Boy, did we need a complete game shutout, or what?

Maholm was a little wild at times, certainly hittable other times, but the Phillies just kept trying to go yard and that was obviously the wrong game plan. But what an outstanding outing by Bucco Blog’s #1 Sleeper pick.

How about Nate coming out of his slump? Man that dude can turn on upstairs heat. Sanchez is now mired in an 8 for 45 slump (.178), Nady took a deserving day off at the plate but added some good D, Rivas showed up to play which was somewhat surprising to see, and even LaRoche hit the ball. I mean, hey, we’re on a roll.

Right?

Put those thoughts away real fast.

Monday we face Santana, Tuesday Ollie, and Wednesday Pelfrey. If we don’t strike out 20 times those first two games I’ll be shocked, and I won’t be shocked if we’re shut out at least once - if not both.

Then it’s on to Washington where we can look like a 100 win club again. Yeah!

As for the Mets series for those that want to know, the longest odds I’ve seen in quite some time are on Santana and the Mets Monday against the Pirates.  I think Pinnacle has the line at -236 for the Mets as I write this along with the over/under at 7.5 runs.

This game is hard to call. The Mets aren’t exactly hitting the ball right now and Snell isn’t exactly pitching too good, so put them together and who knows what you get. I suspect Snell might handcuff them the first time or two through the order. But wait a minute, Snell has to start with either a rookie in Bixler at short making his first start at Shea (overwhelmed might be a good word to put here) or Rivas who was Santana’s teammate and good friend with the Twins (how do you spell a possible giveaway day?).

Santana is simply filthy when he’s on and Pirates haven’t exactly been hitting anybody lately either so we could be in serious trouble.

But I’m going out on a limb in this one. Take the over since Santana will be out there in a drizzle, although I think the Mets end up on top if the game is even played. Right now it looks like it has a chance to be rained out. 

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“X” returns to Shea will be the highlight of this series. Look for him to get some fat pitches and have a great series.  The question might be, will he be on the charter to Washington or putting on a Mets uniform?  Let’s hope Huntington keeps his ears, and mind, open.

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I created the table above last winter showing the historical breakdown for the Pirates against their scheduled opponents over the last five years, except where noted. History says we’ll win at least one of the next three games (Wednesday’s?) and then come out dealing the first few weeks of May. Then things turn ugly. Real ugly - pretty much all the way to the end of July with just a few bright spots in early July.

So right now this team is tracking on a 93 loss year.  Hardball Times, however, suggests the Pirates have played well enough to lose 110. 

Ouch.

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Bucco Blog readers know I’ve always been high on JvB and, even through his miserable 2007 season, I still found myself thinking he’s got what it takes.  Unfortunately, the more I watched JvB’s stuff last year, the more obvious it was he didn’t have good enough stuff to get MLB batters out and I doubt that’s going to change much this year.

He’s opened the year pitching well in Indy but the offensive firepower in the IL this year generally isn’t the same as in recent previous years so I think the fans are a bit more optimistic than they should be.  Still, he’s a guy who builds off his confidence much like McCutchen so if he gets on a roll, who knows where it will go. If he never gets on a roll, well, we all know where it’ll go.

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You have to wonder if the Pirates are going to start stretching out Burnett’s arm now? Or, will they keep him around as a reliever as most think they should?  And what about JvB? He’s coming in with a starter’s arm going to the pen. I’m guessing Huntington already knows what my senses tell me about Dumatrait - he’s going to get hammered, so I’m betting they will keep JvB’s arm ready to take his place. Probably after his outing in Washington, as a guess. Perhaps they will tandem the two of them?