The Sports Monitor

The first road trip of the season started with a loud thud in Arizona on Friday night. The Bucs got clubbed by the Diamondbacks 9-1, bringing to a screeching halt any warm, fuzzy thoughts about that quick 2-0 start to open the season. Manager John Russell sent Charlie Morton to the mound and the D-backs sent him to the showers early, tagging Morton for eight runs and nine hits. Morton didn't make it out of the fourth inning. "I just didn't bear down," Morton told reporters after the game. Diamondbacks starter Rodrigo Lopez looked like an All-Star, tossing six-hit ball and giving up just one run. The trouble was Lopez is a pitcher the Pirates should be able to beat. He missed the 2008 season after Tommy John surgery. He had seven uneventful appearances last season and finished with a 5.70 ERA. To add insult to injury, the stoic Adam LaRoche had two hits against his former team. It doesn't get any better Saturday with Arizona sending out Dan Haren, a rea...

Adam LaRoche no longer is a Pittsburgh Pirate. To that, I say, "Thank you." LaRoche came to the Pirates with promise of a home-run hitter from the left-hand side, one able to launch blasts over the Clemente Wall and perhaps into the Allegheny River. Perhaps too much was expected from him. Whatever the case, his term in Pittsburgh was not very memorable. You could count on a terrible first half followed by a solid second half of the season. By the time he started to hit, the Pirates were selling the good players they had. Now, LaRoche is the one being shipped away. According to WEEI in Boston , the Red Sox gave up shortstop Argenis Diaz and pitcher Hunter Strickland. Diaz was playing in Class AA Portland, hitting .253 with no home runs and 24 RBIs. He has seven stolen bases. The WEEI report describe Diaz as a gifted defensive player without much of a bat. Strickland, who is 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, was 5-4 with a 3.35 ERA in the South Atlantic League. If the reports are accurate,...