Reds Defeat Pirates, 7-5; Steve Pearce Hurt

by Charlie Wilmoth on May 25, 2010 12:51 AM EDT

Not a great game. Brian Burres was downright Burresy, throwing only 41 of his 79 pitches for strikes and allowing four walks in 3.2 innings, and Steve Pearce twisted his ankle while making a throw and has to have an MRI. The Pirates managed to keep the Reds to seven runs mostly because of an amazing five double plays. (This is amazing mostly from a "look at that big number" standpoint--overall, the infield didn't play well, with Delwyn Young making a throwing error and Akinori Iwamura completely missing a grounder.) Offensively, Ronny Cedeno hit a two-run homer off Aaron Harang in the second, and Young went 3-for-5.

In the minors, Mike Crotta got whacked and Jose Tabata went 3-for-5 as Indianapolis lost 6-5. In Altoona, it was opposite day as Gorkys Hernandez picked up three hits and Tim Alderson pitched seven innings of shutout ball. Oh, and Alex Presley had maybe the best game any Pirate prospect will have all year, with two homers, a triple, a double and eight RBIs. Diego Moreno made his Class AA debut and struck out two batters in an inning.

Brian Leach, Mike Felix and the rest of the Bradenton Marauders were hit hard by Fort Myers, although Calvin Anderson went 3-for-3. And in West Virginia, Nate Baker and two relievers combined to four-hit Lexington in a game that took barely over two hours.

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I'm still trying to figure out where DY was trying to throw that ball to

because it wasn’t to first

Players who should be in the Hall of Fame: Pat TIllman, Dwight White, Donnie Shell, L.C. Greenwood, Ray Guy, Steve Tasker, Greg Llyod, Andy Russel, Cris Carter, Kevin Greene and Jerry Kramer
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by WVPiratesfan on May 25, 2010 12:57 AM EDT reply actions

Since that 5 hit game against the Cubs Garrett Jones is hitting .216/.250/.216 with 8 singles, 1 walk, 1 HBP, 0 extra base hits, 3 RBI, 8 strikeouts, and 2 GIDP.

by ElDuce on May 25, 2010 1:01 AM EDT reply actions

Luckily it was only a week and a half ago. He has hit some balls hard but they aren’t finding the gaps. I’ve been surprised how decent has been. I think he will get a few homers in a short burst pretty soon. He’s a little streaky

by omar moreno on May 25, 2010 1:24 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

SF

usually I am the 1st to say a SF is great but he really needed a big hit there to keep th erally going.

by Rickfansince76 on May 25, 2010 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions

GFJ

I love garret jones and i think he is a good player and a good hitter, but he just isnt a clean up hitter in a major league lineup, he needs too be a 5-6 hitter. His situation like adam laroche was, we kept forcing him into being a important part and the reality was he was a 6 hitter at best. That said, when tabata and alvarez aare here, i can see jones being a nice 5-6 hitter.

age of last winning season: 5

by Bobby Hill on May 25, 2010 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions

Oh and good for alderson

by omar moreno on May 25, 2010 1:24 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

There is just no longer any reason or excuse that can be made to play DY at 3B and Aki at 2B. If LaRoche can’t play, Crosby should be playing 3B ad DY should play 2B, where he at least isn’t a complete and total butcher.

If Walker doesn’t come up now that Pearce has gone down, I officially have no clue as to what Huntington is thinking.

by MarkInDallas on May 25, 2010 2:15 AM EDT reply actions

"DY should play 2B, where he at least isn’t a complete and total butcher"

Sorry, but I can’t agree with this. The only position where Young isn’t a complete and total butcher is RF.

If I never see him play 2B again, I’d be fine with that.

by Vlad on May 25, 2010 9:38 AM EDT up reply actions

maybe the Bucs need to sign another overated 2B from Japan

Kaz matsui is available

by Rickfansince76 on May 25, 2010 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions

I heard that Marcus Giles was available

by WVPiratesfan on May 25, 2010 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions

Diego Moreno and Alex Presley

Probably worth at least mentioning that Diego Moreno made an overdue and highly successful (4 BF, 2 Ks) AA debut and that Alex Presley had EIGHT (8!!) RBIs, breaking the friggin club record. I know there’s nothing much about him before the last 2 months of being too-old-for-AA that said prospect, but his line is now 379/415/582, so, at minimum, good for him.

Wonder if Alderson did anything different or just got lucky on batted balls. Probably at least hitting his spots a little with the 5 K/0 BB line.

Baker’s shutout line is downright weird: only 1 K and 3 walks but 15 groundballs outs. Pitching to contact and getting lucky or overpowering guys but having it come out in the GBs instead of missed bats?

by tobynotjason on May 25, 2010 5:10 AM EDT reply actions

Prospect or not...

…it’s easy to be happy for Presley. He’s put in his time as an org player, so he deserves to have a little taste of success. And a good year like that could be the difference between him having a job next year and not having one.

by Vlad on May 25, 2010 9:41 AM EDT up reply actions

I skimmed through the box pretty quickly and somehow missed Presley’s line. It’s in there now.

by Charlie Wilmoth on May 25, 2010 2:25 PM EDT up reply actions

I was so distracted by Hernandez and Alderson. It was a pretty noteworthy day in Altoona all-around, if you think about it.

by Charlie Wilmoth on May 25, 2010 2:27 PM EDT up reply actions

so they took an error away from Aki and gave Karstens another earned run allowed?

at the end of the season it probably won’t mean much, but Aki’s defense is starting to make Johnny Ray look like Bill Mazeroski.

by gonfalon on May 25, 2010 10:34 AM EDT reply actions

Hey!

I will brook no shit-talking about Johnny Ray. Those are fightin’ words for me.

And why would you use Ray as the gold standard of shitty 2B defense, instead of someone like Meares or fat Castillo, who were both much worse?

by Vlad on May 25, 2010 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions

I'm sorry, no offense on Ray's defense was intended

I recalled someone talking about Johnny Ray having “the range of a statue” at 2B, back in the late ’80s. I did not bother to look up any data to support that recollection, though, so please consider my previous post an ignorant attempt at humor.

by gonfalon on May 25, 2010 11:01 AM EDT up reply actions

Naw, it's all good.

He did lose range as he got older, and was pretty statuesque by his time with the Angels. But for his career as a whole, he was a pretty solid defender – TotalZone has him as a +22 for the total 2B part of his career, for example.

I get a little protective of Ray because:
a) He was my favorite player back when I just first started following baseball.
b) He was one of the only good things about some seriously grim mid-‘80s Pirates teams.
and…
c) Like all Pirates, he kind of got screwed as far as national recognition is concerned. If you put his career next to Steve Sax’s, for example, it’s hard to understand why the one guy won ROY and made five All-Star games, while the other one gets stuck with just one ASG appearance.

by Vlad on May 25, 2010 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions

I loved Johnny Ray...

Thanks for getting his bad. Seemed like he hit .300 every year.

by Slick1 on May 25, 2010 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions

oh god...

i fear pearce going down will be another excuse to get Church more playing time. I’m with Mark, in that, if this isn’t the perfect oppurtunity to bring Walker up, I don’t understand what NH is thinking.
I really like DY’s bat off the bench, but at this point I think we need to release him to remove the constant temptation for JR to play him at infield positions.

by McGreal on May 25, 2010 10:54 AM EDT reply actions