Pirates 10, Reds 2: Maholm, Doumit Deliver

by Charlie Wilmoth on Apr 11, 2009 4:15 PM EDT

Big game for the Bucs today. Half the damage came off Mike Lincoln late in the game--Lincoln plainly had no idea where the ball was going, and the Bucs took advantage, walking several batters before Ryan Doumit drove them all in with a grand slam. Adam LaRoche then added a solo homer behind him. Nate McLouth also drove in three runs earlier in the game, including two on a first-inning homer off Johnny Cueto.

Other than a meaningless defensive miscue in the ninth, Nyjer Morgan had a good game, tripling and reaching base four times while taking advantage of Ramon Hernandez' inability to throw by stealing two bases. There's a temptation to read too much into Morgan's performance so far this year--after all, before today he was hitting .316/.316/.316 going into the game. But he's fun to watch when he plays like he did today.

Paul Maholm pitched well yet again, allowing only one run, three hits and two walks in seven innings. The only real negative today was yet another poor game by Andy LaRoche, although at least he didn't make any errors this time.

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Not a Bad Opening Week

Lets hope it continues….500 ball is nothing to be ashamed of…

by Mick Kraut on Apr 11, 2009 4:20 PM EDT reply actions

Not at all...

…especially since all the games were on the road.

It’s no secret NyjMo is a streaky player. Let’s just be glad he’s on a hot streak to open the season to offset the slow starts from Adam, Andy and Nate (until today).

Maholm has been lights out and Grabow and Capps have looked good. let’s just hope the rest of the pen starts to shape up. Who would have thought at this time last year that we would be hoping to get Evan Meek back in the pen???

Overall, I’m pleased.

by Brakeman8 on Apr 11, 2009 4:44 PM EDT reply actions

I'm pretty happy with the performance overall so far

Two very sloppy games in St. Louis (but managed to win one of those) and three decent to mediocre games (counting the one-hitter, kept it close despite the inability to get a hit).

Everyone except Andy LaRoche has looked pretty good except for Snell (but evidently he was ill) and no one in the bullpen had imploded as of yet.

About as good a start to the season as I could hope for.

I made most of my life decisions at a Foghat concert... I stand by them.

by Chester J Lampwick on Apr 11, 2009 6:10 PM EDT reply actions

Figures.

I put Doumit on my bench for today on fantasy baseball because pirates.com said russell was giving him the day off, and he goes 3-5 with a frickin grand slam! Arrrgh!

by phil79 on Apr 11, 2009 6:32 PM EDT reply actions

Same here.

I made most of my life decisions at a Foghat concert... I stand by them.

by Chester J Lampwick on Apr 11, 2009 6:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Me too.

by Isotopes on Apr 11, 2009 7:20 PM EDT up reply actions

i did that as well

by PensRock1 on Apr 11, 2009 7:21 PM EDT reply actions

Would have liked to have seen Veal

Or is he one of the guys with the flu?

by Zadoras on Apr 11, 2009 7:40 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah

once Doumit hit the GS I was thinking, “OK time for veal and Hansen to finish it off”

Jason
The Hanging Curve

by poorboywilly on Apr 11, 2009 8:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Veal

Perhaps the coaches want to take a look at Chavez first since it was clear they preferred having Meek with the club instead, but decided against it due to his sickness at the end of spring training?

I agree, though, it was a great situation to get Veal in for some work.

by jeffbwi on Apr 11, 2009 8:23 PM EDT up reply actions

great game today

I was impressed with Maholm today as he looked good

by pretty boy floyd on Apr 11, 2009 8:41 PM EDT reply actions

Great Start

Great road trip to start of the season . It’s only five games, but I was really worried that a rough start would have amplied any potential problems in the first couple months of the season. LaRoche has got to pick it up, but I’m very pleased.

by John Sim on Apr 11, 2009 9:22 PM EDT reply actions

Not to start the Nyjer hate too early

But his “triple” was a ball off Wily Taveras’s glove that was over his head only because he was playing very shallowly.

Morgan still had a pretty good game, though!

by matskralc on Apr 12, 2009 9:27 AM EDT reply actions

Hater!

(I hate the use the term “hater”.)

Nyjer Morgan has spent YEARS setting up the opposition to play shallow, just waiting for the opportunity to strike like this, and you’ve got to criticize it. Sheesh, some people don’t know baseball genius when they see it.

by azibuck on Apr 12, 2009 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Andy L

I didn’t see the game, but it sure sounds like Luigi hit the ball at least decently. 0-5 sounds bad, but with zero K’s, at least one solidly hit ball that went directly to the RF, and 4 pitches per AB, it seems more unlucky than bad.

charity standing orders

by BadMaafala on Apr 12, 2009 10:22 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah

but you’d hope that eventually, the Mario Bros. bad luck would end. And better now than later.

True Blue Jazz
RIP Nick Adenhart. 4/9/09

by UtesFan89 on Apr 13, 2009 10:25 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, and bad luck can mess with a mind that is already in a fragile state. He just needs to have a couple good games, and I think he could settle down a bit.

charity standing orders

by BadMaafala on Apr 13, 2009 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions