Lets Hear It For Good Bunting And Moral Victories!

Being a Pirates fan really seems to give you a giant feeling of overwhelming hopelessness. Kind of like sticking a paper bag over your head and standing in the corner, by yourself, for hours on end.

You know things are starting to get really bad when two of the main guys in charge - the Manager and the General Manager - are publicly gushing about how well the team is bunting, and how they're losing to good teams in extra innings. I suppose that's better than losing 19-2, but even then i'm not quite sure.

Take this quote from General Manager Dave Littlefield in the Post-Gazette's Pirates Notebook:

The Pirates have improved at the basics since last season, general manager Dave Littlefield said, but there remains work to do.
"I think it's better," he said yesterday of the team's fundamental play, which has been a central -- and largely negative -- issue of late. "When I look at our bunting, frankly, it's a lot better. And there are other areas.

Yeah. That's what he said. Bunting. The teams bunting is better.

As a team, the Pirates can't hit, they can't draw walks, they can't field, they can't pitch (Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelaney and Matt Capps excluded) and they can't run the bases. But it's okay. They've improved their bunting.

I have to wonder if Littlefield was on another planet when he gave that interview, because no matter how you look at this teams fundamental play (forget fundamentals, its play in general), it stinks.

Bunting included.

Following Sunday's loss to the Angels (the teams fifth loss in a row) manager Jim Tracy offered some comfort to the fans.

"We played two very good baseball games in this series against arguably the best team in baseball and took them to extra innings both times," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "We did everything we could do today."

What Tracy didn't mention of course, is one of those losses where they did everything they could do, involved the Pirates blowing a 4-0 lead (which was also the teams ninth loss when leading by two or more runs in the seventh inning or later, but who is keeping track?) and another loss where the team left a large village on base.

And just for fun, had a 10-1 drubbing in the middle of the series.

That's some major league reaching for positives. This past off-season the company line was how the team went 37-35 in the second half of the season, it's going to be an awfully long winter if the best they can come up with is, "Hey, look at how we bunted this year."

Lately, it seems everything surrounding this team has been negative. Extremely negative. More than usual actually. Some random snips from the local scribes:

John Perroto, Beaver County Times:

Littlefield pretends that he cares when he drones on and on in one of his patented circular speeches that says nothing and always seems to end with the phrase, "the goal here is to win a world championship."

Well, it says here that's not the case, not when the overmatched general manager who would have long ago been fired if he worked in a competent organization, does things like give away Chris Young, sign Tony Armas, claim Josh Phelps off waivers or jerk around a guy like Indianapolis' Brad Eldred and have him fly back and forth across the country on consecutive days so he can play in just one game in the major leagues.

Then, there is Tracy, who has given the impression that he genuinely cares in exactly one game in two years as manager when he willed the Pirates to a win in Cincinnati last month.

He sits in the dugout game after game looking like he is daydreaming about his 2004 Los Angeles Dodgers team that won the NL West and gave him a million stories to retell in the subsequent three years. The only thing significant about his tenure in Pittsburgh has been his ability to accept losing in such a calm manner and never saying a discouraging word about his players, regardless of how badly they mess up.

What else can you say except...ouch.

Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, following the teams 7-0 loss to Jeff Weaver

SEATTLE -- Stop right here if this sounds familiar ...

A pitcher struggles all season, faces the Pirates and, suddenly, stunningly, performs without a flaw.

Dominates, even.

Still want to go on?

Well, as the latest -- and perhaps greatest -- exhibit, there stood Jeff Weaver on the mound at the end of his Seattle Mariners' 7-0 rout last night, hearing the roar of the 23,553 at Safeco Field after a complete-game, four-hit, no-sweat shutout.

Yes, the same Jeff Weaver who was 0-6 with a 10.97 ERA and astounding .413 opponents' batting average just a few hours earlier.

Not even the many other pitchers the Pirates have encountered in similar circumstances could top that turnaround.

Not Randy Keisler, Kyle Davies, Kameron Loe, Kyle Lohse or Matt Chico.

Not even Kip Wells.

Perhaps the most negative, and cynical game report i've ever read. Not that I blame Dejan, actually, I give him credit for not just writing profanities for 15 inches of print.

Of course, how do you think it feels to be a player, and not just a player, but a good player, having to put up with this mess every night. Lets check in with Ian Snell, likely to be your Pirates All-Star this summer...

"I [expletive] hate this," he said at his stall, his voice rising. "And you can put that in the paper. I [expletive] hate losing. I hate when the team doesn't bring out its full potential. And if they fine me, fine me. I don't care. Because this is getting stupid. We're better than what we're showing."

He was asked if the problem is a lack of effort.

"No, I don't think it's that," Snell continued. "That team that beat us is good. I think they're the best in baseball. But the point is we let the first game of this series get away from us, we let another one get away in Seattle, another one at home ... and it's stupid."

Stupid indeed. Actually, they've let nine get away...but again, who is keeping track?

But as bad as the players have to feel, I still don't think it compares to what we, the fans, have to put up with. Lets face it, the longest tenured Pirate in terms of Major League service time is Jack Wilson - Who has been here six years. A long time, but not as long as we've been here. Not even close when you get right down to it. We've all been here for 15 years. We've seen it all. From Steve Pegues playing in left field to Pat Meares being a big time free agent signing to Derek Bell and Terry Mullholland "sending shockwaves through baseball."

You have to give Littlefield some credit, he actually takes phone calls from angry fans prior to Sunday afternoon games, although, after this past Sunday, i'm not sure how long that practice will continue. The guy was absolutely crushed: Link courtesy of The BuccoBlog.

As good as the question was, i'm not sure where the answer was going....

It's That Time Of Year

Every summer there comes a point where I simply lose interest in Pirates baseball. Normally, it doesn't happen until the end of July or early August, after the trading deadline and just around the time Steelers training camp kicks off. But not this year. This year, that time has already come. As the Pirates are headed for another 90-loss season there is absolutely nothing interesting about this team. And to make matters worse, they seem to have quit as a group.

Well, perhaps Ian Snell hasn't, and Tom Gorzelanney is still pitching well, but after that? There is simply nothing worth watching. I suppose when Neil Walker gets a September call-up it might be worth watching, but right now it's difficult to sit down and actually watch a game.

Even though they took the Angels to extra-innings twice this weekend, the Pirates were overmatched the entire series. It was men against boys, and the Pirates even lucked out by not having to face Jered Weaver or John Lackey (who were both scratched from their starts this weekend).

With one of the most interesting training camps in the past 15 years of Steelers football upon us, and another exciting off-season from the Penguins already underway (more on both of these things in upcoming posts) the Pirates are simply becoming old hat.

Which is a shame.

I'm thinking of taking a baseball road trip to Cleveland and Chicago before the summer is up to satisfy my baseball craving.

Hey, Some Real Steelers News

Well, as real as you can get on June 21st. But when you're still a month from training camp and two months after the draft, you take what you can get. And what do we have today?

Chris Hoke.

Hey, at least it isn't something about Alan Faneca's contract or another look back on Ben Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident. Or some sort of rumor about Bill Cowher.

Anyway, back to Hoke, the Steelers today locked up the rugged defensive tackle to a new four year contract, which includes a $1.5 million signing bonus. If he plays out all four seasons he'll earn as much as $6 million. Not a bad chunk of change for a guy who never even heard his name called at the NFL draft.

He'll never put up impressive stats, but he should continue to be a useful player for the Steelers, regardless of the system they play.

Hoke's career has been an interesting one. He signed with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2001 and only dressed for two games the first three years of his career. He never played a down and was released at one point during the 2003 season so the Steelers could sign R.J. Bowers from their practice squad. He would later re-sign with the team where he continued to be a regular on the inactive list.

His first real regular season action came in week nine of the 2004 season against the Philadelphina Eagles, where he recorded one tackle. The following week, in Cleveland, he tallied four tackles and his first NFL sack.

He's also one of three Steelers defensive lineman who hail from Brigham Young University, joining starting defensive end Brett Kiesel and practice squad player Shaun Nua. I'm not sure what that means, but it's odd, to me anyway.

So maybe a Chris Hoke contract extension isn't very exciting, at least it's not Pirates baseball.

I Think I Could Shut Out The Pirates

My career as a pitcher consists of two innings, both of which came in a youth rec-league when I was about 12 years old. The only reason I made my way to the mound was the fact half of our team was good enough to play for a travelling tournament team - I of course, was not.

On this night, the good kids were playing for their good team leaving our game in the hands of people like me. And a substitute coach (The normal coach was also the coach of the good team).

We only had eight kids for the game (we played with two outfielders) and were in desperate need of a warm body to throw batting practice to the team from South Greensburg. I of course, volunteered my stuff.

I remember everything in fantastic detail. The first pitch I threw was my version of a forkball (at least I thought it was a forkball) which resulted in a swing-and-miss for strike one. It was the best pitch I threw all night. It was also the peak of my pitching days. Or day, as it should turn out.

My final line included two innings, ten runs (had it not been for the five run per inning rule it would have no doubt been more), two hit-batters, a balk and by some miracle of God...two strikeouts. Neither of which resulted in an actual out because our catcher dropped each third strike and failed to throw out the runners at first. I think in the two innings I actually received credit for recording one out. It was a disaster and I of course never pitched again.

In other words, my outing was no different than your typical Jeff Weaver start during 2007.

Weaver entered tonight's game against the Pirates with a 10.73 ERA. Opponents were hitting .414 against him. I've never seen numbers quite like that. To put that opponents batting average into its proper perspective, Ted Williams best season (in terms of batting average) was .407. That of course means that when Jeff Weaver pitches in 2007, the league hits better than Ted Williams in his best season. Quite the accomplishment.

Fortunately for Weaver, the schedule makers graced him with the good fortune of pitching against the Pittsburgh Pirates...the team that gives new life to awful pitchers.

Weaver just finished a complete game, 5-hit shutout against the Pirates. At one point, he retired 16 batters in a row. The Pirates didn't have a runner get past second base until the top of the ninth inning with one out. Through seven innings, the Pirates managed only three base runners - A leadoff walk by Jason Bay in the second, a bloop single by Freddy Sanchez that Ichiro probably could have caught, and a single by Jack Wilson that eventually led to him being picked off of first base.

And as bad as that may be to read about, it was actually far worse to watch.

While watching Weaver go through the Pirates lineup like a hot knife through rancid butter, I decided to look back on the Pirates other (lack of) performances against awful pitchers this season.

April 9th - Braden Looper. 7 innings - 2 hits - 0 runs
April 10th - Randy Kiesler. 6 innings - 5 hits - 2 earned runs
May 23rd - Kip Wells. 7 innings - 5 hits - 1 earned run
May 24th - Braden Looper. 6 innings - 3 hits 1 earned run
June 14th - Kameron Loe. 8 innings - 5 hits - 0 earned runs
June 20th - Jeff Weaver. 9 innings - 5 hits - 0 earned runs

Combined, the ERA of those five pitchers, against every team excluding the Pirates, is 7.36.

Against the Pirates? They have combined for an ERA of 0.83.

I really don't even know what to say about that. When you can only scrape out four earned runs (and 26 hits) against Braden Looper, Randy Kiesler, Kip Wells, Kameron Loe and Jeff Weaver in over 43 innings...you deserve to be sitting nine games out of first in the worst division in baseball.

Things don't look much better tomorrow with that John Van Benschotten Vs. Felix Hernandez matchup.

Tom Gorzelanney's Left Arm; And Other Things

On Tuesday night, the Pirates opened up their interleague series with the Seattle Mariners and came away with a 5-3 victory, thanks in large part to some shoddy defense from Richie Sexson and a few timely hits by the Pirates lineup. The big story of the game, to me anyway, was Pirates starting pitcher Tom Gorzelanney.

It was clear from the first inning that Gorzelanney didn't have his best stuff, at least in terms of his control. Granted, he didn't walk anyone (Seattle has drawn the fewest walks in the Major Leagues...again) and his final line was strong. But there continues to be one glaring red flag that is seemingly raised every time he pitches.

123 pitches.

Going back to May 19th, here are the pitch counts that manager Jim Tracy has allowed Gorzelanney to rack up:

5/19- 110 pitches
5/24- 118 pitches
5/29- 120 pitches
6/03- 97 pitches
6/08- 117 pitches
6/14- 97 pitches
6/19- 123 pitches

Maybe it's just me, but I don't like that. Not one bit. Gorzelanney is still only 24 years old and is perhaps the best pitcher on the team, (well, him or Ian Snell, take your pick) and for Tracy to be allowing him to regularly throw over 115 pitches in his starts just screams of poor judgement.
Through today, Gorzelanney is averaging over 104 pitches per start. He's the only Pirates starter currently over 100. He's also topped 110 pitches five times. By comparison, no other starter has topped 110 even once.

This is the type of abuse Gene Lamont used to subject Francisco Cordova, Jason Schmidt and Kris Benson to early in their careers. Gorzelanney is on a pace to toss over 217 innings this season, he only threw 160 in 2006 (between Triple-A and the Majors) which was the most he's ever thrown in his professional career.

If the Pirates aren't careful, Gorzelanney could be the next promising young arm to be put under the knife.

And it's not really just the fear of injury, it also seems to be effecting his performance. Over his last four outings his ERA has been over 4.80. Most pitchers struggle in starts after throwing 115 pitches, at least for the first few innings if not the entire game.

- The Cubs traded Michael Barrett to the San Diego Padres this morning for backup catcher Rob Bowen and a 19 year old Single-A outfielder (who is currently hitting .220). I can understand why the Cubs traded Barrett, after all, when your starting catcher is involved in dugout arguments with 2/5 of your starting rotation in the span of a week, it's probably not a good thing. But I have to think that Barrett, who has been a pretty solid contributor as a member of the Cubs, had a little more value on the trade market than Rob Bowen and a weak hitting Single-A outfielder.

- On Tuesday night the impossible happened - Every team in the National League Central won.

- With Matt Capps finally serving his suspension, the Pirates needed a team effort from their bullpen to secure Tuesday's victory in Seattle. When Gorzelanney exited the game after seven innings, it took John Grabow, Jonah Bayliss, Masumi Kuwata, Damaso Marte and Shawn Chacon to record the final six outs. That's nearly an out per pitcher.

Chacon gets credit for the save, his first since 2003, by striking out the only two hitters he faced in the ninth inning. He continues to be a valuable member of the pitching staff and the most surprisingly good trade of the Dave Littlefield era.

Two Out Of Three

Even though I attended one of the games this weekend, the Pirates still managed to take 2-of-3 from the Chicago White Sox, and naturally, the one game they didn't take, was the one I attended. That's right, on Saturday I ran my record to 0-4 on the season and increased my run differential to a whopping 31-6. I haven't even seen a competitive game this season, although the Pirates did manage to keep Saturday's game close for six innings before allowing their bullpen to enter the game.

On the homestand, the Pirates did manage to go 4-2, which is pretty impressive when you consider all of the games were of the interleague variety, where the Pirates are usually terrible. Granted, they played Texas and a struggling White Sox team - who as of today have lost 17 of their last 21 - but you have to take the wins where you can get them.

Things get a little tougher this week as the Pirates travel to Seattle and Anaheim before ending the road trip with a three game series in Florida.

Other than Saturday, I was only able to see bits and pieces of the games this weekend. My random observations:

- Jack Wilson returned to the starting lineup and played perhaps his best ball of the season. He was a rock defensively, twice making highlight reel plays, and reached base seven times in 12 trips to the plate.

- Jose Castillo had a difficult weekend going 1-for-11 and only reaching base twice. He also fudged a double-play ball in the ninth inning on Sunday that almost proved costly for the Pirates.

- Jose Bautista has been on fire. Twice this weekend he led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run. He's raised his average up to .282 and continues to hit doubles like it's his job. Moving him to the top of the order has been one of the best moves Jim Tracy has made in his tenure as Pirates manager.

Elsewhere around baseball......

- You probably don't know who Brandon Watson is. But that doesn't make what he's accomplished this season any less impressive. And what exactly has he accomplished? Well, as of right now he's riding a 43-game hitting streak in the International League. I realize it's Triple-A ball, and I realize that even with the hitting streak he still only has a .750 OPS, but a 43-game hit streak is still an incredible achievement. An achievement that should not go as unnoticed as it has to this point. He extended the streak today, breaking the International League record which stood for 95 years.

- In what seems to be the most unlikely play in the history of baseball, Prince Fielder actually hit an inside the park home run on Sunday for Milwaukee. If I didn't see the replay i'm not quite sure i'd believe it. But there it was. What happened was Fielder hit a towering fly ball to center field, and thankfully for Fielder, Torrii Hunter was out of the lineup for the Twins, and his replacement - Lew Ford - lost the ball in the roof and had it fall about 150 feet behind him.

The Brewers came back from a 9-2 deficit to tie the score in the top of the ninth, only to have Justin Morneau end it for Minnesota with a walk-off home run in the bottom half of the inning.

- The Astros pounded Seattle 10-3 to complete a three game sweep of the Mariners. The sweep was the first of the season for Houston.

Jason Bay is having a down year for the Pirates, but it doesn't quite compare to the season Lance Berkman is having for Houston. Berkman, who was out of the lineup today, currently has a .380 slugging percentage - which is about .200 points below his career mark. Seems impossible to believe when you consider he plays half of his games in the juice box.

- Adam Dunn had three hits for the Reds - including two more home runs - but it was nowhere near enough as the Rangers pounded Cincinnati 11-4. Kevin Millwood struck out 10 batters in six innings, while Bronson Arroyo was pounded for seven runs - six earned - in his six innings of work.

- A day after Carlos Zambrano took a no-hitter into the eighth inning - and eventually lost 1-0 - the Padres pounded five home runs out of Wrigley Field to beat the Cubs 11-3. The Padres took 2-of-3 from Chicago this weekend, who will probably be without Derrek Lee for a few games due to his involvement in a bench clearing brawl on Saturday. Not that he didn't have reason to be involved, Chris Young threw a fastball at his ear.

The fight was an interesting one, as both Lee and Young threw wild haymakers that ended up missing badly. Soon after that, Lou Piniella was seen falling backwards over a pile of people while Zambrano attempted to get involved while he was holding his belt in his hands. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but he looked like he was ready to hang someone.

- There were a ton of White Sox fans at PNC Park on Saturday night. Other than the Cubs and Braves, I don't think i've ever seen so many out of town fans at a Pirates game. THey were everywhere. At a couple of different points in the game, a "LETS GO WHITE SOX" chant could be heard down in the lower level. Sadly, White Sox fans seem to rank dangerously close to their cross-town rivals in the asshattery department. Not quite as bad as Cubs fans, but pretty bad. Especially the guy sitting behind me who insisted on letting out an ear piercing "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" everytime Mark Buehrle threw a strike. Still, I don't think he was as bad as the kid late in the game who was trying to get Hawk Harrelson's attention. He kept looking up at the press box as he screamed out, "HAAAAAAAWK. HAAAAWK. PUT IT ON THE BOARD HAWK!"

The White Sox are an easy team to hate, at least when you combine A.J. Pierzynski with Ozzie Guillen. But on the other hand, for me anyway, they are an easy team to enjoy. They play solid baseball in the field, and they can pitch. They are a team that has built around pitching and defense, and unlike the Pirates, have done so with guys that are actually good at pitching and defense.

- Off day for the Pirates tomorrow. Ian Snell was supposed to start Tuesday's game in Seattle but has been pushed back to Saturday due to burning his fingers while trying to grill some chicken. Tom Gorzalanney will start the opener in Seattle.

Pirates 4 White Sox 2

And there you have it. After last nights disappointment, the Bucs rebounded tonight with what could be considered a surprising victory over the Chicago White Sox. Surprising for no other reason than it was Paul Maholm pitching against Jon Garland.

I saw very little of the game and have few observations, but here they are anyway.......

- Paul Maholm looked really bad in the first inning, but it would appear he settled down after that as he lasted seven innings, striking out six, and holding the White Sox to only one run. It was only his third quality start of the season, but despite that, he seems to be pitching slightly better over the past couple of weeks. Baby steps.

- Jose Bautista and Xavier Nady were again the stars of the night offensively as the two combined for four hits and drove in all four runs for the Pirates. Nady's hot streak, combined with a Jason Bay slump, has put Nady in the team lead for OPS. He's been about as pleasant a surprise as you could find on this years Pirates team.

- Jack Wilson returned to the starting lineup tonight and went 2-for-4 with a double and an incredible defensive play at shortstop. In the top of the eighth inning, Wilson ranged deep into the hole to field a Jermaine Dye ground ball and threw an off-balance, falling backwards, toss to first base and was able to get Dye by half-a-step. It was an incredible play as he was in shallow left field when he actually fielded the ball. The fact he was not only able to get to the ball, but also throw out the runner, is pretty remarkable. Welcome back, Jack.

- Shawn Chacon made his first relief appearance since being demoted back to the pen. His line? Six pitches. Six strikes. Three outs.

- Matt Capps struggled in the ninth but still managed to strike out Jim Thome and Josh Fields - with some 96 MPH heat - and get Andy Gonzalez to pop out to Wilson to end the game. It wasn't pretty, but we'll take it.

And now for the bad news. I'm going to the game tomorrow, and I believe my recent record speaks for itself. I actually went back and looked at the scores of the games i've attended the last two years, and honestly, it's not pretty.

2007:

May 2nd, Chicago Cubs: 7-1 loss.
May 12th, Atlanta Braves: 9-1 loss.
May 15th, Florida Marlins: 9-3 loss.

2006:

April 15th, Chciago Cubs: 2-1 win.
May 14th, Florida Marlins: 8-2 loss.
May 20th, at Cleveland Indians: 9-6 win.
June 17th, Minnesota Twins: 5-3 loss.
June 30th, Detriot Tigers: 7-6 loss.
August 5th, at Chicago Cubs: 7-5 loss.

Going back to the start of last season i'm 2-7, and a paltry 1-6 at PNC Park. Tomorrow's not looking good. I'd say the early forecast calls for a 95% chance of a blowout loss and a 100% chance of beer.

- The Reds lost a 7-6 slug fest to Texas earlier today while the Cardinals are getting pounded by Oakland as I type. Everyone else in the NL Central won today. The Pirates remain eight games out of first and two-and-a-half games out of second. It's a beautiful division. It really is.

Kameron......Loe

It's not very often that the Pittsburgh Pirates can enter a game with a legit reason to expect to win. Tonight should have been one of those games. The pitching matchup was in their favor. The Texas Rangers have the worst record in baseball. Kameron Loe was on the mound against them.

And none of it mattered.

Rangers 6 Pirates 0

That's right, Kameron Loe - whoever he is - dominated the Pirates for eight innings while the Rangers belted three home runs off of Tom Gorzalanney to pull out a rare road win and avoid the three game sweep.

There really isn't much to say except it was an awful performance by the Pirates. Normally, I'd be pleased to take a series, but quite honestly, this should have been a sweep. An easy sweep. Well, as easy as something could be for the Pirates.

Some quick notes:

- The Pirates are going to call up John Vanbenschoten from Triple-A Indianapolis to start Saturday's game against the Chicago White Sox. To make room for him in the rotation, Shawn Chacon has been demoted back to the bullpen. I sort of expect him to hit a home run on Saturday.

- Jack Wilson was on the bench for the fourth consecutive game tonight, which probably means his meeting with David Littlefield didn't go as he planned. I still think the Pirates are playing with fire by running Jose Castillo out to shortstop like this. We'll see what happens.

- Tonight was Tom Gorzalanney's fourth loss of the season. In those four losses the Pirates have scored two runs. Combined.

That's about all i'm in the mood for tonight.

Oh, and the Penguins took home some hardware in Toronto.

Sidney Crosby: Hart Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award.
Evgeni Malkin: Calder Trophy.

Michel Therrian finished third in the Jack Adams voting for the coach of the year.

Good night for the Penguins.

This Must Be What It's Like To Play Against The Pirates

The Texas Rangers are not very good. Actually, they're quite bad. At least that's how they've played in the first two games of this series, and even worse for them, and a testament to how bad it's been for them, Marlon Byrd hit in the four spot of their lineup tonight.

Marlon. Byrd.

The Rangers committed two errors, failed to score with runners on the corner with no out in the fourth inning and bounced into three double plays, giving them eight in the last two nights. They were able to muster only one unearned run off of Ian Snell, which says a lot about Snell, and the Rangers, as Snell didn't seem to have his best stuff early on. Despite that, he threw a complete game, striking out seven, and lowering his ERA to 2.63.

Jose Bautista was again the star of the night offensively as he went 3-for-4 with a walk and finished a home run shy of the cycle. He has 20 doubles so far this season which is among the top-15 in the Majors.

As a team, every member of the starting lineup reached base for the Pirates, including Ian Snell who worked a walk and added a sacrifice bunt, his league leading ninth. Somewhere Buster Olney is getting excited. Productive outs....hmmmmmm.

In what has been an interesting development the past couple of games, Jose Castillo started his third straight game at shortstop and went 2-for-3 (plus a rare walk) and drove in a run. It's odd because Castillo hasn't really played short since he was at Single-A Lynchburg and has been a rather disappointing player over his career. Jim Tracy however insists this isn't a benching of JAck Wilson, and that Castillo is just being rewarded for his recent good play. Wilson on the other hand, demands answers:

"It's one of those things where I think this has been my best defensive year," Wilson said. "I've been making all the plays. I had that bad game on Saturday and that's the last time I played."

I've always been a Jack Wilson fan. As a shortstop, you could do worse. You could certainly do better, but you could also do worse. He's always been a rock in the field - although, this is far from his best year defensively, his best year was 2005 when he led the league with an impressive .885 Zone Rating - and while he's a below average hitter compared to the rest of the league, he's been about middle of the pack as far as shortstops go. It might be interesting to see how this plays out. Unless of course Jose Castillo becomes the everyday shortstop for an extended period of time, because that could be bad. If you can't play second base effectively - and for the most part, Castillo hasn't - you're not going to be able to play short. The thought of Jose Castillo and Freddy Sanchez teaming up in the middle of the infield on a regular basis scares me.

Tom Gorzalanney Vs. Kameron Loe on Thursday for the series finale.

Elsewhere around baseball......

- It looked like the Pirates were going to be able to crawl to within six games of first place as Milwaukee again had its hands full with Detriot. For six innings the Brewers were shut out by Mike Maroth and trailed 2-1 as late as the eighth inning. Then, with two outs in the top of the eighth, Bill Hall hit a 2-run home run off of Fernando Rodney to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead. Derrick Turnbow (IN YOUR MOMS PANTS!) and Francisco Cordero teamed up to shut down the Tigers in the final two innings and secure the victory.

- Here is something that doesn't happen everyday. Jason Kendall hit a home run tonight. And even crazier than that, he supposedly played left field in Wednesday's game. Remember that experiment when he played for the Pirates? I remember in his first game he made a sliding catch in foul territory and crashed into the wall, and then did nothing else after that at the position. But back to the home run for a minute, it was his first home run of the season, and only the second he's hit as a member of the Oakland A's. And keep in mind, tonight was the 350th game he's played for Oakland. That's 1526 plate appearances. That's a home run every 763 trips to the plate. It pains me to see him going out like this.

As for the game itself, The Astros bullpen imploded in the eighth inning as Oakland pulled out a 7-3 victory. After Dan Wheeler gave up the lead, he went back into the dugout and shoved Chris Sampson, who was the starting pitcher for Houston. Seems fair, I'll blow your lead and kick your ass. Lets leave the teammate fighting to Michael Barrett and his pitching staff.

- The Angels beat the Reds 6-3 in a game where absolutely nothing of interest happened. John Lackey becoming the leagues first 10-game winner just about covers it.

- The Cubs tied up the Piniella series at one game each with a 3-2 victory over the Mariners. Watching Jose Guillen bat against Ryan Dempster in the top of the ninth was maddening, I don't think Guillen swung at one ball in the strike zone. He chased a slider about 18 inches off the plate to begin the at-bat, and then finished it by hacking at a 94 MPH fastball above his eyes. Jeff Weaver Vs. Jason Marquis to decide the series Thursday afternoon. Jeff Weaver, meet Wrigley Field...this one may not be pretty.

- Adam Wainwright pitched eight innings of 1-hit baseball against the Kansas City Royals. He carried a no-hitter into the sixth. Rookie third basemen Alex Gordon hit a 3-run homer for the Royals in the bottom of the ninth off Russ Springer, but it was far too little, far too late, as the Cards rolled to a 7-3 victory.

More tomorrow......

A Win!

Despite scoring seven runs, it took five pitchers - Including Matt Capps for what seems like the 200th time this season - for the Pirates to close out a 7-5 victory over the Texas Rangers.

It was a night of firsts as Zach Duke picked up his first win of the season at PNC Park, while the Pirates were able to notch their first regular season victory over the Rangers - They were 0-6 coming in.

The Rangers played an ugly, ugly game and probably could have lost by a lot more than two runs. They hit into five double plays, had a runner picked off of first base, made an error, allowed a run to score on a wild pitch, failed to score a runner from second base on a ball that hit off the wall in center field (they ended up with a single on that hit), failed to score with the bases loaded and no outs and Kevin Milwood gave up three home runs. Most of that happened in the first four innings.

Adam Laroche doubled and homered while Xavier Nady continued to play better than anyone could have hoped. Nady hit his 11th home run of the season - a monster shot well over the 410 sign in left-center field - singled and drew a walk. His OPS is now up to .865 which is sixth among Major League Right Fielders.

Still, that wasn't enough to be the star of the night offensively. That honor shall go to Jose Bautista. Bautista led off the bottom of the first by turning on a BP fastball from Millwood and banging it off the rotunda down the left field line. He also doubled twice and stole third base. It's nice to see some power coming around for Bautista as he's been the most disciplined hitter on the team this year.

Jason Bay nearly added to the carnage on two separate occasions as he hit a towering flyball to the wall in left field only to have Marlon Byrd make the catch with his back hitting the 378 sign. Then in the eighth, he flew out deep to right field just shy of the right field wall. Still, he was able to reach base twice with a single and a walk and score on the Adam Laroche double in the bottom of the first.

It's nice to get the win, especially with the pitching matchups falling in the Pirates favor the next two nights. The Pirates have to take advantage of this series.

Elsewhere around baseball.......

- Kelvin Escobar struck out 14 Cincinnati Reds in six innings of work...and his team didn't even win the game. Escobar gave up three runs on the night and departed - after 116 pitches - with the game tied at three. The Reds managed to score a run in the seventh and eighth innings to pull the 5-3 win. Normally, a 14 strikeout performance would be a pretty big deal. If his team actually won the game it might be the story of the night in baseball. But not tonight. Tonight was all about Justin Verlander....

- Milwaukee was in Detriot tonight and from the one inning I was able to watch, they never had a chance. Verlander threw a no-hitter, striking out 12, as the Tigers won 4-0. In the top of the ninth, Verlander was throwing fastballs that clocked anywhere from 99 to 102 while throwing some of the most ridiculous curveballs i've ever seen a pitcher throw. Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino flailed hopelessly at Verlander's nastiness while J.J. Hardy ended the masterpiece by flying out to right field.

As Pirates fans, we know all about horrible draft picks, and horrible front office moves all together, but it would be difficult to find a blunder quite as big as the Padres selection of Matt Bush over Justin Verlander with the top pick in 2004. I suppose you could make the argument that Bryan Bullington as the top choice in the 2002 draft is right up there...but Bryan Bullington at least has a shot to make the Major Leagues - technically, he already has - but i'm not sure Matt Bush will ever reach Triple-A. He has been so bad as a hitter that the Padres are now converting him to a pitcher - seriously, at this point how good can he be? - while Justin Verlander dominates the Major Leagues.

Today is also the anniversary of Dock Ellis' no-hitter against the San Diego Padres. That was the game Ellis claimed to have pitched while on LSD...No word on whether or not Verlander was under the same influence.

- Kansas City is pounding the Cardinals 8-0 in the eighth inning. This one looks to be over.

- The Mariners and Cubs are tied at three in the bottom of the eighth in game one of the Piniella series.

- In Houston, as I type this, Brad Lidge entered the top of the ninth inning with a one-run lead. The first hitter he faced was Mark Kotsay who homered to deep right field to tie the score at four. As if the game tying home run wasn't enough, the A's eventually had the go-ahead run on third base with no outs. Phil Garner stuck with Lidge who then struck out Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez before getting Bobby Crosby to pop out to short. This one is headed to the bottom of the ninth. It's still a mystery as to how a guy with the arsenal Lidge has can blow so many games in the ninth inning.

Some incredible Minor League notes:

- The Pirates SALLY League team - the Hickory Crawdads - were getting pounded by a team from West Virginia. Of course, pounded may not do it justice. Shallacked? Pillaged? Shredded? Ransacked? Broomstick Twister? Take your pick...whatever word you wish to describe a game that is 17-0 in the second inning is fine.

As it stands right now, Hickory is losing 24-8 in the eighth inning. 2006 second round draft pick Michael Felix gave up seven runs in his one inning of work - that would have been the second inning - and raised his ERA to 8.40. This game was actually delayed by rain at one point, which no doubt added to the misery of Crawdads fans. That has to be an absolutely horrible night at the ballpark.

- The only Minor League team worth watching in the Pirates farm system remains to be Altoona who currently lead New Brittain 13-3 in the eighth. Neil Walker is 2-for-5 with a double, Andrew McCutchen is 3-for-5 with a double, and Steve Pearce is 3-for-5 with a double and two home runs. Yoslan Herrera threw six shutout innings while walking none and striking out two.

More from me tomorrow night........

The Pirates Didn't Lose Today

Success! Sadly, this might be the highlight of the week for the Pirates, a day off where there is absolutely zero chance of them throwing away a winnable game. Although, I think Alex Rodriguez just hit another home run off of Josh Sharpless, and like the others, it probably hasn't landed yet.

Some thoughts from a night without defeat....

- Masumi Kuwata made his Major League debut on Sunday at the fresh young age of 39. According to the Post-Gazette, he is the oldest player to make his debut since some guy named Diomedes Olivo made his debut in 1960 at the age of 41. Oddly enough, Olivo also made his debut with the Pirates. He actually managed to spend parts of three seasons in the big leagues, including a rather decent 1961 campaign with the Bucs. Whether or not Kuwata lasts even that long remains to be seen, and his debut was certainly interesting.

He started off with a perfect fifth inning as he retired Melky Cabrera, Miguel Cairo and Will Nieves. Okay, so it wasn't exactly murderers row, but it was a nice start for the guy who apparently was swarmed by no fewer than 50 Japanese media members prior to the game. From what I gather, he's a pretty big deal across the pond and he seemed to have a rather large contingent of well wishers in the stands.

Unfortunately, in his second inning of work he not only had to face actual Major League hitters, but a couple of Hall-of-Famers. He began the inning by retiring Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter - no small task, mind you - before walking Bobby Abreu (more on him in a bit) which set the stage for Alex Rodriguez. The first pitch he threw to Rodriguez looked like it was going in slow motion. It seemed as if it floated up to the plate and Rodriguez pounced all over it and crushed it about 420 feet to right-center field. Following the home run, he walked his former teammate - Hideki Matsui - on five pitches which led to this quote after the game:

“He was confused by my pitches,” Kuwata said. “I think I was confused, too.”

Yeah. Whatever that means.

- Bobby Abreu had five trips to the plate during Sunday's game for the Yankees. The end result? Four hits, one walk and 35 pitches seen. I think it takes Freddy Sanchez five weeks to see 35 pitches, and Abreu accomplished the feat in one afternoon. Of course, all of the Yankees are quite skilled at working the count, and i'm sure Shawn Chacon will agree as he finished the day with 96 pitches in 3.2 innings, a figure that seems almost too absurd to believe.

Speaking of Chacon, and I think i've mentioned this before, but who would have thought last July 31st the Pirates would be coming out ahead on that infamous Shawn Chacon-for-Craig Wilson swap? Even with Chacon's inconsistent pitching, he's still been a better player than Wilson who is now with his fourth organization in the last calender year.

Since the trade, Wilson has been abysmal. He's currently hitting .180 for the Charlotte Knights with a sub-.600 OPS. He's being dominated by Triple-A pitching. In his last 224 at-bats between the Majors and Minors, he's struck out 82 times and failed to hit above .220 in any of his stops. And the power appears to be gone. He's not only fallen off a cliff, he's taken a head first dive off the Grand Canyon.

- Bryan Bullington - the top pick in the 2002 draft - was finally starting to put together a strong season for Triple-A Indianapolis. That is until he realized he pitches for the Pirates and was lifted from his start on Sunday after one inning with, "shoulder discomfort." Glory be.

- ESPN.com has come up with this nifty - I guess it's nifty - player rating system. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but a quick look at the explanation makes my head hurt. It makes Bill James formula for win-shares seem like elementary school arithmetic. Anyway, among the top-100 players in the league this season the Pirates have.....three. It's not hard to guess who: Jason Bay, Tom Gorzalanney and Ian Snell.

When taking a look at the Pirates page you see this system has Chris Duffy as the second best position player on the team. Which is pretty absurd if you ask me. However, the funny (and by funny, I of course mean depressingly sad) thing is the difference between Jason Bay and Chris Duffy (the number two offensive player) is nearly six times the difference between Chris Duffy and Jonah Bayliss, who is a relief pitcher! Based on that, i'd say it's pretty damn accurate.

- Josh Sharpless may eventually become a useful big league reliever. He may accomplish that later this season. But right now? Sharpless has faced 21 batters this season. He's given up seven hits, one walk, three doubles, allowed all three runners he's inherited to score and given up three home runs. It would have been four home runs had the umpires not reversed that ball hit by Josh Bard two weeks ago, which prompted Bard to go George Brett on everyone.

- The Pirates open a three game set with the Texas Rangers on Tuesday. The Rangers come in with the worst record in baseball and all three starters in the series have ERA's over six. Snell and Gorzalanney will be pitching for the Pirates this week which means anything less than two out of three is a failure.

It Just Keeps Getting Worse

Every time you think there is even a little glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, you soon realize that light is nothing more than a runaway freight train speeding directly at you. This weekend, the train hit. Hard.

After blowing a pair of two run leads on Friday, the Pirates made it easy for everyone involved today and simply rolled over and played dead for the big bad New York Yankees. There were two errors, four stolen bases, walks, Ronny Paulino misplaying two balls at home plate - one allowed a run to score, the other allowed a runner to move from first to third - and yet more walks.

And that was just the two innings I actually watched.

Assuming the Pirates lose tomorrow - and lets face it, they most likely will - this would seem to be the ideal time for them to start their annual mid-season collapse. It usually happens around this time of year and the ingredients seem just right. They would be a season low 11-games under .500 with a healthy dose of interleague games coming up. It looks bad...and getting worse.

At least on Friday night the Pirates made it somewhat interesting before finding a new and improved way to lose. Today, they just didn't even belong on the same field as the Yankees. Not that they ever do belong on the same field, the left side of the Yankees infield makes more money than the entire Pirates team. It's crazy. And sad.

- Salomon Torres was placed on the Disabled List today with what is described as inflammation in his right elbow. He will be replaced by Masumi Kuwata, who brings instant excitement to the Pirates...that is of course assuming the reports of him talking to the baseball on the mound are true. And we all hope they are.

- Is anyone else concerned with the way Jim Tracy is using Tom Gorzalanney and Matt Capps? I realize outside of those two - well, those two and Ian Snell - he probably has zero faith in anybody else, but he seems to be leading them down a really bad path with the early workloads. It seems as if Capps pitches every night and he threw four innings between Thursday afternoon and Friday night.

Meanwhile, check out the pitch counts for Gorzalanney in his last five starts: 110, 118, 120, 97, 117. That's a little concerning, to me anyway, for such a young arm that they're going to need for the next six years. This is the type of workload that Gene Lamont used to put on Kris Benson, Jason Schmidt and Francisco Cordova every fifth day. Turns out, it didn't work very well.

That's Eight

Eight games where the Pirates have led in the seventh inning...and lost. Six of those games - including tonight's - were multiple run leads.

I have nothing else to say except that i'm going to drink.

Bucs Take A Series, And I Don't Know Who Daniel Moskos Is

Well, they avoided the embarrassment of actually losing a series to the Washington Nationals - although they certainly didn't make it easy on themselves. The Bucs wasted a leadoff triple from Rajai Davis in the first and a double by Jack Wilson in the second, and struggled to get any additional hits off of some guy named Matt Chico. In the end however, Freddy Sanchez hit a 2-run homer - his first - and Jason Bay hit a solo home run - his 11th - in the top of the ninth to break a 2-2 tie. Matt Capps continued to dominate out of the closers role as he pitched the final two innings and actually picked up the win.

Since being moved to the closers role Capps has been perfect. In fact, he hasn't allowed a base runner in four straight appearances.

I watched none of this game and only saw a score update every 30 or so minutes at work...so I have no other comments.

- Elsewhere in the Central, the Cubs beat Atlanta 2-1 while Houston blew a 2-run lead in the bottom of the ninth to lose 7-6 at Colorado. The Reds beat the Cardinals 5-1.

- Next up: INTERLEAGUE PLAY! Bring on the Yankees. I think?

- Today was the Major League Baseball draft, or the start of it anyway, and the top position player in the country fell to the fourth overall pick in the draft. That's where the Pirates picked. And what did they do? Well...they took a college pitcher who projects better as a reliever than he does a starter.

Now, as I said the other day, I know nothing about these guys. Any of them. I do know that Matt Wieters - he's the switch hitting catcher from Georgia Tech - is considered to be a pretty big deal and probably would have been the ideal pick for the Pirates. But since he's represented by Scott Boras, he wasn't an option for the Pirates. Unfortunately. That leaves us with Daniel Moskos. Personally, and i'm kind of serious about this, it might have been worth it for the Pirates to take Wieters, blow their entire draft budget by giving Scott Boras whatever amount of money he wrote on the piece of paper, and passing in the second round, thus ending their draft. It's an absurd suggestion. But it might have actually worked out better.

That being said, I have no opinion on Moskos - or any pick today for that matter - because I simply know nothing about these guys. It is impossible for the people that get paid to do this stuff to know what any of these kids are going to do, and it's even more difficult for some schlub like me who only has access to an online scouting report and a 30-second highlight clip. Not worth the frustration. Tomorrow's game will probably infuriate me enough without having to worry about the fifth round pick in today's draft...... four years before he's an option for the big leagues.

I'll start paying attention when they're in Lynchburg or on Dr. James Andrews table. Whichever comes first...which will probably be Dr. Andrews.

- Speaking of guys in the minors worth paying attention to...Neil Walker. Walker went 4-6 today and is now sporting a .315 average and an incredible .912 OPS. He's one of the youngest players in the Eastern League and looks like he's starting to become the hitter the Pirates had hoped, and the type of hitter they so desperately need. That OPS by the way is in the top-five of the league while the average is in the top-ten.

Not a bad season.

- How long until Masumi Kuwata works his way into the Pirates bullpen? I realize the guy is 39, but could he be any worse than Tony Armas or Jonah Bayliss? He's thrown three games at Indy and put up some impressive lines:

June 2nd: 1 inning, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, 10 pitches - 7 strikes
June 5th: 1 inning, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches - 13 strikes
June 7th: 2.1 innings, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, 26 pitches - 15 strikes

Not bad, small sample size and all.

And on top of that, he appears to be some sort character who would at least provide some unintentional humor on an otherwise boring team; thanks to Calig23 of MGP/MGS fame for providing these nuggets of glory:

On March 31, during an exhibition game, he was blown off the mound by a strong wind and a balk was called against him.

In addition, a book claimed that Kuwata had taken money from friends in organized crime. Kuwata was fined 10 million yen and suspended for a month and Yomiuri got a fine of 20 million yen.

Kuwata is a movie and wine fan who is not fond of animals.

He is a member of a Buddhist sect called the Perfect Liberty Kyodan and his motto "Life is Art" is directly liftted from that group's teachings.

There are also unconfirmed rumors that he actually talks to the baseball on the mound. The Japanese mafia, animal hater and he talks to the baseball. What's not to like?

They Find Ways To Keep You Interested.......

Before ripping your heart out in the end.

Trailing 5-2 in the top of the eighth, Adam Laroche hit a 3-run blast to straight away centerfield to tie the game at five and cap off a four run inning. It was easily his biggest hit as a Pirate and it couldn't have come at a better time. And off of a lefty to boot. It seemed momentum was turning the Pirates way, especially after Damaso Marte shut down the Nationals in the bottom half of the inning.

The bottom of the ninth however...egggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Salomon Torres came on to pitch and began the inning by striking out Felipe Lopez on a 3-2 pitch. Christian Guzman followed that with a single to right field and advanced to second on an infield single by Ryan Zimmerman that stopped bouncing about 30 feet from home plate.

Torres then struck out Ronnie Belliard for the second out and faced Austin Kearns. The 2-1 pitch to Kearns looked like it was right down the heart of the plate. Okay, maybe not directly down the middle, but it caught a large chunk of the inside portion while being somewhere between the knees and belt. Home plate umpire Mark Wegner flinched...and then held off.

Ball 3.

Kearns walked on the following pitch and the winning run came across on what will be called a wild pitch, but in reality was just another pathetic attempt at a block by Ronny Paulino.

In a season where the Pirates have lost games in just about every way possible, they went ahead and found a new way to frustrate their fans and really outdid themselves.

They have to win tomorrow afternoon in order to avoid the embarrassment of losing a series to the Washington Nationals. Something I don't think I can handle.

Of course, we shouldn't ignore how the Pirates fell into a 5-1 hole to begin with. The lethal combination of Zach Duke pitching and the Pirates playing defense put on a clinic in futility.

Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson each botched double plays that led to runs, while Sanchez couldn't handle a ball which was hit directly to him in the bottom of the first. Sanchez made sure the Nationals had five outs in the first while Wilson's butchering of a potentially inning ending twin killing in the fifth opened the floodgates for a three run inning.

That's not to say Zach Duke was without his share of the blame either, after all, The weak hitting Nationals were 9-27 against him in six innings. That's a .333 average.

- Toni, our resident A's fan, asks, "What the hell happened to Jason Kendall?" A good question. I wish I knew the answer because it disappoints me to see him going out this way. Was Jason Kendall ever worth the contract? Probably not, but at the time it was signed Jason Kendall was pretty much Joe Mauer at the plate. His first five years he put up OPS+ of 102 (at the age of 22 coming straight from Double-A), 115, 131, 137, 125. The contract was signed after the 125 season in 2000. Which was also one full year after the ankle injury. And he was still only 26 years old.

It's a shame the ankle injury happened because Kendall was a machine during that 1999 season. At the time of the injury he was hitting .332 and slugging over .500. Easily on the way to the best season of his career. And then snap, it all ended.

Kendall has his share of critics in Pittsburgh, mainly because he was considered to be a jerk of a person. And because he made an absurd amount of money. I always found it odd because if people didn't know what Kendall made salary wise he probably would have been one of the most popular Pirate players of the last 20 years, simply because of the way he played. Every pitch he played with a balls to the wall intensity. On top of that, for the first five years of his career he was one of the best catchers in baseball, spraying line drives all over the field, stealing bases and beating the hell out of Gary Sheffield every chance he had. He was fun to watch.

In my opinion - which is worth nothing - I think he's the best catcher the Pirates have ever had. And one of my all-time favorite players. I just hate to see him hitting .120.

And it's a shame the Pirates wasted his best years, along with Brian Giles best years. Much like it's a shame to see them waste Jason Bay's best years.

- Tomorrow is the Major League Baseball draft. And while Pirates fans are already up in arms over who the team is going to waste its fourth round pick on, let alone the fourth overall pick, I just can't seem to get that excited either way. I have a hard time getting upset - or excited - one year after the draft, let alone one day before it...or the day of it. It's just too damn difficult to tell. It's hard enough for the guys that spend countless hours watching 18 year old physical specimens, who were groomed for a life in baseball, whale on 16 year olds who were barely good enough to make their local Junoir legion team and figure out who can play...and who can't. Yeah. It's hard enough for them, imagine how hard it is for somebody like me, or Kevin Goldstein, to figure out who is going to be an all-star and who isn't.

If Ross Detwiler walked up to me on the street and said, "Hi, I'm Ross Detwiler and I just got drafted by the Pirates," I'd just figure he was that guy that walked around Carson Street and pretended to be Brian St. Pierre and Jerame Tuman. I'll start paying attention to whoever they pick when he reaches Lynchburg...or Dr. James Andrews.

I realize past history gives us no reason to be optmistic heading into tomorrow. I also realize that past history shows Ed Creech is no more qualified to run a scouting program for a Major League Baseball team than I am to run a shuttle launch for NASA. Despite that, I just can't get upset tomorrow, regardless of the pick.

Thank God For The Washington Nationals

And more importantly, thank God for Mike Bascik...whoever he is. The Pirates fell down 2-0 early, but pounded out five runs in the top of the third inning and eventually built their lead to 7-2. Every starter - including Shawn Chacon, who singled twice - reached base. Xavier Nady continued his hot play by driving in four runs while Jack Wilson and Ronny Paulino each went yard.

The 7-2 lead would quickly start to slip away in the middle innings as the Nationals found a way to put three runs up sixth inning and one more in the seventh to creep back to within one run. It looked bad. It looked like the Pirates were going to do the impossible (well, impossible to everybody else, routine to them) and blow another four run (in this case, five run) lead. Thankfully, Solomon Torres was filthy in the bottom of the eighth and Matt Capps pitched a perfect ninth to get his second save of the season. In Capps' two save situations he's been perfect, not allowing a single runner to reach base.

- Rajai Davis started in center field and worked a lead-off walk in the top of the first. He would eventually be erased on a Jose Bautista double-play and failed to reach base in his final two plate appearances, although he did hit the ball fairly hard each time.

- Shawn Chacon's final line isn't very impressive, but he wasn't horrible. He wasn't really all that good, but he wasn't bad either. He had a rough second inning thanks to walking Ryan Langerhans, but most of the hits against him were flares that just missed gloves on the infield and 800-hoppers past Freddy Sanchez.

- Xavier Nady pushed his season OPS to .827 tonight by going 1-2 with a sac fly and a walk. He hit a 3-run double in the top of the third and added his final RBI in the top of the fifth with a sac fly that scored Jose Bautista. I'm hoping he can continue this streak through the rest of this series as the Nationals throw two more lefties at the Bucs on Wednesday and Thursday.

Nady is hitting over .370 with a .900 OPS against left handed pitching this season.

- Elsewhere around the NL Central tonight...The Brewers are up 7-3 on the Cubs while the Reds and Cardinals are currently deadlocked at three after seven innings. The Astros are trailing the Rockies 1-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth.

- Watching the game tonight I found a few things about the Nationals that just baffled me. For example: Tony Batista is still in the Major Leagues? Who knew. I thought that would be the most shocking moment of the evening, but then I noticed that Christian Guzman is actually hitting close to .330. Even more, the following players are currently employed by the Nats: Kory Casto, Nook Logan, Robert Fick, Jesus Flores, Levale Speigner and Jason Simontacchi.

Wow. Almost makes you happy to have Don Kelly....almost.

- I realize it's a Tuesday night, but shame on Cleveland fans for only showing up 14,000 strong to watch C.C. Sabathia throw a 5-hit shutout over the Kansas City Royals. And while the Royals aren't exactly a draw, that Indians team should be.

So Close, Yet So Far

For seven innings, this one looked like it could be the absolute rock bottom.

* Derek Lowe was cruising along with a no-hitter and allowed only one ball to be hit out of the infield (the first out of the game, a line out by Jose Bautista to right field).

* Paul Maholm had a decent start and received no support from his teammates in any form - offensively or defensively.

*The usually reliable (defensively) Chris Duffy misplayed a line drive in right center field which handed the Dodgers two runs.

*Adam Laroche dropped a ball from Maholm on a bunt by Juan Pierre which allowed Rafeal Furcal to move up to third base. Furcal scored one play later on a ground out.

*Jack Wilson misplayed a ground ball at short, and Derek Lowe dominated, as much as Derek Lowe can dominate.

Basically, everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong.

The Pirates were able to crawl back into it thanks to another home run from the surprising Xavier Nady making the score 5-3. They even had the tying run at second base with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately, Ryan Doumit continued his slump and Wilson grounded out weakly to second on the first pitch he saw to end the rally.

They end the home stand with a disappointing 2-5 record, a record that could have very easily been - and perhaps should have been - 5-2. I guess that's why you're looking at 24-33 right now?

The Pirates head to Washington tomorrow for a three game set with the Nationals before beginning inter-league play, which is usually the time of year the Pirates go on their 5-25 run.

- The Pirates bench went 0-2 tonight which pushes them to 10-76 on the year in pinch-hit situations. A pretty miserable number. Heading into the game Pirates pinch-hitters had a .486 OPS which ranked 26th in the Major Leagues. This isn't exactly a new thing, the Pirates have had a relatively punchless (errr...useless) bench for years:

2006: 53-234 (.226) - .610 OPS
2005: 47-238 (.197) - .526 OPS
2004: 52-240 (.217) - .620 OPS
2003: 52-242 (.215) - .667 OPS
2002: 42-211 (.199) - .587 OPS

It shouldn't be that difficult to find a couple guys like Olmedo Saenz or Scott Spiezio to give your bench somewhat of a late inning threat. That's 240 at-bats per year that you're turning over to guys like Don Kelly, Jose Castillo, Brad Eldred and Rajai Davis (more on him in a minute) when the game is potentially on the line.

- Finally, heads are starting to roll! Well, sort of. Following the game third string catcher Humberto Cota was designated for assignment and replaced by Rajai Davis. Davis bats from the right side and is having a pretty decent season in Triple-A, but he's likely to be no better than Chris Duffy. Perhaps they start platooning in center? Or perhaps Davis sits on the bench? I don't know. At this point, it really doesn't matter.

- I have to give Xavier Nady some credit, he's quietly starting to put together a decent season. Entering the game he had the 5th highest OPS among National League Right Fielders, and it surely went up after his home run and walk (he walked!) in tonight's game. Right now he's probably as good as he's ever going to get, but if he can maintain what he's doing now (about an .800 OPS) he'll be a useful player.

Tinkle. Tinkle. Tinkle.

That's the sound of the Pirates peeing all over themselves and finding another way to let a sure win slip through their fingers. Tom Gorzalanney had another strong outing for six innings, and thanks to big days from Jason Bay and Adam Laroche, the Bucs had a 4-0 lead heading into the top of the seventh. Unfortunately, asking them to get nine outs before the Dodgers could score four runs was asking too much.

The Dodgers pieced together three runs in the seventh and Andre Ethier hit a 2-run homer off of Solomon Torres in the eighth to give the Dodgers their first lead of the day. Torres left to a loud chorus of boos and Joe Beimel, of all people, finished off the save for LA.

It's June third, which means we have played about one-third of the season and already the Pirates have lost seven games in which they have had a lead in the seventh inning. And in many of those cases, we're not talking about one run leads.

The official list:

April 10 - St. Louis: 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth - 3-2 loss.
April 21 - LA: 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth - 7-3 loss.
May 1 - Chicago: 6-2 lead in the top of the seventh - 8-6 loss.
May 16 - Florida: 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth - 4-3 loss.
May 19- Arizona: 7-2 lead in the top of the seventh - 9-8 loss.
May 31 - San Diego: 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth - 4-2 loss.
June 3 - LA: 4-0 lead in the top of the seventh - 5-4 loss.

You have to try to lose games like that. If they could have won even four of those games, or hell, just the three games where they had four run leads, this entire season would be different. Instead, they sit at 24-32 and are closer to last place than they are to first place in the worst division in baseball.

- Of the Pirates top nine salaries, three of them reside in the bullpen. That should make you feel better about the seven losses listed above.

- Matt Capps and Damaso Marte are the only Pirates relievers to have an ERA under 5.00 right now. Neither one pitched today. Nice work Jim Tracy.

The NL Central Swings And Misses Again

Four of the six teams in the NL Central went down on this Saturday of baseball, and thankfully, your Pittsburgh Pirates were one of the two that were able to scratch out a win.

Ian Snell pitched eight strong innings, holding the Dodgers to only one run, as the Pirates survived more base running blunders and put three runs up on the board to escape with a win. Xavier Nady hit a solo home run and Matt Capps threw a five pitch ninth inning to earn his first save of the season.

For the second night in a row the Pirates hit back-to-back doubles and actually failed to score a run. This time the culprit on second base was Adam Laroche, although Laroche's mistake wasn't quite as glaring as Freddy Sanchez's last night. If it even was a mistake. In this situation, Laroche was on second and Ronny Paulino hit an opposite field double. Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier looked like he had a shot to make the catch, so Laroche held to tag up, which was actually the right move because there was nobody out at the time. The ball went over Ethiers head, Laroche stopped at third and Paulino went into second with a double.

However, just like last night the Pirates failed to take advantage of the second and third base situation and left the inning with neither run scoring. It looked like it might come back to haunt them - again - in the following frame as the Dodgers had runners on second and third with one out.

Wilson Betemit pinch hit and went down swinging on three pitches, and Snell finished the job by getting lead off hitter Juan Pierre to do the same. Snell pitched one more inning and turned the game over to newly anointed closer Matt Capps who finished the deal. Bucs win. Bucs win.

The win was big, not only because it snapped a three game losing skid - a three game losing skid that could have easily been avoided - but because everybody else in the NL Central lost, with the exception of the Houston Astros.

Elsewhere in the Comedy Central on Saturday.......

- The fighting Piniella's lost their sixth game in a row - fifth straight at home - as the Braves pulled out a 5-3 win. This was an incredible game as it saw the Cubs blow a bases loaded no out situation in the bottom of the fourth, Sweet Lou get ejected and angry drunken bleacher bums litter the outfield grass with beer and give-a-way travel mugs.

Oddly enough, my first reaction when I tried that vile swill they call "Old Style" was to also throw it back onto the field.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Cubs outfielder Angel Pagan attempted to move up to third base on a wild pitch. Braves catcher Jarrod Saltalamachia picked up the loose ball, threw it to third and Pagan was called out on a bang-bang play at the bag. At real time as it happened it looked like a call that could go either way. After looking at the replay it was clear that the ump made the proper call as Pagan was easily out.

Sweet Lou didn't care. He instantly came charging out of the dugout, slammed his cap on the ground, kicked dirt at the third base umpires pant legs and then proceeded to kick his hat around the field no fewer than six times. He exited to a standing ovation from the Cubs fans who then voiced their displeasure in the only reasonable way possible: By littering the field and delaying the game. Nicely done.

This comes just one day after pitcher Carlos Zambrano and catcher Michael Barrett got into a shoving match in the dugout which resulted in Zambrano busting Barrett's lip in the locker room.

And to think, all of this joy and happiness only costs the Cubs $100 million.

- The Reds lost 4-1 in Colorado. Jeff Francis took a no-hitter through the first four innings and ended up going seven innings, striking out six and allowing only one earned run. Brian Fuentes closed it out with his 16th save of the year.

- In Milwaukee, starting pitcher Chris Capuano hit a home run for the Beermakers and served up one to Miguel Cabrera. Aside from the home run, Capuano actually pitched a solid game.

- Houston was the only team in the division other than the Pirates to win, and they did so by beating Kip Wells and the Cardinals. Wells became the first pitcher in the big leagues this season to lose 10 games, which brings up the question of "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THIS GUY?"

After the Pirates picked him up from the White Sox for Todd Ritchie, Wells looked like he was on his way to becoming an elite National League starting pitcher. His first two years in Pittsburgh his ERA+ was 121 and 129. Since then? 91. 74. 70. And so far this year......60.

It was a typical Wells start as he threw 87 pitches in only five innings. He walked three, gave up six runs - Five earned - and struck out two. He also gave up two home runs, one to Adam Everett and the other to Luke Scott.

- Your current National League Central Standings:

Milwaukee 31-25 ---
Pittsburgh 24-31 6.5
St. Louis 23-30 6.5
Houston 23-32 7.5
Chicago 22-31 7.5
Cincinnati 22-35 9.5

The Slide Continues

In the bottom of the first inning, the Pirates had runners on second and third (Jose Bautista on third and Freddy Sanchez on second) with one out and Jason Bay coming up to the plate. Bay drove an 0-2 pitch from Randy Wolf deep into center field and smacked it off the top of the 399 sign.

Bautista walked home to make the game 1-0. Sanchez...well Sanchez stopped at third and kept the game 1-0.

So, how does one fail to score from second base on a double to straight away center field?

Like this:

Sanchez decided to hold close to the second base bag, despite the fact Pierre had his back turned to the infield and was struggling to find the ball. It was pretty obvious it was over his head and he had no shot to make the play.

At the absolute worst, Sanchez should have been at least half way to third. That way, even if Pierre makes an improbable catch there is no way he would be able to double off Sanchez at second base. Mainly because Pierre isn't that good to begin with, and more importantly, he has the worst throwing arm in the Major Leagues. He would have needed two relays and a jugs machine to get the ball into the infield.

My only guess is Sanchez planned on tagging up if Pierre made the catch, which is why he stuck so close, something he never should have done. If Pierre makes the catch and Sanchez moves up to third, he does so with two outs, thus removing the option of a sac-fly or scoring on a ground ball or any other way you score from third base on an out. In that situation he has to be closer to third than he is to second. He wasn't. And it cost him.

Sanchez never scored that inning and the Pirates went on to lose 5-4.

Of course, Zach Duke did his part in the loss as well. Perhaps it's time for Bryan Bullington to get a look. At this point, why the hell not?

Another frustrating loss by a frustrating team.

More from me tomorrow.......