wrigley phantom
07-30-2007, 11:58 AM
PHILADELPHIA -- About two hours before the Pirates took the field to try to salvage one game in their three-game set at Citizens Bank Park, a brutal thunderstorm passed through the city. At one point, amid the piercing cracks of thunder, a lightning bolt struck a light tower at the park. The Phillies' Jumbotron went black.
Fortunately, the scoreboard returned to life before game time. On the other hand, the Pirates offense couldn't say the same.
And with another loss -- this one a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the surging Phillies in front of 40,030 fans -- the Pirates will return home on the heels of another frustrating series, their fifth in a row.
"That's how it's been recently," right fielder Xavier Nady said afterward. "Somehow, we're going to have to dig ourselves out of it, because it's not fun."
A 2-12 skid hasn't been fun. Neither had the 1-5 road trip that came to a halt with Sunday's loss.
"I don't know what it's going to take," said Nate McLouth, who provided the only substantial offensive spark with a leadoff home run in the sixth. "But hopefully, it will happen soon."
The left-field scoreboard wasn't the only victim of the severe mid-morning storm. Starter Ian Snell also found himself bothered by the untimely storm, which caught him off guard. That is, after the storm had passed.
After being told that the game would likely be delayed about an hour and half past the expected 1:35 p.m. ET start time, Snell sat down in the clubhouse cafeteria, grabbed a sandwich and found himself wrapped up in a game of cards to try to pass the time away. So when someone approached him around 1:30 p.m. and told him the game would be starting in about 20 minutes, Snell had to cut short his pregame preparation.
"Sitting around in the rain delay is pretty tough, getting your mind together and going out there," said Snell, the Delaware native who had numerous friends and family members in the stands for the game. "It just didn't feel right. But I did enough."
That he did. After stumbling out of the All-Star break with three disappointing outings, Snell responded by battling on Sunday. By no means was he dominant, evidenced by the six hits and three walks he gave up in his six innings of work. But for a club that had seen its starting pitcher last more than four innings just once in the past five games, the six-inning performance was a pleasant respite on a six-game road trip that has seemed much longer.
"[It was] a competitive start from Ian Snell," manager Jim Tracy said. "He did a very nice job keeping us in the game."
The rush to get stretched and warmed up may have played a part in something that both Tracy and Snell noted afterward. Snell appeared to be a little too quick with his delivery, which resulted in the periodic loss of the pinpoint control that Snell flashed so brilliantly during the first half of the season.
"It felt like my upper half was quicker than my lower half," said Snell, who has now dropped four straight decisions. "It felt like my lower half was just asleep a little and that I was just trying to find a way to get it going. I was rushing. It was just something mentally."
He would have gotten out of the first unscathed if it hadn't been for the two-out wild pitch that trickled to the backstop, allowing Tadahito Iguchi to score. In the fifth, it was Jimmy Rollins' leadoff triple that stayed fair by mere inches which led to another Phillies run. And in between came a 31-pitch third-inning battle for Snell, in which he was fortunate to strand the bases loaded after giving up a run-scoring double to center fielder Aaron Rowand.
Instead of letting the start be marred by the three that scored, Snell preferred to view the start as a jump back in the right direction coming off the shortest outing of the season his last time out.
"It's not frustrating. I think it's a quality start," said Snell, whose ERA has crept up to a season-high 3.66 mark. "It's been a tough stretch since the break. I feel [I am] getting myself back together to where I was before the break."
The good news for the Pirates ended there, because the three runs Snell gave up proved to be more than enough for Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick, who handcuffed the Pirates with a sinker that McLouth called "probably one of the best that I've seen all year."
Run support for Snell has been an ongoing issue all season. In Snell's nine losses, the offense has scored an average of fewer than two runs a game with him on the mound. On Sunday, it was one.
"One run's not going to get you very far," was Tracy's accurate summary afterward.
The lack of runs scored has plagued the Pirates throughout this post-All-Star break skid. The team has been outscored 49-87 in that span.
"I think as a team we're scuffling," Nady said, suggesting that maybe the hitting struggles have been taking a mental toll. "We've been losing for a while. And today, we never really had an inning where we had any guys on base. We never really had any momentum."
Seven hits would be the extent of the Pirates damage on the afternoon. And when opportunities did present themselves, the Pirates couldn't capitalize, going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
The black skies had turned sunny by the time by the time the Pirates headed out of Philadelphia early on Sunday evening. And as Nady said, they are hopeful that the results will be more along those lines with a trip back home.
"We've just got to start winning some games," he said.
Fortunately, the scoreboard returned to life before game time. On the other hand, the Pirates offense couldn't say the same.
And with another loss -- this one a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the surging Phillies in front of 40,030 fans -- the Pirates will return home on the heels of another frustrating series, their fifth in a row.
"That's how it's been recently," right fielder Xavier Nady said afterward. "Somehow, we're going to have to dig ourselves out of it, because it's not fun."
A 2-12 skid hasn't been fun. Neither had the 1-5 road trip that came to a halt with Sunday's loss.
"I don't know what it's going to take," said Nate McLouth, who provided the only substantial offensive spark with a leadoff home run in the sixth. "But hopefully, it will happen soon."
The left-field scoreboard wasn't the only victim of the severe mid-morning storm. Starter Ian Snell also found himself bothered by the untimely storm, which caught him off guard. That is, after the storm had passed.
After being told that the game would likely be delayed about an hour and half past the expected 1:35 p.m. ET start time, Snell sat down in the clubhouse cafeteria, grabbed a sandwich and found himself wrapped up in a game of cards to try to pass the time away. So when someone approached him around 1:30 p.m. and told him the game would be starting in about 20 minutes, Snell had to cut short his pregame preparation.
"Sitting around in the rain delay is pretty tough, getting your mind together and going out there," said Snell, the Delaware native who had numerous friends and family members in the stands for the game. "It just didn't feel right. But I did enough."
That he did. After stumbling out of the All-Star break with three disappointing outings, Snell responded by battling on Sunday. By no means was he dominant, evidenced by the six hits and three walks he gave up in his six innings of work. But for a club that had seen its starting pitcher last more than four innings just once in the past five games, the six-inning performance was a pleasant respite on a six-game road trip that has seemed much longer.
"[It was] a competitive start from Ian Snell," manager Jim Tracy said. "He did a very nice job keeping us in the game."
The rush to get stretched and warmed up may have played a part in something that both Tracy and Snell noted afterward. Snell appeared to be a little too quick with his delivery, which resulted in the periodic loss of the pinpoint control that Snell flashed so brilliantly during the first half of the season.
"It felt like my upper half was quicker than my lower half," said Snell, who has now dropped four straight decisions. "It felt like my lower half was just asleep a little and that I was just trying to find a way to get it going. I was rushing. It was just something mentally."
He would have gotten out of the first unscathed if it hadn't been for the two-out wild pitch that trickled to the backstop, allowing Tadahito Iguchi to score. In the fifth, it was Jimmy Rollins' leadoff triple that stayed fair by mere inches which led to another Phillies run. And in between came a 31-pitch third-inning battle for Snell, in which he was fortunate to strand the bases loaded after giving up a run-scoring double to center fielder Aaron Rowand.
Instead of letting the start be marred by the three that scored, Snell preferred to view the start as a jump back in the right direction coming off the shortest outing of the season his last time out.
"It's not frustrating. I think it's a quality start," said Snell, whose ERA has crept up to a season-high 3.66 mark. "It's been a tough stretch since the break. I feel [I am] getting myself back together to where I was before the break."
The good news for the Pirates ended there, because the three runs Snell gave up proved to be more than enough for Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick, who handcuffed the Pirates with a sinker that McLouth called "probably one of the best that I've seen all year."
Run support for Snell has been an ongoing issue all season. In Snell's nine losses, the offense has scored an average of fewer than two runs a game with him on the mound. On Sunday, it was one.
"One run's not going to get you very far," was Tracy's accurate summary afterward.
The lack of runs scored has plagued the Pirates throughout this post-All-Star break skid. The team has been outscored 49-87 in that span.
"I think as a team we're scuffling," Nady said, suggesting that maybe the hitting struggles have been taking a mental toll. "We've been losing for a while. And today, we never really had an inning where we had any guys on base. We never really had any momentum."
Seven hits would be the extent of the Pirates damage on the afternoon. And when opportunities did present themselves, the Pirates couldn't capitalize, going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
The black skies had turned sunny by the time by the time the Pirates headed out of Philadelphia early on Sunday evening. And as Nady said, they are hopeful that the results will be more along those lines with a trip back home.
"We've just got to start winning some games," he said.