The Pirates are 4-0 on their trip to Anaheim and Seattle and Felix Hernandez is starting against them today. This would seem like a good opportunity to say, "This has been a pretty successful trip, no matter what happens this afternoon." I'm not going to say that, of course, because I want the Pirates to win as many games as possible and Seattle is not that great of a baseball team no matter who is on the mound. Hernandez got shelled last time out against the Angels, and the Pirates have been on a veritable offensive tear lately, so maybe things are lining up nicely for the Pirates even though they Hernandez twice in the four games they're playing against the Mariners this year.
Jeanmar Gomez will make his return to the Bucs this afternoon (Duke Welker has been demoted to make room for him). His two rehab starts with Indianapolis were pretty excellent and even though I've been lukewarm on Gomez in the rotation all year, I think he's probably a more reliable option than Brandon Cumpton. That's not to rag on Cumpton, who turned in two starts that were about as good as could be expected, just to say that I think the league was going to start figuring him out. Gomez is at least something of a known quantity at this point.
The first pitch this afternoon is at 3:40, which is a weird time for a baseball game when you're on the East Coast.
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