IGT, 5/23 vs. PIT: High Noon with Niesie

[Edgy MD]

Study well, Jonathon.

[Bunt the First Two]

Ike Davis's bat
O brutalest weight
How frigid you have been this year
Your splinters hold
Your master's fate
Your final chance is now, I fear



Ike Davis's bat
O sceptre of kings
How dimly glows your fire these times
The power nests
In your bold swings
To lift our hearts, to raise our rimes



Ike Davis's bat
Shillelagh unscarred
Your king now looks to exile
He's kept you honed
And freshly tarred
That you might make his people smile

[Edgy MD]

[*:1qs4exdj]Mike Baxter, lf[/*:m:1qs4exdj]
[*:1qs4exdj]Kirk Nieuwenhuis, cf[/*:m:1qs4exdj]
[*:1qs4exdj]David Wright, 3b[/*:m:1qs4exdj]
[*:1qs4exdj]Lucas Duda, rf[/*:m:1qs4exdj]
[*:1qs4exdj]Daniel Murphy, 2b[/*:m:1qs4exdj]
[*:1qs4exdj]Ike Davis, 1b[/*:m:1qs4exdj]
[*:1qs4exdj]Ronny Cedeno, ss[/*:m:1qs4exdj]
[*:1qs4exdj]Rob Johnson, c[/*:m:1qs4exdj]
[*:1qs4exdj]Jon Niese, sp[/*:m:1qs4exdj][/list:o:1qs4exdj]

[Ceetar]

well if that doesn't inspire him..

[Edgy MD]

Good chance we'll see Gorkys Hernandez get his first big league start today, possibly leading off.

Good tools, but little extra-base power, and questions about his bat being able to get around on big league pitching. A lot like a lot of Pirates prospects in recent years, always leaving fans clinging to the memory that Roberto Clemente's power came late. Already with his third organization.

Which doesn't mean I don't expect him to score at least three runs today.

[Frayed Knot]

btw, it's a 12:35 game, not noon ... y'know, just in case anyone was thinking of running over a bunch of pedestrians trying to make it by first pitch.


Be nice to see Duda park one in the river before he leaves town.
Big guy like that shouldn't be getting shut out of long balls for the month of May. Has just one since game 8 of the season.

[Ceetar]

when Gary first said "Gorkys Hernandez" I though he was saying "Poor Keith Hernandez" like he had to hang out with the Phillie Phantic or something.

[Edgy MD]

Anniversary of Piazza's debut today.

In other words... Go, Rob Johnson!

[Benjamin Grimm]

Is Gorkys considered a top prospect? I had never heard of him until yesterday.

[Edgy MD]

To a greater or lesser extent, we're all prospects, my friend.

[HahnSolo]

Ceetar wrote: when Gary first said "Gorkys Hernandez" I though he was saying "Poor Keith Hernandez" like he had to hang out with the Phillie Phantic or something.

I had Yorkis Perez flashbacks, shivers.

[metirish]

Don't know why but I would have sworn that Gorkys' was in the Mets system.

[Frayed Knot]

Gorkys was never a top prospect but was one of those very young/very raw prospects in the Braves system who wound up being the main bait when the Pirates dealt Nate McLouth over to Atlanta.
At the time I remember thinking that the Pirates were selling McLouth short because he was pretty good there for a brief time. The other guys in the deal were today's starter Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke who's still in the Pittsburgh system *AND* they have McLouth back.

So I guess it wasn't such a bad deal after all.

[Edgy MD]

btw, it's a 12:35 game, not noon ...

He doesn't really go by Niesie, either.

PNC does indeed become Gorkys park this afternoon.

The Family

1. Harrison, rf
   
2. Hernandez, lf
   
3. McCutchen, cf
   
4. Walker, 2b
   
5. McGehee, 1b
   
6. Barajas, c
   
7. Navarro, 3b
   
8. Barmes, ss
   
9. Morton

Neil Walker: not your protypical cleanup hitter.

[Benjamin Grimm]

RBI single by Duda plates Nieuwenhuis in the first. Now it's the bottom second, Mets still up 1-0.

[HahnSolo]

and Ike has a hit!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I don't like Niese bunting for the 2nd out with a guy at 3rd.

[Edgy MD]

i support that only if the idea is to get the runner home.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Never even entered their minds. It was strictly a ploy to get Johnson to 2nd. The worst that could happen if you try anything else is a DP allowing Baxter to lead off the next inning.

[Edgy MD]

Wright down to .400.

Is a dream a lie when it don't come true?

[Benjamin Grimm]

So far so good for Niese. One walk, one hit, 41 pitches through 3 innings.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I don't like Niese bunting for the 2nd out with a guy at 3rd.

Yeah, didn't like that. Here's a guy struggling and we can't even trust Niese to put a hard swing on it and hope it finds a hole or they make a mistake?

If pitchers are going to solely exist as bunters and an free out in the lineup we might as well just go all-DH.

Not asking them to be .300 hitters..but how about half that or it be considered you're hurting the team. (which obviously, you are)

[Benjamin Grimm]

Ceetar wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: If pitchers are going to solely exist as bunters and an free out in the lineup we might as well just go all-DH.

No.

It's that kind of thinking that spawned the DH in the first place.

[Edgy MD]

Three-zip lead. Wright with the big hit.

World = all right.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy DC wrote: Is a dream a lie when it don't come true?

... or is it something worse?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

This Harrison fellow is quite the little dynamo. He's also the guy who broke up Verlander's no-no last week.

[Ceetar]

Wright back to .401

[duan]

you letting Niese bat?

I would.

[Lefty Specialist]

In a lineup with no hitters, and with first base open, why are they even pitching to McCutcheon?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Benjamin Grimm]

78 pitches through six innings? I'd absolutely let him bat.