February 2009
Game 3
Well the Pirates are off to hot start this spring. Today Tom Gorzelanny will try to continue that hot streak. It would be a really good sign if Gorzo could have a nice spring and gain some confidence heading into the season, where he really will have to show that he’s got potential, or else this team might not have as much patience with him. Last year Gorzo had some moments, but was pretty atrocious most of the time, and he was demoted to AAA for most of the season. Now he is back and trying to impress and make the opening day squad. Personally, I like Gorzo, I think he has the stuff to be a solid MLB pitcher, but he just needs to work on his control, he has some maturing to do as well, so I hope we see good things out of him this spring. Sure, he’s never gonna be a #1 starter or an all-star, but I think he can definitely help the team in the next couple years. Anyways, looking at the bucs lineup for today, there are a lot of familiar names. Let’s lay it out.
9th Inning Magic
Well the Pirates played their 2nd spring training game today against the Red Sox, and they frankly did not perform very well through the first 8 innings of the game. Ian Snell started and gave up 2 runs in the first inning (both unearned). The Pirates only collected 5 hits all game long, but they had 2 hits that really counted. The pitching staff did a great job holding the Red Sox, as they shut them out after the first inning. Ohlendorf, Barthmaier, Denny Bautista, Burnett, Yates, and Haigwood combined to pitch 8 scoreless. In the 9th inning, the Pirates scored 3 runs to win the game 3-2. Pedro Alvarez had his first hit as a Pirate that drove in a run en route to the 9th inning comeback win. I’m not exactly sure how it happened in the 9th, because all I can see is a box score and the game wasn’t on the radio, but I’m sure it was an exciting scene (as exciting as a Pirates spring training game can be). So the Pirates have knocked off the last 2 year’s world series winners in a row now, not a bad start to the 2009 campaign. The win is nice and all, and it was good to see some solid outings some of our key bullpen pitchers, but the offense really didn’t do anything until that 9th inning, which isn’t what you want to see. Nyjer Morgan was 0-3, McCutchen went 0-2 with 2 strikeouts, Hinske was 0-2, and Steve Pearce was 0-2 after having a nice game yesterday. It’s great to see Pedro Alvarez get his first hit in that fashion though.
The Beginning
Well it’s day 2 of MLB spring training, and I’m already itching for opening day. Baseball makes the winter months of February and March okay with me. I just bought my subscription to MLB.TV Premium and I couldn’t be more excited. I listened to my hometown Pirates’ beat down on the Phillies yesterday, and now I’m watching the Yankees/Rays game on my mlb.tv, I love this sport. So here goes, my featured game today:
Yankees vs. Rays
We’re in the 5th inning and the Yankees are up 2-0. Jorge Posada has accounted for both of the Yankees runs, he homered in the 3rd and just recently doubled in Xavier Nady in the 5th. Damaso Marte (former Pirate) is now in the game and retires his first batter. The starting pitchers today were Phil Hughes and Doug Davis. Both pitchers looked pretty comfortable out there, especially Davis who struck out Teixeira in his first Yankee at bat, and then in the next inning struck out A-Rod, who homered in his 2nd spring training at bat yesterday. The Rays didn’t have a productive offensive game yesterday, they collected only 4 hits and did not score a run. They have been silent again today, posting only 1 hit through 5 innings. Upton is hurt and hoping to be ready for opening day, so we won’t see much (if anything) from him this spring, and Crawford was pulled after his first at bat yesterday, and of course it’s only the 2nd day of the spring training, so clearly there’s nothing to look into here. There’s really not much use analyzing games in February, but I have missed baseball so very much that I just want to do it anyway.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the league right now:
The Nationals are up 2-1 on the Tigers, I see that Joel Zumaya is on the bump, I wonder if he’s hit 100 yet.
Houston is putting a licking on the Braves, up 7-2. David Ross hit a homerun for them.
The Reds are trailing 4-0 against the Twins, Buscher went deep for the Twinners.
After an early dead spot yesterday against Boston College, the Red Sox jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on the buccos, and no one has scored since the first.
St. Louis jumped out to an early lead but Baltimore countered with a 4 run inning followed by a 3 run inning and is now leading 7-2.
Toronto and Philadelphia are all tied up.
Florida and New York (Mets) are doing battle, but the Marlins haven’t showed up. Jose Reyes went yard and the Mets are up 6-0.
That’s all for now.
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