I’m going to be upfront here: I’ve always been a Charlie Morton fan. I like Morton because I like the thought process that lead to the trade for him. With Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata in the minors, the Pirates didn’t need Nate McLouth. Because he was a good potential for regression, they traded him for Morton, a pitcher that was at the time a fair approximation of his value, plus two decent prospects. I like Morton because I always like Pirate pitchers that have talent and potential, even if they might never put everything together (seriously, check the old site for all of the things I wrote about Kip Wells and Oliver Perez, or search any of my archives for posts about Ian Snell). Mostly, I like Morton because I’m a Pirate fan and because I know that if the team has any shot to be decent in 2011, Charlie Morton being a good pitcher is pretty much a prerequisite.
Before tonight’s game started, I asked for this:
[W]hat I’d really like to see is just one Charlie Morton start that helps me (and everyone) remember why we had such high hopes for him in 2010. What I’m saying is, I want to see the electric stuff one more time. Just so I know it was even there to begin with.
For the first time this year, Morton actually delivered. The first time through the lineup, he used a very good fastball (it was sitting at about 92-94 and topping out at 96 and given the groundballs he was getting and the fact that he was throwing almost exclusively fastballs for two innings, I assume it was moving pretty nicely) to set the Cardinals up, then the second time through the lineup he started mixing a good curveball in to keep the Cards off balance. He occasionally put runners on, but he never fell apart when it happened. Mostly, he did exactly what I had hoped he’d do back in March and April when I told anyone that would listen that he was a real sleeper this year; he struck some hitters out (five Ks and just one walk in six innings), he got groundballs (eight groundball outs and three flyball outs), and he never really got hit hard all night.
I understand that it’s late in September and the Cardinals have mailed things in and there are call-ups up everywhere and that it’s stupid to read too much into anything that happens at this point in the season in a game between two non-playoff teams, but it’s really nice to see the Pirates young players (tonight Morton, Tabata, Alvarez, and Bowker all stepped up big-time) come through with some nice performances after such an ugly season. The wins and losses and ERAs and batting averages and RBIs might not mean much at this time of year, but if even one player can make some real progress that will make them better in 2011 and beyond, that’s a good thing for the Pirates.
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