off the rails

It’s all gone horribly wrong for Pittsburgh. The Pirates, who had captured our fancy in the season’s first half, have lost nine straight and fallen four games under .500. Their playoff hopes may be dashed even before September gets here. Paul Maholm, the left-hander from Greenwood by way of Mississippi State, has had two chances to play stopper during the Pirates’ skid and failed both times. On Saturday, he allowed 10 hits, a walk and seven earned runs in 6 2/3 innings of a 13-2 loss at home to San Diego. On Monday, when the losing skid was just three, Maholm yielded six hits, three walks and four earned runs in six innings of a 5-3 loss at home to the Chicago Cubs. For the year, Maholm is 6-12 with a 3.54 ERA. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, the former Jackson Mets skipper, may be headed toward one of his most disappointing finishes. He’s not alone there; all the Mississippi-connected managers in the big leagues are having tough times. An awful start may have doomed Ron Gardenhire’s Minnesota club. Washington has fallen into last place since Davey Johnson took over. Baltimore has been a disaster in Buck Showalter’s first full year there, and Kansas City has floundered again under Ned Yost.
P.S. Former Mississippi Braves shortstop Brent Lillibridge hit his eighth homer of the season on Saturday for the Chicago White Sox. Lillibridge, a 185-pound utility man who has just 132 at-bats this season, was in the game as a defensive replacement at first base for Adam Dunn, the 285-pound slugger signed to a big-money deal in the off-season. Dunn has 11 homers in 331 at-bats. He is hitting .163 and has struck out an MLB-worst 142 times.