Sunday, July 01, 2007
By Paul Meyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tom Gorzelanny raised his record to 8-4 with last night's win at PNC Park.
Click photo for larger image.
On Bob Walk Bobblehead night, when there was a walk-up sale of about 3,200 tickets and some fans walked out of their seats in a protest against Pirates management, a walk-off win for the Pirates would have been fitting.
As it turned out, it was pretty much a walk-over.
With Jason Bay, their top RBI guy, resting comfortably in the dugout, the Pirates put Washington to sleep with a six-run second inning and cruised to a 7-2 victory behind Tom Gorzelanny and Masumi Kuwata in front of 26,959 -- at one time or another -- at PNC Park.
Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez and Adam LaRoche all had two-run hits in the second, fueling the Pirates' largest rally since they scored eight runs in the 10th at Cincinnati May 25.
"That's what we've been missing all year -- the big hits," said LaRoche, whose home run in the sixth completed the Pirates' scoring. "That's a hard blow to take. I've been on both sides, and it's hard not to lay down when the other side does that to you."
Bay didn't start for the first time this season -- and welcomed the opportunity to sit for a bit.
"It's no secret I've struggled over the last month basically," Bay said.
Through Friday, Bay was in a 13-for-86 slide as his batting average tumbled from .312 to .266. In the 23-game slump, he had two home runs and eight RBIs.
"It's pretty important that he gets a day off," manager Jim Tracy said. "Before he went into this lull, he was doing some good things."
"Obviously, I want to come out of this, but I'm not beating my head against the wall just quite yet," said Bay, who will return to the starting lineup today against Washington left-hander Mike Bacsik.
"I'm not the first person it's ever happened to. Definitely, a blow here and there might not be a bad thing.
"It's something that happens all the time -- a guy gets get a day off to mentally and physically unwind. That's what I'm looking forward to doing -- kind of decompress a little bit, relax a little bit. Hopefully, we're up, 10-0, and I don't need to go into the game."
It wasn't quite 10-0, but 6-1 after two innings was good enough to ensure Bay could rest easy.
Xavier Nady started the Pirates' big inning with a single to left on an 0-2 pitch from right-hander Jason Bergmann. Ryan Doumit lined the next pitch into the right-field corner for a double that sent Nady to third. Ronny Paulino drew a five-pitch walk.
Masumi Kuwata, left, is congratulated by Adam LaRoche after the Pirates closed out the win last night.
Click photo for larger image.
Bergmann got ahead of Wilson 1-2, but Wilson worked the count full before drilling a two-run single through the middle. Gorzelanny sacrificed Wilson to second.
The Nationals walked Nate McLouth intentionally, and that almost got Washington out of the inning as Jose Bautista fouled to catcher Brian Schneider.
Sanchez almost did likewise, but Schneider couldn't hold his foul pop as he leaned over a railing in front of the Pirates' dugout.
Sanchez, who hit .344 in June, then grounded an 0-2 pitch into center field, scoring Paulino and Wilson.
LaRoche stuck an exclamation mark on the rally with a two-run double into right-center field.
"That's always big for a pitcher," Gorzelanny said. "It calms the nerves a bit."
The six-run half-inning, in which Bergmann threw 44 pitches, kept the first wave of protesters in their seats for about 20 minutes. About one-third of the estimated 1,000 fans who left their seats did so at that point.
The other two-thirds left their seats after the third inning, at which point Bergmann was just an inning from walking out himself.
Gorzelanny had it on cruise control by then. He would pitch into the eighth, allowing five hits, three walks and two runs with his 107 pitches.
After Gorzelanny walked Ronnie Belliard with one out in the eighth, Tracy summoned Kuwata. Ryan Zimmerman bounced Kuwata's first pitch to the mound, and Kuwata began a perfect double play, then sprinted to the dugout.
"It was very apparent he's made that play a few times in his career," Tracy said of Kuwata, 39. "That guy is a master. He knows what he's doing. Pitch after pitch, he puts the ball where he wants to. He's a tremendous professional."
Gorzelanny raised his record to 8-4 and lowered his earned run average to 3.05. Teammate Ian Snell is 6-5, but his earned run average of 2.90 ranks fifth in the league.
One of them might land a spot on the National League All-Star team.
"They've been two very reliable starters in this rotation," Tracy said. "They've been models of consistency. If either's had a hiccup, it's been a very brief one."
Gorzelanny conceded he has thought about the possibility of making an All-Star trip to San Francisco.
"If I go, it will be great and exciting," Gorzelanny said. "If not, it will be a three-day vacation. I'll either go and have fun or go home and have fun. It's a win-win."
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