a pretty interesting chart on him. What a difference a year makes.

-- Everyone's looking for a Steve Pearce - Jeff Clement platoon, but there may be a couple of other guys whose job is on the line.

Lastings Milledge sat again tonight, even with a lefty on the mound. With the team looking for a leadoff hitter and Jose Tabata tearing it up at Indy, Milledge's feel-good story may be coming to an end if he doesn't produce soon.

We also expect to see more of Bobby Crosby and Delwyn Young at second if Aki Iwamura doesn't come out of his funk at the plate and on the field quickly.

-- Alfonso Soriano's home run streak was stopped at four games tonight. He had a single and whiffed twice.

-- Ross Ohlendorf worked four innings for Altoona tonight in what should be his final rehab start. He shut out Greensboro on three hits and a walk while striking out six during his outing.

-- Altoona set-up man Ronald Uviedo leads all Minor League relievers with an .051 opponent batting average, giving up 2 hits in 12-2/3 innings. He pitches ahead of closers Jeff Sues and Danny Moskos for the Curve.

-- Baseball America's Jim Callis (subscription article) says Texas high school righty Jameson Taillon is the consensus #2 in the June draft, and wonders if the Pirates will spend on him or let him fall to the O's?

Pre Game Potpourri

-- With Andrew McCutchen batting third now, JR has returned the pitcher to the nine hole in the batting order. You can debate batting the pitcher eighth all you want, but there's no question that penciling McClutch into the two spot was a brain cramp on Russell's part.

-- Chris Jakubauskas doesn't suffer from lightheadedness or dizzy spells any more after being clocked with a liner on April 24th. He's doing some moderate off-field exercise, but isn't permitted to take part in any baseball activities yet. Jaku hopes to be cleared for practice next week.

-- Five of Pittsburgh's eleven wins have been come-from-behind victories, and three of those were walk-off rallies.

-- Indy's Jose Tabata has gotten aboard to lead-off the game in each of his last five contests after singling in his first at bat against Lehigh Valley last night. He's also reached base in all but one game that he's played this season and leads all Triple-A hitters with 35 hits.

-- Curve lefty Rudy Owens tossed six no-hit innings and struck out eleven batters in a 9-1 thumping of the Giant's AA Richmond Flying Squirrels yesterday (Rocky must have been off). He allowed one base runner when he walked the pitcher (arrrgh!). Owens is 3-0 with a 2.83 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and has 28 K's in 28 innings for Altoona.

-- Bradenton's Bryan Morris pitched seven innings of four hit, shutout ball against Palm Beach to win his third game by 3-0 tally. He has an 0.78 ERA so far this season.

-- West Virginia's Melkin Laureano, 24, pitched six scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out five in a 5-0 win against Greensboro. Laureno is a Dominican who spent three season with the A's organization before Pittsburgh picked him up last year. He's being converted from a closer to a long man/spot starter, and has a 1.40 ERA for the Power.

-- Florida just didn't reclaim John Raynor from the Pirates, but brought in a golden oldie, too. The Marlins signed first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz to a minor league deal, according to Baseball America writer Matt Eddy's Transactions section.

-- Matt Capps has eleven saves and an 0.63 ERA for Washington, with 15 strikeouts in 14 innings, and won the Major League Baseball Delivery Man Award in April.

Home Run Or No Count

Hey, who woulda thunk that Andrew McCutchen's gimpy ankle would lead to a Pirate victory? Well, it did tonight, when some gutsy pitching by Paul Maholm and a two-run homer lined into the first row above the Clemente Wall by his replacement, Ryan Church, would key a 3-2 Bucco win.

Maholm went six tough innings, giving up eight hits and walking three. But the only runs would come on solo shots by Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto. The lefty didn't have great command, but he stranded seven Cubs in scoring position and gave the hitters a chance to win tonight. And they did just enough to pull it off.

Andy LaRoche bombed a solo shot into left in the first inning to go Church's launch, and Joel Hanrahan, Evan Meek, and Octavio Dotel made the three runs stand up. It was Maholm's second win and Dotel's fourth save.

Charlie Morton will try to regain his mojo tomorrow when he goes against Ted Lilly.

-- The Pirate pitchers continued their baffling inability to handle opposing moundmen again tonight, when Maholm allowed Ryan Dempster two hits.

-- McCutchen's ankle sprain is still causing him some discomfort. He'll be available to pinch hit, and hopes to be back in center field by Thursday.

-- Steve Pearce is expected to start tomorrow against Ted Lilly, a lefty. Jeff Clement wore an 0-for-3 collar tonight, dropping his average to .164.

-- No games this time around; the team announced that Brian Burres will start on Thursday. Jeff Karstens is penciled in for Saturday as of now.

-- Brendan Donnelly has been placed on the 15-day DL with a left oblique strain. It was post-dated to April 28th, which means he can return May 13th.

-- Octavio Dotel became a first time daddy Sunday with the birth of a son, Eduardo.

-- The John Raynor era is over in Pittsburgh. The Bucs couldn't swing a deal with Florida for him, so the Rule 5 pick was returned to the Fish.

Tuesday Pre-Game Yada

-- Steve Pearce got the call to the big team today. Pearce, 27, hit .349 with two home runs, eight RBIs, and 17 walks, with a .452 OBP and .605 slugging percentage at Indy.

He's shown the ability to hit lefties in the show, with a .306/.358/.561 line against them in limited appearances, has a decent glove, and should be in line to platoon with Jeff Clement.

To clear a spot, the Pirates are expected to shed a pitcher - Brian Burres or Brian Bass could be sent down, or Brendan Donnelly could be back-dated on the 15-day DL - and return to a traditional seven relievers, five bench players, roster configuration. (EDIT - Jen Langosch tweeted that the Bucs put Donnelly on the DL)

-- Ross Ohlendorf will make a rehab start tomorrow at Altoona. If all goes well, Ohlie could rejoin Pittsburgh's staff and take his turn in the rotation early next week.

-- Kevin Hart will have surgery today to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. The procedure will be done by Dr. James Andrews. There's generally an 8-12 month recovery period, and it's often longer. At best, he'll be ready for camp next year, and it's possible he could miss all of the 2011 season, depending on the severity of the tear.

Sure makes that fifth spot competition interesting again. Daniel McCutchen could work himself back into good graces with some steady performances at Indy, and if Brad Lincoln keeps on track, he'll be in Pittsburgh sooner rather than later this summer.

-- Just thinking out loud: Aki Iwamura went from Golden Glove third baseman to second base. If he keeps playing like he is, GW wonders if the same move is due for Andy LaRoche, as often speculated? The last time he played the spot was in 2008, when he got in a handful of games at AAA Las Vegas and a few innings for the Dodgers before being traded to Pittsburgh.

To compare: Iwamura's UZR/150 this year is -21.2 with a range factor of 4.5 (-8.9/4.5 in 2009); Delwyn Young's numbers in 2009 were -12/4.7, and LaRoche's in 2008 were -2.4/6.2, according to FanGraphs.

The UZR/150 represents how many runs per 150 games a fielder allows (-) or saves (+) compared to the norm, and the range is how many put outs and assists a player averages per game. Every ten runs worth of UZR translates into a win if positive, or loss if negative.

-- Four remains the Pirate batter's Rubicon. When they score four or more runs, they are 9-1. When they tally three runs or less, they're 1-14. They're also undefeated (6-0) when leading after six innings. It seems like the hitters feed off the pitching.

No Bull

OK, there's no game today and no reason to pile on the Pirates; they've had a tough enough time. So we'll look at one aspect of baseball, the bullpen. No, not the Pirate relief corps. We're going deeper than one team; we're going to expose how that hill of dirt and bench in the outfield became known throughout the land as a bullpen. The leading speculation:

-- Bull Durham tobacco signs were in virtually every baseball park during the early 1900s. Their unmistakable billboards were usually located out in left field, near the pitchers' warm-up area, where managers would send their relievers before the game. It was basically a prototype ad placement.

-- The Ol' Perfessor Casey Stengel explained that "The extra pitchers would just sit around shooting the bull, and no manager wanted all that gabbing on the bench. So he put them in the outfield to warm up." Many baseball people believe the "shooting the bull" theory.

-- SRO fans in the late 19th century watched the game from roped-off areas in foul territory. Because the fans were herded like cattle, this area became known as the "bullpen", a designation which was later transferred over to the relief pitchers who warmed up there.

-- Before a bull fight or rodeo, the bull is corralled in a small area called the bullpen. Then, when it's game time, the gate is opened and the bull comes charging out, much like a relief pitcher (remember "The Mad Hungarian" Al Hrabosky pawing and stomping around the mound?).

-- Jon Miller of ESPN said the term comes from the late 19th century. The New York Giants played at the Polo Grounds then. The relief pitchers warmed up outside the left-field fence, an area also used as a stockyard (a bull's pen is where cattle cooled their hooves before being sent off to slaughter).

-- Along those lines, in the bush leagues, the game was played in the fenced in fields where the cows and bulls pastured. The ranges had a smaller fenced-in area where the bulls were kept when the farmers didn't want them romping with the cows. That's where pitchers warmed-up ... out of the field of play, in the bull pen.

-- A bullpen has been used to describe a prison, a POW camp (Andersonville, in particular), or a holding area, often bordered by barbed wire. Eventually, the term came to mean any waiting area. The era and concept fit; regular pitchers were exiled or sentenced to the bullpen when they weren't good enough to start.

Word specialists and baseball historians agree on one thing: nobody really knows how the term became popularized, although it dates back to a 1912 sports page. So rolls the dice and take your chances; they're all good. And that's no bull.

Bucs In LA-LA Land

Jeff Karstens' second outing didn't have near the panache of his first; LA scored six times in five innings on eleven hits, including five extra-base knocks. Brian Bass and Joel Hanrahan added a little gas to the fire, and despite some ninth-inning lumber, the Bucs fell 9-3 to Big Blue.

The hitting, as happens maddeningly often, mirrored the ineffective pitching. The Pirates only had five hits and a run in eight innings off of Hiroki Kurada before waking up in the final frame. They scored twice on three hits, and the game ended with a Jeff Clement blast with two aboard that was run down at the wall.

For all the drama of the 10-game road trip, the Bucs ended up 3-7. They still haven't figured out how to win away from PNC. The Pirates are hoping to enjoy some home cooking starting Tuesday, when they begin a nine day stand against the Cubs, Cards, and Reds.

-- The pitcher is batting ninth today for the first time this season; no word as to the why of that lineup change, but Jen Langosch in her MLB.com blog suggests that it's because McCutchen is batting third and doesn't need an added hitter ahead of him now. (EDIT - in her post game notes, Langosch said JR didn't think today's lineup lent itself to that configuration.)

-- Andrew McCutchen twisted his ankle when he stepped on the pitcher's foot trying to leg out an infield hit, suffering a sprain. It's not thought to be serious...famous last words, hey? Oddly, they put Ryan Church in center when JR took him out in the sixth rather than Lastings Milledge. Where are you, John Raynor?

-- Octavio Dotel is back in Pittsburgh because his wife is about to give birth. Good luck and congratulations! Evan Meek or Joel Hanrahan will do the honors in his absence.

-- If you're wondering where Brendan Donnelly has been, he's been out with soreness in his left side; he's still being evaluated as to whether he should go on the DL or not. Donnelly was out of action for the LA series.

-- Altoona handed Stephen Strasburg the first loss of his pro career today, winning 6-1. Justin Wilson started, going four innings, and allowed one run on four hits. Righties Michael Dubee and Ronald Uviedo retired the next fifteen batters, pitching five frames of perfect ball.

Bucs: Bruised and Beaten

Ah, a lot of heat about the Dodgers beanballing the Bucs, and probably deserved. Zach Duke didn't bop anyone back, but then again, he had enough problems. Like too many starting pitchers, he gave up a three-run homer to Andre Ethier - shouldn't a guy with a name like that be playing for the Canadians? - that brought out the fat lady in a 5-1 loss to LA. And on an 0-2 pitch yet.

Duke had a chance to even things up when reliever Ramon Ortiz, who buzzed Andrew McCutcheon a couple of times (although the real culprit was Carlos Monasterios, who drilled Lastings Milledge and Ronny Cedeno), came up. But down 4-1 in the sixth, he did the smart thing and just struck him out instead of putting a free runner aboard.

But hey, beanballs are great for heating up a rivalry; three run homers are what wins games. Big Blue had one; the Pirates, held to six hits, didn't. And that's the game story. Very average pitching, very poor hitting, and another game in the loss column.

Jeff Karstens will try to repeat his effort of last week today during get-away day.

-- Garrett Jones go a day off because a piece of meat lodged in his esophagus, and took some docs to get it loose. He expects to be back for today's game.

The Streak Ends

Well, the good news is that Charlie Morton looked a little more like a pitcher today. The bad news is longballs, boots, and not much support did him in as the Pirates fell 6-2 to the Dodgers last night.

Andre Ethier belted a two-run homer in the first frame, and James Loney banged a hanging curve into the cheap seats with two aboard in the third, and that pretty much was all she wrote. Loney's blast hurt; not only was it a mistake pitch, but both runners were on thanks to Bobby Crosby and Jeff Clement errors. Ouch.

For Morton, the two blasts were homers number six and seven off him, and he's only worked 19-1/3 innings. In all, he went six innings, gave up three earned runs on six hits, whiffed eight and walked a pair.

The Buc attack wasn't much better. Ryan Doumit continued smacking the ball around, going 3-for-4 with a double and RBI (he's hitting .324 now) and Andrew McCutchen had a pair of knocks, including a double and RBI. The rest of the lineup had two hits.

Zach Duke will go tonight, as he tries to leave a pair of stinko starts in the rear view mirror.

-- No wonder his arm is sore. Kevin Hart has a labrum tear in his right shoulder and will be off to Alabama next week to be examined by Dr. James Andrews. Team Dr. Patrick DeMeo has already recommended surgery. Maybe Bob Walk will leave the FSN booth and rejoin the staff.

-- Ross Ohlendorf threw three innings in Florida today. He's supposed to have one rehab start and rejoin the team May 10th if all goes according to plan.

-- Mike Crotta, 25, stepped up from Altoona to Indy to replace Hart. He is 2-0 with a 1.78 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 16 strikeouts, and three walks over four starts lasting 25-1/3 innings so far this season; last year, he was 7-8 with a 4.76 ERA in 27 starts.