James McDonald makes his Pirate debut tonight against the Rockies at PNC Park. Given his great minor league track record and nice work out of the Dodgers’ bullpen last year, I’m eager to see how he fares with an extended chance in the Pirates’ bullpen this year. As Charlie pointed out this morning, his velocity is worth keeping an eye on tonight, though the way he spots his fastball with his good curve and change is the most important thing. In any case, I’d certainly rather watch him pitch than Dan McCutchen.
The one problem is that I won’t be watching him pitch at all tonight, because Indianapolis is in Durham this weekend and tonight is the only night I can get to DABP to watch them play. Brad Lincoln is starting for Indy and I’m happy to be able to see him pitch if only because there aren’t a ton of prospects on the Tribe that I’m that excited about right now. I will get to see Ryan Doumit on his rehab assignment and to get a glimpse of Alex Presley. I will, of course, report back with pictures sometime tonight/early this morning.
McDonald’s first pitch is coming at 7:05 tonight with Jeff Francis on the mound for the Rockies. I believe that Chris Resop is in the bullpen, but Chan Ho Park won’t be until Friday. Clemente/Cangelosi is after the jump.
Not sure what this is? Check here and here. Short version: in the comments pick the Pirates you think will be most and least valuable in today’s game. If you haven’t jumped aboard yet, it’s been a lot of fun so far and now’s as good a time as any to join in.
I guess I should do better to linking to the FanGraphs scoreboard so that everyone knows where these numbers come from. Andrew McCutchen’s leadoff homer made him last night’s Clemente, with Pedro Alvarez’s late blast putting him in second. Wil Ledezma’s awful outing garnered him the Cangi, while Jeff Karstens’ bad start put him second.
Today’s standings, in which I stand triumphantly atop a widening gap:
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