Sorry for no recap for last night’s game. There’s something inherently cool about being able to see highlights of Pedro Alvarez hitting a game-tying home run on my phone while I’m waiting for a connection in Dulles, but it also gives me a level of detachment about the game that makes it hard to write about. In any case, the Pirates played decent, the young guys got some big hits, and Chan Ho Park gave up the lead. What can you do? Wins are a fungible thing at this pointin this season.
As I’ve mentioned, I’m back in town for Walkoff Walk’s gathering (codename: HEIST) tonight, so if you see a group of people that look like baseball bloggers or someone you think looks like me rocking the Tekulve shirt at the Park, it probably is me. I’ve managed to draw a Ross Ohlendorf start for the second time in two chances this season and all I’m going to say is this: Ohlie’s 0-9 in games in which I haven’t been in attendance and 1-0 in games in which I have been. The Rockies are the team that assaulted his skull with a line drive, so I’m fully expecting him to pay them back in full, Andrew McCutchen style. As always, I’m looking forward to seeing him pitch.
I’m writing this up at 2, so I don’t know what’s going to happen with Ryan Doumit tonight, but I’m not going to be pleased if I flew in for a game in which he starts over Jose Tabata or Andrew McCutchen. Especially since the Rockies are sending lefty Jorge de la Rosa out to the mound. As he was a week ago, he’s the sort of pitcher that gives the Pirates fits; he doesn’t have much control but he does have great stuff to induce a lot of swings and misses. He took a loss against the Bucs last week but pitched very well. Hopefully we can draw some more walks tonight.
First pitch is 7:05, Clemente/Cangelosi is after the jump. And yes, I’m excited.
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.
Here are the FanGraphs links for McDonald’s start and last night’s loss. And today’s scoreboard:
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
