Andrew McCutchen's Two Homers Lead Bucs To Comeback Win
by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 7, 2011 10:39 PM EDT
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Oh, how things change. After the fireworks in the first inning (homers by Carlos Lee and Matt Downs on the Astros' side, and a solo homer by Andrew McCutchen to make it 4-1), the game settled into a crafty-lefty matchup that I thought had the potential to become the most boring game I'd watched all year, the kind where your brain goes to boring, boring places like the following:
-P- Hey, isn't it weird that ROOT Sports is running a poll about who the Pirates' leader will be in 2012, and two of the four choices (Ryan Doumit and Derrek Lee) aren't even terribly likely to be Pirates in 2012?
-P- I wonder if there's some television producer somewhere who's trying to make herself not call Frank Coonelly right now and remind him that sports are entertainment, and Brian Burres is the opposite of entertainment.
-P- Oh weird, Jason Michaels continues to be in the big leagues for some reason.
-P- Burres is topping out at 87 MPH. That's ... really weak for a major leaguer. But it's, like, twice as hard as I can throw! How cool would it be to throw 87 MPH in one of those ballpark-concourse pitching machines?
-P- This second inning is longer than a murder trial.
Not very interesting, but hey - I watched it, and you probably didn't, judging from the crowd at the ballpark, so you need to experience some of the pain here. It's only fair.
It turned out to be worth it, though. The turning point came at the end of the fourth inning, when Jared Hughes came out to make his major-league debut. He ran out, his tongue dangling semi-obscenely, threw one pitch, got a groundout, and slammed his first into his glove. It was a great moment for a guy who's spent five years slogging through the minors. Good for him. In the dugout, McCutchen, in particular, was visibly pumped up.
Hughes came back out in the fifth and recorded a scoreless inning. He was throwing 92-93 MPH, with good movement.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Pirates finally got to J.A. Happ. Brandon Wood and Alex Presley got on, and then McCutchen socked a three-run homer to left to tie it. The Bucs got through the late innings thanks to some more strong work from Chris Leroux in particular, and then took the lead in the eighth after a series of singles, the last by Jason Jaramillo to bring home pinch-runner Chase D'Arnaud. Joel Hanrahan went 1-2-3 in the ninth. It turned out to be a pretty good game after all.
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Jason Michaels is luck he’s in f***ing baseball for Christ’s sake.
So onto my love rocket, climb, Inside tank of fuel is not fuel, but love.
Veteranosity
means knowing where all the good bars are in every MLB town.
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
by cocktailsfor2 on Sep 7, 2011 11:03 PM EDT up reply actions
I had seats up high in left field tonight. Let me point out that when Lee’s homer hit the bleachers, the clang was so loud and the echo so far-reaching that I heard it on the club level. That’s how few people were at this game.
Anyway, the game was horribly boring. McCutchen being good is the only reason the Pirates won, as has been true pretty often this year.
No jinx no jinx no jinx.
Last night
It was so empty and so quiet that I could hear “Sax Man” playing out on the bridge from section 322. You could also hear every pitch hit the glove as guys warmed up in the bullpen. It was ridiculous.
Every time I walk past Sax Man
and I think of giving him a dollar, the thing that stops me is, I’ve been walking past him for years and seeing people give him money and he NEVER GETS ANY BETTER.
Yet you pay to get in to the game . . . .
You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.
by WTM on Sep 8, 2011 12:58 AM EDT up reply actions 8 recs
Zing!
Pow!
Scorch!
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
by cocktailsfor2 on Sep 8, 2011 10:37 AM EDT up reply actions
Um ...
not very often. I’ve gone mostly on freebies for many years.
But … yeah, I set that one on a tee for you, and you hit it out of the park.
Well played, sir.
I almost feel guity . . . .
You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.
by WTM on Sep 8, 2011 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah...
…and I’m a Chinaman.
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
by cocktailsfor2 on Sep 8, 2011 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions
Gung hay fat choi!
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
by cocktailsfor2 on Sep 8, 2011 8:39 PM EDT up reply actions
or do you mean
you’re a left handed wrist spinner?
How’s your Googly? Can you bowl a flipper?
by BlindSquirrel on Sep 8, 2011 7:43 PM EDT up reply actions
No.
Fair. Yes.
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
by cocktailsfor2 on Sep 8, 2011 8:40 PM EDT up reply actions
(sorry for triple post)
For the record, political correctness (gone mad) has pretty much killed the use of that description. Now they’re called Left-arm Unorthodox Spinner.
per wikipedia: "The name has its origins in a Test match played between the West Indies and England at Old Trafford, Manchester, in the year 1933. Elliss “Puss” Achong, a player of Chinese origin, was a left-arm orthodox spinner, playing for the West Indies at the time. According to folklore, Achong is said to have had Walter Robbins stumped off a surprise delivery that spun into the right-hander from outside the off stump. As he walked back to the pavilion, Robbins said to his teammates “Fancy being done by a bloody Chinaman!”, leading to the popularity of the term in England, and subsequently, in the rest of the world."
by BlindSquirrel on Sep 8, 2011 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions
damn
http://www.google.com/url?url=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DGaoLU6zKaws&rct=j&sa=X&ei=7v9oTtDJMK2lsAKLmcmiDg&ved=0CBoQuAIwAA&q=sexy+sax+man+sergio+flores&usg=AFQjCNEX1jEuKlhqs1CVBfvN1xEO66n8kA
by RetireNutting on Sep 8, 2011 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions
work has blocked videos for me
but is that the one where the guy turns up in retail stores (department stores, food courts) playing a looped version of that Kenny G piece?
by BlindSquirrel on Sep 8, 2011 7:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Yes.
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
by cocktailsfor2 on Sep 8, 2011 8:19 PM EDT up reply actions
I really enjoyed that
"WHITESNAKE! DOKKEN! NIGHT RANGER!" -- Ronny Cedeño
I reckon the rockies lost
because they had all that time twiddling their thumbs while the rsox got on a roll.
by BlindSquirrel on Sep 7, 2011 11:52 PM EDT up reply actions
i do not blame the rockies loss on clint
the red soxs were put together for one more title, its often hard to compete with a 175million payroll, unless your the Yankees.
They were outclassed. They were starting Josh Fogg in that series, IIRC.
by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 8, 2011 12:14 AM EDT up reply actions
Game 3.
2.2 innings pitched, 6 earned runs.
So onto my love rocket, climb, Inside tank of fuel is not fuel, but love.
amazing that josh fogg is part of world series history, isn't it?
a boarder-line 5th starter gets the call to start a world series game, who would have thought?
to be fair
Fogg was a borderline 3-4 for most of his career. Never brilliant, but usually serviceable.
Fogg was an interesting pitcher. He relied almost entirely on getting hitters to chase. The result was that he was better than most pitchers against weak-hitting teams, while good-hitting teams pounded him even more than they did other pitchers. His career ERA against teams that generally had a lot of hitting in those years, like the Astros and Cards, was usually over 6.00. His career ERA against teams that generally didn’t hit well, like the Marlins, Nats and Brewers (most of his games against them were in the pre-Prince days) was under 4.00.
You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.
by WTM on Sep 8, 2011 9:50 AM EDT up reply actions
So it was a great idea to run him out there against Boston in the series.
by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 8, 2011 10:30 AM EDT up reply actions
You guys realize
you’re talking about my hero and the entire basis of the Josh Fogg Theory™ while I’m RIGHT HERE?
Well, it was better than forfeiting.
You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.
by WTM on Sep 8, 2011 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Dragon Slayer
I think that was his nickname that year due to all of the opposing teams aces he beat.
The game was kinda boring and Burress got lit up like a Xmas tree.
But the pirates livened it up with the 3-run homer by Cutch.
Then though they scored that run in the bottom of the 8th inning. They made a huge debacle right after that run scored. With Jaramillo getting tagged out between 1st and 2nd and then Doumit getting tagged out at home. That bothered me the most mostly because had the pirates been down by 2 or 3 runs…they would’ve …again run themselves out of an inning. I supposed if they were down they may have held Doumit. I know you’re supposed to take 2nd on the throw to the plate, but I’m sorry Jaramillo isn’t a speedster. It could’ve been men on 1st and third with one out still.
It felt like that inning was a total mess despite scoring the winning run that’s all i’m saying lol.
It was a debacle, but give some credit to the Jeter-ish hustle by the Astros rightfielder (Bogusevic?)
made the play in shallow right on the single and threw home; then ran to cover 2nd since the 2Bman was by pitcher’s mound to get the relay and SS was in the rundown; then tagged Jaramillo out at 2nd in the rundown (after Jaramillo planked and got by the SS); then threw home to get Doumit.
by Central*Scrutinizer on Sep 8, 2011 3:32 AM EDT up reply actions
Saw Moneyball tonight
Just thought I’d mention it here. Did cause me to miss the whole game, but I guess there wasn’t much to see other than the homers. Caught the highlights, so I’m good.
The movie was pretty good. They definitely took their liberties and tried to Hollywood it up. You can see why DePodesta asked to have his name taken out since the character was only very loosely based on him. They completely ignore the draft, play up the family stuff more than the book did, and go out of their way to make Beane look like even more of a complete maverick type, ignoring some facts along the way.
that's hollywood for ya.
i still would like to see it, i wish they would have made it a little less Disney though.
Looks like DePodesta got his name in the movie somehow, though?
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/demetri_martin/
Thank you Ned Colletti.
Yeah, the DePodesta-based character in the movie (played by Jonah Hill) is named “Peter Brand”. In original versions of the script he was Paul DePodesta, but he wasn’t comfortable with a “fictional character” using his real name. Here’s a big long article on it:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-depodestamoneyball080510
I know he said it didn’t matter that they cast Jonah Hill to play him, but you have to think that he felt an insult there. DePo was a varsity football player at a D1 program (Harvard, admittedly, but still…), and in the movie they decided to make him into a dorky, bumbling lardass.
I bet DePodesta is secure enough in who he is that that wouldn’t bother him too much, honestly.
by Charlie Wilmoth on Sep 8, 2011 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Something I forgot to mention:
Last night, I went to a CLE class with my father before the game in one of the press rooms at the ballpark. It was hosted by Larry Silverman, who’s the general counsel for the Pirates. He had some interesting things to say about the state of the league and some of the Pirates’ arbitration processes. I can’t mention anything too specific, but he did say that the baseball PA has a ton more power than any union out there, and he was a bit baffled by some of the arbitration nonsense the Pirates dealt with last winter.
No jinx no jinx no jinx.
I had planned on going to that
And got sick this week. I was pissed because it seemed like a really cool way to start off the semester.
by KentuckyPirate on Sep 8, 2011 4:37 PM EDT up reply actions
The first even more so. Right center is not a real easy part of PNC to hit the ball out of, even for LH hitters, and Cutch cleared the seats.
You're entitled to your own opinions. You're not entitled to your own facts.
by WTM on Sep 8, 2011 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions
yep.
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
by cocktailsfor2 on Sep 8, 2011 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Minor league season is over for the Pirates
Bradenton lost 4-3 in 10 innings tonight.
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