Ohlendorf Update

One of TigerBlog's favorite musicals is "South Pacific," which follows two unlikely sets of lovers during World War II.

Cutting to the chase, Emile and Nellie end up having a better time of it than Joe Cable and Liat, Bloody Mary's daughter. Along the way, you have some classic Broadway songs, including "Younger Than Springtime," "I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy," "There Is Nothing Like A Dame" and "Some Enchanted Evening."

The show first opened in 1949, and there is a revival at Lincoln Center that opened in 2008 and reaches the end of its run this weekend. The show was taped and has been shown on PBS a bunch of times recently as part of the "Live From Lincoln Center" series.

Not everyone lives happily ever after in "South Pacific," especially Cable. During the first act, Cable talks about growing up in Ardmore, outside of Philadelphia, before attending Princeton. At one point in the first act, he and Nellie sing about being so far away from home, including Cable's line of "Philadelphia, Pa., Princeton, N.J. - How far are they?"

Cable and Emile end up sneaking onto a Japanese island to spy on Japanese naval movements, and they end up helping the Americans to information that results in a major victory. For his efforts, Cable gets strafed and killed by the Japanese.

As Princeton alums go, it's hard to imagine someone getting less support from his team - though one person is coming close (at least since Cable is actually a fictional person).

In that vein, your National League ERA leaders from No. 31 through No. 37 go like this right now:

31. Mike Leake (Cincinnati) 3.78
32. Bronson Arroyo (Cincinnati) 3.87
33. Ross Ohlendorf (Pittsburgh) 3.90
34. Mike Pelfrey (New York) 3.95
35. Wandy Rodriguez (Houston) 4.04
36. Ricky Nolasco (Florida) 4.22
37. Derek Lowe (Atlanta) 4.29

If you take Ohlendorf out of that group, the combined record of the other six is 66-47. And Ohlendorf?

Well, the 2006 Princeton grad is having his second straight outstanding second half of the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Just like a year ago, his first in the starting rotation for one of baseball's worst teams, Ohlendorf is pitching much better as the season goes along.

And what does he have to show for it? After last night's eight-inning, four-hit, two-walk, five-strikeout performance in a 3-2 loss to the Florida Marlins, Ohlendorf stands at 1-10.

This was from the AP story after the game:
Ohlendorf, who gets a major league-low average of 2.1 runs of support per game, permitted only four hits over eight innings, but all four led to runs.
The right-hander hasn't received more than three runs of support while on the mound in any of the 20 games he's pitched, and he's won only once despite having a 2.34 ERA over his last 10 starts. No wonder manager John Russell said, "One of these days, we'll score him some runs."

It can't be easy for Ohlendorf, who continues to be strong game after game, only to come away empty each time.

The Pirates rank last in the NL and 29th out of 30 in Major League Baseball (ahead of only Seattle) in team batting average (.240) and runs scored (410, or 233 fewer than the Yankees). Pittsburgh was optimistic coming into the year about the possibility of ending a 17-year streak of losing seasons, but instead it's been a brutal season; the Pirates are now 40-80, and, with the recent surge by the Orioles, the owners of the worst record in baseball.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is San Diego's Will Venable, who went 2 for 5 in a 5-1 win over the Cubs yesterday.

Like the Pirates, the Padres were picked to be a last-place team this year, and in fact there were probably more people who thought the Pirates had a chance to be good than the Padres. Instead, the win yesterday put the Padres at 72-47, the best record in the National League and trailing only the Yankees and Rays in all of Major League Baseball.

As August winds down, the Padres are threatening to blow away the rest of the NL West, as they now are six up on the Giants and double figures ahead of everyone else. History does not show too many teams who have given away such leads in September.

Venable is seventh in the National League with 22 stolen bases, and he is one of only 10 players in the Major Leagues with at least 10 home runs and 20 stolen bases. His team is the No. 1 surprise story in baseball this year, and it's starting to look like he's a lock to be in the postseason.

The other Princeton-basketball-player-turned-San-Diego-Padre is of course Chris Young, who hasn't pitched since going six shutout innings on April 8 in his only appearance of the year. Still, Young is rehabbing well and could be back for the stretch drive and postseason.

For Ohlendorf, the postseason isn't going to happen this season, but hey, if the Padres can have this kind of turnaround after finishing 20 games out of first a year ago, maybe the Pirates can make a move next year. At least to getting back to .500, which would be a great step.

And maybe Ohlendorf can get a few runs in his next start, which will be early next week against the Cubs.