Pirates 6, Dodgers 4

by Charlie on Apr 15, 2008 1:14 AM EDT Comment 16 comments

Dodgers announcer Vin Scully offered a withering (and dead-on) assessment of Zach Duke's performance tonight that may as well describe the whole problem with Duke's career right now:

"You know, it is hard to pitch in the big leagues, but it is especially hard if you don't strike anybody out."

So true. Oh, and the other problem with Duke tonight is that he was left out there too long. He was pretty clearly laboring in the sixth inning, but John Russell left him out there and he allowed two runs. He'd only allowed two before that, but he wasn't pitching well.

But whatever, man! Whatever! Usually, the trick with facing the Dodgers is that you have to get a lead on them early; if you don't, they send Jonathan Broxton and Takashi Saito out there and you don't have much of a chance anymore.

Well, Nate McLouth does not listen to your conventional wisdom! Nate is wisdom! He is Nate the Great! McLouth continued the absurd start to his season by hitting a game-winning, three-run homer.

Nate is Chuck Norris! No, Nate owns Chuck Norris! Nate keeps little Chuck Norrises lined up in his medicine cabinet and his spice rack! Nate uses Chuck Norris' intestines as toothpicks!

0 recs | Comment 16 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

All hail!

DetoNate

by bucdaddy on Apr 15, 2008 1:27 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Russell's hook

Is waaaaay too long. It seems Pirate starters are all hitting the wall in the 5th/6th innings, and Russell is hanging them out there to dry. I realize the bullpen has been worked harder than usual because of all the extra inning games, but c’mon.

by matskralc on Apr 15, 2008 6:35 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Crap...

It looks like I missed out.
But the Pirates won! Again!

Biased Fan
A disillusioned Pirates fan in Utah...

by UtesFan89 on Apr 15, 2008 7:53 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The Duke Has Hurled

I continue to worry about Duke as he fails to strike out anybody and gives up more hits than innings pitched. I just don’t see how he can continue to pitch effectively with these two factors working against him. I look for him to falter very soon and then fall into obscurity. I just don’t think he has major league stuff.

Does anybody else think that we are not fundamentally sound? Duke has enough trouble on his own but then when he balks a runner into scoring position and then Doumit’s PB moves him to third, he ultimately scores on a routine ground out. Add to that Nady’s misplay on Andruuw Jones’ triple and the Dodgers score twice when they shouldn’t have. It just seems that in every game our fundamentals get screwed up and I just don’t think we have enough talent to overcome these problems. Am I wrong?

by Illinois Pirate Fan on Apr 15, 2008 9:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Did you watch any of those things?

The Pirates may not be fundamentally sound, but none of those plays proves it. Balks happen. Doumit’s PB was either a cross up with Duke or a lapse in concentration. Nady’s misplay was a leap at the fence for a towering drive. Not everyone is Nate McLouth. I think all those things point to a lack of elite talent rather than poor fundamentals.

by azibuck on Apr 15, 2008 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fundamentals

It’s easy to write off the examples he cited, but I do think that this team has shown poor fundamentals on many occasons this year. I went to two games last week (Thursday and Sunday), and in those two I saw two dropped balls on SB attempts, a lazy passed ball, and a near-collision on a can of corn when none of the three converging players called it. When you add in stuff from earlier like the Bautista/Bixler bunt fiasco and Bay Day on the opener… it doesn’t necessarily require a specific action, but it certainly doesn’t look good in the aggregate.

by Vlad on Apr 15, 2008 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Dodgers announcer......

Charlie, if you ever refer to VIN SCULLY as “Dodgers announcer” again, I’m sure you will go to baseball hell. Be careful. (I’m assuming you were watching the same MLB telecast I was. If you were listening on the radio, I guess you get a pass and apology.)

by dtoddwin on Apr 15, 2008 11:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Oh, yeah. My leaving the name out was just a typo, as you might have been able to tell from the fact that the sentence didn’t make sense.

(We actually talked about Scully in the game thread.)

by Charlie on Apr 15, 2008 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Scully

I lived in LA for many years, and listened to Scully a lot. As far as I’m concerned, he’s one of the most overrated announcers ever. He sounds good for a little while, but eventually he grows tiresome, mostly because he’s more interested in “the story of the game” than the actual game itself. He ignores the complexities of what’s actually happening on the field for pithy but trite generalizations—he’s smooth, alright, but empty. I realize that the Pirate’s announcers are mostly no good, but Scully, in his empty “professionalism,” almost as bad.

Unlike Nate McClouth, who is really good at what he does.

by brooklynpirate on Apr 15, 2008 12:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Smooth but empty

Nicely played. I completely agree with everything you wrote. It’s minutia, non-stop, with a ballgame in between.

by azibuck on Apr 15, 2008 1:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pirates announcers

I actually think Bob Walk is excellent.

by Charlie on Apr 15, 2008 1:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I am a homer and all

But I think Bob Walk is one of the best announcers in any sport that I watch or listen to (and that’s a lot of sports). I think Lanny is a solid but unspectacular play-by-play guy. The rest I can easily live without. The Pens’ Mike Lange also makes my short list.

by matskralc on Apr 15, 2008 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I like Walk, too.

I’m just glad that Blass isn’t on the broadcast and hope there are no plans to add him. His style is irritating and I don’t find him very insightful. That being said, I will admit to being spoiled having grown up listening to Harry Caray, Jack Buck, and Bob Costas. The only guy worse than Blass is Al Hrabowsky on the Cardinal’s broadcast. This guy sounds like he’s hooked up to a vial of sedatives and makes Lawrence Welk sound exciting. Please tell me that Blass will not be back as an announcer on Fox Sports. Since I live in Illinois I don’t get any news about him.

by Illinois Pirate Fan on Apr 15, 2008 4:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whatever happened to Morgan?

How stupid is it that there was ever a competition for the centerfield job. The question now becomes where is Andrew gonna play when he arrives?

by meandterry on Apr 15, 2008 3:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

CF

If Nate keeps hitting the way he has, he’ll do fine in a corner, and even if he doesn’t he’ll still make good trade bait (to fill one of our other needs).

by Vlad on Apr 15, 2008 3:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I also like Walk, but sometimes he’s dragged down by the others. A number of years ago (5? 6?) he was on an extra inning game—for some reason the other announcer left the booth, and Walk was on his own as the game dragged on to like the 16th inning. He settled into a wonderful groove, really analyzing each pitch as it came. Great stuff!

If Nate can come close to keeping up what he’s doing, I have no problem seeing him in left field.

by brooklynpirate on Apr 15, 2008 4:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs