The Curse is Broken! Bucs Win 7-6.

It would figure that in order to finally win a game against the Cubbies, it wouldn't be an easy contest. As it turned out, we needed Nate the Great to do something - well, great. Most know we here at The White Flag consider Carlos Marmol to have the best stuff of any reliever in our division. He had it today, and so did McLouth. This win could prove to be ginormous. Tomorrow, the Bucs go for their third straight series win. They'll send Phil Dumatrait (1-1 3.96) to the mound against Jason Marquis (1-3 5.26).

Marquis is just the type of pitcher the Pirates seem to have trouble with. He's as mediocre as they come, in the same vein as Brett Tomko and countless others. In fact, looking at his baseball-reference page lists the following players as most similar, among others: Joel Pineiro, Gil Meche, Armando Reynoso, Kris Benson, Adam Eaton, Jaret Wright, Ted Lilly, Mark Clark, Rodrigo Lopez, Pedro Astacio, Todd Stottlemyre, Jason Schmidt, Vicente Padilla, Jack Wilson (?!), Sterling Hitchcock, and Kip Wells. Now if that's not enough to convince you of the mediocrity, consider the fact that almost half of them have played for the Pirates during the Streak at some point. That should do the trick.

I'm telling you, one of the other Central teams could make a killing by just signing Marquis, Tomko, Matt Belisle, Rich Hill and Doug Davis. We'd never win a game against them. However the Pirates normally do well against ace pitchers. Today was no exception. Good thing we've got Carlos Zambrano's number!

1-0 So Far (Part 2)

Part two of the comparison will focus on the relievers. There are not many big names in the bullpens of the NL Central. Unless you count Kerry Wood and his 2003 season, that is. Let's see if we can make some sense of this.

Name............IP......W.......L.......H.......BB......K.......ERA

J. Grabow.......18......2.......1.......15......4.......16......1.50
D. Marte........20......2.......0.......16......5.......24......4.58
T. Yates........18......2.......0.......13......16......8.......3.00
F. Osoria.......27......2.......1.......41......6.......9.......5.60
M. Capps........18......0.......0.......14......3.......10......2.55

R. Franklin.....20......1.......1.......17......8.......9.......1.80
J. Isringhausen.17......1.......4.......20......8.......12......7.02
K. McClellan....19......0.......1.......18......5.......16......2.79
R. Flores.......10......1.......0........8......7.......9.......1.86
R. Villone......15......1.......1.......11......10......14......3.52

C. Marmol.......24......1.......0.......10......6.......32......1.13
M. Wuertz.......20......0.......0.......16......6.......11......3.60
B. Howry........19......0.......2.......28......2.......13......5.79
K. Wood.........19......2.......1.......11......3.......17......3.79
S. Marshall......9......0.......0.......8.......7.......5.......4.15

Several points to make. First, I have no doubt that Piniella will destroy Marmol's arm, if not by the end of this year, then definitely by the middle of next season. Kind of reminds me of the situation the Tigers were in a couple years ago with Zumaya. It's almost as if the temptation is too great for the manager. You've got a guy that throws way too hard to give anybody at the plate a chance, so you bring him in during every close game and sooner or later, he blows out his arm. As much as I hate the Cubs, Marmol is fun to watch, and I really don't want to see that happen to him. Here's to hoping Lou gets smart.

Second, notice the Pirate relievers' record. 8-2. Not bad. This obviously demonstrates the fact that Bucs have come back to win several games in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings. The IP's are a bit inflated due to all of those early season extra innings games. It's a shame the rotation didn't hold up its end in the beginning of the year, we could be in 2nd or 3rd place right now, well above .500.

Thirdly, the comparison of innings pitched leads me to believe the Pirates may just have the best rotation of all three of these teams. Before you laugh, hear me out. I honestly doubt the Cardinals can stay afloat with the talent and track records of the players they're going to have to count on to get to the trading deadline in a position of "buyer". The Cubs seem injury-prone, though they may get lucky, and they surely have the offense to get to the playoffs. As I already mentioned, the Pirate relievers have more innings pitched because of the crazy extra inning contests. Also, the inevitable Matt Morris effort added what amounts to be an extra 3 innings per every 5th day. Luckily, that's now out of the equation. Couple that with the addition of an effective (for a 5th starter) Phil Dumatrait and the hopeful rediscovery of form for Gorzo and Snell, and you have a solid staff, without the flash of a Zambrano or Wainright.

Contrary to my belief before the season started, I now wonder aloud that the Pirates may actually end up with an above average bullpen this year. How, I don't know. The stats don't lie, and compared to their counterparts, are actually quite favorable early in the year. And we finally have a manage that seems to know how to use John Grabow. Either that or he learned to pitch. I guess time will tell...