Snap Judgments - It's Safe to Write Again

 
Adam LaRoche "Riverdances" across the plate for a run during the Pirates' three-game sweep of the lowly San Francisco Gigantes.

The Bucs started their streak by laying the beat stick to Los Gigantes de San Francisco during a three-game set May 6-8. It's hard to get excited, as a fan, by the prospects of your team beating up on possibly the worst team in the N.L., but then you remember you're a Pirates fan and you scold yourself for taking precious wins for granted. The Pirates returned home after a rough series in Washington where they lost three of four and pitching coach Jeff Andrews issued a challenge to his starting pitchers. Apparently, the guys got the message and during the six-game winning streak, the starters put up a microscopic ERA of 1.33.


Recently inserted into the rotation, lefty Phil Dumatrait picked up his first career win against the Giants, pitching 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

The Bucs played well in every facet of the game during the sweep of Los Gigantes. I was most pleased with the starting pitching. Zach Duke pitched very well and got a ton of run support in the first game of the series as he earned his first win since June 12 of last year. I couldn't have been happier for Duke and I'm certainly glad the Pirates didn't give up on him after equally rough 2006 and 2007 seasons. I blame former manager Jim Tracy and his pitching coach Jim Colborn for causing Duke's regression from his phenomenal rookie year of 2005. They screwed with the guy's mechanics after an 8-2, 1.81 ERA season. Why? To justify their jobs? Whatever the reason, it's taken Duke this long to get back on track.

 Zach Duke has pitched well this season and has improved a little bit with every start. Duke finally got in the win column for the first time since last June with a victory against the Giants.

Riding a modest three-game winning streak and displaying sustained success in all three phases of the game (pitching, hitting, defense), the Pirates welcomed the Bravos of Atlanta for a four-game, wraparound series at the end of last week. The Bucs jumped out of the gate on Friday night with an exciting 3-2 win behind Ian Snell's solid start and Freddy Sanchez's 9th inning heroics. Sanchez, moved by manager John Russell to the leadoff spot at the start of the homestand, knocked in all three runs, including the game-winner on a chopper up the middle in the final inning. Timely hitting, great starting pitching, solid bullpen work and good managing equals the recipe for success and the Bucs followed that formula to a "t."


Sanchez celebrates with the X-Man and JBay after his game-winning single in the bottom of the 9th during Friday's win over the Braves. Sanchez knocked in all three Pirate runs on the evening.

After the series-opening win, the Pirates took the next contest from Atlanta, a 5-2 victory on Saturday that featured a great start by Tom Gorzelanny and timely hitting by Jason Bay and Ronny Paulino. Sunday's game was rained out, but the Monday doubleheader started off on the right note with a 5-0 blanking of the Braves behind yet another quality start by Zach Duke and more offensive fireworks from Sanchez. But the winning streak was halted in the second game thanks to a wretched start by the now-demoted John Van Benschoten as the Braves won easily, 8-1.

Adam "Boom Boom" LaRoche celebrates his Game 1 homer with Ryan Doumit. LaRoche has been mildly better in May proving that, indeed, he couldn't get any worse.

Two transactions of note...

The Pirates sent Van Benschoten back to Indianapolis and promoted reliever Marino Salas, a 26 year-old righty who came over in the off-season trade that sent Salomon Torres to Milwaukee. Salas will be with the club tonight in St. Louis.

The Buccos also traded for Cleveland outfielder Jason Michaels. The terms of the deal seemed to benefit the Pirates as they gave up nothing but cash and a player to be named later to land Michaels, a 32 year-old veteran and career .277 hitter. Michaels' numbers aren't staggering by any stretch, but by all accounts he is a quality character and a positive presence in the locker room. Michaels made the most of his first start as he went 3/4 with two runs scored in Saturday's 5-2 win over the Braves.

I would be remiss if I DIDN'T mention this...

Nate Mac continues to punish the ball. It's obvious that McLouth's breakout season is no fluke. Counting tonight's dinger against the Cardinals, McLouth now has 10 home runs on the young season. Here are Nate Mac's stats to date:

.305AVG/10HR/31RBI/.997OPS

Those are definitely All-Star caliber numbers and while his average has dropped a bit since being moved to the No. 2 hole in the lineup, Nate Mac continues to be the Pirates' biggest offensive force.

Don't let his boyish looks fool you, Nate Mac will choke the **** out of you!


The Final Thought...

Jack Wilson experienced a setback in his rehab assignment as he tries to recover from the strain calf he suffered during the first Braves series, all the way back on April 3. The Pirates have certainly missed Wilson, especially in the field, and now they're back to Bixler at short. While Bixler has played decently over the past four games, I'm obviously still not sold on him as Wilson's replacement now or our shortstop of the future. It seems as if Wilson is hurt much worse than the Pirates have let on, perhaps trying to keep teams interested in Wilson if a mid-season deal for him is possible. Wilson is finally set to join Altoona for his first round of rehab games. Get well soon, Jack!