Pirates Defeat Cardinals On Garrett Jones' 11th-Inning Homer

i must admit i was a bit nervous when it went to extras with meals behind the plate. But GFJ didnt give him a chance to blow it.

What can you say about GFJ? currently he is our second best hitter. I think he is putting himself into the conversation for another starting/platoon role for next year at 1st base. I really hope he can keep it up.

two wins…..ok i think i get the hint…… /sadface

The catch by Cutch off Pujols is a really a thing of beauty. Pujols reaction is funny too. The Jones bomb is majestic and just hammered. Also in the highlights is a Cutch 3 run HR where NH is being interviewed about the draft and joined mid sentence talking about Bell (unnamed). Here is a link from MLB http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_08_16_slnmlb_pitmlb_1&mode=video#

I turned off the radio after Cutch’s catch (we had house guests). We can hear the Pirates fireworks from my house, so when I didn’t hear anything for awhile, I figured they’d either lost or else were going to another extra innings marathon with Meals behind the plate. Turned out they probably happened in the time it took for me to get from the kitchen radio to the front porch.

Overbay had 3 hits and 3 RBI’s off of Halladay. game winning double. just sayin.

lol

I mean, a gorgeous night, and without the freefall, I’m sure it would’ve been a sellout, but 21k (just under) on a Tuesday’s a good number. Assuming they don’t have another losing streak, I think they’ll be averaging 25k-28k the rest of the way.

DK almost got his wish of someone taking out the Pirates Charities sign

Went down early and got there to catch some of the Cardinals BP. Westbrook was out there in RF and gave me a thumbs up as if to say he would give me a ball….well he didn’t. He eventually moved over to CF to snag some balls. Then the only other bullpen guy I could tell by name was Rhodes. I shouted his name, he pointed at me, got two balls, walked over and was directly underneath where I was (the corner of the RF/Right Center Field…I was up high on the Clemente Wall though) and he tossed them to someone else in the Right Center Field seats….I proceeded to boo him haha.

Then as the Cards were going in, Westbrook was pretty much in the infield, turns around throw a ball up my way (no one else around me and my gf). She was to my left and ball hit the top of the wall next to her, I couldn’t get there in time. He then stopped, threw another than was short by about 3 feet. Finally he threw one that was about 10 rows too deep, and it bounced away….for the effort though, I think I’ll say Westbrook just got a new fan lol.

The Pujols dinger went down the stairwell in my section and the GFJ HR pretty much went right over my head, so I was in the danger zone all night haha! One thing I did notice though was our OF defense. XP was hugging the gap, which was odd because at one point Jones was guarding the line at 1b. You would think with Cutch and XPs speed he would also be guarding the line, but alas, he was not.

Another nice sized crowd, and I think I forgot to mention, 4-0 when I’m at the game! That includes two extra inning games now (Phillies and Cards) as well as the Fort HR night off of Marmol.

(Well, not exactly since that little slice of 1st place was pure heaven… but I think you guys get my point…)

But you know what, outside of our 10 game collapse, our pitching really hasn’t. We hit that rough patch where everyone figured they were going to struggle from here on out, but now it appears the ship has straightened again.

yeah it has regressed. A lot of the regression took place in that 10 day stretch but it started in the beginning of July. At one point all three of Maholm, Karstens and Morton had ERA’s under 3.00 with Karstens and Morton getting down in the 2.40 range. None of them will sniff that now so they have regressed to the point were there DIPS are more closely aligned with their ERA’s. Correia has regressed and then some but seems to be coming back towards his norms. To your point though I think these guys can maintain where they are at now +- .25 points of ERA.

Nojinxnojinxnojinx
(Have to start using that here because EVERY freaking time I say something positive in a non-gamethread post it comes back to bite me).