Curve Ball Deferred to, One Hopes, a Better Year

I had it in mind to see the Altoona Curve playing in Connecticut this year (missed them last year) but they scheduled a rainy week to pull into New Britain; willing girlfriend + friends to drive with were mooted by the kind of cold drizzle that will depress a midweek minor league game's attendance into the high double digits. The Curve, for the record, were swept by the Rock Cats; actually they're the worst team in their league, an unsurprising but still ungood sign for the Pirates' low-wattage farm system. I wouldn't have minded seeing the Wednesday game, in which Danny Moskos acquitted himself pretty well (for someone who's not Matt Wieters, at least) and Jose Tabata had two at-bats before reaggravating a bad hamstring. That was a game that started at 10:30 in the morning, though. Who goes to a double-A game at 10:30 in the morning?

One more reason Dejan Kovacevic's Pirates blog is so indispensable is its daily recapping of the system's minor league games. In addition, say, to worrying about Brandon Moss underperforming, you can now worry about Gorkys Hernandez underperforming, too. 'Course the Buccos are only three games under .500 at the moment, which is pretty good, considering.