We're still here!

As far as we can tell on this glorious, beautiful Sunday, those of us still on this orb, this mortal coil, this third stone from the sun … we missed out on The Rapture.

It didn’t happen, right? Right? Okay, false alarm. We are happy to be here still and will continue to enjoy the little pleasures and blessings life reveals, for as long as we have the privilege.

Moving on to other News Apocalyptic, the Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball club -- the team on the field -- won their fourth straight game and (second of two games in interleague play!) last night before a full house at PNC Park, defeating the Detroit Tigers. Good for the players, manager Clint Hurdle and his coaching staff. All is good.

Except … Off the field, the guys in suits in the Pirates’ organization somehow overshadowed the team’s on-field accomplishments by … what? We’re not sure, but this latest PR controversy/brouhaha/imbroglio/fiasco has to do with placing Pedro Alvarez on the disabled list and promoting minor-league infielder Pedro Ciriaco to the major league club.

No big deal in and of itself. Maybe Alvarez hasn’t been completely healthy all season. Only he and the doctors know for sure. There’s no disputing he has struggled at the plate so far this season. Hopefully, the time off will do him good. He seems like a good guy, and a player with the potential to be a legitimate star. We’re rooting for him.

Now, looking more closely at the roster move, there is the immediate on-field reality of who will play infield, and then there is the off-field, behind-the-scenes machinations of what should have been a simple, straightforward announcement -- which, somehow, as is their wont and seemingly inevitable tendency -- the Pirates mangled. These guys just can’t get out of their own way, it seems.

First, the bigger issue, as Post-Gazette columnist Bob Smizik rightly points out this morning, is the on-field impact:

“The larger story here is that the Pirates had to promote Ciriaco, who almost made the team in spring training but who has been terrible at Indianapolis. He was batting .190 with a .193 on-base percentage and a .255 slugging percentage. In 137 at bats, he had one walk. He also had nine errors.

“The Pirates weren't getting much out of Alvarez, but with him there was at least some hope of getting production out of the position. Now it looks like manager Clint Hurdle will have to go with Brandon Wood, .217 with no homers in 46 at bats, or Steve Pearce, .286 with no homers in 42 at bats, at third base for at least the next two weeks.”

As for the apparently mixed-up announcement of this simple roster move, well, we shall leave it to Jen Langosch of MLB.com. To her credit, in an admirable display of professional risk-taking (let’s hope she keeps her job after this bit of reporting), Ms. Langosch called B.S. on the Pirates by writing this yesterday …

“… there is a difference between not giving out information and giving out false information. It appears the latter happened with Triple-A Indianapolis on Friday, as someone from the organization made up a story to hide the fact that the club believed Alvarez was headed to the DL and that it would be Ciriaco taking Alvarez’s place in Pittsburgh.”

If true -- and it seems to be -- all of this is silly and unnecessary. Unfortunately, it reeks of what appears to be yet another case of truth-shading, obfuscation or outright lying by somebody or some people in management at some level, either in Indianapolis or Pittsburgh, reminiscent of the infamous unannounced contract extensions and other bits of skullduggery and questionable public relations that have become tell-tale trademarks of the Frank Coonelly/Neil Huntington regime. These guys just can’t seem to get out of their own way.

Let’s hope we don’t have to hear any more of this. Betting we will.

At least we're here.

O Joy, O Rapture!

If The Rapture happens today, and the NFL Lockout ends, will anybody notice?

Will anybody notice the end? Of the NFL Lockout, that is, not THE END. Of Days.

At least one studious scholar ("Doctor of Thinkology") in the world of academia actually gets paid for studying people who espouse their apocalyptic belief in The Rapture (also known as "End of Days"), whereby the good and righteous will be swept into heaven and everybody else will be "left behind" for the devil to torture and eventually sweep into hell.

Armed with this Zeitgeist (world view), some True Believers, apparently rapt with eager anticipation of The Rapture, have sold all their possessions.

On the other hand, some people are fatalistically whistling past the proverbial graveyard. One bumper sticker reads, "When The Rapture Comes, Can I Have Your Car?"

Some folks, assuming they will be "left behind," are preparing a Post-Rapture Looting Party.

Then, too, there's "Brimstone Barney's Apocalypse Clearance -- Everyone Must GO! -- Rapture Sale."

A number of people have been preparing for quite a while now, as Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Samantha Bennett described presciently in her excellent 2008 column, titled, "In Case of Rapture, This Column Will be Unaffected."

In any case, it's always best to Be Prepared, which we learned as Boy Scouts. Clean underwear and all that.

Whatever happens, it's always good to have a soundtrack.
Here are a few suggestions from Joey Porter's Pit Bulls for "songs for the end of the world," just for starters (or 'enders,' as the case may be)...

• "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire
• "It's All Right Ma, I'm Only Bleeding" by Bob Dylan
• "Ain't Gettin' Out of This World Alive" by Hank Williams
• "Wooden Ships" by Jefferson Airplane (also by Crosby, Stills & Nash)
• "The End" by The Doors
• "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan
• "New Speedway Boogie" by The Grateful Dead
• "Ball of Confusion" by The Temptations
• "Epitaph" by King Crimson
• "Careful With That Ax, Eugene" by Pink Floyd
• "Is That All There Is" by Peggy Lee
• "This is the End of the World As We Know It" by R.E.M.

We're not sure when The Rapture will happen -- really, who is sure of anything these (end of) days? -- but just wondering:

Will The Rapture occur before the Preakness? If so, are all bets off?

Well, we shall wait and see. And, as always, we will hope for the best.
As the Scarecrow in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz exclaimed, "O Joy, O Rapture!"

And, as a friend added, "At least the Pirates get to go out on an uptick."

So, faithful readers, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls have only to say, "See ya!" ... somewhere ... Hopefully.

We're as ready as ever, which is, uh, no, not really, but that's how it is. That's how we roll. Is that the right way to put it? That didn't sound blasphemous, did it?
On a final (?) note: We'd be remiss not to recall the following story from San Francisco (where else?). It's an oldie but goodie.

Evil seems to befall cab 666 -- driver seeks intervention -- Taxi commission to consider issuing a new medallion

by Steve Rubinstein, San Francisco Chronicle

July 24, 2007 - The San Francisco Taxi Commission is set to decide this evening whether one of the city's cabs is "associated with evil and Satan."

And its decision, according to the official agenda, has implications involving no less than Armageddon, St. John the Divine, Good Friday, the Book of Revelation and the Mark of the Beast.

At its regular meeting, the commission will consider a request from the distraught holder of taxi cab medallion No. 666 to have the number retired.

Driver Michael Byrne complained that the number is bad luck and persuaded assistant commission executive director Jordanna Thigpen to take up his cause with a two-page memo to the board.

Charlie Morton: Ace, Stopper, All-Star?

Who would have thunk it? Charlie Morton: “Stopper.”

Even as recently as spring training, nobody would have thought Charlie Morton, of all people – Charlie Morton?! -- would step up and become the Pirates ace this year. Their Stopper: As in, stopping losing streaks, in this case a malodorous stinker of a six-game streak in which opponents had out-scored the Pirates, 38-15.

So, if the Pirates weren’t going to score much Wednesday evening, it seemed they would need one of their guys to pitch a shutout. And that’s exactly what Charlie Morton delivered at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

Charlie Morton, of all people, an afterthought who was barely clinging to a tenuous spot on the roster, let alone in the rotation, as recently as the end of spring training. Give him credit. He took hold of his last chance and wouldn’t let go. With help and guidance from manager Clint Hurdle and pitching coach Ray Searage, Morton appears to have salvaged his career; no, more than that, much more: Morton appears not only to have salvaged his career; but, in one year, he’s gone from near-oblivion/never-was/has-been to Emerging Ace, the team’s Stopper and one of the best pitchers in baseball. If the All-Star team were picked today, he’d be on it.

Wednesday night against a hot Reds team, Morton pitched seven smothering, scoreless innings with groundouts galore. He allowed only five hits all game, and from the second through the seventh innings, he allowed only one hit and three base runners. He threw only 105 pitches the entire game. This was the second time this season Morton has defeated the Reds (he beat them 6-1 on April 15), and in the two games, he’s pitched 18 innings and allowed only one run and 10 hits. And that’s a good-hitting team.

Charlie Morton. Who woulda thunk it?

R.I.P. Harmon Killebrew

Rest in Peace, Harmon Killebrew.

Now, there was a Slugger. A real cleanup hitter.

Harmon Killebrew dominated in an era of 10 teams per league, a higher pitcher's mound, great pitchers, pre-steroids, and pre-990s-expansion. By all accounts, he was a nice guy, humble, quiet and a good teammate. An all-around good guy. And a devastating slugger.

Pirates Walk the Plank in Milwaukee ... yet again

It's uncanny ...

Listening to the Pirates radio broadcast of Sunday's game vs. the Brewers in Milwaukee, bottom of the first just underway, and Bob Walk says ...

"I think Kevin Correia's going to have a good outing today, and in a moment I'll tell you why."

... words punctuated in rapid order by:

• CRACK! -- lead-off line-drive single to left
  
• BANG! -- line-drive single to center
  
• BOOM! -- Ryan Braun three-run homer
• WHAM! -- Casey McGehee home run
• PAUSE -- visit to the mound by Clint Hurdle
• CRACK! -- line-drive base hit up the middle

It was 4-0 in a heartbeat, and Bob Walk never did explain why Kevin Correia was going to have a good outing.

We're still waiting, Bob.

With yesterday's loss, the Pirates record in Milwaukee since 2007 fell to 3-33.

Divine Retribution for Randall Simon?

The Pirates' nightmare at Miller Park continues.

The Brewers own them, which is a phenomenal story in its own right, and one that bears closer scrutiny just for the astonishingly lopsided and extended reality of the fact. We'll get to that.

The Pirates woke up today in fourth place and sliding. Fast.

Nobody today should be talking about blown calls that possibly contributed to the loss yesterday, not with a final score of 8-2.

As noted here yesterday, the Pirates aren't hitting. That's an understatement. The Pirates offense is astoundingly inept.

The Pirates have lost four in a row, and this morning's Post-Gazette reports "the past four games, they have scored three, zero, two and two runs."

Hence, a four-game losing streak. The Bucs left 13 runners on base yesterday. Thirteen!

Leaky defense didn't help, either, nor did the aforementioned blown calls.

Symptoms of a flawed team that may be finding its level? Even manager Clint Hurdle said earlier in the week that they'd "somehow managed to find ways to win games," as if even he couldn't believe the team was hovering around .500.

The Brewers Own the Pirates
Now, about that lop-sided "rivalry" (wrong word) between the Brewers and Pirates ... we hate to use the "bee-yotch" word, but the Pirates are playing the part.

Look no further than the lead-in to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article yesterday about Friday night's game ...

In need of a shot in the arm, the Milwaukee Brewers couldn't have asked for a better opponent for their weekend series at Miller Park than the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It was Milwaukee's seventh straight home win over Pittsburgh and 31st in its last 34 games over the Pirates at home since 2007, an almost unfathomable winning percentage of .912. The Brewers are 49-17 (.742) in all games against the Pirates over that same span as well.

"Oh, it does," manager Ron Roenicke said when asked if the one-sided nature of the series gives his team an edge. "I don't know on their part, but I think any team you're on, when you have trouble with a team in your ballpark for whatever reason, you know."

This is getting more than a bit ridiculous, as in, "valid reason for ridicule."

Milwaukee's dominance over the Pirates must have baseball historians, geeks and stat-heads poring through the archives and databases at Stats Inc., the Baseball Encyclopedia, etc., to determine the historic significance of how dominant the Brewers have been over the Pirates in recent years.

It truly is ridiculous. And embarrassing.

The Pirates have lost 56 of 83 games in Miller Park, but it's gotten progressively worse in the past few years (3-32 since 2007). That is sustained. Embarrassing. Pitiful. Pathetic.

Perhaps this futility streak is divine retribution for Randall Simon?

The Pirates had better start winning in Milwaukee. To do that, they'd better start hitting.

As beat writer Colin Dunlap notes in today's Post-Gazette, Pedro Alvarez is 7 for his past 41 with 15 strikeouts, including two yesterday. Lyle Overbay is 7 for 30. Jose Tabata is 6 for 37. Of those three players -- regulars all -- Overbay has the highest batting average, at .231. Throw in continuing non-productivity from Andrew McCutchen (.234) and Ronny Cedeno (.222), and you are looking at five of eight regulars batting under .231.

Five of eight!

Has any team, ever, been so inept? Not to be confused with "Lumber 'n Lightning," that's for sure, or the Big Red Machine, or the 1927 Yankees.

All the feel-good sentiment just one week ago has evaporated. It feels like a whole new season. And the yearly June swoon looms forebodingly.

Kevin Correia had better be on top of his game this afternoon. Today is a good opportunity for him to establish himself as a "stopper" and a legitimate All-Star candidate (which he should be, anyway -- and too bad for him that the bullpen lost the lead in his most recent start).

Hmmmm ... What to Talk About?

Now that the Pirates have reached the heady land of .500 -- oh, they what? Two games under .500? Never mind. At least they made it to .500, so we can all go home now.

What else is there to talk about?

We still intend to discuss the NFL draft (soon), but there's plenty of time to get to that. There were some interesting goings-on and what-if scenarios on Draft Day. Again, however, with the lockout, there is plenty of time before training camp (whenever that will be) to talk about all that.

So, what else?

• Hines Ward on "Dancing With the Stars"? Don't care. Never watched the show. Never will watch it. No interest. Ditto Hines Ward on "Letterman" talking about "Dancing With the Stars." Just wondering, though: Did he and Dave talk about Hines getting handcuffed in L.A. during a traffic stop? Not that anything came of it.
  

• Kordell Stewart getting arrested in Atlanta for driving with a suspended license? Too bad for him. Also, Kordell's getting married next Saturday. Yikes, man has got a lot on his mind.
  

• Speaking of minds, or lack thereof, Rashard Mendenhall on Twitter? Too stupid for words. Not worth discussing.
  

• Ducks in the outfield at PNC Park? We're all for ducks and angels in the outfield.

Which brings us back to ... sigh, the Pirates. Man, there ain't much to talk about, is there? Especially when it comes to hitting.

The team isn't hitting and shows no signs that it will start hitting soon.

Let's start with the positives ...

• Second-baseman Neil Walker has been the most consistent position player all season: He's fielded surprisingly well, and he's been the team's best hitter: .296 BA, 4 HR and 21 RBIs in 140 at-bats, albeit with 36 strikeouts.

• Also on the plus side, Ryan Doumit and Garrett Jones have hit fairly well, although their plate appearances have been limited by platoon situations. Stats on them to follow, below.

As for the rest of the team ...

• First-baseman Lyle Overbay is batting .232 with 2 HR, 13 RBIs and 25 strikeouts in 125 at-bats. Overbay has four errors, including one last night. Is that bad? By comparison, Walker, a relative novice at second base, has three errors in just one more game than Overbay.

• Shortstop Ronny Cedeno is batting .217 with 20 strikeouts in 106 at-bats. Like Walker, he has just three errors.

• Third-baseman Pedro Alvarez is batting .198 with 1 HR, 11 RBIs and 38 strikeouts in 111 at-bats. Alvarez has five errors, but his defense has been surprisingly good on the whole, and at times spectacular. The Pirates have no choice but to keep playing him.

• Left-fielder Jose Tabata got off to a fast start but has been slumping the past few weeks. He is batting just .229.

• Same with center-fielder Andrew McCutchen: He is batting just .229.

As for the platoons, if you can call them that, in right field and at catcher:

• Matt Diaz is batting .239 with 0 (ZERO) home runs in 67 at-bats. That bears repeating: Diaz has no home runs in 67 at-bats. Is that possible? At least Garrett Jones, Diaz's left-hand counterpart in the right-field platoon, has 6 HR in 95 at-bats. Jones is batting .253.

• Catcher Chris Snyder ran into a pitch once for a home run in 57 at-bats. Snyder is batting .268. Switch-hitting catcher Ryan Doumit is batting .292 with 3 HR in 65 at-bats.

And there you have it:

Team batting average of .231.

For all that, the Buccos currently stand at 18-20, in third place in the NL Central, a half-game ahead of Chicago, one game ahead of Milwaukee and four games in front of Houston. It's a minor miracle the Bucs are in third place. Not for long, however, unless they start hitting. Soon.

As said previously, there's not much to talk about, is there?

The Pirates: Movin' On Up

Dare we say it? ... Pirates fans beginning to pay attention to the standings?

At 18-17, the Bucs awake this morning in third place in the N.L. Central, two games back of St. Louis and just one game behind Cincinnati. The Pirates have the eighth-best winning percentage (.514) of the 16 teams in the National League. They're competitive. Hey, it's a step in the right direction.

They have a good chance to keep the momentum going vs. the Dodgers tonight, with Kevin Correia on the mound vs. LHP Ted Lilly (2-3, 4.93).

At 5-2 with a 2.91 ERA, Correia is tied for NL lead with five wins -- same as Roy Halladay (5-1, 2.19 ERA) -- and two other guys, Aaron Harang, San Diego, and Kyle McClellan, St. Louis.

From today's Post-Gazette ...

"With the win, the Pirates (18-17) have a winning record at the deepest point in a season since May 29, 2004, when they were 23-22."

And there's this quote from umpire Mike DiMuro, the umpire last night who blew the call on Tabata's (non-) catch last night. When LA manager Don Mattingly asked him if he was sure Tabata made the catch, DiMuro said ...

"I told Don, 'Who's 100 percent sure of anything in life?'

And we love this quote from Clint Hurdle ...

"You just play the game," Hurdle said. "And you get breaks and you don't get breaks. You just play through them the best you can."

Pretty much applies to any situation in life, eh, readers?

Or, as the late Hunter S. Thompson wrote, "You buy the ticket. You take the ride."

With a lefty on the mound for LA, it's fun to speculate which right-handed bats will be in the lineup for the Pirates tonight, and at what positions. Matt Diaz probably will start in right field (in place of the left-handed Garrett Jones); Chris Snyder will catch (since Ryan Doumit caught the last two games), and that's probably it, although it might be interesting to see if Steve Pearce plays instead of Lyle Overbay, whose bat finally may be coming around a bit.

Manager Clint Hurdle probably wants to get at-bats for Pedro Alvarez (coming off a minor injury), who ended the game last night with a spectacular diving backhand stab and throw-out. Hurdle might also want to save Brandon Wood as a right-handed bat off the bench late in the game.

We'll be writing about football again, soon. For now, baseball is the only game in town.
Addendum: According to today's edition of The Los Angeles Times ...

Asked whether the Los Angeles media should be as excited if the Dodgers ever hit the .500 mark, Mattingly replied, "We don't want to be a .500 club, that's for sure. I don't know what's going on here, but if that's what we end up being, I'm going to be disappointed."

The Dodgers are 16-20. Let's make 'em 16-21.

Evening It Out

Photo credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review

"It" being the Pirates' season record, now at an even .500 for the first time this "late" in a season since Jun 11, 2005, when the Bucs reached a 30-30 mark before sliding suddenly into a precipitous spiral that's taken this long to reverse. Six years. But who's counting?

That 2005 team was almost an entirely different* Pirates crew, skippered by Lloyd McClendon, who seemingly lost control of himself and the team on the one day (in Yankee Stadium) when they had a chance to go 31-30 but blew a late lead on a bad call, and promptly went on to lose -- repeatedly and ignominously -- the rest of that stretch of interleague play (the Yankees, Boston, Baltimore), all the way through the rest of that season and ever since for the next half-a-decade under the volatile McCendon, the loquacious Jim Tracy and the imperturbable John Russell.

But that was then. This is now. And "now" has an entirely different feel than "then."

This year's edition of the Buccos, led by manager Clint Hurdle, feels fresher, more upbeat and more real than any we've seen in a long, long time. Not a finished product, by any means, and maybe a little fragile, but a team that is beginning to find itself and one that is surprisingly resilient.

After starter James McDonald pitched six stellar shutout innings (8 strikeouts vs. just two walks) and the Pirates cruising into the seventh on a 3-0 lead, the Astros quickly staged a rally vs. Chris Resop, who has been mostly reliable. The sudden turnabout was sickening, and the game abruptly had the feel of a crushing defeat.

Reliever Joe Beimel pitched a smooth 1-2-3 eighth, however, to steady things, and the Pirates staged a rally of their own in the bottom of the inning with a Neil Walker hit, a Steve Pearce walk and Ryan Doumit's exclamation mark of three-run homer to put the Pirates back in the lead. Joel Hanrahan closed out the ninth, and everybody went home happy.

It would have been a feel-good win in any case, but this one has a bit more sail to it and carries a little more "oomph" by virtue of the team reaching .500 -- 21 percent through the 162-game schedule!

We're one-fifth of the way through the season and not out of the race yet! Whooppeee!

Fans in other cities must think all this feel-good excitement and optimism is pathetic, but they haven't endured the past 18 seasons the way Pirates' fans have.

And, hey, right now, the Pirates are 17-17, in third place in the N.L. Central, trailing the division-leading Cardinals by just two-and-a-half games ... and leaving Houston (13-21), Milwaukee (14-20) and Chicago (15-18) all looking up at the Bucs in the standings.

Reaching .500 is a bit of a milestone, but hopefully just a mark on the road to better times ahead.

It's a start, and ya gotta start somewhere. Let's hope they keep it going.

Next up: The Dodgers at PNC Park, 7:05 p.m.; Jeff Karstens vs. Chad Billinglsley.

*Footnote: In a bit of irony (or is it coincidence?), the one player from that 2005 team still on the Pirates is Ryan Doumit, the hero of yesterday's game, who made his major league debut on June 5, 2005).

Dissa n Data ...
For what it's worth, The Houston Chronicle reports the Astros bullpen has been atrocious:

The Astros, who fell to 13-21, have seen their bullpen blow nine of its 14 save chances this season, which is easily the worst rate in the National League. The rotating cast of nine characters has a composite ERA of 5.54, the worst in the league and more than two full runs above the NL average.

It’s hard to figure which of the blown saves was the most excruciating, and really, it’s a fruitless exercise. But Sunday’s was certainly close.

Happy Mother's Day!

"I Love You Mom" card and image of pit bull mom with pup courtesy of artist Ginny York, Amherst, Va.

Wishing all mothers
everywhere
love and happiness
on Mother's Day.

R.I.P. Seve the Savvy Southpaw-Swingin' Spanish Swashbuckler

Rest in peace, Seve Ballesteros, the great left-handed-swinging Spanish golfer who won five majors (two Masters and three British Opens) among 80 tournament titles throughout his illustrious career. He died Friday, a young 54, of a brain tumor.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls know little about golf, but Seve seemed pretty cool.

Buccos Let One Slip Away

Padres outfielder Will Venable chases down a fly ball by Pirates first-baseman Lyle Overbay -- whose image and season stats are displayed on the outfield-wall scoreboard behind Venable -- in the first inning of last night's game at PETCO Park in San Diego. (photo and caption courtesy of SignOnSanDiego.com for the San Diego Union-Tribune; photo by K.C. Alfred)

As tempting as it is to examine the NFL Draft in copious detail, we have lots of time to do that -- weeks or months, in fact, until the lockout is resolved, training camp begins, and the season starts. Lots of time. We'll get to it.

Which leaves us with, well let's see ...

The Pirates let one slip away in San Diego last night. Too bad. Entering the game with a 14-15 record, they had a chance to move to .500, hold onto third place in the standings, and continue their relatively good (for them) momentum entering the game.

Nope. Didn't happen.

The Bucs got off to a decent start but were unable to hold a 5-3, seventh-inning lead against a struggling, putrid-hitting Padres team before an anemic crowd at PETCO Park, which looked much PNC Park if judging only by the size of the crowd.

Relievers Mike Crotta and Joe Beimel struggled. Here's what happened, as reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune:

(Reserve catcher Rob) Johnson’s shot into the left field stands on a full-count fastball from Joe Beimel decided the issue.

“I was I was really battling up there,” said Johnson. “Beimel gives you a lot of deception. I finally got to the 3-2 count and told myself stay back.”

Johnson’s homer set the stage for Bell, who got a further assist from Johnson when the catcher threw out Brandon Wood as the runner tried to advance from second to third with one out in the ninth on a Bell breaking ball that bounced in the dirt.

Wood had reached base on a walk to lead off the ninth, then was advanced to second on a nice sacrifice bunt by Ronny Cedeno. As announcers Greg Brown and Bob Walk debated whether the sacrifice in that situation went "against the book," Bell threw a breaking ball that bounced in the dirt and got away, briefly, from Johnson. Wood immediately broke for third, but Johnson recovered the ball quickly and threw him out.

Two outs. No word on whether Wood's effort went "against the book," but Walk defended him vigorously, saying it was a good try and that it took a perfect play to nail him, and asking, "How much better off is he at third than at second?"

Debatable, but it sure would have felt better to have Wood on second with one out than in the dugout with two outs against a guy who was going for his 41st straight save. Manager Clint Hurdle apparently felt the same way and, unlike Walk, expressed displeasure unhappy with Wood's dash.

"You're already in scoring position and if you're safe, we're all happy," Hurdle said. "But he pushed the envelope a little bit. At times you have to be smart, so when you're out at third like that, it never looks good."

Tough to argue with that. Doumit promptly struck out on another pitch that got behind Johnson -- but Doumit didn't see it and was late breaking for first. He probably wouldn't have made it in any case, but the ending was deflating. As was the loss -- a game they should have won.

San Diego native and former Padre Kevin Correia, 4-2 with a 2.90 ERA, goes for the Bucs tonight vs. San Diego lefty Clayton Richard (1-2, 3.80 ERA in eight starts).

With a southpaw on the mound for San Diego, it will be interesting to see which right-handed bats are in the line-up for the Bucs: Steve Pearce at third (or first, for the struggling Overbay)? Matt Diaz in left (for the left-handed Xavier Paul) or in right (in the regular platoon with Garret Jones)?

Here's more evidence that pitching coach Ray Searage is helping the pitchers, courtesy of the Union-Tribune ...

When Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage looked at 2010 tape of Correia, one thing stood out.

“He was pitching to avoid contact,” Searage said. “I told him, ‘I want you to pitch to contact. I want you to be aggressive. Go ahead and attack them with your weapons.’ Because he’s got weapons that are outstanding.

“The biggest thing you need to you, I told him, is keep the ball down. That’s all. And he’s doing it.”

Being more aggressive has resulted in fewer walks. A year ago, Correia averaged 3.97 walks per nine innings. This year: 2.0.

“I didn’t come over from San Diego and learn some magical pitch I didn’t have before,” Correia said. “I just think I learned the art of pitching.”

Food for Thought
Interesting article here about San Diego owner Jeffrey Moorad's plans to increase the Padres payroll.

Back to the Sandbox, Toyland ...

Back to the sandbox, Toyland ... in other words, sports.

Not to much to talk about today. The Pirates are hanging in there, with a record of 14-15, so that's something. At least they look more competitive than they have in recent years. It would be nice to see them keep it going and even improve.

Post-Draft Stuff
Many good collegiate players go undrafted and hope to sign as undrafted free agents. Willie Parker, Doug Legursky and many others fall into that category, and we're always interested to see which players emerge from the pack and actually make the team.

Usually, immediately after the draft, NFL teams scramble to sign 10-12 undrafted college players immediately after the draft. Not this year (because of the lockout). Normally, most teams make those calls to players during the draft to say things like, "Listen, if nobody selects you in the draft, we'd love to sign you to a contract afterwards and bring you into camp. You'll get a chance to compete!" ... which usually means most players are signed with some nominal interest to see what they can do, but in reality (in most cases) are brought in as training camp fodder.

Texas Tech running back Baron Batch had a tense wait before the Steelers drafted him in the seventh round. Writing on his blog, he tells the story of his day, which he spent with his father. Just a portion of his account follows, and it's not even nearly the best part. Read the whole thing (highly recommended, as is his "30,000 feet" story). Baron looks like an interesting guy.

Pick no.229 passed. No.230 passed as well, and shortly after pick no.231 sailed by without my name attached to it. By this time I had quit tracking the draft on my phone and sat it down, but right before I did I said a quick prayer and it went like this. “Please just put me where you want me. Amen.” I tossed my phone to the side and began watching a movie with my dad and little brother.

Not too long after I sat my phone down it began to vibrate. I glanced over to see that it was a number that I didn’t have saved in my phone; my heart began to race and with a shaky hand I answered.

It was the best phone call I have ever received.

With the 232^nd pick in the 2011 NFL draft the Pittsburgh Steelers had chosen me. They chose me! It was unreal. The past 11 years of work was wrapped and packaged into one phone call.

The poor kid with nothing but a dream and a tattered map of how to get there had reached his goal. I had been drafted into the National Football League. Did that just happen?

That is Good News, Man, That is GOOD NEWS!

Score one for the good guys. This one's for all the victims of 9/11.

And for everbody who has had to live with the repercussions of that awful day ever since.

The world is a better place today than it was just a couple days ago.

Congrats to the guys who went in and got him, to the intel forces who dug him out and to the President for making sure it got done.

Tough days lie ahead, but this was a good one.