Saturday, August 13, 2011

Pirates @ Brewers: 8.13.11

Friday night's game against the Brewers was just about the same as any other game against the Brewers over the past 4 or 5 years so I'm not really even going to talk much about it.  The Pirates lost 7-2, only had 6 hits and struck out 9 times against Zach Greinke.  Same stuff, different day with the Pirates vs. Brewers, now on to today's game.

Programming Note: Today's matchup is @ 4:10pm and will be on FOX as their Saturday Game of the Week.  I wonder how pissed FOX is that they are wasting their time on a Pittsburgh team that was flying high and in first place when they made their game choice for this weekend but is now 11 games back in the NL Central after going 2-12 in their last 14 games.  Oh well.

Kevin Correia (12-10, 4.78 ERA) vs. Marco Estrada (2-7, 4.80 ERA)




Well Correia has been flat out bad recently, going 1-2 with a 8.36 ERA and only 8 strikeouts in his last 3 starts.  However, there is a bright side, Correia is 10-2 with a 2.74 ERA in 13 starts away from PNC Park this year.  So there may be a little bit of hope for his prospects of pitching well against such a potent Brewers lineup.  Correia hasn't exactly pitched well against Milwaukee but those were seasons past.  Opposing Correia is Marco Estrada, who was injected into the starting rotation as a spot start for Chris Narveson.  He has been in the bullpen for most of the season and hasn't made a start since early May when he gave up 7 runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Braves.  In order for the Pirates to win, they need to play from ahead.  To do this they will need to get to Estrada early and often and hopefully during that time, Correia can hold off the Brewers potent attack.  In the end, all I want is for Hanrahan to enter the game in a meaningful situation and since Hurdle refuses to use him unless it is a save situation, the Pirates are going to have the lead going into the bottom of the 9th.  Hanrahan has made 12 consecutive scoreless appearances and has posted a 0.63 ERA in his past 42 appearances.  The Pirates are 50-0 this season when leading after 8 innings, let see if they can make it 51-0.  Let's Go Bucs!

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