Pirates Please Collect Money to Buy Arroyo a Guitar

The Division stretch is here.

The fans were dying for a crushing of the Reds….

The boys at the top of the lineup were pumped to see Nate McLouth back.

PNC Park was electric.  (We can dream can’t we?)

The top of the lineup was so thrilled to see Nate that Nyjer Morgan and Freddy Sanchez started off the first inning with back to back singles bringing him to the plate with nobody down and Bronson Arroyo promptly got Nate to hit into a double play.

Nate grimaced on way to the dugout.

It was a sign of things to come, as this was as close we would come to touching the plate and touching the lanky righthander who stopped playing guitar so he would be able to pitch better. Hmmm. Interesting.

Arroyo stopped playing guitar at the request of his manager so that he wouldn’t get the guitar player’s version of carpal tunnel.  Hmmm.  I know you want to see it so here it is….

*Enter

The Bucs might want to send him a new Fender as a present.  I am passing the hat.   Send me your contribution, we will get him playing that guitar again. He won’t be able to pass it up…let me look for something cool. You know he learned to play when he was with the Bucs in AA. Nice.

Arroyo allowed four hits, three walks and struck out four as he improved to 4-1 this season.  He is a road warrior, just like recording artists need for success going 4-0 on the road this year. Here is the guitar he will play…check it out. Make History Bronson you melancholy rocker…  I think this could work…

The Pirates pitching staff has allowed the fewest hits in the majors.

Arroyo, wearing a batting helmet, looks like the last kid picked in tee ball.  But his party during spring training was quite good.  You won’t want to miss this from Busted Coverage.  Bronson’s Bikini Party.

Duke 4ks through three innings! Inside outside, nice mix in speeds.

Trouble in sixth. Gave up a smash by Traveras and then left them loaded.

As fans popped their new Bucs umbrellas in the sixth, Morgan went down swinging. Sanchez flew out to the right center spot where the Reds caught several Bucs fly balls and then Nate flew out in front of the track in left about 365 feet for the final out.

The bullpen continues to not get the job done:

John Grabow had his first pitch belted for a homer by Brandon Phillips. The Cincy beat writers can write something good which will make Brandon happy after his recent comments.

Tyler Yates did not look sharp tonight. Again.  Three baserunners.  7.88ERA.

Blame it on the rain.

Another fine start wasted.

22 innings without scoring, huh?  That can’t be right.

Why is Eric Hinske starting?  Who cares about his average against Arroyo.  For real.  Play the kid.   What are we doing?

Listening to Rocco on 104.7 as Ian Snell opened his fan mail he answered a few questions.  He gave credit to his pastor for his maturity.  (Ian you have to let me know how to get on that softball team!) About the pitch count of 131 the other day, “that’s what I get paid to do.  I don’t care about pitch count.”

Pedro Alvarez hit his fifth homer and had his second double of the season.

Announcement.  Predict the Pirates-Brewers series and win an Under Armour shirt. Just like the Buck Commander himself, Adam LaRoche has handed out to Pirates players for batting practice this season.   We are looking for your pick for the series, (pirates sweep), and total runs the bucs score as the first tiebreaker (12), and if we need it, the best post of your prediction (style, funny, etc) will be tiebreaker three.

It’s the UA shirt that the Bucs wear in fact if you watched the game tonight, JR was sporting one for batting practice today as he pitched to Nate.

Put it up in the comment section now.