Yesterday's Pirates TV Game

The crummy fortune that has haunted the Pirates for 18 years continued yesterday. On the Bucs first spring training TV telecast of the season, a chance to have the "new" Bucs get the fans' juices flowing, we were treated to a game that was frighteningly reminiscent of the 2010 Pirates....

• A laboring first inning that took starter James McDonald 29 pitches to complete and where the Jays scored twice.
• A second inning that featured LF Matt Diaz turn wrong on a fly ball that allowed the ball to drop for a double, and throwing error by SS Corey Wimberly that led to two more unearned runs.
• (In a side note to SABR and Facebook Friend Dan Bonk, Wimberly's presence at short may have served to make Ronny Cedeno look good!)
• The Pirates fell be hind 5-0 and managed only one hit through seven innings, by which time I switched to the Robert Morris hoops game.

To be fair, it is a spring training game, and the Pirates started players at catcher, first, second, and short who will be long gone by the time camp breaks. Still, it would have been nice to see a crisp performance by the team on their first TV game of the Hurdle Era.

On the other hand, this IS the Pirates we are speaking of here.