I was probably one of the few who was sincerely sorry for John Russell Sunday in Milwaukee when he went after Bob Davidson.  It wasn’t the ball off the plate being called a strike that caused LaRoche and Russell to lose it, it’s the thin skin they have. 

I feel PITY for Russell – he sucked up Neal Huntington’s phantom hiring storylines and is now seeing firsthand it ‘aint working like it was drawn up between them last winter.

Not even close.

Russell has a third division club ( <== notice that new baseball term that applies to the Pirates) with so much junk lying around even he can’t sort through it.  Nor does he even seem to want to try anymore. 

Accountability?  That went out the door months ago.

Afterall, if Neal Huntington isn’t going to be held accountable for the truckloads of vermin he’s bringing in weekly, why should someone like Russell even worry about it all?

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How do I even begin to write up the game?  How about this: the first six balls in play resulted in two hits, one of which was a sure out but went off Andy LaRoche’s glove (E5 any park in America but PNC), a grounder to third that LaRoche bobbled but was lucky enough the ball stayed close to be able to get the out, a fly ball off the center field wall that was so badly misplayed by McLouth that Jim Edmonds – who sat watching the ball out of the box thinking it was a home run – was able to get a standup triple on, and a fly ball to right with a man at third that Michaels heaved a throw home so far up the third base line that had Edmonds actually broke he would have been safe by default.

The seventh ball in play was a sac fly scoring Edmonds putting the Cubs up 1-0.

Pitiful, pitiful baseball.

Ok, so even if Soriano would have been called out stealing third (he was out but called safe), Aramis Ramirez’s home run would have plated three anyway and that would have been enough to hold off the wonderlust Bucs.

What is it with ex-Bucs tearing our hearts out nearly every game in August?

Karstens looked as bad as I told you he would when we picked him up, although the fans bought into his ‘miraculous’ first two outings which the opposition didn’t have film on him.  Now he’s just another Matt Morris – another Josh Fogg – another Zach Duke – another Masumi Kuwata.

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Jason Davis followed Karstens and at least he had an excuse getting bombed for five runs – he had already thrown 94 pitches the last five days plus bullpens.  He heaved another bullpen and 41 more pitches and walked away after two innings with an 18.00 ERA last three (135 pitches, 12 ER, 15 H, 6 IP last 6 days all in relief).

Talk about toasted Melba.  Don’t look for him to be worth a can of corn the rest of the year (or next year for that matter).

Then Bautista pitched who had been used as a setup guy but now had to throw two innings in a 10-3 blowout.  The Cubs let him drift by unscathed.

But when Burnett hit the mound, it was if the pinball machine was plugged back in again – singles here, doubles there, a tapper there, throw in a walk for good measure, and the Cubs racked up two more runs (last three outings for Burnett against good baseball teams =  3.2 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 ER, 9.84 ERA, 74 P).

I have to admit it was nice watching McLouth back out there running poor routes again sapped of power from fatigue, nice to see Doumit trying to catch the ball and trying to throw out base stealers (he did on one but didn’t get the call), and nice watching Andy LaRoche’s gold glove head toward the platinum stage. 

Yes sir, watching my favorite team “evaluating players” in August is the thrill of the year for me. 

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The Pirates finally emailed back what we already knew – Byran Morris was shut down.  Duh.  The only thing they added was that they aren’t too concerned about the discomfort he’s having.

Of course they aren’t.  I mean, what exactly do we expect them to say?

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I sent a note off to some buds at Vanderbilt to see if there has been a Pedro Alvarez sighting and they say no – he’s not on campus that they know of.  Obviously that doesn’t mean anything – he could be taking classes over the Internet.  And yes, I remember reading that he graduated but his name never came up in the graduation rolls I was told. 

I also asked around to see if Alvarez has been spotted with any of the Independent League teams and that also came up empty. 

So the young man is either unhealthy and refusing to report (unlikely), attending his final classes to graduate as I’ve been led to believe and I assume with the Pirates permission (most probable), or there is a grievance that’s been filed (unlikely). 

It’s ridiculous this young man hangs in limbo, and why the Pirates refuse to come clean with the reason.

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Since everyone is asking, the feature article will be posted sometime Wednesday.

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