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.

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.