Pitch By Pitch

After seeing two uncharacteristically poor outings from Matt Capps, it’s not entirely surprising to hear that he will miss several games with a bruised bone in his right elbow.

Apparently Capps first felt soreness as he was taking off his shirt after his loss to the Brewers on Monday.

Luckily, no major damage was found. Hopefully this string on injuries ends soon.

On a bright note, Jack Wilson is feeling great. If all goes well, he will play a AAA rehab game on Saturday.

16 consecutive losses to one team? We need to get this monkey off of our back and beat the Brewers. Another glimpse of .500 wouldn’t be bad either.

Jeff Suppan (1-2, 5.88) @ Ian Snell (1-3, 3.72), 7:05 P.M. @ PNC Park

Post-Game Update:

It’s official. We’ve lost to the Brewers 17 consecutive times. They own us. At least we don’t have to see them again until July 20.

Freddy Sanchez got the Pirates started early with a home run in the 1st inning, but it wasn’t enough. Ian Snell didn’t pitch great (probably because he threw 131 pitches in his last outing), but he still managed to leave in the 6th inning with a 3-2 lead (he did walk the first 2 batters in the 6th). Jesse Chavez came into the game in relief, and things got bad. Chavez allowed 3 runs to score, before Sean Burnett came in and closed out the inning. Pirate pitchers gave up 10 walks in the game.

Delwyn Young hit a 2 RBI double in the 8th, but even that wasn’t enough, and the Brewers beat the Bucs 8-5.

You have to wonder if the Pirates will see .500 again this season.

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Within the same 15 minutes last night, I watched the Penguins fall to the Washington Capitals 3-2 to go down 2-0 in their NHL playoff series, and I listened to the Pirates blow an 8th inning and a 9th inning lead to lose their 16th straight game to the Milwaukee Brewers. sigh.

I know it’s unrealistic to expect the Pirates’ team to make a playoff run, and it’s probably even unrealistic to consider a .500 season, but losses like this really sting.

Paul Maholm made a strong start, giving the team a chance to win. He pitched 7 1/3 innings, gave up just six hits, struck out 7, and left with a 3-1 lead. Tyler Yates then got a 2nd out. John Grabow came in to replace Yates, and it was all downhill from there. Yates gave up a single and walk to load the bases, and then f@#$ing Ryan Braun hit a pinch hit double (for Chris Duffy) to tie the game.

Some clutch hitting in the bottom of the 8th by Jason Jaramillo put the Bucs back on top 4-3. Matt Capps came in for the 9th inning and gave up 2 singles and a walk to load the bases. A J.J. Hardy sacrifice fly and a Rickie Weeks home run put the game out of reach.

This is the 2nd consecutive game where Capps has looked bad. After seeing Saturday night’s disaster relief effort against the Reds this showing didn’t surprise me a great deal, but it’s still extremely disappointing.

On the positive side, Nate McLouth had another nice night, going 3-5 with an RBI, and I felt good with Jaramillo’s night.

We should have won this game. I guess the Brewers really do own us. I can’t wait to see what happens tonight.

Come On, Mad Capper, Let's Get it Together

The Pirates are 12-12, but they have a tough road ahead. Their next 10 are against the Brewers, Cardinals, and Mets.

The Brewers put their 15 game winning streak against the Bucs on the line tonight.

It should be a good pitchers’ duel with Yovani Gallardo @ Paul Maholm, 7:05 P.M. at PNC Park.

Ryan Braun will not be playing tonight because he will be having an MRI on his back.

Last week, Jeff Karstens hit Braun in the back with a pitch. Braun thought it was an intentional beaning, and Karstens was fined by MLB for the pitch. Karstens has appealed.

Today, John Russell said, “We haven’t thought about it. Obviously they said a few things about it. Our guy got fined. They hit three guys the next day. So I wouldn’t think there’s anything on their side. We obviously don’t want to make a big issue of it. We just want to go out and play baseball. I would think it should be over.”

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As a Pirate fan, I think you have to be concerned about the direction the team is heading. The injury bug has hit the team, and the month ended with a 3 game sweep to the hands of the Brewers. Still, the Bucs finished April with an 11-10 record, and the starting pitchers are still pitching better than most anybody expected. Let’s hope the Bucs can get back on the winning track and continue to play .500 baseball.

The Pirates begin the month with a home-stand against the Reds and Brewers (ugh).

Tonight: Bronson Arroyo @ Zach Duke, 7:05
Saturday: Micah Owings @ Ross Ohlendorf, 7:05
Sunday: Johnny Cueto @ Jeff Karstens, 1:35

Go Bucs!

The Pirates try to avoid a 3 game losing streak and their 18th consecutive loss at Miller Park.

Ian Snell @ Yovani Gallardo – 1:05 P.M.

Updated: Well, not too much to say about this one. Yovani Gallardo pitched a stellar game for the Brew Crew. He pitched 8 innings, allowed 2 hits, and struck out 11 Pirate batters. Oh yeah, he also hit a solo home run to lead his team to the 1-0 victory.

Ian Snell pitched well, but he probably shouldn’t have stayed in as long as he did. He threw 131 pitches.

The Pirates have now been swept, and they’ve now been defeated 18 consecutive times at Miller Park. The record is 19.

Former Pirate, Chris Duffy contributed a hit for the Brewers today.

From the Minor Leagues, the injury bug is still alive. Jose Tabata will be out 4-6 weeks with a hamstring injury.

The Reds are coming to Pittsburgh for the weekend. I’ll be there on Saturday!

Enjoy the off day! Go Bucs!

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It’s not like the Pirates deserved a 5-1 lead midway through last night’s game, and so it wasn’t entirely surprising when it disappeared. Two runs scored after a Brewer error helped to keep the 3rd inning alive. Two runs came in the 5th on a Jason Jaramillo double immediately after Eric Hinske and Andy LaRoche were hit by pitches.

Paul Maholm didn’t have the same command that he had in his 3 wins this season. He walked 5 batters and gave up 7 hits over his 5.1 innings of work.

Walks have been a problem in the last two games against the Brewers. Pirate pitchers have given up 17 walks in 16 innings (1.06 BB/Inn). Prior to this series, Pirate pitchers had given up 65 walks in 158 innings (0.41 BB/Inn). The Brewers walked just one batter last night.

Another subplot for this series has been the beaned batters. Things started to get ugly in the series opening game on Monday when Jeff Karstens seemingly intentionally hit Ryan Braun (who homered in his first at-bat of the game) to start the 3rd inning. Braun was quite upset by the pitch, and John Hirschbeck warned both benches. Later in the game, Jason Kendall was hit by Jesse Chavez in the 6th and by Evan Meek in the 8th, but no ejections were made. After the game, Ryan Braun had this to say:

Asked if Karstens drilled him intentionally, Braun said, “Probably, yeah. It’s rare for major-league pitchers to miss by that much with a fastball.”

Then, issuing a not-so-wise warning to the commissioner’s office, Braun added, “We play them about 17 more times (actually 13). Tell Mr. Selig, we’ll see what happens. It’s going to be interesting.”

Last night, Brewers’ starter Dave Bush hit three Pirate batters (Freddy Sanchez in the 1st and Eric Hinske and Andy LaRoche in the 5th).

There’s something to keep an eye on in the next 13 Brewers/Pirates matchups.

The Pirates managed 7 hits last night, and they came from an unlikely crew: the RBI double by Jaramillo, Brian Bixler avenged his 4K night by going 2-4, Ramon Vazquez singled in his only at-bat, Eric Hinske had a 2 RBI double, and Brandon Moss and Freddy Sanchez added hits.

If you’re keeping track at home, you can make that 17 consecutive losses at Miller Park for the Buccos. They try to reverse the trend at 1:05 today.

Ryan Braun threatens the Pirates