Game 82 - Gorzy Outduels Bonderman

It wasn't pretty, nor was it by the book, but Tom Gozelanny's 2006 debut tonight was effective and that's all that counts. He threw 42% of his pitches as balls, was behind the count on 40% of the batter's he faced after the first pitch, and had to pitch out of jams with at least one man in scoring position in 4 of the 5 innings he pitched. But Gorzy also limited the Tigers to just 1-12 with runners in scoring position and that wins ballgames.

Throwing consistent 94 mph heaters, some hitting 97 on the gun, Gorzelanny showed Tiger batters what it is like to feel foolish at the plate eating Bonderman-type of changeups.. an A+ filthy pitch Gorzy has in his arsenal. Gorzy's slider was so-so tonight and his hook had serious problems finding the zone consistently, so he was limited to two A+ pitches and 2 C pitches all night long. But by mixing speeds, keeping the ball low, and pitching into Tiger batter breadbaskets, Gorzy held their powerful lineup at bay.

Bucco Blog's 2006 Sleeper's and Fooler's listed Gorzelanny as one of the five Sleepers of the year and tonight you could see why we said:

"You might want to add Tom to your fantasy team now as the 25th player because he is going to absolutely dominate AAA batters and be called up in June or July, ending the year with 10 wins. Mark this one down."

Yeah, yeah.. beat us with a stick - we also listed Cota as a Sleeper. But to be fair, he really hasn't been given much of an opportunity to play, albeit he has not done well offensively when he did play. We also have Duke and Snell as foolers and I do believe each of them are on the verge of showing us why. We'll see over the next few starts.

Bonderman simply was beat tonight. He looked sharp but Pirate batters usually T-off on heat throwing pitchers anyway. I saw that the three shortest games he has pitched in this year were all against NLCD teams that typically wail on heat throwing pitchers, so it wasn't a fluke. But don't be surprised if Bonderman doesn't throw out some excuse for being beat by the lowly Pirates ala another pitcher we now own.. Cinci's Arroyo.

Offensively tonight, Pirate batters went 5-9 with runners in scoring position along with a sac bunt, an intentional walk, and three Tiger errors. While we managed 13 hits, Bautista and Burnitz delivered the two huge clutch rbi hits early in the game before the Tigers defense imploded. Over the first 6 innings we managed only two runs off 9 hits, including Burnitz and Bautista's rbi singles. So we weren't really mashing by any means.. but we were more clutch than usual.

Sanchez showed us tonight why Tracy needs to move him out of the 5 hole as he struggled mightily to even make contact. His swings were so off balanced and unnatural I was thinking maybe he was on meds for his back or something. On a couple of the at bats, balls were thrown right into his chest yet he swung the bat to keep the ball from hitting him. He looked horrid at the plate. Jack Wilson and his 0-5, including a K and him grounding into a double play, looked about as bad at the plate. Punch and Judy.. these two are getting to be something else.

Jason Bay was simply outmatched at the plate. He K'd three times and looked like he was pitch guessing instead of trying to find a release point and ball rotation, as many batters do when they are in slumps. Tracy needs to sit him a game or two and rest him.

Defensively, Freddy had a liner hit right at him go off his glove into left field, Jose had a grounder go off his, although Jose's was a much tougher play, and Bay fielded a sharp hit grounder he came running in on and had a chance to nail Guillen running from 2B to home, but didn't even try to make a throw for some reason.

The rest of the D was outstanding including - sit down everyone - including Ronny Paulino who, bless his heart, looked like he finally became a man tonight behind the plate. Maybe it was because he knew Gorzy and felt comfortable with him.. maybe it was because home plate ump Larry Vanover is known to be a pitcher's ump and easy to work with, or maybe it was the Leyland effect where teams just want to play hard to beat him? Or, more probably, it was a Tracy talk before this game started?

Paulino started catching on that Tiger runners were tipping batters on pitch locations and signs so in the 7th inning, Paulino started changing signs every three pitches or so, he started waiting to move into his squat at the very last moment so men on base couldn't tip the batter, and he stopped framing every other pitch in the 3rd inning. All of which was an amazing advancement for Paulino in just one game. Now we'll see if he continues to play like he wants to win day-in and day-out. I was *very* impressed with him behind the plate tonight and that is saying a lot because I have *not* been a Paulino fan up to this point by any means.

It was a nice win tonight and an exceptional first outing for Gorzy. He won't be heading back to Indy ever again and will most likely become the ace of the staff within the next few outings. Catch him if you can Maholm.. you're about the only one who might be able to.

-- tidbits --

Interestingly, Oliver Perez, whom Gorzelanny replaced on the roster, pitched tonight vs. the Tiger's AAA affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens, and K'd 13, allowed just two runs (a two run home run in the 7th), 5 hits, and walked just 2. Perez took the loss as the Indians provided just one run in support of Perez's outing. Perez was throwing high heat too and touched 96 mph a few times. The Mud Hens have the second highest number of HR's in the International League and the fourth best OPS, so they aren't a pushover as far as IL teams go.

The Posse de Perez was at the game rallying Perez tonight and created quite stir. These kids are simply unbelievable. Kevin needs to get them season tickets.

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Welcome Back Duff!

Chris starts tonight at Indy.

Anybody else notice anything different about Chris since spring training?

Yep.

He got rid of those blasted Nike shoes!

This is a good sign.. a very good sign.

And we could care less why Chris left. We're just glad he is ready to commit and we're sure he'll do the best he can. Good Luck Duff.. see you in Pittsburgh soon!

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Pirate starters are averaging just 5.3 innings per start this year, fourth lowest in MLB.

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DL Watch: 3-15 since Littlefield's June 12th announcement he is a seller this year.

CS Watch: Ready to choke? Pirate batters watched 19.3% of all pitches go wailing by as called strikes tonight. You don't deserve to win when you allow that high a rate. The Tigers? 15.1%.. the highest of the series for them so far.

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What a shot, huh?

Just think what could have been in Pittsburgh..

Arrrgghh..