Results tagged ‘ Brandon Moss ’

Up and Down

Victory! The Pirates looked great tonight, after Ian Snell was done anyway. Snell got roughed up, despite pitching decently well in my opinion, and gave up 3 runs in 2 innings. The Pirates put up 4 in the second to take the lead, and then the rains came. The game was delayed for nearly an hour and a half, and the Pirates came back and played great ball. Sean Burnett pitched 3 innings surrendering one run but pitching well. Evan Meek, Jesse Chavez, John Grabow, and Matt Capps teamed up to finish the game and pitch 4 scoreless innings. The big story of these guys was Matt Capps. As many of you know, Capps blew the game for us last night. The Pirates had a 1-0 lead (should have been a 3 or 4 to nothing lead) in the ninth, and Matt Capps gave up 3 and took the loss. He was anxious to get back out there and get those thoughts out of his head. He did a lot of work earlier today with pitching coach Joe Kerrigan to fix some of his mechanical issues, and it paid off. He came on in the 9th with a 3 run lead and put instant butterflies in my stomach with a 5 pitch walk of the first batter he fixed. However he quickly righted the ship by getting two ground balls to Jack Wilson, the first a double play ball and the second to end the game. The Pirates took the game 7-4 and improved their record to 15-21. More importantly they earn a chance to win the series tomorrow as they send Zach Duke to the hill. Duke has been our most reliable pitcher this year and always pitches great in PNC Park. I’m definitely feeling a win of this series as we head to Washington for a 4 game set with the Nationals. 


Other notable performances tonight were from Delwyn Young and Brandon Moss. They both had 2 hits tonight. Young had the defining hit tonight, as his 2 run single in the 2nd inning put the Pirates on top and swung the momentum in the Pirates favor right before the rain started coming down. He looked good at the plate in 4 of his 5 at bats, and even stole a bag (okay, he was easily out, but it still counts). He’s been a great addition for the Pirates and I stand behind my statement that this guy should see more playing time. I’ll touch on that more in a minute here, but first I’d like to talk about Brandon Moss’s performance. Like I said, he had 2 hits today. He is really getting the good part of the bat on the ball in this homestand. It’s funny how much confidence can do for your game. Before the St. Louis series Moss just looked awful at the plate, and I’m sure he was feeling even worse than he was looking. He has that one big game and now he’s been one of our best hitters in the 4 games following that performance. We’re finally seeing the potential that this guy has been rumored to have now. This is huge for the Pirates. 


This all brings me to one point. The Pirates have 4 guys that get playing time in right field. And I, at one point, have said that all 4 of these guys should get more playing time there. Now that doesn’t make sense, you can’t alternate 4 guys at one position. So I guess now is the time for me to pick whom I want to see in right field and whom should immediately back that person. The problem is these guys have all looked really good this year. It’s a good problem to have. 

So when I’m making this decision, I pretty much immediately rule out Monroe and Hinske. Any mature bucco fan knows to do that. They are good players and can definitely contribute to the offense, but they most likely aren’t going to be with the team next year and they are both past their primes. There is no way either of these guys makes a significant impact past 2009, and the Pirates aren’t playing for 2009 right now. We are a team of the future and everything we do should be trying to strengthen our team 2 to 3 years down the line. So this all brings me to Delwyn Young vs. Brandon Moss. Such a tough call. You all know that I am a huge fan of Andrew McCutchen and would love to see him starting for the buccos today, but that’s just not going to happen. Between Moss and Young I’d probably like to see Moss get more playing time, just because of the power. Young could definitely be an above .300 hitter, but he doesn’t have much power. At most he’ll be a singles and doubles hitter who doesn’t steal many bases, which really doesn’t help us all that much. Brandon Moss might strike out more than average but atleast he has a good chance at hitting 20-30 home runs some day. This is what the Pirates need. We haven’t had a big power bat for a long time. Not saying that Moss can be a Brian Giles this year or even next year, but he definitely has a chance to be that player in the future and I think we owe him a shot. 

So final conclusion, I’d play Moss in right field primarily, and work in Delwyn Young had second once every couple weeks, then throw him into right field against lefties or just to give Moss a spell. I’d use Monroe as the primary pinch hitter against lefties and Hinske the primary against righties. It’s nice to have Hinske too because he can spell the LaRoche brothers at the infield corners. Again, this is a very good problem to have. I love the Pirates.

And I love you. Yes, you.  Have a great day. 

Back On Track… ?

Ah yes, my pre-game feelings were right on. The Pirates finally ended their 8-game losing streak with an impressive 7-1 victory over the Cardinals. I feel like I should make a long post reflecting on this game’s happenings. However, no one really wants to read all that, plus I didn’t even watch the game because I was playing softball. We did win our game, in case you were wondering, we 15-runned our opponent and I made my first web-gem of the year at second base on a screaming grounder up the middle. It felt good. haha. Anyways, let’s get to some Pirates baseball information: 

  1. Zach Duke : 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 5 K, 1 BB – Duke was phenomenal again. He’s really good in PNC Park. Duke did just what we needed him too. The only run he surrendered was a first inning home run to Albert Pujols, which wasn’t even his fault, because it’s Albert Pujols. I honestly don’t even get upset when watching a Pujols bomb, which happens so often against the Pirates. I’ve just accepted that this guy is the best hitter of my lifetime and he’s going to hit a lot of home runs. I’m a big fan of his so whatever he does is fine with me. The important thing is to get everyone else in that lineup out, which Duke did tonight. Of course the early injury to Ryan Ludwick helped Duke’s cause as well. Anyway, great work from Duke getting us off the schneid. 
  2. Brandon Moss : 3/4, 2 R, 2 RBI – Brandon Moss finally looked like a major league hitter. He ripped a single in the second and finally hit his first long ball of the year in the 5th. Let’s just hope this is a boost of confidence and this kind of night becomes a very familiar thing. That would be a huge boost to the team. Also, let me say one thing. After that home run, I got a couple texts from friends saying “look at your boy Moss” or something of that sort. Let me say this, Brandon Moss is NOT my boy. I have stuck up for him all through April just because of his youth and upside, but I’m not going to lie that faith had been wavering him. After one game I’m not going to change my wavering view of him or say that he is ready to break out, because he probably isn’t. One thing I’m not going to do is start bragging about my patience with him and say it paid off, because I was about to give up on him and hey, it’s only one game. This is ridiculous, let’s move on.
  3. Matt Capps : Well Zach Duke couldn’t finish the game and stopped after 8 innings, and that gave the Pirates a chance to see Matt Capps for the first time in over a week. He showed mixed signs. He gave up a hit and 2 walks and actually loaded the bases with nobody out, but then put it together and struck out 2 batters and got a flyout to end the game. His control was off, but he was throwing good pitches that resulted in a lot of swing and misses. The control issues were probably expected because he had been down for a while, and it’s really good to see him getting hitters off balance and vulnerable at the plate. That’s the Capps we need to see for the rest of this year, enough of the wildness and straight fastballs over the heart of the plate. 
Nothing really left to say about this game but RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER. 
Tomorrow is game 2 of this homestand, the Pirates send Ross Ohlendorf to the mound who has been excellent this year. I am a huge supporter of Ross and I love watching him on the mound. He’s been getting a ton of ground balls and really keeping the ball down in the zone. That’s what we need, he’s been going past any expectations any Pirate fan had for him this year. Let’s hope he keeps it up tomorrow as his counterpart is Joel Pineiro. Pineiro has a 3.66 ERA and a record of 4-2. He has been great at times this year, but he is still vulnerable and I think the Pirates can beat him. He actually has gotten progressively worse this season, winning his first four starts and losing his last 2. He’s not a strikeout pitcher, amassing only 13 in his 6 starts. This all looks like good news for the Pirates, let’s hope we can touch him up and really start to get hot as a team so we can run off some wins and get our respectable record back. Now let’s take a quick look into how some of the Pirates have faired in their careers against Pineiro: 
Freddy Sanchez:1/8, 2 BB, .300 OBP, .125 SLG
Nate McLouth: 3/7 – 1 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, .462 OBP, 1.000 SLG
Adam LaRoche : 2/7, 1 RBI, 0 BB
Brandon Moss: 0/1
Jack Wilson: 4/9, 4 singles
So there you have it. Expect a home run from Nate and a couple of singles from Jack. Let’s go ahead and make some predictions:
Ross Ohlendorf: 6.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 K
Nate McLouth, 2/4, 1B, HR, 2 RBI
Nyjer Morgan, 1/3, 2 BB, 2 SB, R
Jack Wilson, 3/4, 3 1B, RBI
Pirates win 6-5
What a long post that was.  Good night baseball fans!

SUCK

Ah, finally, the Pirates are beating the Brewers. Right now the game is in the 8th, so it’s not over yet, and Paul Maholm just got lifted. Paul went 7.1 innings, giving up only 1 run on 6 hits and walking only one, just another great start from Paul. I’m sure that took the bad taste from his last start (in Milwaukee) away. Surprisingly, the Pirates scored 3 runs off of Yovani Gallardo tonight. Two of these runs put a big smile on my face, because they came from the bats of Andy LaRoche and Brandon Moss. Moss tripled in the 2nd to score one, and Andy LaRoche (finally) hit a home run in the 4th to put the Pirates on top 2-1. Nate McLouth then added the 3rd run on a base hit after a Freddy Sanchez double. 

Now Tyler Yates has entered the ball game, he’s just being asked to get 2 outs and strand the inherited runner on second, then Capps will come in and (hopefully) redeem himself for Saturday’s performance and end this game and get us back over .500. Yates really makes me nervous… 
Anyway, in other league-news, Matt LaPorta hit his first home run of his career for the Indians just a couple minutes ago. That guy can rake. He went 0-4 in his debut, but right now is 1-3 with a big 2 run homer. I’m sure Cleveland fans are ecstatic about that. Love me some LaPorta.
Also, my boy Zack Greinke is on the hill today, and so far he is through 3 scoreless, and his team is up 3-0 and threatening. It’s always good to see your fantasy ace getting a lot of run support. 
Let’s just hope Yates can do his job and the Pirates can win this game and end their streak against the much-hated Brewers. Let’s go bucs! 
—edit—
and wouldn’t you know it, the bullpen comes in and wastes no time in blowing the lead and possibly the game. Yates gets one out before Grabow comes on, gives up a single to Fielder, then walks the next batter. Then Ryan Braun comes in (whom I HATE) and bloops a single into right field to score 2 and tie the game. I mean wow, you can’t get any luckier than that. He hits a ball off the end of the bat that hangs in the air forever then drops in in front of the slowest Pirate there is, Brandon Moss. I hate these Brewers SO MUCH. 
–edit–
I am so pissed. Screw the Brewers, screw John Grabow, screw Matt Capps. Way to go bullpen, I hate you. This is a game that we should easily win with a dominant performance from Maholm and enough offense to win the game on a night we didn’t think we’d get it. Screw this. I’m so sick of hearing “you’re not used to seeing this from Capps” from Greg Brown, because I’m starting to actually get used to it. He’s not good, he has never been anything special, they treat him like he’s an elite closer here, but he’s been nothing but awful when the Pirates need him most. Let Evan Meek pitch the 9th for Gods sake I can’t take another loss like this. 
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