I liked Salomon Torres last year. I’m not liking him so much this year – especially tonight. I could have gone to bed at 10:30pm if he hadn’t blown his 3rd save of the season (out of 9 opportunities) tonight. Instead, when he came into the game in the 9th with a 3-1 lead, he promptly gave up 2 runs to even the game. This led to a 16-inning marathon, which didn’t come to an end until after 11:30pm. Fortunately, Shawn Chacon and John Wasdin turned in outstanding work out of the bullpen. Chacon pitched 4 scoreless innings and Wasdin pitched 2 scoreless innings to keep the Pirates in the game until the Pirates’ offense could do something. After too many 3 up/3 down innings, the Pirates finally got some hits in the bottom of the 16th inning. The rally was capped by Adam LaRoche’s single, driving in Jack Wilson to end the game. The hit lifted LaRoche’s batting average to a lofty .106.
It’s not a good thing that Torres has blown 1/3 of his save opportunities. It’s also not a good thing that LaRoche is only hitting in the .100 range. At the risk of repeating myself, the Adam LaRoche for Mike Gonzalez trade is not looking very good right now. If LaRoche doesn’t turn things around, they’re going to put Brad Eldred at 1st and send LaRoche to AAA. I don’t know what they’re going to do about Torres. Maybe they’ll make him a setup guy and give the closer role to Matt Capps. Hopefully, he’ll get his problems sorted out. However, if he keeps blowing saves, Jim Tracy will have no choice but to shake things up.
[Insert Witty Title Here] 
All I could do in the 9th as Torres started to blow it was say over and over again “ugh I hate baseball season”
As the night progressed I got the idea to head over to the game and be one of the 20 people there. But just as I was putting my shoes and jacket on LaRouch won the game.
I think LaRough will come around and Torres will too (even if he can’t cut it as our closer). All and all I feel VERY good about this team so far.
Yeah, last year on this date the Pirates were 5-18 (that’s .217!). This year, they’re 10-10. Everybody, including myself, hoped that they would be able to continue where they left off at the end of last season and I think that’s happening. For the most part they’re getting good pitching, with starters giving up as few as 1 run (or 0, in the case of Maholm the other night). Their offense still doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence, but they’re getting it done. Once LaRoche finds his stroke, Bay gets hot, and Sanchez gets back into the swing of things, the Pirates’ offense will be formidable. Their defense is excellent, as usual. So, in spite of my gripes, I also feel really good about the team. I hope they can put the hurt on the Reds this weekend and I would love to see them manhandle the Cubs. Every time I think about the Cubs I laugh. They spent so much money and are doing so wretchedly. It’s hilarious.
The thing I REALLY like about this team (and can’t remember seeing since the 90’s) is how often the players mention in interviews that they BELIEVE in this team and BELIEVE this will be a special year. So many seasons I’ve been the one trying to believe these things and it’s so nice to hear it from the people that can make it happen.
Anyway – I thought tonight was a complete game – maybe not enough offense as we’d like but I agree with you that it will become a formidable force in time.
I’m heading to my first game tomorrow night – can’t wait.