The Bad News Bucs

Even without the help of Jason Bay, the Pirates turned in a commendable effort. Chris Duffy crossed the plate twice, with Xavier Nady and Freddy Sanchez providing the RBIs. Jeromy Burnitz and Jose Castillo each had a solo homer. Burnitz's bounced off the inside of the foul pole, the only thing between it and the river. Castillo's came a pitch after he took one of his familiar gigantic hacks at an unhittable ball, twisting himself into what looked like a painful position. Miraculously, he got up and launched the next one into the stands in right. Victor Santos did his usual, walking the bases loaded and then working hard to get out of the inning alive. Santos escaped with only 2 ER, with help from good defense. Sanchez continues to work at third, and Duffy is extremely solid in center. Nady had an unassisted double play as well, catching a quick line drive and stepping on the bag to get the runner. Salomon Torres, John Grabow, Matt Capps and Mike Gonzalez all contributed flawless innings of relief to shut down the Brewers.

WHYGAVS has some good links up today. My favorite is this article by the Post-Gazette's Stats Geek, who takes a look at Freddy Sanchez's defensive numbers. It's a good companion article to the one I posted yesterday. You may be (pleasantly) surprised to find that not only is Freddy an excellent hitter, but also currently the best fielding third baseman in the league.