After last night’s game, which I mostly missed but saw described in all over the place as “sloppy” and all different kinds of bad, Ian Snell and Sean Marshall get tasked with cleaning up the for the tired bullpens tonight. The Cubs have now dropped eight in a row and will (horror of horrors!) be tied with the Pirates with another loss to the Bucs tonight.
The Pirates will meanwhile hope that their bats stay hot. Freddy Sanchez has raised his average 26 points (from .294 to .320) by collecting eight hits in his last 11 at-bats while Andy LaRoche is now hitting .298 and has his OPS+ up to 110 (which is better than average, if you’re unfamiliar with the stat) with a scorching .447 mark during his ten game hitting streak. The Bucs might not have much power, but they’re certainly finding ways to score.
