Gorzelanny Dominates Brewers; Bucs Take Game 1

The Brewers entered this game having won 5 straight at Miller, won 17 of their last 22 there, and having beaten the Pirates 7 times in their last 9 games at home.

But it didn't matter.

The Brew Crew were 13-2 when scoring first, 10-2 when they committed no errors in the game, and 8-2 in their last 10 Thursday games.

Didn't matter.

Amazingly, the Brewers came in with the best record in baseball, were facing a Pirates team that had hit just .196 with a .217 on base percentage against right hand pitchers their last 5 games, and had the league's best bullpen ERA last 5 games of 0.48.

Toss all that out the door too.

Why?

Because for some unknown reason the Brewers decided to try and play funny ball instead of baseball thinking they could manufacture runs they weren't entitled to.

That didn't work.

With their cleanup hitter in the box in the 3rd, Fielder was on 1st and Hardy at 3rd with two outs and they attempted a delayed double steal for some bizarre reason. Although they got away with it against a Cardinals team reeling from Josh Hancock's untimely death, it was a little league play that the Pirates sniffed out immediately and Hardy was tagged out at home.

That was the first wasted Brewer run.

The very next inning Hall was at third and Mench at the plate. Jim Tracy gambled early in the game by bringing the infield in. Mench hit a grounder to Wilson, Hall broke on contact, and Wilson promptly threw him out at the plate.

Second wasted Brewer run.

As if all that wasn't enough, Graffanino lead off the 5th with a single and the Brewers pitcher came to bat with the entire world expecting a sacrifice bunt. But Bush faked the bunt and slashed at the pitch missing it and Graffanino was left hung out to dry between first and second, and eventually tagged out.

A total of three Brewer base runners were removed by the Pirates who played nearly gold caliber defense all night long. Tom Gorzelanny added a spectacular play in the 7th when Gywnn dragged a bunt down the first base line. Gorzy pounced on it and knocked Gywnn to the ground while tagging him to get the out.

Fabulous, fabulous stuff.

The Brewers first run came in the third when Fielder hit a little grounder under Sanchez's glove to score Bush who had doubled. In the 6th, Hardy doubled and took third on Fielder's fly out and then Gorzelanny threw a wild pitch that looked to be a circle change he didn't have a grip on. The ball floated 10' off the plate and Hardy scored.

That's all the runs the Brewers could muster despite hitting .353 in their last five games against southpaws.

The Pirates scored all four runs off a spent Bush in the 7th inning when Sanchez led off with a double, scored on Bay's double, Bautista deposited Bush's 105 pitch of the game in the left field bleachers, and then Paulino went yard on Bush's 107 pitch into deep right center.

Matt Capps entered the 8th with his electric 0.63 ERA and needed just 11 pitches to put down the punchless Brewers.

Torres took the mound in the 9th and quickly recorded two outs when Jenkins came to the plate as a pitch hitter. Torres didn't want anything to do with him and walked him on five pitches to allow the tying run to come to the plate.

Ouch.

With Jim Tracy pacing the dugout like Pac Man after the dots, Torres threw ball one, then got a strike called, Graffanino fouled off a couple, then ball two, then Torres threw a perfect sinker right over the plate for strike three.

But Paul Emmel didn't call it.

On the 3-2 count, Graffanino hit a little grounder to the player that put the Bucs ahead in the game - Jose Bautista - and he threw him out at first.

Torres got his ninth save, the Bucs won their 7th in their last 11 games, they knocked the Brewers best record in baseball to second best, and the Pirates won a game for the first time since 2003 with Paul Emmel calling balls and strikes.

First time.. now that mattered.

Talk about a long shot win. In fact, the line on this game was the third longest of the day in MLB at -145, the Brewers were favored that much.

Throw away the stats.. they are useless sometimes.

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Just when you're feeling good, let me tell you about Friday night's game matchup.

Paul Maholm takes the mound having given up 9 runs and 17 hits in his last two games at Miller and, surprisingly, exactly the same numbers in his last two outings on the road this year.

Yet the Pirates won three of the four career games he started against the Brewers despite all that.

Claudio Vargas will pitch for the Brewers and his has a career 3-0 record with a 1.80 ERA against the Bucs.

Ouch.

Perhaps you remember the Pirates coming into Miller last year after the ASG and winning a couple of games against Sheets and Capuano that the Brewers had unbelievable lines in Vegas of -171 and -161 in? Yup - Snell and Maholm won those two games and this series is starting off with the same kind of swagger.

But don't expect Yost to be playing much more funny ball the next three games.

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Tom Gorzelanny was hampered by some pretty poor calls by Paul Emmel most of the night, but I have to hand it to Gorzy - he didn't lose his cool like he normally does and he continued to battle through it. In the end, he won the mental matchup.

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Jim Tracy sat Adam LaRoche to start this game with the Brewers fly ball hitting machine, and Ryan Doumit played first. I questioned this in an earlier post because I knew Emmel was behind the plate which I thought would frustrate Gorzy even more if he needed Doumit's D, but in the end it worked out fine. I'm not so sure I'd want Doumit there with Maholm or Duke on the mound though.

The problem is going to come down to - where does Tracy play Doumit? Don't expect him to catch Maholm anytime again soon.

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Xavier Nady was back in the lineup as well tonight and he looked like he had been on the bench awhile when he was at the plate. I hope he can continue with his hammy and he doesn't end up tearing it.

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Sometimes you just have to say you are wrong, and boy was I ever about Bautista. I called him out several times over the winter as a poor fielder and, he was - to that point. He has certainly shocked me with his glove work so far this year. I tip my hat to him and hope he maintains it all year as he could end up with a gold glove if he starts to hit the ball too.