The Pirates fell to the Cardinals 3-2 tonight when they were unable to hold a late lead. Salomon Torres blew his first save of the season and a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning gave the Cardinals the win.
I only saw the last inning of this game due to opening day for my softball team, so I will only comment on that final inning. From what the broadcast booth was saying after the game, this was a pretty sloppy game throughout for the Bucs. But there was enough garbage in just the 12th inning to put a short, negative post together.
Jason Bay's throw to the plate in the 12th inning was in time, and Ronny Paulino needs to make that tag. But this could have been a much easier out. In three plus years, I have not once seen Bay use a crow-hop when making a throw. He is flat-footed everytime, and rarely gets any power behind him. There is no reason he should throw a two-hopper to the plate from that distance. Maybe if someone would take a second and show Bay how to throw, pop-ups would not turn into sacrifice flies.
In the bottom of the inning, Chris Duffy led off with a walk. Trailing by one run with two right-handed contact hitters due up, this was a perfect time for a stolen base. Molina is tough to run on, and maybe hindsight is 20/20. But having Duffy in scoring position was the goal, and wasting an out trying to sacrifice is not the answer. If you're not going to run in that situation, why is Duffy even batting leadoff?
Now for our new daily segment entitled "Beat the Dead Horse." Why is John Wasdin pitching in the 12th inning of a tie game?? I will add one question mark at the end of that question each time I am forced to ask it.
Maybe it's better that I only caught one inning of this game. Tom Gorzelanny's strong start was wasted, much like Ian Snell's one day earlier. Tomorrow brings a 12:35 radio only game, as the Pirates try to avoid being swept by the Cardinals. Also, the Penguins begin their playoff run at 7:00 PM. It should be a nice full day.
No comments:
Post a Comment