LaRoche is French for "The Suck"

I have to admit, it is nice seeing the Pirates above the .500 mark this late in the season. Another promising performance by a starting pitcher (Zach Duke) helped the Bucs win again in Saint Louis last night. Duke's solid outing and four-hit efforts by the middle infielders aside, the real reason the Buccos won this game was last night's performance of Andy LaRoche. What did Andy do last night to help his team win? Nothing. Sometimes doing nothing is worth more than screwing something up. Andy was set to make a pinch-hitting appearance in the 9th last night, but John Russell realized he was messing with destiny and sat him back down. I know the real reason was to get a lefty to face the right-handed reliever Tony LaRussa just brought in when LaRoche was announced, but let me dream here. Of course, with Andy out of the lineup, big brother Adam couldn't let the Pirates go one game without a miserable LaRoche performance...

0-5, 2 K. 5 LOB.

What does proud papa Dave LaRoche think about all this? Dave carved out a respectable baseball career through the '70s and '80s, even introducing his famed "LaLob" eephus pitch. Unfortunately for him, his legacy in Pittsburgh is tarnished a bit. If he spent more time in the backyard with his boys instead of pitching a baseball 30 feet in the air at 40 mph maybe the Pirates would be a bit more respectable.

Interesting factoid of the day, according to the ever-reliable Wikipedia page of proud papa Dave:

"LaRoche is of Mexican descent. According to his son Andy, Dave LaRoche's surname was Garcia, however, he changed it to LaRoche at age seven, the last name of his stepfather. "La Roche is French, but I have no French in me," Andy LaRoche said. "My grandfather was 100% Mexican."

This is certainly good news for Mexico's next entry in the World Baseball Classic.