Jones delivers with bat, takes back with arm. Bucs lose.

Bummer dude, Capps gives it up in the 10th.  Ughh.. he has been so.. so.. so hittable you have to wonder if his days as a closer are quickly coming to an end.  I’m guessing they are if he doesn’t find a bit more heat on that heater.

So Garrett Jones had a career day with the bat, huh?  That’s good stuff.  To bad he didn’t have the same kind of career day on defense because, if he had, we wouldn’t have needed those two runs in the ninth and we would have put up a W instead of the L.  Not only is he a putrid defender, his arm makes Jason Bay seem like Nolan Ryan.  The Mets ran all over him today and they should.. he can’t throw a baseball 100′, much less throw it on a straight line. If we HAVE to play Jones, then he HAS to be in right field and even then we are going to get killed on the base paths.  My suggestion:  DFA Jones and reclaim the roster spot because he holds absolutely no value to us even with a .280 semi-clutch bat.  McCutchen and his wild throws?  I can live with them – he’s learning the game.

And man, Diaz has been absolutely crushing the ball lately, even in his outs.  Russell has to play him until the fire goes out.  Has to.  McCutchen?  He’s 4 for his last 29 which is a .138 clip.  Not only is he back pulling everything, but now his body language suggests he’s not handling the slump mentally which will wear on him real fast.  The good thing is he’s about to see some pretty hittable pitching in Miami.. the bad thing is they have been scouting the Bucs heavy and could be ready for Cutch.  Dang those black holes in youthful swings.

And how about Jack Wilson?  What a team player this guy is.  He gets put in the two-hole and strikes out two times in ridiculous at bats.  That combined with his “Nobody told me to apologize” spin the other day (no he wasn’t told, his wife was probably told working the phones during the auction with Coonelly and Nutting) makes me just want to barf.  Dude, do you believe in anything?  Every time he runs his mouth he comes whimpering back a few days later saying he’s sorry like a good corporate boy.  You go Jack. 

Tough game for Maholm.. he started, then sat through a short rain delay, then started, then sat.  He ran out of gas early and Russell left him out there hoping for the best.  He was toast.. it didn’t work out.  Now I’m starting to get a bit concerned about Maholm’s velocity since he came out throwing in the 86-87 range on a hot day.  He eventually got his speed up but he was lacking the same crisp movement we typically see from his pitches.  This is now the fifth outing in a row where his stuff has looked on the south side of north, if you get my drift. 

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How about this pissing contest Dejan is having with Jorge Arangure over at ESPN on whether or not the Pirates have made an offer to Miguel Sano?  Dejan broke the story last night that the Bucs made an offer to Sano but Arangure immediately shot back no offer has been made.  Then today Dejan said he had two sources confirm an offer had been made and Arangure spit out immediately that’s not what he has heard.  Arangure is well known as an expert in Latin players so I have to believe his contacts are significantly deeper than Dejan’s on this matter.  But I’m sure we’ll make an offer all the same.

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Heat indexes in the 90’s (100’s during the day) with high humidity at game time for the Marlins series.  Wow, thank God for small favors that we are playing two of them at night.  Too bad they aren’t at 7 PM instead of 6.