It’s never officially baseball season until the Pirates leave 10 men on base, Ian Snell walks 5 hitters, and something improbably bad happens with the bullpen to allow the Pirates to lose a game that they probably should’ve won. Last night, it all happened with Matt Capps walking two batters in the eleventh inning. When does Matt Capps ever walk two batters in an inning? It’s like the universe is trying to level the Pirates out all by itself or something.
Of couse, Nate McLouth being out with a strained oblique didn’t help things, as Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez combined to go 0-for-10 in the two and three slots in the lineup, leaving a ton of guys on base. I don’t have much else to say about this one since I didn’t see it, but Snell’s five walks are never a good sign. He’s now struckout 15 and walked 14 in 22 innings, giving him a whopping WHIP of 1.73. If he doesn’t do something about his control issues, his 4.50 ERA is about to balloon big-time.
