It may be hard to find another state that has such a sports rivalry between two cities as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. If you ever want to know where a fellow Pennsylvanian’s sports allegiance lies, bring up the Pirates vs. Phillies, Eagles vs. Steelers, Penguins vs. Flyers, or 76ers vs…… well forget the NBA in this matter. While the Pirates and Phillies are not division rivals and only play six times a year, it still brings a lot of passion out of fans on both sides of the spectrum. This particular series would have the Pirates ending a short five game road trip in the city of brotherly love after a successful series in Chicago.
Monday May 17: The Charlie Morton project was on display once again and as usual it was a disappointment. Morton would go only four innings allowing six earned runs on six hits. The Pirates brass keep talking about Morton’s stuff and us Pirate fans keep waiting for him to deliver. The only bright side for the Pirates offense was a leadoff home run by Delwyn Young. Unfortunately for the Pirates, the Phillies came out with the offense and pitching one would expect from the two time defending National League Champions. Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick would go eight innings allowing two runs on five hits. The performance of the night came from the $125 million dollar man Ryan Howard. Howard would go 3 for 5 at the plate with six RBI’s and a massive grand slam in eighth inning, off of Pirates reliever Jack Taschner, to give the Phillies a 12-2 win over the Buccos.
Tuesday May 18: When the pitching matchups came out for the series Bucco Nation had a bad taste in their mouths when they saw Roy Halladay would be on the hill for the second and final game of this series. Amazingly Zach Duke had the pitching performance of the season, and possibly his career, as he would out duel the former Cy Young award winner. Duke would go six innings allowing only one run and pick up his third win of the season in a 2-1 win over the Phillies. Evan Meek, Joel Hanrahan, and Octavio Dotel would come out of the bullpen for the Buccos to seal the victory. Halladay would pitch a great game of his own as he went the entire game allowing only two runs on nine hits. The Pirates would collect their offense off of an Andy LaRoche double and a Garrett Jones single. The Phillies lone run would come from Juan Castro who singled in a run. When the Pirates play against a pitcher the caliber of Halladay, their only chance of winning is to get an amazing pitching performance, which they did from Zach Duke.
When you play a short two game series the least you can hope for is a split and while the Pirates were outscored this series 13-4 they finished the road trip 3-2. They now head back to PNC Park for a short home stand against the Brewers and Braves. Be sure to check back to Fans From The Stands for coverage on those series.
Current Record: 17-22
As Always…..Lets Go Bucs!!!!!
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