Seriously, why?

--Okay, so Paul Maholm apparently has a sore back. Hopefully skipping tomorrow's start means he'll be just fine, but really, one never knows these things with the Bucco medical staff. (I mean, they don't recognize broken bones!)

--On a serious note: Ian Snell has to pitch on the Labor Day holiday? Lately, and more than just lately (think: after the All-Star break), I have no earthly idea what to expect when Snell is pitching. Is he going to strikeout ten guys? Is he going to give up multiple home runs? Is he going to be good, bad, horrific, or some mediocre or depressing combination of many adjectives? I'd just like to know which pitcher to anticipate tomorrow (because, when it comes to my baseball team, it's much easier to expect your team to lose and to be pleasantly surprised when they win--something I've trained myself, most of the time, to do, albeit not during August's above. 500 run--rather than to be disappointed because you expected a win and they lost). I'd also love it if someone would originate nicknames for the "good," "horrific" and "so-so" sides of Mr. Snell because Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde is just not working for me. Thoughts? Ideas?

--If Snell pitches the way he did last time out and the way Gorzy did today, suffice to say I'm going to be screaming about shutting down pretty much all of the pitchers. For kicks, anyhow, it would be a royal hoot to trot out Colborn or Tracy for an inning or two, though no doubt Mr. Tracy wouldn't want to see the integrity of the game further compromised. But I say rather than worry about Tracy's view of the game's integrity, may as well preserve the arms of our pitchers--even if we're not yet sure--aside from personal health issues--the ultimate value of the arms we're going to preserve.

--I'm worried. Tracy didn't like the way Duke looked in Indy, and neither did I (albeit I'm not yet ready to draw conclusions for next year based on that 1 rehab start). But Tracy and I agree on something (and it's not the first thing we've ever agreed on, either, albeit we probably have more disagreements than agreements). Still, this "I agree with the manager of the Pirates" event is disconcerting. How disconcerting, I'll let you be the judge.