In what has been another disappointing season for the Buccos, our one shining light in terms of pitching is making his final appearance of the year against the Brewers this evening.
Paul Maholm has put together the kind of year that the Pirates expected of all 4 of their young starters. He has posted so many quality games that it boggles the mind that the Pirates have only given him 9 wins. He has allowed fewer than 3 runs in 9 no decisions. If the Pirates win those 9 games, Maholm is an 18 game winner and the Pirates aren't in dead last in the NL Central.
The culprit in many of these failings has been the bullpen, which has failed to hold leads in many of Paul's starts. However, the offense can also be given some of the blame, as they routinely fail to score more than 4 runs in Maholm's starts.
Paul seeks to do what no other Pirates pitcher can even dream of doing this season, win 10 games. Now, 10 games on a team that only wins 65 or so isn't that big of a deal. It usually means the pitcher got lucky that things worked out for him despite some poor performances. Maholm is quite the opposite. He has earned every one of his wins by keeping the ball down and not having the poor performances that have plagued the rest of the starters, all 11 of them over the course of the year.
Against Maholm tonight will be CC Sabbathia, the same pitcher who 1 hit the Pirates a few weeks ago. Can the task be any tougher for the Pirates and Maholm to get him that elusive 10th win?
Hopefully the fact that CC is going on 3 days rest will work in the Pirates favor and limit his effectiveness to only 4-5 innings or so. If he goes 6-7 innings however, Maholm's comrades may not be able to muster enough offense to get him to double digit wins.
