SOG for Sunday, August 5th, 2012:
Pirates d. Reds 6-2
Pirates improve to 61-46
Pirates salvage 1 game of 3 game series
Pirates 4.5 GB of the "In Soviet Russia all the fans look like the Russian Female Weight Lifters" Reds
Pirates 28-30 OTR
Pirates RS/RA stands at 441/405 for a healthy +36
Attendance: 38,624
And the Votes are in:

Clint "Great move shuffling the rotation to get Burnett pitching Sunday" Hurdle .5 vote...great point Kison25
Starling "on the job training" Marte 2.5 votes
PRNW 2 votes
A.J. "Ace" Burnett 24 Votes

Thank you for your Votes!!!

With the Reds taking the first 2 games of the weekend series things looked dire for the Buccos. Enter the Stopper, the Ace, one of the best off-season acquisitions in all of MLB...A.J. "Cool Hand" Burnett. Burnett was dealing going 8.2 IP, 3 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 7Ks to improve to 14-3 with a 3.19 ERA. Burnett was squeezed during the bottom of the 9th and was not able to get the complete game victory but was just masterful. With the 14th win Burnett joins Cueto of the Reds and Dickey of the Mets as the top NL pitching win leaders. It is not too far of a stretch to say that if Burnett continues his run of dominant starts he should be in the Cy Young conversation. Big start when the Pirates needed it...again.

A.J. "Ace" Burnett for the Star.

With the Star win Burnett ties Cutch for the Coveted Star of the Year standings.

The offense got back on track led by PRNW who went 3/5 with 2 RS, 2 RBI, 2Ks hitting his 12th HR of the season, a 2 run shot, on the top of the 1st. Starling "tough learing curve" Marte came through as well with a timely triple. After Cueto and Latos, Arroyo, Leake, and Bailey are very beatable....except the Reds keep on keeping on.

The Pirates scored 6 runs on 15 hits.
6 Pirates had multi-hit games.
The Reds managed 2 runs on 3 hits.

As Burnett was not getting the close call again late in the game it led to 2 walks during the bottom of the 9th. Enter the Hammer who induced a pop-up and claimed his 32nd save of the season with a 1 batter save. Again, look around MLB...the Brewers, the Hated Cards, the Giants, yesterday the Indian's Perez...closers have struggles but the Hammer.....well the Hammer abides.

Brian "bad bad series" Gorman blew a call at third base. It is one thing when umps make bad calls against both teams but Gorman seemed to save his who*ppers(really? who**ppers is forbidden?) for the Pirates. I hope his missed call on Marte effects his evaluation.

So after all that excitement the Pirates only drop 1 game in the chase for the division. August's schedule is brutal in the consecutive games. The Crucible of the Second Half heats up now. Can the Pirates persevere? Will they survive to still be relevant as September begins? There is so much baseball remaining and the National League West is coming calling. The advantage is that the Pirates begin this August grind on a prolonged home stand.

I am still not happy that the Pirates did not retaliate against Cutch's being hit. Imo the Buccos should have protected their best player. For whatever reasons Hurdle et al elected not to go old school and it made me like this team just a little less.

Bit stretch coming up. I am guessing the fans will fill up PNC. Good times to be a Pirate fan....good times.

Get em Buccos!!

"You never have to wait long, or look far, to be reminded of how thin the line is between being a hero or a goat."--Mickey Mantle

http://www.hulu.com/watch/13302

Zoltan!

Star of the Year Standings:

Andrew "McClutch" McCutchen 7
A.J. "Right player at the right time for the right team" Burnett 7
James "Lights Out" McDonald 6
Pedro "The Chosen One" Alvarez 4.5
Michael "The Fort" McKenry 4.5
Erik "Winning!" Bedard 4
Brad "Hot Rod" Lincoln 3
Garrett "The Legend" Jones 3
Kevin "K.C. and the Sunshine Band" Correia 3
Rod "Jelly Roll" Barajas 3
Jeff "The Force is strong with this One" Karstens 2.5
Clint "Better then Ronnie" Barmes 2
Casey "let them play!" McGehee 2
Neil "PRNW aka the Real Deal" Walker 2
Charlie "Ground Chuck" Morton 1
Josh "Say Hey" Harrison 1
Matt "Hit Collector..well in AAA right now" Hague 1...Better Tiz?
Jared "The Tongue" Hughes 1
Drew "get out ball!!!" Sutton 1
Starling "Back to the Future....is so bright i have to wear shades" Marte 1
Alex "The King" Presley .5

A.J for Cy Young

Since verizon stinks , I am late posting but AJ is the MAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Devil,

Thanks for the question but i am by far one of the worst Fantasy Football GMs...even though i smote Endofline, righteously i might add, last year i am taking a Fantasy break of sorts.

The old saying of "if you can't figure out the suc*ker at the table...it is you" applies to me quite well.

Glassers,

Yeah Verizon can be the Devil. AJ had a great game...again. Back to back awsome starts....in fact a awsome season...can the Cy Young be in his future?

Pirates should get a pass on the retaliation...for this series. They didn't get to face the Reds Friday after Cutch was hit. Saturday, the bench warnings came in the second, and neutered any attempt they may have been thinking. Sunday they couldn't afford the possibility of AJ getting tossed.

It's coming, the retaliation you crave. Circumstances prevented it this weekend.

You really think he put a lot of throught or effort into preparing for the Pirates. He just glanced at a stats sheet.

Surge,

Are you still up for your August 10th-16th Guest Starring run on the SOG/GOG threads?

Absotively! Have it marked down.

Surge,

Awsome! The threads have been a blast this season. Looking forward to the Guest Appearance.

It is so hot in Ventura right now...what would be a good solution...ah...beeeeeerrr.....

Need to borrow my limo and driver?

Bedard. Noooo doubt about that one.

Bedard who has had 3 of his last 4 starts result in a run or less. Seems to be turning it around.

1/2 Bedard- Great game
1/2 Cutch- I just love to see a guy hustle around the bases like Cutch did tonight.

Casting my Vote for Erik "First Month" Bedard....he was dealing tonight against a pretty good hitting DBacks team...i liked the increased tempo Bedard was using...he did not seem behind in the count as much tonight...

HM to JHay for playing some GREAT D at 3b

HM to Cutch for causing havoc in scoring the first Pirate run....

Bedard for SOG. I didn't turn on the game until the 8th inning but, perusing the box score, it's apparent that he was special tonight.

Doc,

At one point he retired 17 straight...the 18th batter was thrown out at second on a great throw from Marte in Left to end the inning....Bedard was pretty darn good tonight....

"Need to borrow my limo and driver?"

Not quite sure if you meant this for me, but I have two rules in life:

1. I refuse to join any club or organization that would accept someone like me as a member.

2. I would never consider ruining your rep amongst the beautiful people by doing anything other than washing your limo.

Erik Bedard