Nationals 7, Pirates 6

by Charlie on Jun 10, 2008 10:10 PM EDT Comment 25 comments

This game started swimmingly, with Paul Maholm racking up one- and two-pitch outs against the weak-hitting Nationals. The Bucs grabbed three quick runs in the first inning after an RBI groundout by Freddy Sanchez and a two-run jack by Ryan Doumit. The Bucs even caught quite a break -- Jason Bay was out by a mile on a groundball, but the first base ump called him safe, and he came around to score on the Doumit homer.

In the fifth, Ronnie Belliard hit a solo homer, and Bob Walk made the perfectly innocent and (I thought) astute comment that a pitcher like Maholm shouldn't worry too much about solo homers, because what really hurts are big innings. Sure enough, the Nationals reeled off three solo homers off Maholm in the seventh to tie the score at 4-4.

The Bucs managed to retake the lead, though, on an RBI single by Xavier Nady. They still lost, though, as Matt Capps allowed a two-run homer to Lastings Milledge and blew a save for the first time since September 19 of last year.

The game narrative doesn't really fit this particular story very well, but the game Doumit had was just amazing -- he had two homers and two doubles. That probably won't make him the lead story on Baseball Tonight, but that's two total bases better than hitting for the cycle. The game he had showed why he's such a great fit for PNC, too -- he didn't even get great wood on his first homer. It was just a long fly ball that went into the right field seats. Well, five or six rows into the right field seats, but I'm not sure that ball would have left some ballparks.

Some commenters in the gamethread were complaining about Adam LaRoche, who went 0-for-4 and left three men on base tonight. I've mostly kept my mouth shut about LaRoche, but I may have to join the chorus soon. LaRoche entered this game hitting .221/.299/.364. That's like a bad Jack Wilson season. It's mid-June, and we're waiting and waiting on LaRoche, who now has a career .812 OPS. That's nothing special for a corner infielder, and it's reaching the point where the Pirates' patience with him should be waning. It's not even about his trade value anymore, really; he doesn't have any, and he'd have to go on one heck of a tear for the Pirates to get anything for him by the deadline. It may be Steve Pearce time here pretty soon.

0 recs | Comment 25 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Read More: ryan doumit, adam laroche, matt capps

Comments

Know who else is sucking big time?

Freddy. At least he maybe has an excuse if he’s playing hurt, but his OPS+ coming into the game was 55. Christian Guzman, a terrible ballplayer, is at 77 for his career, for comparison purposes.

by bucdaddy on Jun 10, 2008 10:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Freddy has been awful...

Yet continues to hit at the top of the lineup.

by Hitman Easler on Jun 10, 2008 10:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Argh....

My stupid cable and internet went down until about 2 minutes ago. When it crapped out, we had a 3-0 lead after the 1st. Now that it’s back, we lost 7-6. I guess in retrospect, it’s good I missed the loss, but man, ALL I wanted to do today at work was come home and watch the Pirates.

Damn you Comcast!

.500 or bust...

by phillybucco on Jun 10, 2008 10:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It was gut wrenching...

A game we had in hand against a sorry team….then totally imploded the last 3 innings.

by Hitman Easler on Jun 10, 2008 10:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Switch to Dish

U can do it! (in a Rob Schiender from The Waterboy voice)

by Bad Andy on Jun 10, 2008 11:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Charlie, any thought given

to removing a player or two from your ‘firmly entrenched’ section of the left sidebar on the main page?? Being at AAA, or deserving of going there, isn’t firmly entrenched.

by Thunder on Jun 10, 2008 11:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for the reminder. It’s kind of a pain to update for various reasons that aren’t very interesting. I was going to wait until some draft prospects had signed, but I should probably go through there now.

by Charlie on Jun 12, 2008 12:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And I wouldn't call

Dumatrait ‘on the fringes’ any more.

by Thunder on Jun 10, 2008 11:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Funny you say that...

“It was just a long fly ball that went into the right field seats. Well, five or six rows into the right field seats, but I’m not sure that ball would have left some ballparks. “

I was there, high up and way down the third base line, so I didn’t have the best vantage point on it, but even in person, it didn’t look like anything special.

It is time to call bullshit on the LaRoche myth. He’s better than this, but he’s Kevin Young, basically.

by KPatrick on Jun 11, 2008 12:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Capps

37 pitches over the last two days and Marte was still available tonight.

He’s the team’s best reliever and a work horse but, in hindsight, maybe he should have been given the night off.

by DITO on Jun 11, 2008 12:12 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm not sure

hindsight is required. I understand that it has been well established that relievers’ ERAs are essentially identical to their overall ERA on the second consecutive day they pitch but far worse when working a third consecutive day.

by WestCoastBuc on Jun 11, 2008 9:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Stick a fork in LaRouche...

Because he’s done! Next year is his contract year and Scott Boras is his agent. No doubt Boras will ask for the sky and some idiot will pay it—I just hope it’s not Neil. It’s way past time to trade LaRoche, get whatever the market will bare, and put Pierce in his spot and see what he can do. Irrespective of Pierce’s performance we can no longer wait for LaRoche to produce and this move would accomplish two things: remove LaRoche’s anemic bat and give Pierce a chance to play his natural position. I hope Neil is following this thread.

by Illinois Pirate Fan on Jun 11, 2008 9:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, LaRouche is done.

His political organization never really recovered after his conviction for tax fraud. He didn’t even run for president this year, for the first time in ages and ages.

by Vlad on Jun 11, 2008 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Zing

by bucdaddy on Jun 11, 2008 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He’s still got a pretty strong presence on the campus where I work, though.

by Charlie on Jun 12, 2008 12:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Illinois Pirate Fan

Yeah, I`m sure your buddy Neil is following this thread with great anticipation to find out what he should do with Adam LaRoche.

Dejan Kovacevic commented on LaRoche in his chat the other day. Your idea to trade LaRoche for anything makes no sense whatsoever. Get whatever the market will “bare”? Yeah, the Pirates` side of the ledger in such a trade would be pretty “bare” to be sure.

IPF: You really struggle to understand the concept of timing for trades in the baseball business, don`t you?

By the way, Steve PEARCE has displayed a rather anemic bat for months now. I`m pulling as hard for him to succeed as any Pirates` fan, but I don`t think management is sold on him yet as an everyday player-and they shouldn`t be.

Illinois Pirate Fan: You wouldn`t happen to be our old buddy, Dave Littlefield, would you? It`s O.K. to come out of the closet. We know the Cubs don`t really have much of anything for you to do out there in Illinois. They just gave you a job to thank you for the Ramirez trade and others during your days screwing up our PBC.

by patthatt on Jun 11, 2008 10:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

On the plus side...

...they announced at yesterday’s game that for every home run hit, someone was giving $15k to prostate cancer research. Doumit bagged $30k by himself, and all the Nats’ offense was worth another $60k.

by Vlad on Jun 11, 2008 10:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The Nats hit 5 HRs

so that’s 75K plus Doumit’s 30K = 105K for last night alone

I wonder if the Prostate Center Society personally send a thank you note to the Nationals front office?

by Bad Andy on Jun 11, 2008 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Five?

Must’ve missed one.

by Vlad on Jun 11, 2008 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

LaRoche

I’m certainly no fan of Adam LaBum,but Pearce isn’t exactly tearing it up in AAA either. Maybe Nady to first wouldn’t be a bad move right about now…..

by rissaldar on Jun 11, 2008 11:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Solid point,

but Pearce is starting to hit better and will at least be a little better than black hole.

by DITO on Jun 11, 2008 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Plus, I am assuming

sticking Nady at first means letting Michaels start in RF. I am not a big fan of taking a good 4th outfielder and making him a below-average starting corner outfielder.

Now if you are talking a call-up of Cutch, I might bite.

by DITO on Jun 11, 2008 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It seems like

Michaels has had an awful lot of big hits since coming over and has earned a shot at more playing time. Plus moving Nady to first might be easier on his wheels. It doesn’t have to be permanent if one or the other struggles.

by WestCoastBuc on Jun 13, 2008 9:25 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Michaels vs. RHP, career:

.268/.334/.395, in 1100 PA.

He’s a good bench part, but he’d be overmatched if you tried to use him in an everyday role. The ability to pick-and-choose his situations is part of what’s allowed him to be successful for us this year.

by Vlad on Jun 13, 2008 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You are probably right

but it doesn’t seem like there is a lot of downside since it LaRouche who will be sitting. I suppose it is still possible for him to start hitting like he has in the past but many are losing faith in that possiblity.

by WestCoastBuc on Jun 13, 2008 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs