*** Official Pittsburgh Pirates @ Kansas City Royals Game Thread (7/21) ***

[alnorth]

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
PIT (54-39)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	8	2
KC (56-36)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	X	3	6	1

Jason Vargas left the game with an apparent arm injury in the 2nd inning.



Loss, (13-4) Gerrit Cole 7⅓IP 3R 2ER 0BB 6K
Arquimedes Caminero ⅔IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K

VS.



Jason Vargas 1⅓IP 0R 0ER 1BB 2K
Joe Blanton 3⅔IP 0R 0ER 0BB 5K
Ryan Madson 1IP 0R 0ER 0BB 0K
Kelvin Herrera 1⅔IP 0R 0ER 1BB 2K
Win, (6-1) Wade Davis ⅓IP 0R 0ER 0BB 1K
Save, (21) Greg Holland 1IP 1R 1ER 1BB 2K

Home Runs

PIT

none

KC

none

AL Central

Final: SEA 11, DET 9
Final: CLE 1, MIL 8
Final: STL 8, CWS 5
Final: MIN 0, LAA 7

Starting Lineups

PIT

1. Gregory Polanco, RF
2. Neil Walker, 2B
3. Andrew McCutchen, CF
4. Starling Marte, LF
5. Jung Ho Kang, SS
6. Pedro Alvarez, DH
7. Brent Morel, 3B
7. Travis Ishikawa, ph
8. Chris Stewart, C
9. Sean Rodriguez, 1B

KC

1. Alcides Escobar, SS
2. Mike Moustakas, 3B
3. Lorenzo Cain, CF
4. Eric Hosmer, 1B
5. Kendrys Morales, DH
6. Salvador Perez, C
7. Omar Infante, 2B
8. Alex Rios, RF
9. Jarrod Dyson, LF

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

No matter what you think of Holland - dude always seems to dig back and find that strike out pitch when he really needs it. The 13-inning game being an exception. But I bet Gordon catches that ball that was over Dyson's head.

That's the thing, his last three "struggles" have involved catchable OF flies that went for extra bases -- Rios playing Kiermeier's fly into a triple, Dyson being positioned shallow and Shuck hitting it over his head (I think Gordo would've caught that too) and Cain last night misplaying Kang's fly into a double.

Now, you could argue that Holland at the height of his powers wouldn't have allowed the contact in the first place, so he's been burned by the BABIP lately (especially with two infield grounders last night). But even with a reduced K rate those balls in play could even out the rest of the season and he'll still be effective. Just not as dominant (the walks worry me more).

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

No doubt they would mentally collapse if Davis brought his 0.44 ERA gas can to the mound in the 9th.

yeah, no chance in ****ing with anything if you screwed around with HDH for something other than injury

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

No doubt they would mentally collapse if Davis brought his 0.44 ERA gas can to the mound in the 9th.

Because they were clearly referring to Wade's psyche if he was to be "demoted" to the 9th.

Nothing helps a pitcher that's not on his A game like a vote of no confidence and demoing him when he's done his job 99% of the time.

If you like the steak, don't bitch about the steer.

[Saul Good]

It should be pointed out that Holland got squeezed on one of the pitches when he walked the batter. He had 2 strikeouts, a BS walk, 2 infield hits, and a double that, while well struck, should have been an out.

In the end, he gave up just one run. When you've got a guy who can run into that much bad luck and still limit the damage to a single run, its not time to press the panic button.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by GloryDayz

True Story.... As we crossed over Royal Way (along Lancer Ln), we saw YV driving out. Ugh. He looked dejected.

Well that didn't last long!