Drew Sutton

I meant to post this last night, so it is a day late.  

Drew Sutton has been very solid since joining the Bucs and a great addition to our bench.  I was happy to hear they finally sent Jose Tabata back to AAA, but after seeing Sutton’s early struggles defensively in RF in the first game after Tabata’s demotion, I thought Sutton was already crashing back to earth. 

Then he promptly gets a hit right back up the middle setting up an Andrew McCutchen 2-run HR and I thought that I need not be so pessimistic.  

Then the walk-off HR.  Un-frickin-believable!

• The PH by Pedro Alvarez was one of the most impressive at-bats I’ve seen from him.  If I wasn’t convinced he has truly turned the corner offensively, I am now.  To get down 0-2, battle back, and then hit the double while coming in cold off the bench… impressive.
• I tend to read into things too much, but the knock on AJ Burnett is that he can’t handle pressure very well.  He certainly seems to relish playing for the Pirates, but going for a season milestone such as 10 wins before the All Star Break certainly amounts to being a situation where one might feel a little increased pressure to perform.  And he didn’t pitch well.  He did fight his way out of the 1st inning, but not a strong performance overall.  He certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt, and after winning 8 straight starts, he was due for a let down.  But if this team is fortunate enough to have some pressure-packed playoff-atmosphere type games down the stretch, I wonder how he’ll perform.  
• I wish Garrett Jones could hit LHP so he could play every day.  That platoon envisioned between him and Casey McGehee is starting to really take shape and work beautifully.