Game 98: Padres 6 Pirates 3 (and Brad Lincoln's demotion)

The whole of this game is overwhelmed by the post-game news that Brendan Donnelly is being released and Brad Lincoln is being demoted back down to Triple-A. It's true that Lincoln's struggled quite a bit since being called up, but it wasn't hard to see that that was a possibility. This is what I wrote before his first start: He's most likely headed towards a career as a #3 starter, but if he can maintain his velocity a little closer to the mid-90s (he's capable of getting there but will probably sit in the lower 90s) and develop his changeup a bit, he could be a #2-type guy thanks to his curveball. He's not there yet, though. In Triple-A, he's struggled with lefties and gives up a lot of flyballs that might be homers his first couple times through the National League. Since he's come up, Lincoln's given up nine homers in 50 2/3 innings (that includes seven in his last four starts) with six coming against lefties. Which is to say that h...