Oh man, now THAT was sweet knocking the Brewers down yet another notch. And funny thing about it, Burres was very hittable but they couldn’t do anything with him. They are really flat and pressing way too much. Macha needs to get them to regroup (well, after they leave town, that is).
Pearce had a good game as you might expect against the softer tossing Wolfe. In the second he doubled down the third base line after Doumit walked, Doumit then scored on LaRoche’s grounder to deep short with Pearce running right past Escobar (bizarre, huh? he got away with it too) on the play, and then Pearce scored on Cedeno’s sac fly. It was 2-0 Bucs after two.
The Brewers came back to tie the game in the fourth when Escobar lined a single to right, Braun lined one off the top of the left field wall – inches from a home run – for a double scoring Escobar, and then Fielder poked one into left scoring Braun.
The Pirates would have nothing to do with a tie – LaRoche singled with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Cedeno singled right behind him, and then Burres singled scoring LaRoche but they threw back behind Cedeno and got him in a run down and the third out. Bucs up 3-2.
The game stayed that way until the sixth when McGehee crushed a leadoff home run over the left center field wall tying the game.
Carrasco came in to pitch the 7th and Escobar hit a lite line drive to left for a single which Milledge left his feet for instead of playing it safe as a single. Luckily, Milledge was able to keep the ball from getting past him or Escobar would have had at least a triple, if not more. Braun then popped out, Fielder struck out, and then the wildest play of the game unfolded.
With McGehee at the plate and Escobar still at first, Carrasco threw a high pitch to Doumit’s glove side and he stabbed for it. The ball went off the glove and rolled to the wall and Escobar was standing at second by the time Doumit recovered it. However, Escobar didn’t stop at the bag, he rounded the bag and started creeping toward third as Doumit walked back toward the plate with the ball and Escobar sensed Doumit’s inattention and he took off and stole third. Inexcusable, lazy play by Doumit. McGehee then shot one into left scoring Escobar and putting them up 4-3. After Cassaco loaded the bases on two walks, Lopez came in and struck out Gerut to end the threat.
But the battling Bucs came right back in the bottom of the frame. Milledge singled up the middle, Crosby laid down a sac bunt (not sure why, but there you go) moving Milledge to second, Cutch walked, and Jones hit a seeing eye grounder past Weeks at second scoring Milledge. Cutch went to third on the play. Doumit then hit a little nubber into center to score Cutch and Macha came out and got Wolfe. In came Todd Coffey with men at first and second and Pearce shot a ground ball past McGehee at third allowing Jones to score and putting the Bucs up 6-4.
In the 9th with Dotel on the mound, Braun bunt for a base hit with LaRoche playing behind the bag and then Fielder came up and the Pirates put on their shift with LaRoche playing close to short and three infielders playing on the right side. Fielder struckout with Braun off on the pitch and Braun was safe at second having stole the bag. But for some reason – down two in the 9th with one out – Braun took off toward third thinking he could out run LaRoche and he was tagged out and that basically killed any chance the Brewers had of coming back in the game.
Now which play was worse – Doumit allowing Escobar to go first to third on a stolen base when he held the ball and was looking toward the infield when Escobar went second to third? Or Braun wandering off second down two in the 9th and being tagged out?
Talk about bad baseball all around.
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With Donnelly coming off the DL Thursday and the Pirates having to clear a roster spot, I assume we’ll see Burres head to Indy. Kudos to him for the fine work he’s provided but he really has gotten away with murder so far.
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Doumit’s error in the 7th allowing Escobar to take third cost us the lead and could have given us a third loss attributed solely to his defense. That’s ugly.
Also, someone e-mailed me Dejan’s article breaking down Doumit’s allowed stolen bases which seemingly tried to explain that he wasn’t really doing as bad a job as the numbers indicate. Well folks, I’m here to tell you Doumit is as bad as his numbers indicate and then some, on my card. One time he hitches, the next time he throws wildly, the next time he gets up slow out of his squat, the next time he is slow in his mitt to hand exchange, and once in a while, he’ll put it all together and throw the ball to the bag and get a runner or make it close. But that’s not very often.
There’s no question the Pirates as an organization fail to emphasis keeping runners close — it’s absolutely a joke in our minor league system right now. In Pittsburgh it’s a bit better probably only because of Kerrigan’s insistence, but barely.
And as far as Doumit claiming his pop times are 1.9, he’s in fantasy land. He’s consistently over 2 on my card.. consistently.
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I watched the Indy game on MLB.tv today and I came away a few observations.
One, Walker’s footwork and glovework at second are both fringe to below average at second. He’s slow in his glove to hand exchange in double plays, sloppy in his footwork (one time he was ‘in the vicinity’ and off the bag but got the out call), and he’s slow anticipating and reacting to ground balls hit toward him. He has a way to go before he can be anointed the next Pirates second baseman.
Two, Alvarez is really, really thick and his lateral movement at third is well below average. That’s only going to get worse and worse so I’m curious why the Pirates aren’t taking the time to move him to first right now in 3A – dang the value. His approach at the plate in a few at bats was so poor, he was bailing out on soft stuff away flailing at the pitches.
Three, Tabata was caught stealing but I was very impressed by his slide. He didn’t get a good jump and the opposing catcher’s throw wasn’t that strong, but he wrapped his leg around the back of the bag and was easily safe but the umpire was out of position to make the right call. What happened next impressed me – he stood up quickly and hustled to the dugout. The Jose Tabata I knew in Tampa would have gone right to the umpire and raised cain. Very impressive discipline there.
Four, Crotta has had a nice run but he shows the ball way too much to ever be successful at the major league level. How he’s getting away with not being lit up every game is beyond me but I’m sure that’s going to change over time. I didn’t see anything from him to make me think he was a prospect.
Brandon Jones seems to be a poor defender in right and probably why he’s playing 3A ball.
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Dwight Gill posted his weekly article at Bucs Prospects — this week he talked about the Pirates defense.
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Original Story:
http://newbucs.com/2010/05/19/steve-p...
