Pirates 5, Braves 0; Braves 8, Pirates 1

by Charlie on May 12, 2008 6:37 PM EDT

When you've got a doubleheader and you're starting Zach Duke and John Van Benschoten, you've got to be pretty happy winning just one.

In the first game, the mirage Duke is conjuring just got bigger, as he pitched six scoreless innings despite five walks and only three strikeouts. For the season, he's now pitched 49 innings, with 19 walks and just 16 strikeouts. As usual, he's doing a great job keeping the ball on the ground, and he has only allowed one homer, but 49 innings with just 16 strikeouts is a dog that just won't hunt, particularly with the Pirates' defense (which had four errors in the first game alone). Enjoy it while you can.

Less depressingly, Adam LaRoche added two homers to the .900 May OPS he had going into today. His April was just as putrid as last year's, but at least he seems to be waking up a bit more quickly. And Damaso Marte pitched two scoreless innings, so he's quietly allowed just one run in his last 11.1 innings.

There aren't many nice things to say about the second game, from the lineup (Luis Rivas, Doug Mientkiewicz and Ronny Paulino all started) to the defense (two more errors) to the starting pitching (Van Benschoten is bad, but we already knew that). The Pirates' record in games Paulino starts is 4-10. Just throwing that out there.

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I`ve been pretty hard on Zach Duke,

so I have to give him credit for a few good performances lately, especially this one.　

by patthatt on May 12, 2008 10:46 PM EDT 0 recs

Relief pitching in game 2, and Ronny Ballgame

I was pleasantly surprised by the way Osoria and Yates pitched in the second game. Neither were spectacular by any means, but they prevented the game from getting much worse. Osoria seems to be the defacto long man (Dumatrait’s old role), and he displayed a remarkable efficiency (I think it was 27 pitches thru his first 3 innings, and 45 pitches to 16 batters over 4 innings). When Yates came on, it looked like he was going to let the Braves get into double digit runs, but he got out of his mess by stranding runners at 2nd and 3rd with just one out.

and regarding the Pirates’ 4-10 record in games Ronny Paulino has started—in Paulino’s defense, that includes all 4 of Matt Morris’ losses (Doumit caught Morris’ first start, a no-decision, and Paulino caught his final four) plus JVB’s swan song yesterday. thus, the Pirates’ record in games that Paulino started and the Pirates had a reasonable chance at winning is 4-5. I like Doumit at catcher much more than Paulino, and I know that you were just “throwing that out there,” but I’d like to see a larger sample size.

by humbucker on May 13, 2008 10:50 AM EDT 0 recs

Yeah, just “throwing that out there.” I don’t think it means anything. I mostly threw it out there because people have argued that Doumit stinks in the past because of Paulino’s superior W-L behind the plate.

by Charlie on May 13, 2008 12:12 PM EDT up 0 recs

zach duke

fausto carmona without the low era or the wins.

to give him credit, he’s shown the poise he’d previously been renowned for and gotten out of some tough spots.

by johnnycuff on May 13, 2008 11:20 AM EDT 0 recs

Duke

He has not proven he is going to be a major league starting pitcher for years to come, but he hasn’t disproved it, either. The absolutely horrible K/BB ratio is scary, but he could probably survive around 1:1 if he keeps the ball on the ground consistently.

I am optimistic there is a chance he can work out some control this season and turn in a few lines of six scoreless innings, three strikeouts and say three walks rather than the five.

by DITO on May 13, 2008 3:08 PM EDT 0 recs

Can anyone link me to some historical gb/fb ratios for Duke?

Can’t find that info

by DITO on May 13, 2008 3:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

ESPN.com’s player cards always have them. Just go to the “stats” page.

by Charlie on May 13, 2008 3:22 PM EDT up 0 recs

Thanks

G/F around 2 is okay, but with pitching to so much contact and allowing as many base runners as he has this year, it would probably have to be better to succeed like I suggested above.

For whatever reason, batters aren’t hitting him as hard this year as they have the past two—one home run in 49 innings and just a .403 slg pct against, and that is intriguing. I was thinking that maybe he was being a little more careful with his pitches and hanging out on the corners without delivering a ton of hittable strikes. But that would probably result in a spike in walks and strikeouts, not more walks and less strikeouts.

I don’t know what any of this means, just trying to say that I think he is capable of shaving just a few of those walks, keeping the ball on the ground, avoiding a lot of home runs and extra base hits, and having some success in the future.

And he will probably strike out more hitters than he has so far in 2008, although not too much more.

by DITO on May 13, 2008 3:41 PM EDT up 0 recs

Zack

Let’s ease up a little on Zack. Pitchers of his type have had success in the majors. If he can get a handle on his control he could turn out to be a more than respectable #4 starter. Remember the 8-2 rookie year after which the brilliant crew running the team told him he had to change his delivery – he might get hurt – Hell, he was practically the healthiest pitcher the Pirates had. Maybe, just maybe, he’s starting to get back what he had then. Give the guy a chance.

by meandterry on May 14, 2008 8:45 AM EDT 0 recs