Pirates @ Marlins Series Recap

Well things could have been better but they couldn't have gotten much worse. The buccos started off the series on a high note winning 7-4 on friday night. Then it all went down hill.

Friday Night- Charlie Morton pitched his best game as a pirate going 6 innings allowing 1 hit striking out 4. The movement on his pitches was insane. His 2 seam would start on the left outside of the plate and end up right inside off the plate. when his curve was working it had beautiful 12/6 action and just dropped off the plate. His fastball was hitting 93-95 pretty consistently. He started having a little control issues in the 5th and 6th innings as his pitches were moving to much, if there is such a bad thing. If he can ever get it all together he is going to be unbelievable to watch. He is somthing worthing getting excited about and will make the Nate Mclouth trade worth while all by himself.

The pirate lineup got to Chris Volstad early and often, as he only lasted 3 innings. His stats weren't horrible but the small rain delay at the end of the 3rd made his night a short 1. Brandon moss led off pirate scoring in the bottom of the 1st with a solo home run making it his second of the season. Ramon Vazquez hit a 2 run shot scoring Andy Laroche. It was Vazquez's first homerun as a pirate. In the 3rd Moss grounded into a fielders choice scoring Andrew McCutchen. In the 7th Andrew McCutchen doubled to score Jason Jaramillio directly followed by a Jack Wilson Double which scored Delwyn Young and Andrew McCutchen.

Joel Handthemruns came if relief in the 7th and got 2 quick outs, then he imploded and got knocked around. He ended up giving up 3 hits 2 er's walked 1 batter and struck out 2. Its not like he was getting unlucky, he got hit hard all 3 hits.

Grabow pitched a scoreless 8th striking out 1.

Karstens came in the 9th to close it out getting smacked around a little also. he gave up a 2-run shot to John Baker after Cody Ross doubled. He did strike out 2. while walking none. He almost created a save oppertunity for Capps to come in and save his ass.

Saturday Night- Zach duke started and had one of his worst outings of the season. He gave up 8 hits 4 er's 4BB's 5k's in 6 innings. This game wasnt on TV so i couldn't tell if he was just getting blasted by good offense or if he just had an off night. By the sound of the announcers I'm going to go with he had an off night.

Andrew Miller started for the marlins and had pretty good night. The pirates offense couldn't do anything against him early which imo has more to say about the anemic pirates offense more then his skill. He did well until the 5th and 6th innings before he was eventually pulled for relief.
he ended up with 6 inning 8 hits 3 ers 4ks 1BB.

Hanley Ramirez started off the battering but hitting a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 1st.
In the 4th Paulino grounded into a double play but Dan Uggla scored as there was no outs.
Top of the 5th we had a rare Andy Laroche solo HR.
Top of the 6th Delwyn Young singled to score Andrew McCutchen
Duke gave it right back in the bottom of the 6th with a wild pitch but should have been a passed ball by Robinzon Diaz who had a horrible night at and behind the plate.
Top of the 7th Garret Jones hit a solo HR to get it back to a 1 run game
Bot of the 7th Hanley hit into a double play scoring Bonifacio to make it the final score 5-3

Sundays Game- Not much to say about this game so im going to keep it short. Ross Ohlendorf got smacked around giving up 9 hits and 5 er's in 5 innings. His control just wasn't where it normally is and the Marlins made him pay.

Ricky Nolasco just completely dominated the pirates offense. He struck out 12 in 8 innings while only allowing 3 hits and 0 runs. He kept throwing a back foot slider that killed the left handed hitters. Adam Laroche, Ramon Vazquez, and Garrett Jones Struck out 7x between them. Garret Jones had the only hit that actually made it into the outfield. Andrew McCutchen showed off his speed by beating out 2 infield singles.

The pirates defense was just horrible today and didn't help out anyone. They didn't have any errors but they made stupid mental mistakes that cost the team.

The Buccs need to find a way to win the road as they are now 15-28 away from PNC, and it is killing anything they have going for them.They are now 7 games back of 1st place in the division and are now 7.5 games out of the wild card. In the last 8 games are they 2-6 and slowly slipping out of any contention. If it wasn't for the central playing like crap they would be a lot worse off than they already are.

The next 3 games are in Houston and they are an important 3 games. They are 3-6 against Houston so far this year and were swept the last 3 game series they played there. If the team wants to have any glimmer of hope for the 2nd half they need to win these 3 games and not let Houston take an even larger lead over them.