Anyone else thrilled about the Pirates trades?

Remember Jason Bay Mr. Suppan? I do, because I've never witnessed a ball hit harder at Miller Park jump out over the fence farther than on July 6, 2008. 440 feet later, Bay's blast bashed off the M&I Bank sign on the scoreboard. Yikes. The good news is that the Brewers won that game in a good ole fashioned shootout fashion. But with Soup Pitched Great scheduled to take the hill on Saturday, I'm sleeping a bit better this weekend knowing Canada's second favorite (Brett Lawrie is clearly the favorite) is no longer a member of the Bucs.

Even though Sheets won't pitch this weekend, I'm also quite pleased that the Ben Sheets Slayer, Xavier Nady is no longer with the NL Central foe either. As I wrote yesterday, the Crew, Cubs and Cardinals all square off against bottom dwelling opponents this weekend, so with the Pirates being weak and getting weaker, that's just fine by me.

For as far as Bay clubbed that shot in July, let's all just take a moment to remember than Russell "3TO" Branyan has the farthest dinger in the history of our beautiful ballpark. 480 feet.