Game 56 Recap: Pirates 6, Braves 7 in 15

This game was a good example of how important the McLouth trade was in helping us win games. The obvious one was the solo shot from the leadoff spot but the one that got my attention was the stolen base. Had he not stolen that base he likely wouldn’t have scored on Escobar’s hit and we wouldn’t likely have gone to extras. His power and speed put us in a position to win that we wouldn’t have otherwise been in.

We know we are going to get all-star performances from McCann and Chipper on most days but McLouth really adds that missing link. This is not to say that we need a real RFer but its a huge boost.

Bobby Cox:

I’ve been lucky — we’ve always had good players. We have them again this year. We’re starting to get it rolling."

Brian McCann:

"The character [of the team] is unbelievable," he said. "This has been the funnest team I’ve been on since I’ve been here. The chemistry is great; everybody’s pulling together.

"We’ve got a great mix of veterans and young guys here. There’s been a lot more interaction lately. We’ve played a lot of close games, and we’re winning games that we didn’t win last year."

Thats the type of pitching I’m gonna hope to see from Kris from now on. Makes me REALLY like the bullpen move now.

Was watching Tim Hudson during every shot in the dugout. He’s getting so antsy and anxious to play real ball now, it’s funny to watch him pacing around the dugout tapping people with the bat. And when the game ended, he was the one giving Ross the rib-punches, and Ross almost trying to DDT him or something afterward.

That aside, yesterday’s game is the kind of games I loathe – why is that the Pirates and Astros are always involved in these marathon-type games? Moylan’s apprehension of using both sides of the plate proved his undoing, as his repeated slew of outside pitches led all Pirates hitters to just go the other way. But Moylan aside, pretty much everyone else in the bullpen, as well as Kawakami all pitched pretty good, which is promising to write out.

Poor Kawakami, he’s been pitching really well his last 3 or so starts. He gets the worst run support in the league and finally got some runs tonight. If Chipper didn’t rush that throw in the 7th and planted his feet to get the out, that big inning might never have happened. I had no clue what Chipper was thinking on that play cause he had more time to throw the ball.

Most of the hits off Moylan were pretty lucky hits, I didn’t see anything solid, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

Roller coaster of a game last night and so glad it ended with a victory.

(ut hum…predicted by my positive thinking self I might add)

I think the move of the game by Bobby was taking GA out of left field late in the game. That hit by MaClutchen (sp?) would have certainly been another run GA had been out there. We held him at 3rd for the rest of the inning and that was a key to our being able to keep them from scoring again and allow us to come back to win it.

I’m glad for Bobby and his 2,000th win. In this era of managers changing so often, it’s a milestone not easily reached with 1 team.

Or am I just seeing stuff? Not only does he seem to be making mistakes more often than he usually does, he seems to have a funny stare-off-into-space look when you see him on camera.

Or I could honestly be making all of this up and it would not surprise me!

1. McLouth
2. Esco
3. Chipper
4. Heap
5. Anderson
6. Diaz
7. Norton-1B
8. Kelly
9. Lowe