Hot-lanta, Hot-Mess

Things didn't start off quite as well as we thought, to say the least. The Pirates were absolutely pathetic this weekend, looking nothing like the team that won 9 of the previous 13. They couldn't field (Doumit's passed ball, LaRoche error, Castillo's throwing error); they couldn't hit (Wilson 0-4, 2 K's and 6 LOB including the tying runs in the top of the 9th on Saturday, Bay, Nady, LaRoche going 4-31 in the series).

Snell was pretty bad on Friday night. That however can be excused, how often does he allow 3 home runs in a game? Looking back on it though, the Pirates should never have been down 3 after the first inning. In the bottom of the first, Snell quickly got the first two batters out. Then Chipper Jones hit a weak ground ball to first that LaRoche simply botched. Still 2 outs, Chipper on first and Andruw Jones walks after Chipper had stole second. The Braves have first and second with 2 outs and All-Star catcher Brian McCann at the dish. He hits a home run just inside the RF foul pole and suddenly the score is 3-0 in an inning which should have ended 1-2-3.

I thought Maholm pitched really strong again yesterday. He went 6 innings, allowing 2 ER. A case could be made that perhaps the wild pitch that he was charged with should have been a passed ball on Doumit. He called for a pitch inside and Maholm threw it up and away. Doumit reached up but it ricocheted off his glove to the backstop allowing a run to score. Granted Maholm's pitch wasn't where it was supposed to but it wasn't that far outside or up that Doumit shouldn't have caught it.

In light of this weekend's misgivings, I still have a positive outlook on the team. With each start that Maholm makes, it appears more and more than he's putting it all together and really solidifying that third spot in the rotation. If you add him to Snell and Gorzelanny, that's a pretty good top of the rotation. If you can trot out three guys in your rotation that you're reasonably sure will give you quality starts, that's 60% of your games that you have some confidence.

Jason Bay's slump is really beginning to reach epic proportions. His average on June 1st was a season high .314. He's now sitting at .249. At this point I have a tough time choosing who will have a higher batting average at the end of the season; Bay or LaRoche. Jason's been really slow at the plate, taking too many pitches (especially with two strikes) and he just seems lost. Smarter people (well, debatable) are getting paid a lot more than I am to find a solution so I don't really know how to fix it at this point but somebody needs to figure out something. This is a guy who was/is the face of the franchise. He was guy you could always count on to hit 30 HR's and drive in 100 RBI's a season.

Tonight starts a series against the Colorado Rockies. Their record might only be around .500 but they are a very dangerous team. Jeff Francis is a good pitcher and the Rockies have some really quality hitters. Matt Holliday, who was an under the radar guy until the Home Run Derby, is a leading favorite for the National League MVP this season. Let's hope our boys can take 2 of 3 to make up for this weekends debacle.