Pirates and Cubs: live blog after a brutal 8th inning

Going into the 8th inning, I was feeling pretty good about the Pirates' performance the second game of the series. Yesterday was certainly nothing to get excited about... the team bobbled grounders and made a plethora of poor decisions. Also, the Cubs got the leadoff man on base in EVERY inning except the 9th. Today, however, was a different story (with the exception of a Bautisa failure to throw out a baserunner on a routine grounder). Phil Dumatrait put in 5.2 solid innings of work, giving up only 1 earned run. That's all the Cubs got until the 8th inning when Tyler Yates gave up 3 runs and the Bucco lead.

Wait a minute something is happening here in the bottom of the 8th... Bay walked... LaRoche almost hit a homer... Bay advances to 2nd... Michaels is up... he's had a terrific day at the plate (2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI) and in the field... nevermind, he just struck out. Poop! ... CRAP... another strike out, Buccos blow Bays efforts.

Back to what I was saying... well, I don't know what I was saying. I really do like Jason Michaels in the lineup although it's tough to keep Xavier Nady, who is tied with Nate McLouth for 3rd in the NL for RBIs, out of the lineup. Also, Bay seems to be heating up lately... showing some pop in his bat. McLouth, of course, deserves to be out there every day. Michaels seems to bring energy to the team when he's out there. I didn't know this until tonight but Michaels had local family ties to the Pittsburgh area... his dad's family is from a small town near Johnstown.

T9: Soriano gets a double. I can't stand him. He's such a poser and a selfish crybaby. SORIANO's thrown out leaning off second base... Chavez has a gun! He almost picked a runner off of first earlier in the game.

B9: "Dirty" Doug Mientkiewicz leads off the inning with a PH walk. Here comes the X man (just in the game). YES! Single into center. Runners on 1st and 2nd... no one out. Tying run on second. Freddy is up. LET GO BUCS! LET GO BUCS! Nice bunt... runners move up. Doing the little things... he's a surgeon with the bat. Oh man... "Shoes" Rivas is up *butthole puckers*. Don't screw this up, don't screw this up... McLouth is on deck. SAC FLY TO RIGHT! Mientkiewicz tags and scores! Game tied at 4-4. Nady on 2nd. Kerry Wood is going to IW Nate. Bay is up. HUGE fly ball to right but caught on the warning track... bummer... going to the 10th... a least the Buccos are back in it.

Quick 1-2-3 inning... going to the Buccos half of the 10th.

Jack Wilson is supposed to be back soon. I can't wait to have my favorite Pirate back on the field. The team really needs his glove. The left side of the infield is brutal!

B10: Michaels up with with 1 out... he's had a great game... please let him launch one or something... strike out... Matt Capps is batting? He's already pitched two innings. This is a questionable decision by John Russell... ugh... strikeout.

On a sidenote: Here's a couple of nice articles about Josh Hamilton... there are rumors that the Rangers may give him a long-term deal. On the other end of that deal... Edinson Volquez pitched masterfully last night... striking out 12! ... the Reds actually won one on the west coast.

T11: Capps in for this 3rd inning of work. Cedeno singled to right-center with two outs. Soriano up. Fly out to right.

Buccos to bat in the 11th inning... Doug out... Paulino into the game to bat, out... Freddy up... come on Freddy finish this so I can turn it over to the Stanley Cup finals... last time I looked Penguins were down 1-0 after the first period. Poop... weak grounder to first.

Both teams tied up exactly going into the 12th, each with 4R 10H 0E (but Bautisa should have been given an error). Agh... infield hit for Theroit... Freddy couldn't get a bare-handed handle on the ball. Lee up at the plate. No outs. Grabow on the mound now for the Bucs. A LONG fly ball to Michaels in right for the 1st out of the 12th. Aramis Ramirez up (former Pirate)... he's bee a Bucco killer since he left the Burgh... fans hate him. They should really hate Dave Littlefield for trading him. Cubs catcher Soto is on deck... he's been a Pirate killer this year.

Boy this live blogging thing its kinda stressful... maybe that's why I don't do this kind of stuff very often. It would be really hard to try to do this to the Reds games I've been listening to for the past couple of nights. Since I follow the teams on XM, I've been getting the San Diego broadcasts... their announcer talks WAY too fast... it's like one of those Micro Machines commercials.

STRIKE 'EM OUT, THROW 'EM OUT! Nice! Hopefully the Pirates can take that energy into the bottom of the 12th.

B12: "Shoes" flys out to Soriano in left... 1 out. Nate up. Single to center for Nate. I'd like to see a SB here and then let Bay knock him in from second. YES! Bay hits a slow-roller to short. Cubs' SS can't get Nate out at second... good baserunning. They're bringing in a new pitcher... I think it's Scott Eyre. Nate on 2nd, Bay on 1st. LaRoche up... he's been hitting better lately.

FYI - Penguins losing 3-0 right now (:45 left).

It's 9:46 PM (CT)... I've got this weird thing about 9:46. I can't get into that right now.

Full count on LaRoche. Struck out looking. Pinella is making another change... boy he's walking slow... Michaels will be up... he'll face Michael Wuertz.

Does anybody have any stats on number of extra-inning games played? It seems that the Pirates have played a HECK of a lot of extra-inning games over the past few seasons.

Michaels hits a grounder to third... force out at second.

13th inning... I'm spent... I'm gonna to go enjoy listening to the rest of this game... hopefully it's a Bucco winner.

I'll probably turn it over to the Reds game later tonight. I see that the Indians finally ended their skid. I'm gonna see the Tribe in KC next weekend. That'll probably be my last game at the K before moving (back) to Ohio.