Might be a long night for Kris Benson. 33 Pitches after one inning.

Delgado now has 70 RBI on the season. Benson shouldn't have left that pitch up...

Biff!!

...a long night for everyone. Lets hope Jeff Tam isn't warming up in the pen...

Splat! Zot!

Two more for the good guys. Josh Phelps is obviously getting rid of some of the rust...:-)

Oops, I was wrong. It wasn't a long night for Benson after all. He's off to the showers after just 2.1IP and a nice 7ER.

Bottom of the seventh.

What the hell just happened? CBS's Game Trackers says 'Woodward walked, Myers scored.' From second? WTF?

I believe Woodward singled.

With a six run lead, Tam is lifted after one batter for Lopez. What is going on here? Can Jeff Tam not be trusted with a six run lead? Does Lopez need the work or does he need to have his arm fall off?

Did anyone else notice Tom (or was it Jerry?) use the phrase "small sample size" a while back?

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Nice.. another win for the good guys!

I left to go to Starbucks when it was 5-2 for the Pirates in the top of the 2nd. When I came back, the Jays were up 11-5. It's fun following a team that is never completely out of a game.

The Jays are on pace for 87 wins now. I predicted 84 wins and Tosca, obviously trying to one up me, predicted 85. On pace for 87 is terrific when you consider that the Jays schedule after today is quite a bit easier than the games they have already played.

That being said, I'm not changing my prediction.

Mike

It looked it would be another rough night for the defence after the "follow the bouncing ball" episode in the 2nd inning. But the Pirates had a lot of trouble on defence too.

As I watched the game, the word "juggernaught" floated in and out of my conscious mind. That is the most appropriate way to describe an offence that rarely hits pop ups or weak grounders when they are on their collective game.

All praise should go to Mike Barnett, he seems to have implemented a uniform hitting policy that they are all buying into.

Some chump in Baltimore ran onto the field and threw cork at Sosa. That has to be scary, how does Sammy know what is being thrown at him? It could have been anything. How devoid of a life does somebody have to be to do something like this?

What the hell just happened? CBS's Game Trackers says 'Woodward walked, Myers scored.' From second? WTF?

Woodward got a 3-1 pitch about six inches off the outside corner, and had started to first when it was called a strike. He singled off the 3-2 pitch.

That situation with Lopez is exactly my concern. Even when Tam is in a position to play mop up man (which is the only role he's really trustworthy in) they bring in Lopez to throw a ton of pitches when it's not required. He's currently on pace for 73 games and 82 innings coming into today. That's a lot of load to put on a rookie hurler. Bob File's shoulder crumbled under a similar workload in 2001.

Thanks guys. I was baffled.

With a six run lead, Tam is lifted after one batter for Lopez. What is going on here? Can Jeff Tam not be trusted with a six run lead?

I really, really don't get Tosca's bullpen usage. He seems to be excellent at getting the team fired up, he understands not to bunt except in a very limited set of circumstances, he seems to be getting the team to buy into a lot of good things.

But when it comes to pitching changes, it's like having Buck Martinez all over again.

The difference between File and Lopez is Lopez shouldn't be considered a true rookie. He's 28, and he threw 109 innings last season in AAA. File was only in his third pro season as a pitcher, and was thrown to the wolves at the age of 24. I don't think it's that big an issue. Having said that, I think Tosca had no business running out Lopez with such a large lead. Why not stick with Tam? Why not go to Towers? If a six run lead isn't safe, why are these guys even on the team?

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If a six run lead isn't safe, why are these guys even on the team?

Because the players union gets snarky if you don't carry a full 25 man roster. :)

Mike

I believe it was Mike Wilner(sp?) and not Tom and Jerry that talked about small sample size.

I went to the Tigers-Dodgers game last night in Detroit and let me just say this: I can safely say that these teams' offense cannot be described as a "juggernaught". After 8 combined hits in the first nine innings, both of these teams looked like they didn't want to win the game. Dropped balls, defensive miscues, and plenty of horribly executed bunts. It was all here folks. Also, this blip from after the game is just priceless:

Dodgers SS Cesar Izturis did not start for just the second time in 63 games on Tuesday. Tracy, who gave Izturis a rare break until putting him in the game in the 12th, said he would argue that he is the best shortstop in the NL

I didn't know that Neifi Perez was manning shortstop for the other 15 NL teams.

Piling on the bullpen bandwagon here. I saw the boxscore and was just baffled - aren't there supposed to be one or two mop-up men to handle long work in high scoring games?

If you were to buy what Tosca's selling, he'd tell you it's because the staters don't go long enough and he HAS to burn out the bullpen. But, as everyone in here is saying, you'd have a hard time passing off that bull with last night as a prime example.

Let's say you're the manager of an AL team that can score six runs in an inning, and has also been known to give them up in bunches. You are up by five or six against a team that pounded your #2 starter for 12 hits. Do you really assume that lead is safe?

If Tosca had left Tam in, or used his mopup man, Towers, and there was a walk, an error, a bloop and a blast, you guys would be roasting him on a spit for letting a huge lead slip away. You can't have it both ways. I've been critical too -- generally, I'd leave my relievers in longer when they are pitching well, and get them out of there sooner when I sensed it wasn't their night. Last night, I don't know why a sharp Miller couldn't have finished his inning, but that's a minor quibble. I'm not going to knock the skipper for playing AL baseball, where anything can happen, and usually does.

Coach,

Because Miller is used so frequently (he's the only lefty Tosca trusts in a close game) you'd burn him for the next game if you left him in longer than a couple of batters. Davis should soon have mop up lefty status which will hopefullly allow Tosca to rest Miller more often.

With the righthanders it's a different story - let them go a couple innings as long as they are pitching well.

...and what inning or circumstance is it that Josh Towers is even around for? Is he around to pitch ALL the extra innings in a game when Tosca uses his entire bullpen in nine innings capped by Politte's embarassment?

If a six run lead isn't safe then we should send those extra relievers down since they're never likely going to get a chance to pitch anyway. While I enjoy arena baseball and all, it gets a little tiresome when we need a converted touchdown to feel comfortable in the late innings.

At what point is the lead large enough to leave a mediocre reliever out there for longer than an inning? It's the common usage of five pitchers in a game that seems needless to me. Lidle was pretty ineffective - I'm not convinced that just because a team hit really well against one particular pitcher that their impressive hitting will continue against the relievers.

I have to disagree slightly with the views on the bullpen usage as it applies to Politte. After his last outing, you have to get him back out there some time and last night with the big lead (but Pittsburg sort of coming back) was the perfect time to use him. All complaints about Lopez's usage are spot on in my view.

I agree with Politte's usage. I don't see however why Miller couldn't complete an inning and why Tam couldn't complete the next. With the number of pitches Lopez threw, I doubt he'll be available today. At least he shouldn't be if they're concerned about his health.

Many people also say getting a guy up and warming in the pen, regardless of how many pitches he actually throws in a game or even if he comes into the game at all, wears significantly on a reliever. Pitching three games in a row for 10 pitches each game is probably more destructive than simply throwing two or three innings in one game and getting a day or two off. Which is why I really don't like seeing relievers taken out before they have to be taken out. Using two or three pitchers to get through one inning is crazy talk both from both a tactical and future availability perspective.