I always take a strange amount of pleasure in seeing the Pirates go up to the plate and wait out a pitcher that can’t throw strikes. It’s like it gives me an extra boost of hope that someone in Pittsburgh knows what they’re doing with their bats — even more so than when they go up there and tee off on a guy that doesn’t have.
So the Bucs drew six walks against the almost always-wild Doug Davis and they turned that and the Cubs’ ridiculously terrible defense into four runs. That turned out to be enough, as Kevin Correia continued getting a ton of ground balls, Jose Veras worked out of the only jam that Corriea got into, and Joel Hanrahan slammed the door emphatically shut with three straight strikeouts after Joe Beimel started the ninth with a walk and a homer.
In short, the Pirates hadn’t been playing well, but the Cubs left the door wide-freaking-open for them this afternoon, and so the Pirates walked on through and got a win. I really like it when that happens.
