Evan Meek is Filthy and Disgusting

 

Don’t take that literally. I’m sure he is a very clean and nice guy. I’m talking about him as a pitcher. Filthy and Disgusting are perfect words to describe his outing tonight (and his outings this season)

Meek came in the 7th inning and was lights out. Everyone should be very excited about him as he is the probable future closer. (FSN pgh call him “Evan Almighty”) The bottom of the 7th inning was an interesting one. I noticed him on deck swinging a bat. I was stunned and very confused as I’m sure most of you guys were as well. It was his 1st ML at bat. He layed down a very very very nice sac bunt. (If only some of the other pitchers could do the same)

8th inning was intense. Meek struck out Ryan Howard on a full count curveball with Rollins at 2B.

 

2 batters later, he got Ibanez to flyout to left. He went 2 scoreless IP. Only allowed 1 hit, 1BB. His ERA dropped down to 0.98. He still has the lowest ERA in baseball. Just ridiculous.

 

No offense to Andrew McCutchen (he has been great all year long) but last night’s performance from Evan is just one of many great great outings and he really deserves to go to the All Star Game.

Meek reguarding All Star Nod:

“A few people have asked me about it, and I thought a little about it. I think it would be a honor to go. It would be awesome to go. But other than that, I’m just trying to keep things day to day, just looking at the schdule, seeing what road trips we got, where were going and just going from there. But in terms of thinking about it, I really havent’t that much.”

John Russell openly pushed for his selection to the All Star Game:

Asked if Meek should make it: “Absolutely. This guy has gotten accolades from around the league. The Players know him, managers know him…hes not fun to hit off. What he’s done the 1st half of the year…absolutely. I think he should be a shoo-in. What he’s done to opposing teams is phenomenal.” -Pittsburgh Post Gazette

How has Meek–In his first full season in the majors–achieved such consistent dominance?

“JR has been very consistent in putting me in similar situations. I can read it pretty well down in the bullpen. If we have the lead, I pretty much know that seventh inning is going to be mine. I know my role more and so preparation and routine has become much more consistent. I’m just keeping things simple. All I do is figure out who I’m facing, go over what we went over and that’s it. I just know what stuff I have and know what I feel is going to get the hitter out.” -Bygoshitslangosh 

I guess we will have to wait and wonder who will represent the Bucco’s until Sunday.

 

Sorry to have stolen the thunder away from Daniel McCutchen but I thought Evan Meek deserved praise for an outstanding year so far. (The guys in the bullpen seem to get over looked often)

He went 5 IP 2R 1ER 4K 0BB

78 Pitches, 51 for K’s

D Cutch got ahaed of 12 of the 23 batters he faced. It is his 1st win of the season and 2nd ML win for Daniel. (1st win was Oct 2, 09) McCutchen pitched very well. He even struck out the side in the 2nd inning

• Dotel picked up his 17th save of the season.
• The Pirates have won the last 3 of 4 and are now 17-19 at PNC Park this season.
• Pirates best win % vs opp at PNC Park (Going into July 1st)

vs Marlins: 19-9 .679%

vs Rockies 21-13 .618%

vs Phillies 17-11 .607%

• The Pirates starting pitchers have just 4ER in 32 1/3 innings (going into last nights game)
• The Pirates have won 2 in a row for the 1st time since May 20th.
• 22 of 28 wins this year have been by 2 runs or less. They’re 14-12 in 1 run games and 12 of last 13 wins have been by 2 or fewer runs.
• Bucs happy to have rough June behind them -Pirates.com
• GFJ celebrated his 1 year anniversary in the the bigs yesterday. How has he done? Check out RTJR for the recap of his 1st game and WHYGAVS for a detailed summary.

Pedro Alvarez batted in the 2 spot yesterday for the 1st time. I noticed a lot of people on twitter not too happy with it. Traditionally the 2nd spot isnt a power guy. More of a guy that can lay down bunts, move the lead off guy over. The beauty in baseball is that you don’t have to follow by the book. Jason Heyward hits in the 2nd spot and he’s a power guy. I was curious to see how he would do. I’m all for giving Pedro more AB’s and he would see better pitches hitting 2nd. He went 1-4 with an RBI and 2K’s. The 1 hit he had was a MONSTER. a 405 ft RBI double. When it left the bat I stood up immediately. It was hit into the north side notch. SO CLOSE to being his first homerun. Once this guy gets going, he’s going to be a machine.

• Neil Walker should be returning to the lineup tomorow. He took grounders at 2B yesterday.

 

Today’s Pitching Matchup:

Jamie Moyer

9-6 4.30 ERA

Moyer became just the 40th pitcher in baseball history to throw 4,000 or more innings in a career in his last start Sunday against the Jays. He also allowed the 506th homer of his career, an all-time record

vs.

Ross Ohlendorf

0-6 4.90 ERA

Ohly hasn’t won in his last 11 starts this year, although he did not allow an earned run in his last outing.

 

Around the Ballparks:

• The Dbacks fired GM Josh Byrnes and Manager AJ Hinch. Kirk Gibson will be the new interim manager and Jerry DiPoto will be the interim GM.
• Ex Pirate, Matt Capps ERA in April = 0.68. Since then = 5.07. Enough said.
• Chase Utley will be out 8 weeks. That’s 50 games. He’s only missed 54 in his previous 5 years combined.
• Kevin Wood of the Reds made his Major league debut yesterday against the Cubs. He went 7IP 2H 2ER 4K
• A Rod hit is 595th Career HR yesterday against the Mariners.