Pirates Put Fans To Sleep

by The Last Hollywood Star

Sometimes the old ball yard is not the place you want to be.

Take Sunday at PNC Park where an agonizingly endless three and a half hours dragged by before the Cincinnati Reds recaptured fifth place in the National League Central Division by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1.

Here’s a notation from my scorecard: two innings= one hour! Another one: hang on until perogie races begin!

Baseball romantics point to the fact that the game isn’t played against the clock as one of the reasons that its the best of all the sports.

But no one will cite Sunday as an example of baseball at its finest. The game was one that the Pirates were never in (five hits) but were at the same time never out of, losing by only three runs.

Homer Bailey (7.53 ERA and zero wins in his last four starts) started for the Reds against the recently acquired Kevin Hart.

Highly touted, as all the recent Pirate acquisitions are when they arrive in Pittsburgh, Hart has two losses, one no-decision and one victory in four Pirates starts while allowing a total of 15 runs. In other words, Hart has bombed since coming over from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny.

Since the fans had so much time on their hands, we couldn’t help but speculate whether the Hart trade would be one more major disappointment. Hart’s early returns are disappointing.

Another thorn in fans’ side: realizing that in the Reds-Pirates match-up, the only player on the field worth watching is center fielder Andrew McCutchen.

One thing the tedious game allowed for was scoreboard watching.

The Phillies-Mets in New York provided some distraction for me because I had predicted earlier this month that Pedro Martinez would not be productive.

After Martinez’s first three starts, I can’t decide if I’m right or wrong.

Martinez hasn’t pitched well. Yesterday he gave up seven hits and four earned runs in six innings. His season ERA is 5. 14.

But Martinez’s record is 2-0 with one no-decision. I’ll bet if I asked Phillie manager Charlie Manuel if he would rather have Martinez at 2-0 with a high ERA or 0-2 with a 1.50 ERA, he wouldn’t take long to answer.