Today is quite literally Charlie Morton day, as Sports Illustrated has decided to feature Chaz with a big feature on their website about his turnaround. My favorite is this video, where he shows the changes he made to his motion this year and explains how that helps his sinker (teaser: I’m going to talk more about sinkers soon). There’s also a video in which Morton talks about his journey from last year to this year and a longer story. It’s all interesting stuff that I’m sure quite a few of you will be interested in as Morton’s maybe the most intriguing Pirate this year.
Hopefully, Morton can get back on track tonight after his rough start against the Mets last week. The Astros don’t have a lot in the way of lefties and one of Morton’s better starts this year came against Houston, so this seems like a good place for him to gather himself and be Electric Charlie again.
The Astros will counter with JA Happ, who’s not terribly good but who is a lefty, which is something that sets him up for success against this decimated Pirate lineup. Lefties mean Neil Walker batting right handed and Lyle Overbay being even worse than usual and Matt Diaz, so it’s up to Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata and maybe even the semi-resurgent Brandon Wood even more so than usual to carry the offense tonight. I think Morton will give the Pirates a strong start, but no one wants a rehash of last night’s tightrope walk.
First pitch tonight is at 8:05.
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