Junto Boys

ANOTHER LONG SEASON

So I'm watching TV and during a commercial I check the baseball scores on ESPN. Surprisingly, the Pirates are leading the Braves, 9-4, in the 9th in the Braves' home opener. Great, I'll go listen to the end of the game on MLB Gameday Audio. I join the broadcast with one out, bottom 9, nobody on, Braves down 9-4.

Marte on the mound
WALK
WALK
Pitching change
Capps on the mound
Skip Carey comments that setup man Grabow looked sharp in setting down the Braves 1-2-3 in bottom 8, but nowadays, even if your mojo is working, you pitch your one inning and sit down
WALK
WALK, RBI
Pirates 9, Braves 5
Nobody up in the bullpen
SINGLE, 2 RBI
Pirates 9, Braves 7
Runners on 1st and 3rd
FLY OUT, 2 outs
FLY BALL, Skip Carey is dejected, ready to tease the post-game show
LF Jason Bay and CF Nate McLouth converge on the routine fly, both pull up and the ball falls to the turf, tying run scores from first
Pirates 9, Braves 9
FLY OUT, 3 outs

New manager John Russell's message for the longsuffering fans this year was that the team is going to focus on fundamentals, play hard to the last out and do the little things right. Okay. Starting tomorrow.

UPDATE: Bottom 10th. Russell is charged with a visit to the mound for signaling to his catcher to visit the mound. That's the rule but it's never called. Nobody up in the bullpen. I am going to bed.

UPDATE: I didn't. Bucs just hit a homer to take the lead 12-9 and now I am going to bed.

Baseball is a funny game.