A great debut is, well, great, but Pirate fans that have been weaned on Zach Duke, Jeff Karstens, and even Charlie Morton refuse to take one start as gospel. That’s the right approach, even though I think McDonald is good enough to rise above all of those relative disappointments. He has to actually go out there and do it, though.
Tonight would be a good step in the right direction. The Padres are a better team than the Rockies and he should have a bit of a longer leash tonight as he slowly gets stretched out after his time in the Dodgers’ bullpen. I think the pitch to watch tonight is his changeup. It was excellent against the Rockies last Thursday, but he seemed almost as surprised as everyone else by how excellent it was. That great change essentially gave him three out pitches against the Rockies, and that was a big part of why he was so good. So can he throw the change that way again?
The Padres counter with Kevin Correia, so maybe the Pirates can give McDonald some run support tonight. First pitch is at 10:05. Clemente/Cangelosi is after the jump.
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.
Andrew McCutchen going Cangelosi is rarely good for the standings. Pedro Alvarez’s Clemente did help things out a bit. Link.
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