News

All right, so it's not quite like, or anything like, "The News" of the new Steelers coach. What it is, however, is news.

The Good: Freddy Sanchez is still hitting. In a piece of fresh good news, the two recent arrivals from AAA both hit the ball today, too.
Snark: How's the performance of the rookies for respecting the integrity of the game, Mr. Tracy?

The Bad: The Pirates are just bad. The starting pitching sucked tonight, and with the month of August now a memory (and that crazy mashing offense gone, too, I'm correctly assuming) the Pirates are going to appear a lot worse than just bad if they don't get quality starts. And, I mean, even with quality starts, they're still pretty bad. Unless the two rookies actually morph into MLB-caliber hitters. Would be nice. But being a Bucco fan for many years has taught me not to dream.

The Disturbing: I know it was a rehab start, but somehow I was hoping a return to Indy would magically cure everything that's ailed Zach Duke. But 71 pitches in 3 2/3 innings? 7 hits? 2 earned runs? Color me unimpressed. If Duke could be 75-80% of the pitcher he was his rookie season (an ERA around the level of Morris, at least), that might help the Pirates go from pathetic to merely bad.

In summary: As usual, losing sucks. I realize that's not news, but I figure I'd follow in the footsteps of newscasters and report non-news as actual news.