Pirates Morning Report, The Turtle is Gone

Final Score: Pirates 1 Marlins 8

Why The Pirates Loss: The slumber company had one of their more outstanding games, as they made 21 straight outs after the Jason Delay home run. What was amazing, there was not one tough fielding play in any of the outs. It was about as routine as it could have been. To top it off, they struck out 11 times. I was glad the game was a blow out because the real story of the day was The Turtle being traded to the New York Mets and I, for one, will truly miss him. I will miss all his facial expressions and gyrations at the plates. I will miss the slide and roll which he has perfected. I will miss him having at bats where he never swings at a pitch. He was, by far, the most entertaining Pirate player. Hopefully, the pitcher they got in return will be a long-term asset for the Pirates. It will be interesting to see what he does for the Mets, when the games really mean something. Good luck Turtle, may you get to play in the World Series.

The Key Moment of The Game: There was not really a key moment in this game. It was more of an accumulation of bad luck for starter Zach Thompson. The Pirate booth call the first ball in play in the top of the 4th a Castillo misplay, but it was ruled a hit. Most of the other hits the Marlins got were not hit hard and just found the right holes in the defense. Even though Thompson’s line looked awful, a couple of inches here and there, and he may have only given up a couple of runs. Things always even out, but at least for this game he was snake bit.

Next Game: Tonight, Marlins in Pittsburgh. Quintana goes for the Pirates tonight, and recently he has not looked that good. At one time he looked like he might really bring something at the trade deadline. Now, I am not too sure. Despite the Marlins lighting up the Pirates for 8 runs last night, they are not the strongest hitting team, so he might have a good game tonight. He will at least get one more start before the deadline. If he makes that a good one, maybe he will attract some attention. The big question tonight will be can Yoshi put a ball in play if he is the DH or plays 1st base. Vegas has the odds at 5 to 2 he will not.