Saturday, July 3, 2010

7-2-10 Vs. the Phillies

Another win. Another win. Another win. Another win. God I love typing that. If we beat the Phillies again tonight and win four straight, I might just come home and type that over and over and over again.
Once again, PNC Park was rotten with Phillies fans. They are actually surprisingly polite, however. I've had conversations with several, and hockey was never mentioned once.
Ohlendorf had a terrific start; he finally got himself a win, and is also the third starting pitcher in a row to do so.
Despite the loss, Jamie Moyer pitched fantastically. When he eventually passes away (probably at the age of 300 or so), his relatives should donate his body to science. His tendons are stretchy miracles, each one.
He even bunts well! Only one of our starters has gone more than 7 innings this season, and Moyer pitched a full game about a month ago.

Once again, a Pirates starting Pitcher shows the Phillies bats that he isn't afraid to pitch inside. Unlike Daniel McCutchen, however, in this game he actually hit someone.
Garrett Jones fouled a ball off his foot. He then proceeded to crouch over in pain for a few minutes. I like this photo because it seems to have been taken before the nerve endings in his foot sent the pain signals to his brain.
Alvarez got himself a solid gap shot to right field tonight, but still struggles to make contact in most of his appearances. He also incurred an error from fumbling the ball shortly before this pitch to first.
Andrew McCutchen has been in a bit of a slump hitting-wise, but when we can get a win without he or Jones doing too much.
Milledge was about ten feet too far left from hitting his first home run in PNC Park last night. The ball sadly went foul. He took it in good humor, as shown here...
...and here.
Milledge made a truly amazing third-out catch in this game that could have tied the game otherwise.
Alvarez momentarily considers trying for second before wisely doing otherwise.
Alvarez after a strikeout. I have to say that this is the first time I've seen him look clearly-frustrated after an unsuccessful at-bat. It's only a matter of time, Pedro.
It is rather spooky to see Jayson Werth and Ryan Howard's at-bats. They aren't seeing the ball...at all. Howard's at-bats in this series have looked like those of a pitcher. Werth's at-bats look like he's a AAA call-up in his first MLB game. That being said, at any point these guys are going to break out of their slump. Let's just hope it doesn't happen here. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Werth murders an umpire by the end of the weekend.
Bobby Crosby angry at a strikeout.
McCutchen steals second.
The first-base umpire called this an out; my pictures don't definitely prove his call to be right or wrong, but it was definitely very close.
I've never actually seen Garcia himself challenge the umpire.
The umpire wasn't happy about it.
Nor was he happy when McCutchen approached him. McCutchen seems to be surprisingly polite whenever he does this, but just look at this umpire's eyes in the photo below.
He's channelling a bit of Jayson Werth's frustrations here, it would seem.
This here is what you call a leer.
Despite his efforts, this was a successful steal attempt.
Joel Hanrahan had a great game as well; he's shown signs of (relative) shakiness in recent appearances, and it's good to see him back to dominance.


And once again Octavio Dotel got a save; that's 17 out of 20 for the season. Here we see him giving thanks to God after the final out.


I know Dotel is probably getting traded; I'm happy for him because by his own admission he only has about a year left before retirement, and he really deserves to pitch for a team with a shot at the world series this year. Still, I'm gonna miss this guy. How many pitchers go 3-0 to the first batter and then proceed to get the next three guys out?
Maholm once again got silly post-win.
Here we see Maholm pitching the rosin bag at the Pirate Parrot.

Who tries to swing the flag at it like a bat.
Down he goes.
Can't wait to see what this team can do once the general atmosphere improves a bit more.

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