Thirsty Thursdays

We are live in Colorado, watching the Pirates and Rockies on Directv channel 728-1, which is the FSN Pittsburgh HD Feed. Ubaldo Jimenez is on the mound for the Rockies, who are on the fast track to no where, and he is taking on the red-hot Paul Maholm, so without further ado....

9:09 Pm- Ryan Doumit gets the first hit of the ball game, a single to center with two outs. Jason Bay is at the dish, which means that he hasn't been traded yet. It's great that Pittsburgh is near .500, but is it worth getting to .500 if it means not trading guys like Bay and Nady when they are at peak value? I think not. Bay bloops a single to right-center and the Bucs are in business with runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs. Adam LaRoche steps in at .251. He strikes out and we are still scoreless in the first. BTW after LaRoche struck out, they went to commercial and the first commercial was for LaRoche College. Interesting....

9:15 pm- Willie Tavares leads the majors with 39 steals. Paul Maholm takes the mound with a 3.93 era. The Rockies are still pretty banged up, no Todd Helton or Troy Tulowitzki. Taveras has a .296 OBP, that is sad. Could you imagine if he had an OBP in the .350 range? Jeez. BTW I took the under of 9.5 runs in this game, (for entertainment purposes only of course), we will see shat happens with that. Tavares grounds out to third and that brings up Jeff Baker who grounds out to short to give us two down. Matt Holliday, who also has not yet been traded, now comes up fresh off his home run on Tuesday night. Maholm has a nasty curve tonight, and is throwing his fastball in the 90-92 mph range. He grounds out to third and the Rox are down 1-2-3. Al Oliver bobblehead night in Pittsburgh on Friday July 25th, be there!

9:20 pm- The FSN Pitt keyword is "third". The secret is out. Sorry. Doug Mientkiewicz is in right field tonight for the Bucs. Also Xavier Nady is not in the lineup tonight, but not because he has been traded, because his wife just had a baby. Congrats to him. Another non-descript inning with no runs.

9:30 pm- Jack Wilson handles the first two outs of the inning for the Bucs. Wilson was recently named to baseball's "All-Ugly" team. I am sure his parents are thrilled. Maholm k's Brad Hawpe and the inning is over just like that. BTW, the Keystone light commercial where the guy's cell phone keeps going off to Sir Mix A Lot is high comedy. Chicks don't dig that, for some reason.

9:34 pm- Wilson gets to hit and he, get this, grounds to short! Do you see the irony, where he is a shortstop himself and, oh screw it never mind. Nate McClouth steps in now fresh off a marathon performance in the All-Star game. McClouth singles to left and Freddy Sanchez takes a 96 mph heater off his elbow pad. Good times. The Pirates have something brewing here with 1 out. Doumit swings at the first pitch and flies to right, so now it;s runners on the corners with 2 outs. Great plate patience by Doumit, there. Bay steps in to raise his trade value, err, drive a run in. Jimenez uncorks a wild pitch, scoring McClouth and the Pirates are up 1-0. A walk to Bay brings up the poster boy for ADHD, Adam LaRoche, who proceeds to knock in both runners with a double and the Bucs are up 3-0. Jimenez walks Doug E Fresh on 4 pitches, which has never happened ever in the history if time, and Jose Bautista has a chance to plate a couple of more. The under looks like it is in trouble. Bautista fails and the inning is mercifully over.

9:53 pm- Maholm is 4-0 with a 3.03 era in his last 9 starts. Impressive, imagine if Ian Snell and Gorzellany hadn't sucked this year. The announcers are killing me, so let's go to Cincy...

10:01 pm- Schoenweis is in for the Mets, the bases are loaded with 2 outs for the Reds and Javier Valentin knocks a 3 run double into right-center field and the Mets are down 8-6. Oh and more good news for the Mets, Orlando Hernandez left his rehab start after one inning, and all this happens the same day the Phils snag Blanton from Oakland. Good times.

10:07 pm- David Weathers is in for the Reds, which means no lead is safe. Delgado and Fernando Tatis each have home runs. Weathers gives up a hit to Damion Easley, and the Mets have a rally going with the red hot Delgado at the plate. Delgado fans to set-up for Tatis. El Duque left his rehab start with a foot issue after covering first, btw. Tatis has a whopping OBP of .331 and is hitting .301. Good lord. Of course as soon as I say that Tatis draws a walk. Typical. Weathers proceeds to K former Expo Brian Schneider and now he will attack Nick Evans. He gets the young one to ground out to short and the Red hold serve, 8-6 mid 8th.

10:22 pm- Ken Griffey, Jr batting against Duaner Sanchez with one out in the 8th. Sanchez has the dirty cap bill thing going, and the Mets have a shift on against Griffey. Two meaningless things I thought I would mention. Tatis mis-plays a line drive to right and Griffey is on with a double. The Reds do nothing the rest of the inning and it's 8-6 Reds in the top of the 9th.

10:30 pm- Jose Reyes is up and he s 0-4 so far. I wonder what he did during the break? Whatever he did he shouldn't do it again, because he is now 0-5 after striking out here in the 9th. The Mets next Reyes, Argenis, is up now facing Mr Francisco Cordero, and he lines a single to center with David Wright coming up. Wright goes yard to the opposite field and the game is tied at 8. Yuck. In St Louis the Padres get back-to back doubles and trim the lead to 4-3. Bud Black decided to not sacrifice the possible tying run to third for some reason, and now there are two outs, a runner on third and Luis Rodriguez up for the Pads. Ryan Franklin is making this interesting. Conference at the mound, flip back to the Mets/Reds, and the Mets have runners on the corners with 1 out and Delgado up. Back to the STL and Rodriguez grounds out to second and the Cards hangs on 4-3. Back to Cincy, Delgado knocks a single to left to give the Mets the lead. All Phillies fans please send hate mail to Francisco Cordero (nothing threatening) C/O the Cincinnati Reds (you get the idea). Mets 6 straight hits and 4 runs in the 9th and they now have a 10-8 lead. Yick.

10:49 pm- Billy Wagner is on his way for the Mets. Mets fan hope his outing tonight is better than his outing on Tuesday night, when he cost the NL the All-Star game and home-field. How funny would it be if the Mets made the World Series and it was their closer that cost them home-field? Actually that would be awful because it would mean that Philly didn't make it, so never mind. Edwin Encarnacion goes after the first pitch and pops to short. Great discipline right there. Joey Votto is up now, and if the Mets win, they tie the Phils for first. Shoot me. Votto with a weak chopper to third and the Mets are one out away from first place and their 10th straight victory. David Ross bunts, but he is slower than death and the Mets win. Grrrrr.....

10:54 pm- Back to Colorado, where the Rox lead 5-3 in the bottom of the 7th. The 9.5 run total is hanging on by a thread at this point. Chris Ianetta has done most of the damage for Colorado, with a homer and 3 rbi's. No wonder Yorvit Torrealba wants out, he is never going to play. Matt Holliday is up with a runner on first. Can someone tell me why Holliday has only 14 home runs? He grounds into a fielders choice and the Rockies are down to end the 7th.

11:02 pm- The Rockies tv booth has a really cool Rockies neon sign on the wall. Way better than Wally the Green Monster. Taylor Buchholz is in for the Rockies, with his ERA of 1.83. He is unrelated to Clay, by the way. Buchholz gives up a walk, but gets out of the inning unscathed. 6 more outs, no more runs!

11:18 pm- Interesting stat, the Pirates have the second highest road ERA in history right now, at 6.49. Only 1996 Tigers at 6.55 are higher at this point. My goodness. It looks like it is about to get higher, as the Rockies have 2 on and no one out here in the 8th. Not good for the under, this may be the first time I get to rant about a lost bet (entertainment-wise, of course) during a live blog. BTW, home plate umpire Bill Hohn has the greatest 'stache ever. The bases are now loaded with 2 outs and Seth Smith up to pich-hit. Sean Burnett is in the game for Pitt, and he is saved by a great play from Freddie Sanchez. Trade target Brian Fuentes is on to close it out after the break, 5-3 Rox.

11:36 pm- Fuentes is in, and I am sure there are at least 12 scouts in the stands from other teams checking him out. Hohn has quite a wide zone tonight, and that's not a bad thing for me at this point, as we have one down on a strike out of Chris Gomez. Another wide K and Jose Bautista is gone, 2 outs and the total is still at 8 runs. Jason Michaels is all that stands between me and a winning wager, errr, ummm, I mean bragging rights. Yeah, that's it. Fuentes gets Michaels swinging and that's it. Nice to have baseball back. Quick-hitters will be up in the morning, and I am sure we will have something else tomorrow, as well.