Well, Cassel actually pitched a little better than I thought he would.  Through four innings we managed just five hits off him but four of them were for extra bases.  Then his run of good luck ended as we opened the 5th with four of five reaching and he was pulled down 5-0.

In the 7th with Tim Byrdak on the mound (remember him last night giving up Sanchez’s inside the park?), Wilson walked leading off, Sanchez hit a ground rule double down the right field line, and Ryan Doumit absolutely crushed Byrdak’s first pitch 90 mph heater middle-in to the upper deck in left center.  That put the Bucs up 8-0.

Paul Maholm, in his 14th consecutive game throwing 6 or more innings, had his perfect game bid broken up in the 4th when Bourne singled with one out.  In the 7th when he hit the 80 pitch mark, the Astros finally broke up his shutout as he started to elevate fatiguing.

Considering Pittsburgh starters have gone 1-21 in their last 22 starts, it was nice to see Maholm dominate the currently anemic Astros offense.  A win Wednesday puts the Astros in the cellar.

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Some game notes - Sanchez was picked off first by Quintero in the 5th but was called safe; Doumit hit a line drive rocket off the right field wall in the 5th with one out and Pence’s relay to Matsui had Doumit beat by ten feet, so Doumit turned around and headed back to first and was nailed by a mile; Maholm was hit on what looked to be the right shin by a sharp ground ball in the 8th; Sean Burnett took the ball in the 9th and pitched to five batters - one he hit, one he walked, he threw a wild pitch, and one run scored.

I think you can safely pull out the brooms unless Snell’s arm falls off.

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A MLB front office person said that Marte is being shopped by Neal Huntington at closer value.

That’s rather interesting considering that I assume that means Huntington wants at least a back of the order starting pitching prospect for him.

Some of the concern I’m hearing about: his K/9 rate is lowest since 2004 and second lowest of his career, his HR/9 is almost double 2007, the Pirates have selectively handed him the ball on the road this year because he’s pushing a 6.52 ERA away from PNC, and in his last eight appearances (includes three away games) he has a 5.63 ERA, two blown saves, has allowed the equivalent of a hit an inning of work while walking almost one per inning, and batters have tee’d off him at a .948 OPS rate. 

Further, only 17 of Marte’s 46 appearances this year have come when the Pirates were down a run, tied, or up a run, when he entered a tie game in the 9th he has walked 17% of his batters, saw 44% of the balls in play go to the outfield, and he struck out just 9%.  He’s simply too wild to count on closing.

Look for Marte to be staying in Pittsburgh unless Huntington drops his price.

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Altoona reliever Dave Davidson was named to the Canadian Olympic baseball team Tuesday.