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Game 85: Oswalt Shuts Out Bucs

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In the scheme of things, this won’t matter. This game, this series. The Pirates were swept by a team wallowing in mediocrity. They scored only five runs in three games. They got just one hit off Roy Oswatl in the finale on Thursday afternoon. But in a way, this series is a microcosm of the year to date.

Oswalt gave up a first inning knock to Neil Walker and that was it. He walked two. He hit one. He whiffed eight. Ross Ohlendorf deserved better. He allowed solo jacks to Lance Berkman in the first and the fourth, but otherwise gave up just five hits and no other runs over seven innings. He struck out five and walked one.

Hurry up and get here All-Star break.

The Good
Ohlendorf has had some tough luck. He has the lowest ERA of the starting pitchers in the rotation, but is only 1-7 on the year.

The Bad
The offense.

Getting swept by Houston.

The Rest
Berkman has homered in four straight games. This is the fourth time in his career he tatered in four straight games. The club record is six games by Morgan Ensberg back in April 2006. For the series he had four homers, six RBI and scored five times. Just think how bad that could’ve been had Houston actually been putting people on board in front of him.

The Pirates have been shutout in three of Ohlendorf’s starts and have been shutout nine times in 2010.

Oswalt has 15 career wins against the Pirates. He has only been tougher against the Reds. I was surprised to find out that Oswalt only had six career shutouts coming into this game. He trails Dontrelle Willis and Randy Wolf on the active list as they both have eight. The active leader is Roy Halladay with 18. Chris Carpenter is next with 13.

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