As ugly as 2010 has been in stretches for the Pirates, acquiring James McDonald for Octavio Dotel is one heck of a high point. After a couple tough starts, McDonald bounced back with a great start against the Braves, tossing seven shutout innings and holding the NL East leaders to just five hits, matching Tim Hudson zero-for-zero until the Pirate offense finally broke through.
I know I’ve said this a couple of times, but what I particularly like is that checking out his PitchFX and box score (I’m going to go back and watch through a bit of the game right now because I missed it), it looked like he wasn’t quite as sharp as he was in the couple excellent starts he made to begin his Pirate career. He didn’t get a ton of swings and misses or strikeouts and he gave up more flyballs than ground balls, but he still racked up out after out and didn’t get pounded and gave the Pirates a chance to win and that’s actually what they did. It’s a huge relief to see a pitcher that doesn’t have to be on his A-game to make a good start, someone that can get out of the third inning even when the curve isn’t falling off the table and the fastball isn’t hopping.
McDonald isn’t an ace and he probably won’t be, but he’s a talented guy and he could be a damn good pitcher in the near future, and if he is that’s one less thing the Pirates need to worry about.
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