One of the things I really dislike about the Pirates recently is that they’re so predictably bad. Before the game started, I hit three points to watch for the game: that Nolasco strikes out a lot of people and doesn’t walk many; that Zach Duke was pitching for the Pirates; and that the Bucs best hope was for Pedro Alvarez to hit a home run. So what happened? Nolasco whiffed nine in six innings with just one walk, Duke got hit hard, and Alvarez recorded 1/3 of the team’s six hits, though he didn’t hit a homer and so the Pirates got shut out.
I didn’t get to watch even one pitch of tonight’s game, but I bet I could recreate it with startling accuracy if seriously pressed to do so. That’s just not a good thing. I think I’ll go write a few hundred words about Ross Ohlendorf’s sneaky-good second half to make myself feel better.
