Do you know how hot the Pittsburgh Pirates are?
This table is from ESPN stats page this morning:
They're leading in almost every bategory (HA! I just made up a new word!)
If not for a hiccup by Jeff Samardzija last night, he may have no-hit these Pirates.
But Andrew McCutchen hit a little dinky thing to Rizzo, and Samardzija hesitated covering the bag, McCutchen safe.
Other than that, nobody got a hit off him (McCutchen also got a walk).
In the top of the 9th, the Cubs got pesky and stayed at bat for 27 minutes.
Dale Sveum got Carlos Marmol warming up, and they kept showing Samardzija pacing in the dugout.
He'd thrown 99 pitches, so pretty sure he wanted to finish the thing.
But Marmol threw the 9th and it was a W flag for the Cubs, 2-0.
Meanwhile, all kindsa drama with Ryan Dempster to Atlanta supposedly a done deal, but I guess Demp has the final say on trade approval and one would think it'll be resolved maybe today.
And that's going on while... a couple days ago Matt Garza got pulled after throwing 3 innings which caused rumors to fly that he was about to be traded, when in fact he had a "cramp" in his right bicep.
I heard on the radio "near the elbow".
Not good if you're trying to trade a pitcher.
So you know, keep checking MLB Traderumors today.
But getting back to Jeff Samardzija.
I did that illustration last year and now...
Yeah, there's definitely something to that guy.
