Good, Bad, Ugly in Grapefruit SS Action; Bring on C.C. Sabathia!

The GOOD:  The Pittsburgh Pirates played 19 innings of baseball yesterday in Florida. 

The Bucs left only one runner in scoring position against the Yankees.

Delwyn Young was involved in turning two more double plays. 

Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, and Brian Friday each gave us hope for the future.  Alvarez had an RBI and two hits including another jaw dropping triple, this one going 410 feet.  Tabata had two hits including a triple while playing CF (where he will play in Indy.)  Friday went deep for his first homer.

Jeff Karstens got four ground ball outs and a strikeout in his two scoreless innings.  Jack Taschner got another strikeout in his scoreless inning of work.

Who leads the team in walks?  You don’t have a clue do you?  Another walk for Neil Walker today brings his team leading total to four = OBP .625

Because these guys don’t even have 30AB yet, let’s analyze something more important.  Didn’t  it felt like it was 75 degrees outside today?  Are we sure we are still in Western PA?   I swore I saw grass on the golf course.

The BAD:    We were in Pennsylvania slaving for the man and didn’t get to see any of the action.  When is opening day again?  

It won’t get easier today, as the Bucs have to travel to play the Yankees again.  On the mound is CC Sabathia, read about him in yesterday’s The Hurt Locker preview of the Bronx Bombers below.

We were railed on for saying the Pirates infield is a weakness by some  talking head with a funny accent on the Fan.  But sure enough, Ronny Cedeno, Bobby Crosby, and Aki Iwamura proved why we were concerned.  At least the Fan is on the scene in Florida this week to see it first hand.  We aren’t.  (Yet)

Brad Lincoln walked three batters.  In two innings.  I’m just not there yet with Lincoln….maybe in  June I will be.

The UGLY:  The Pirates were nearly no-hit against the Yankees in a 6-0 loss, blew a lead and eventually lost to the Rays 4-3 in ten innings, and overall the Pirates scored in only two of those 19 innings. Here is the box score from the Yankees game.  Here is the box score from the Rays game.

The Pirates bats were not able to catch up to Alfredo Aceves who pitched four innings masterfully for the Yankees.  (Chan Ho Park pay attention)  

The Pirates struckout nine times against the Rays.   Matt Garza dominated the Bucs early as he got four of the first five Bucs to strikeout.  Garza allowed three hits in his three innings of work, but no runs.

The Pirates struckout four times against the Yankees-Brandon Moss led the way with two more.

Paul Maholm continued the Freddy Krueger nightmare first inning jinx we were talking about last week  as Paul allowed two runs.   Jeremy Powell pitched the third and fourth innings allowing an unearned run due to some poor Pirate fielding, a hit, and he struck out two Yankees. 

ON THE VERGE: Virgil Vasquez has an ERA slightly above Tony Dorsett’s uniform number after allowing four more hits and two more runs.  

LEFTY LUIS:  Much has been written about Danny Moskos over the years, now it’s mainly his windup.  The left hander has a lot going on with that whole back to the batter thing, Billy was at the game yesterday.  His text:  Not quite sure, but has a left hander EVER had a motion like that? 

Moskos got in on the fun and allowed a run in the ninth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twitter message:  Maholm28

Had an ok day not the best first inning but it’s always good to have some struggles and work out of them. Could have been worse

~~~~~~~~~~

In two innings this spring, C.C. hasn’t allowed a hit.  That is going to change today.   He has allowed two walks.  God, he’s a big man.  In case you missed it, read about what Andrew said from Yanks Go Yard.   You will find his comments in  the Hurt Locker preview below, we didn’t realize how many innings C.C. eats and just how well he eats them.   It’s amazing actually.

The Pirates will also send Brian Burres, D.J. Carrasco, Donnie Veal, and Bryan Morris to the mound against the Yankees.

The Yankees have 24 players on the spring roster who have been born outside of the United States.

Mariano Rivera is the oldest Yankee in camp.  He is 40.

I hate the Yankees.

~~~~~~~

Click here to check out Michael’s pictures from the game today.

Click here for NY Daily News take on the split squad game today at McKechnie.  Did Maholm hit him?

Click here to read about how sharp Garza was against the Bucs.

If you wanna be cool, follow us on Twitter.

~~~~~~~~