Surprise Sunday, eh? First it was Edinson Volquez, with a surprising outing, and the Bucs beating Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals to take the series, then Brock Lesnar ended the Undertaker’s streak at Wrestlemania.
Call me a nerd, I care not. I love wrestling, I love baseball, I love the Pirates, and I love your sister.
This month is a weird one for the Pirates. I don’t recall MLB ever stacking so many divisional games into the first month of the season like this. That makes April baseball quite important for the Pirates. I feel like some of these teams have gotten better (Brewers, Cubs) and will continue to do so during the course of the season. Getting by some divisional teams before they upgrade could be a blessing.
Not that the Pirates won’t upgrade the team towards the middle of the season or anything, but you never really know what these guys are going to do.
The first game of this series will feature a rematch of the previous series. Charlie Morton vs. Edwin Jackson. Two no win pitchers facing off again. Bums.
If you remember correctly this game featured an excessive amount of innings and some clutch hitting from one Tony Sanchez. If you remember Sunday correctly you’ll remember some clutch hitting from Tony Sanchez. If you remember Spring Training correctly you’ll remember some good (you can’t say clutch for ST) hitting from Tony Sanchez.
If you remember roster moves correctly you’ll remember that Chris Stewart (who appears to swing a broomstick at the plate) was slated to make this ballclub over Tony Sanchez. Stewart is starting to work his way back to the bigs. It will be a real shame if Neal Huntington decides to hurt the offense, something this team desperately needs by sending Sanchez down for a defense only guy like Chris Stewart.
Charlie Morton. Good start. Deserved better than a no decision last time out.
It was not meant to be as the old guppies in the shark tank, Mark Melancon and Jason Grilli, combined to blow the lead Morton had.
Morton gave up just four hits in that game, all to lefties. A righty didn’t even reach base against Chaz. You can expect a healthy dose of left-handed batters.
Do you think there is something weird about Edwin Jackson? Why has this guy played for eight different teams in twelve years? Maybe one day #EJaxToTheBucs will happen just by default?
Jackson pitched fine in his first outing too. Not as good as Ground Chuck, but good.
Not much new to cover since last time. Still embarrassing that people begged him to come to the Burgh like a group of drunk ex-girlfriends. I wonder if he laughs about that when he plays the Pirates?
First Pitch: 8:05 PM EST
Where To Watch: Root Sports, MLB.TV, CSN
