.....................The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

The Good
Garret Jones continues to mash.
Steven Pearce had a nice night.
Ryan Doumit hit a couple of rockets.

The Bad
Pitchers who cannot throw strikes. They pitched behind in the count all night long and it was their downfall. All of them. Not one guy got ahead in many counts.
Grabow was awful. Truly awful.

The Ugly
Believe it or not, this was a game we could have, should have won. Forget the final score. With any pitching at all, this game was winnable. However, see above one category.
Steven Pearce had a truly ugly at bat in the 8th. At that point Mrs. AZBF and I were working our way out of the big airplane hanger.
Ramon Vazquez is just plain ugly on the field. He has no redeeming value in my eyes.
There are more ads and flashing lights in the big airplane hanger to set off a seizure. Anyone who says that there are too many between innings nonsense at PNC should come to the big airplane hanger. I will be going again tomorrow night and it is auto sun shade night. First 25,000 fans get an auto sun shade. I will take bets that there won't be 25,000 in the stands total tomorrow night. They didn't even have the guess the attendance contest tonight. Jeez, I wonder why?

The highlight tonight for me was having a date with Mrs. AZBF and using the light rail system that runs from the east valley to the downtown area. For less than the price of parking, we walked 10-15 minutes to a station and 30 minutes later were in the park. It was fast and clean and quiet. And the best part, in my eyes, was that it was full and being used by a lot of people, something that the naysayers said would never happen out here.

Until tomorrow.................................

And one thing I forgot. I hope that the team does it's own pitch count because in at least 2 different innings the count was not updated for the Bucs. In the third inning, they did not log 4 pitches on the scoreboard and I noticed the same thing in the 3rd. Either someone asleep at the wheel or a subliminal home field advantage.

Thanks for the game report, AZ. Hopefully, you will get a win to accompany your auto shade tonight Your comments about light rail hit close to home. Down here we are in the early planning stages of light rail development. Of course, there are naysayers saying that nobody will ride it and people are too attached to their automobiles. If it appears to be working in another auto-reliant Sunbelt city, I am confident it will work in Tampa Bay. When I lived in the South Hills, I frequently used the T and would use a similar system if it were available here.

Auto Shade Night...an untapped market of fans here in Pittsburgh. I imagine that it would be a bigger hit than SkyBlast.

You need to have sun to have Auto Shades...Something that seems lacking this year...

I vote for rain ponchos and umbrellas...If they want to sell out the park, have a giveaway with something on it saying Steelers or Penguins...

How about "Who's on First?" sweatshirt night?

When Doumit hit the HR, I thought, "Hey, Az is going to enjoy this game." Morton was just not right ... that was obvious from the first inning on. He could not throw strikes to save his life.

When he threw the curve on the pitchout i knew things weren't going to go well.

We actually were at PNC several years ago on Umbrella Night. Still have them emblazoned with the Giant Eagle logo.

If the Bucs would have traded for Elijiah Dukes, they could have a "Who's your Daddy?" Night.

I, too, was at an umbrella night about 10-11 years ago at Three Rivers Stadium. The umbrella broke the second time I used it. Perhaps it was foreshadowing for how the next decade would be for the Buccos.

If Elijah Dukes became a Pirate, he would singlehandedly help stop Pittsburgh's population numbers from declining.