The best way to erase the memory of an ugly game is to turn around and play well the next time on the field. Paul Maholm is pitching much better than his 1-4 record thus far in 2011 and it’d be nice to see him get a win under his belt. Hiroki Kuroda goes for the Dodgers, with the first pitch tonight at 7:05.
In roster moves, Jose Ascanio is coming off of the DL today and Mike Crotta is going on in his place. Ascanio wasn’t great on his rehab stints, but supposedly his velocity is back in the mid/upper 90s, which is where it was before his shoulder problems, and that’s a good sign. In any case, he probably can’t be worse than Crotta’s been recently. Crotta apparently has had some elbow trouble recently and had an MRI this morning. Hopefully it’s not a big deal. As for Ascanio, he’s probably got a couple of weeks to prove he deserves a roster spot before Evan Meek and Ross Ohlendorf are ready to pitch again. He won’t get many high leverage situations, but I’d guess the Pirates will find him some work in the near future to get an idea of what they have.
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