Got a Deal for You

I've been watching a lot of the Pirates lately, and they have the one thing we can't seem to find: position players with pop. There's one thing we have that they can't seem to find: decent starting pitching. That seems like a no-brainer. The back end of our rotation for the middle to bottom of the Pirates lineup. It's win-win for both clubs I think.

As for our starting pitching, it's been actually pretty decent, even on the road. The totals for the week.

Cahill (L): 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Ross (L): 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Braden (L): 8 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Sheets (ND): 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K

Gonzalez (L): 4 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Cahill (ND): 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Totals: 34 1/3 IP, 31 H, 17 R, 17 ER, 6 BB, 22 K

Record: 0-4 WHIP: 1.08 K/9 IP: 5.77

The hits are worrisome, but because of the six walks, that's a WHIP of 1.08--pretty impressive. Without Anderson or Duchscherer. I think they should have let Ross go 5. Each of the games they started, one must remember, only got out of hand because Gaudin came in and got pounded, for which he was summarily demoted.

Blevins got rocked on Saturday, but we must remember that warming up for a third of an inning is no different as far as stress on the arm as warming up and going three. If they used him every fourth or fifth day for three they'd get a lot better results than using him every other day for a couple outs.

Still, I think there's actually a lot to be positive about on the starting pitching front, with the exception of Duchscherer yet again going out for the season. Hopefully someone in the organization paid attention to the fact that Ross retired nine batters in a row to start the game, and that the 3-1 fastball that Matsui hit for a home run should have been a 2-2 count (where was that pitch), and that's probably what Ross was thinking about when he hung that slider.