Friday, April 18th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Snell not sharp in loss, Rivas throws game away
The Pirates cannot beat the Cubs. That statement is quickly becoming reality as the Cubs won Friday’s game 3-2 in order to move to 4-0 on the season against the Pirates, who seem to be entering the time of the season (meaning the first longish road trip) when they start to falter significantly.
Ian Snell surrendered nine hits and three runs over six innings in his third start of the season, striking out five. Snell was not very good, as hits just dropped in all over the field, including DeRosa’s single to score Kosuke Fukodome in the sixth, which fell gracefully in front of Nate McLouth in center field. Even flukier, however, was Reed Johnson’s infield single that scored DeRosa. Luis Rivas, at shortstop, couldn’t decide whether to throw to home plate or to first base, so he looked indecisive for a couple of seconds and then threw to first, failing to eliminate either runner.
Rivas’ poor decision-making cost the Pirates another run, as Eric Patterson managed to hit into a fielder’s choice that scored the Cubs’ third run of the sixth-inning, but the play resulted in the second out of the inning for Chicago instead of the third, as it would have if Rivas had managed to throw Johnson out at first base. If John Russell really did Brian Bixler up to play, as he claimed, where is the rookie? He certainly can’t be worse at fielding the shortstop position than Rivas is.
In the story line that is currently holding the interest of most Pirate fans, Nate McLouth did extend his hit streak, hitting a home run off of reliever Carlos Marmol in the eighth inning in order to extend the streak to sixteen games. The home run was McLouth’s third of the season. In a more dubious feat, McLouth was caught stealing for the fourth time this season.
The interesting part about McLouth’s seemingly ineffective baserunning ability is that he has not been thrown out by a catcher, instead being picked off all four times. This inability indicates that McLouth needs to work on reading pitchers in order to figure out the proper time to leave the bag.
Jason Bay seems to have figured this out, stealing his second base of the season in the second inning and allowing Xavier Nady to single him home in a very nicely manufactured run. Nady then failed to attempt to score from first after Jose Bautista hit a long double with two out and Snell on deck, but the decision is understandable considering that Nady is probably one of the slowest runners on the team.
The Pirates did not commit an error today, ending their streak of committing an error in 14 consecutive games. It was the first time since Opening Day that the Pirates didn’t mess up in the field.
The Pirates have now managed to throw away (and by that I mean fail to execute in the field, get blown out and start Matt Morris) three games in a row. If the club expects to continue making progress on the field, it cannot afford to make too many more of these mistakes, particularly considering that the magic number is now at 73.
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