Pittsburgh vs. Colorado, 23 August 2007

by Charlie Wilmoth on Aug 23, 2007 11:29 AM EDT in News

3:05 PM, WPGB

Paul Maholm (9-14. 4.53) vs. Franklin Morales (0-0, 1.69). Morales has been rushed to the majors and, excellent first start aside, isn't really ready, but he should be a good one eventually - he has excellent stuff for a lefty and a very good performance record. This should be an interesting game to watch.

It has been nice to be back in the U.S. and to be able to watch the past couple games. Tuesday's wasn't that interesting - if you'd asked me what to guess the score of a Pirates game pitched by Tony Armas and Shane Youman, I'd probably have guessed nine to two, and that's exactly what happened. But the explosion of power in last night's game was fun to watch. Probably not as fun as watching the Rangers score 30 runs, but still pretty fun. Believe it or not, Nate McLouth is now hitting .256/.328/.471 on the season. .471! He has a .950 OPS in August. I know that .471 slugging percentage is probably a fluke, but when I see him hit a huge homer like the one he had on Tuesday, I want to believe it's real.

-P- Ryan Doumit probably won't be back until mid-September. Zach Duke pitched yesterday in his rehab assignment at rookie-league Bradenton. He didn't allow any runs in 2.7 innings, but he walked two and only struck out one.

-P- The Post-Gazette also reports that the new CEO will "likely" be a baseball person. Heaven help us if the new CEO isn't a baseball person.

-P- Brandon Webb's scoreless innings streak ended last night at 42.

-P- Shocker! Minor league reliever Clayton Hamilton has basically lost a season because the Pirates' medical staff misdiagnosed his injury. (Thanks to Vlad, who caught this first and posted it at Primer.)

-P- In case you haven't seen it already, my pick for the Pirates' "Face of the Franchise" is up.

Tweet Comment 16 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

McLouth

If you're looking for a larger sample size, McLouth is hitting .276/.351/.566/.917 since Duffy's injury provided him with regular playing time.

Matt Wait 'Til Next Year

by WTNY on Aug 23, 2007 12:15 PM EDT reply actions

Power

I think we easily forget that McLouth always had decent extra-base power in the minors -- more of a doubles guy, but his SLG % were always over .400 except one year.

He also was a speedster, swiping 30+ bases just about every year as well.

Let's all hope he's figured some things out; his lefty leadoff bat would solve a lot of problems, especially if he can become a 20/20 type of guy.

I know I'm pulling for him. The organization's always favored Duffy over him and he's making the most of his opportunity.

by OmarMoreno18 on Aug 23, 2007 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions

by Bukanier on Aug 23, 2007 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Carlos Gomez on the draft

Everybody's probably sick of hearing about it, but in his latest article, he tags us with the second-worst pick for Moskos, as well as the second-worst draft overall.

You should still read it, though. It's got a lot of good info.

by Vlad on Aug 23, 2007 2:31 PM EDT reply actions