NEW YORK — When is the right time — or is there a right time — to bunt?

It is one of those baseball equations that sends the sports’ statisticians scrambling for answers, and Exhibit A in the study might well be how Pirates wasted eight more scoreless innings from James McDonald and a leadoff double in the 10th to fall to the New York Mets, 1-0, on Nick Evans’ walkoff single in the bottom half Monday night at Citi Field.

Go back to the top half …

Andrew McCutchen opened by lining a double into the left-field corner. That brought the Pirates’ first runner in scoring position since the fifth and, to boot, one of the fastest men in all of Major League Baseball.

Game: Pirates vs. New York Mets, 7:10 p.m., Citi Field.

TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).

Pitching: LHP Zach Duke (7-13, 5.47) vs. RHP R.A. Dickey (10-6, 2.91).

Key matchup: New York’s leadoff man, Jose Reyes, is 7 for 21 in his career vs. Duke, with a home run, triple and three steals.

Of note: Dickey, the first knuckleballer the Pirates will have faced this year, has a 1.96 ERA at the Mets’ cavernous new home, 3.96 everywhere else.

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On deck was Jose Tabata, 9 for his past 17 with runners in scoring position, and a stirring .410 in that category since his June 9 debut. He also is proficient at going the opposite way, ideal for hitting behind the runner in this case.

In the hole was Neil Walker, owner of an 18-game hitting streak and a .330 average with runners in scoring position.

Surely, someone would drive him home.

Alas, Tabata was ordered to bunt, and he did so badly: The ball squibbed just in front of home plate, and New York catcher Josh Thole nailed McCutchen at third.

End threat.

Tabata accepted blame, beyond consolation at his stall.

His only words: “I missed it.”

Even McCutchen, who had no choice but to break on contact, accepted some blame.

“It probably could have gone either way,” McCutchen said. “I probably shouldn’t have broken.”

But the call for the bunt came from the dugout, the domain of manager John Russell. And his explanation, one delivered with audible conviction, was that he felt the Pirates had a better chance to score McCutchen from third base with one out than from second with no outs.

“Oh, with Andrew McCutchen at third and one out, there are a lot of ways to score right there,” Russell said. “We’ll take advantage of any opportunity we can. Jose can bunt. If we get to a 2-0 count there, it’s a different story. We probably let him swing the bat. But we need to get Andrew to third base. With his kind of speed, a chopper, a sacrifice fly, wild pitch — anything’s going to score him. With his kind of speed, it’s important to get him to third base.”

Most modern statistical studies — though not all — downplay or outright dismiss the value of a bunt, prioritizing the preservation of the out over the extra 90 feet. Russell’s tendency all through his managerial tenure has been to favor the bunt, including a handful of occasions this season where a fast player had a leadoff double.

This particular move, beyond dispute, failed.

After Tabata’s bunt, Walker popped up to short to end that 18-game hitting streak, and Garrett Jones, who earlier scorched two hits, grounded out to first.

Then, with Chan Ho Park on the mound for the bottom half, Ruben Tejada lined a one-out double to left, and Evans followed with an RBI single in the same direction. Tabata threw to the plate, but it was late and off line, and the Mets had the game’s only run.

That left McDonald with nothing but pats on the back to show for those eight scoreless innings that extended his streak to 17, tied for the third-longest current streak in the majors. He held the Mets to five hits, struck out four, walked two, only once allowed multiple men on base and, all numbers aside, was in complete control.

“He did a great job,” Russell said.

“He’s come out every time and given us the opportunity to win ballgames,” McCutchen said. “Pounding the zone, getting ahead, getting outs … that’s all you can ask.”

In a season where the Pirates’ starting pitching has mostly ranged from awful to abysmal, McDonald has been a ray of light: His ERA is 3.48 in eight starts since being acquired July 31, and he has had four starts of at least six innings with one or zero runs.

“Every game, your goal is to put up zeroes, give your team a chance to win,” McDonald said. “Last time, these guys roughed me up, so I had to motivate myself, pound the strike zone, get ahead of these guys.”

New York scored five runs in as many innings off McDonald in a 5-1 victory Aug. 21 at PNC Park.

The Pirates managed five hits and four walks in six innings off the Mets’ promising rookie, Dillon Gee, but they stranded nine and, ultimately, stranded 10 while going 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

Walker’s hitting streak ended after he went 0 for 3 with two walks. The only rookie in franchise history with a longer streak was Jimmy Williams, with 27 games in 1899. During the streak, Walker batted .364 — 28 for 77 — with five home runs, six doubles, two triples and 18 RBIs.

This was the Pirates’ third extra-inning loss in the past four games, and the franchise’s worst season in a half-century saw the record fall to 48-95, five losses shy of 100.

Botched bunt costs Pirates in 1-0 loss to Mets – Pittsburgh Post Gazette is a post from: ThisCloud.net

Hollywood watchers love nothing better than putting the boot in to a struggling star, as actress Jennifer Aniston seems to be finding out. The knives came out for Tom Cruise this summer with his latest movie declared a turkey – and now it’s the former Friends star’s turn to be proclaimed a busted flush.

The difference of course is that Cruise was once box office platinum, while Aniston has – as many critics are keen to point out once again – never managed to capitalise on the fame she earned for 10 years in the world’s most popular sitcom.

Friends wrapped in 2004, 10 years and 238 episodes after it started. Where are they now? Well, Matt LeBlanc (Joey) has not acted since 2006 while Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) now produces the US version of Who Do You Think You Are?.

Matthew Perry‘s post-Friends career – he played Chandler – has included Emmy nominations for a part in The West Wing, but been comparatively low-key.

Courtney Cox (Monica), at least, is doing well on TV, with a starring role in Cougar Town and David Schwimmer (Ross) has directed successfully (Run Fatboy Run) and worked in theatre. But none of the five have managed to escape the long shadow of Friends for big screen success in lead parts.

Aniston has come closest, with a string of film roles – but has never scored a major hit. And her big screen successes have all been as a co-star – in Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey, Marley & Me with Owen Wilson and The Break-Up with Vince Vaughn.

Now, her latest romantic comedy, The Switch (above), is officially a flop. Opening in the US this weekend, it took just m and languished in eighth place in the box office charts – as gossip blogger Perez Hilton put it: “Ouch!!!! She is just not a film star!”

“Another Aniston movie flops,” was the Toronto Sun‘s succinct headline. “At what point will Hollywood give up on Jennifer Aniston?” wondered Forbes magazine. “Jennifer Aniston: Where should she go from here?” asked Entertainment Weekly.

And today Hilton has an answer for EW, with the news that Aniston seems to be capitulting: she will return to the small screen to join her old Friends co-star Courtney Cox with a guest role in Cougar Town, where she will play Cox’s shrink. 

Knives out for Jennifer Aniston as ‘Switch’ flops – First Post is a post from: ThisCloud.net

Former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young jumped to the defense of T.I. after the Grammy winner and his wife, Tameka Cottle, were arrested on suspicion of possessing methamphetamines, five months after the rapper finished a prison stint on weapons charges.

Mr. Young told The Associated Press that he was skeptical about the charges and the circumstances of the arrest.

“I assume that you’re innocent until you’re proven guilty,” Mr. Young told the AP. “If he was driving and smoking marijuana, that is absolutely stupid. But why was he pulled over in the first place? Because he had a Maybach [luxury German-made car]? Because he was black? Because they know who he is and resent his success?”

Mr. Young, an ordained minister, married the 29-year-old rapper, real name Clifford Harris, and Ms. Cottle last month in Miami.

T.I. and his wife were arrested Wednesday night in West Hollywood after deputies smelled marijuana and pulled the couple over, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said. They were released from jail yesterday after posting ,000 bail each.

The Atlanta-based, multiplatinum hitmaker, who has a key role in the movie “Takers,” served seven months in federal prison and three months in a halfway house for possessing unregistered machine guns and silencers. He was to serve three years of supervised release after his prison sentence ended in March.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the arrest may land T.I. back before the federal judge who signed off on a deal that had shaved years off the potential prison term for the weapons charges.

The former TV producer who tried to blackmail David Letterman was freed Thursday after four months in jail.

The Associated Press said that New York City Correction Department records show that Robert “Joe” Halderman got time off for good behavior from his six-month term at the Rikers Island jail complex, but he still has to complete 1,000 hours of community service. He’ll be on probation for five years.

Mr. Halderman, 52, had pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny for demanding million in hush money to keep from revealing personal information about the star of CBS’s “Late Show With David Letterman.” The attempt spurred the host, who had married his longtime girlfriend about six months before, to confess on-air that he’d had sex with women on his show’s staff.

The former CBS “48 Hours” producer is looking for work, his lawyer said. A spokesman for Mr. Letterman declined comment on Mr. Halderman’s release.

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