Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
McLouth, LaRoche key to Pirate victory
John Russell hadn’t done very much to this point in his tenure as Pirate manager, but on Tuesday night he made lineup changes that were critical to the Pirates’ 12-6 victory, even though ex-Pirate Jose Castillo attempted to ruin Zach Duke’s best start in a very long time. Nate McLouth blasted two home runs and Adam LaRoche brought one run across.
Russell dropped McLouth out of the leadoff spot, where he had somehow managed to put up 25 RBIs and moved Freddy Sanchez, who had been struggling, up. This would hopefully Sanchez hopefully utilize his on-base skills and McLouth hopefully have someone on the base paths when he came to the plate. It worked in the third inning when Sanchez reached on an RBI single and McLouth hit a home run, his first of the night, to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead.
The emergence of McLouth really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who watched the Pirates on a regular basis last season. Every time he stepped on the field, something good seemed to happen for the Pirates and he did nothing but perform. Now, he is doing it over the beginning of a season and people are acting shocked. McLouth is a good baseball player, there can be no doubt about it and pretending otherwise is just dumb.
Just as importantly to the Pirates’ success is the fact that 1B Adam LaRoche is finally stringing good games together after a month of looking absolutely terrible. LaRoche went 1-for-3 with two walks and a home run, managing to get on base and displaying the power that was the reason the Pirates picked him up. The home run was LaRoche’s third of the season and raised his RBI total to a grand total of 10.
As long as LaRoche manages to perform and the Pirates can count on production from Ryan Doumit and the outfield, the offense will be alright. (It is worth noting that after tonight’s game Doumit had an average of .337 and Xavier Nady had an average of .352.)
Duke’s effectiveness was good to see, as the starter has been consistently inconsistent. Tonight, he put 11 runners on base in his seven and a third innings of work, but managed to escape with only three runs surrendered. The problem with Duke continues to be that he is essentially pitching for luck, hoping that the hitters put the ball where the fielders are. He still doesn’t have any great strikeout ability and it still feels as if a big inning could happen off of him at any moment, but occasionally he pulls a start like tonight off where he improbably wins the game.
Duke, who was drafted late in the amateur draft, was replaced by Sean Burnett, who was a number one draft pick. Burnett responded by giving up a three-run home run to Jose Castillo, a player who managed to not hit a home run for more than a year for the Pirates. Castillo should now be booed whenever he sets foot in PNC Park as, despite being a terrible player, he is officially a Pirate-killer. (I don’t care that the home run was completely meaningless. It gives us an excuse to boo Jose Castillo, which is always fun.)
The win tonight is probably just a high point on a season full of lowpoints, but, like all of the other points, it seems to signify a change in thinking and maybe even increased cause for optimism. As the magic number doesn’t lower (it’s at 63 right now), so do the low hopes of Pirates’ fans (all 2,000 of them that are left) rise.
Leave a Reply