Double Down. Bucs SWEPT

	R	H	E	LOB
	7	11	2	9
	8	15	0	12

Charlie Morton. No matter how much this guy sucks, the Pirates always want to give him and his Legendary Great Stuff another chance. I guess at this point it doesn't really matter though.

He got rocked for 3.1 IP, allowing 9 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 2 Ks, and 1 HR. That was all the Brewers needed to cement yet another disappointing road series for the Buccos. The Pirates have just 13 wins on the road this year.

Delwyn Young, playing RF this game, went 2 for 5 in the 2 spot, as Andrew McCutchen had the day off as a starter. Doumit went 2 for 2 with 2 walks, getting on base in every AB. Lastings Milledge went 2 for 3 in LF. Tabata had his first hitless outing in his last 7 games. It was homer or bust in this one, as all runs for the Pirates came by way of the long ball. Solo shots were hit by Doumit and Delwyn Young, while Neil Walker had a 2-run blast.

The Race For Last™

Arizona: Lost 9-7.
Baltimore: Won 1-0.
Cleveland: Lost 6-2.
Seattle: Won 2-1.

The current standings:

Team	W	L
Pittsburgh	43	87
Baltimore	48	83
Seattle	51	79
Arizona	52	79
Cleveland	53	77

Eyes on the prize, Bucco fans.

Blowout. Bucs LOSE

	R	H	E	LOB
	10	14	0	12
	2	8	0	8

More bad luck for Ohlie, as he threw just 8 pitches before leaving the game with a shoulder injury. You know it's a bad day for the Pirates pitching staff when only Chan Ho Park escapes without an earned run.

Offense was slightly better, but failed to get men across the plate. Garrett Jones's 2-run homer that went over the stands down to the riverwalk was the only scoring play for the Bucs. Jose Tabata had a nice day, going 3 for 4 and improving his average to .306. He also had a stolen base, his 13th of the season. Ryan Doumit and Delwyn Young had doubles, and Neil Walker hit a triple.

The Race For Last™

Arizona: Was off.
Baltimore: Was off.
Cleveland: Was off.
Seattle: Lost 6-3.

The current standings:

Team	W	L
Pittsburgh	41	84
Baltimore	44	81
Arizona	49	76
Seattle	49	76
Cleveland	50	74

Eyes on the prize, Bucco fans.

Okay, this is getting a little crazy. Bucs WIN

	R	H	E	LOB
	3	7	0	7
	15	18	2	6

In the last 4 out of 5 games, the Bucs have scored 9+ runs. As mentioned in the last post, output like that over a 5 game stretch hasn't happened for the Pirates since 1971. What does all this mean?  Just that it's really hard to sustain production like this for long, but it should definitely be enjoyed while it lasts.

This game started off kind of slow, with the Pirates and Brewers trading leads for the first 3 innings.  The Brewers scored 1 run in each of the first 3 innings, while the Bucs scored 2 in the bottom of the 1st.  After 3 innings, it wasn't looking that great for the home team, with Randy Wolf retiring 9 in a row after the Bucs put up their two runs in the 1st. But then the Bucs started Battling. Lastings Milledge hits a long double to score Garrett Jones.  Then Ronny Cedeno hits a perfect bunt and reach 1st safely, scoring Pedro in the process.  Tabata hits a single which scores Milledge.  And the Delwyn Young comes to the plate.  He hits a 3-run homer. Suddenly the Bucs have a commanding 8-3 lead after scoring 6 in the 4th.

But they weren't done yet.  In the 5th, Pedro hits his 7th homer of the year, scoring Garrett Jones in the process.  In the 6th, Delwyn Young nets his 5th RBI of the game, scoring Zach Duke.  Then Neil Walker hits a sacrifice Ground into Double Play (yeah, weird), scoring Tabata.  It's 12-3, and it's only the 6th inning.  At this point we were thinking revenge for 20-0.  It came fairly close to that.  Andy LaRoche pinch hits a single to score Lastings Milledge in the 7th, and Neil Walker singles to score Ronny Cedeno, also in the 7th. 14-3.

Pedro comes to the plate in the 8th. He's already contributed a ton to this game, can he do more? Yes.  He hits another bomb towards the Clemente Wall, which doinks off the foul post about 2/3rds of the way up for his 4th homer in the last 2 days.  15-3. At this point the Pirates were showing mercy.  Sean Gallagher was in for the last few innings, and he got a chance to bat for the first time since probably ever. He gets the job done in the 9th.

Zach Duke went 6+ IP, 6 H, 3 R / 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, and 1 HR.  Bullpen of Donnelly (1 IP) and Gallagher (2 IP) came in for 3 innings of 1-hit, 3 K baseball.

Jose Tabata went 2 for 4 with a walk and an RBI; Delwyn Young went 3 for 4 with a walk, a homer, and 5 RBIs; Neil Walker went 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs; Garrett Jones went 2 for 4 with a walk; Pedro went 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs and two homers; Lastings Milledge went 2 for 5 with an RBI; Ronny Cedeno went 2 for 5 with an RBI, and Zach Duke got a hit, going 1 for 3.  Doubles were hit by Walker and Milledge, while homers were hit by Delwyn Young and Pedro (twice).

El Toro! Bucs WIN

	R	H	E	LOB
	9	14	3	7
	11	11	0	6

So after one day of anemic offense the Bucs go back to the second coming of the Lumber Company.  I'm cautiously optimistic that they can win or tie this series, but I know better than to get my hopes up too much with this team.  They're definitely making progress though, as they haven't scored 9+ runs in 3 out of 4 games since May 25-28, 2007, when they had scores of 10-4, 9-5, and 14-10 in Cincinnati. UPDATE: I was curious to see when the last time the Pirates had 9+ scored in 4 out of 5 games.  Turns out it was in June 25-28, 1971, with a double-header played on the 27th.  That team had scores of 14-4, 11-9, 10-9, and 11-5 over 4 games in Philadelphia and 1 in St. Louis.

Pedro and Walker were the big stories of this game.  Neil went 5 for 5 at the plate, and Pedro smacked his first Major League grand slam to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead.  But they weren't done there. 4 hits and 3 errors later, and the Pirates had a 9-0 lead after only one inning.  Pretty safe lead, right?  Well, the Brewers came back in a big way, scoring 3 in the 2nd and 4 in the 3rd.  In between those runs, Pedro smacked another homer, a solo shot, in the bottom of the 2nd, giving him 2 homers in 2 innings and 5 RBIs.  Brad Lincoln was pulled in the 3rd inning after giving up 7, so Carrasco came in for some long relief.

Things got more interesting (read: nerve-wracking) in the 6th, when Brendan Donnelly gave up a home run to Lloyd Braun which put the Brewers within 1 run of tying the game.  The rest of the bullpen which included Lopez and the Three Musketeers of Meek, Hanrahan and Dotel were able to limit the Beers to just 3 hits and struck out 6 of them.  Delwyn Young scored an insurance run in the bottom of the 6th off a Garret Jones sac, and the rest is history.

Walker, as mentioned previously, went 5 for 5, Pedro went 2 for 4, and Delwyn Young went 2 for 3 (he was taken out as part of a double switch in the 7th).  Doubles were hit by Tabata, Young, and Walker, and homers were hit by Pedro twice.

Now This Is Encouraging. Bucs WIN

	R	H	E	LOB
	5	9	1	3
	8	9	1	4

The Pirates score more than 6 runs against a team not named the Dodgers, Brewers, or Cubs?  A team that is the defending National League champion?  Coming back from down 5-2 to do it?  Yes, please.

Pedro smacked another dinger out, his second in as many days, and also has 2 multi-hit days in a row (2 for 4), bringing his hitting streak up to 7 days, and his average above .200.  Every spot in the order had a hit except Ronny Cedeno and Andrew McCutchen, who continues to struggle at the plate and his average has now dropped below .300.  Delwyn Young hit a key 2 RBI double that tied the game and set the stage for Jose Tabata's game-winning RBI single.

Starting pitcher Jeff Karstens didn't exactly have a great game, giving up 9 hits, 5 runs (including 1 homer), and only struck out 2, but the hitting was behind  him. In addition, the bullpen was nearly perfect, allowing only one base runner after Neil Walker messed up a routine ground ball.  But no harm was done, as the next batter grounded out and Rollins, the baserunner, was caught in a rundown between 1st and 2nd for the inning ending double play.

A very encouraging win, and with it, the Pirates take the series win instead of a tie, and they take the season series against the Phillies 4-2.

Now it's time to take it to the Astros, who last time killed the Pirates in a series sweep that was pretty much the death knell for the 2010 Pittsburgh Pirates season.  We want revenge.

18 Ks. Bucs LOSE

	R	H	E	LOB
	2	5	0	2
	5	11	0	5

What can you say when some young kid comes in and totally schools your ballclub?  All I can say is that I hope we're in the same position with Jameson Taillon in a few years.

Other than a 2-run Delwyn Young homer in the 4th, the offense was anemic yet again.  No Pirate had more than 1 hit.  Oh yeah, and they struck out 18 times, 14 of which were by said kid.  Not gonna win too many with those numbers.

Jeff Karstens allowed 4 runs in 5 innings, all of them off 3 home runs.  Meek came in for 2 dominant innings, and Lopez allowed another run to score in the 8th.

On to some good news, for a change.  In addition to sending Jack Taschner down to Indy to make room for Brad Lincoln (expected), Jeff Clement was also sent down (not expected).  So who is the mystery player that will be making the journey to join the Pirates in the nation's capital?  Several sources say that it is Jose Tabata, which, if true, means that two of the so-called "Big Three" of Pirates prospects could play their first Major League Baseball game tonight, leaving only Pedro Alvarez in AAA.  I still think that management will bring Pedro up sooner rather than later, and we'll finally be able to get a look at the future of Pirates baseball.  Exciting times indeed.

Dirty Sanchez. Bucs LOSE

	R	H	E	LOB
	6	12	0	14
	5	9	2	7

Every time the Giants would score, the Pirates would answer back.  Except in the 10th inning.  It's always tough to lose in extra innings, especially when you're the home team and have a chance to hit a walkoff.

Ohlendorf had a decent outing, only giving up 3 runs in 6 innings.  Javier Lopez gave up 2 runs in the 9th, but the Bucs answered back again in the bottom. Octavio Dotel gets his first loss of the year after giving up the winning run on a sac fly by Freddy.

Garrett Jones and Delwyn Young both homered for the Bucs, and Jones and Doumit both had 2 hits each, as well as Jones drawing 2 walks.  Cutch had a bad day, going 0 for 5.

Tough loss.  Bucs try to turn it around today with another afternoon game with the Cubs, the makeup game from last Wednesday.

River City Frustration. Bucs LOSE

	R	H	E	LOB
	5	10	1	8
	7	10	1	5

The 4th inning has been a make or break inning for the Buccos so far, and this time it broke.  After the Pirates led early because of a 2-run Cedeno homer in the 2nd, Brian Burres gave up 3 runs in the 4th, and was relieved by Jeff Karstens who gave up 2 more before finally escaping the inning.  The Bucs never really had a chance after that.  Cincy scored again off Karstens the following inning.  The Pirates put up a 3-run 7th with a 2-run Delwyn Young RBI double and a Garrett Jones sac, but you still had the feeling that they weren't coming back.

Speaking of Young, he was back at 3rd for this game (why!?) and made an absolutely horrible throw to first on what should have been a routine put-out.  Steve Pearce has to do a weird stretch to catch it but it's too far wide for him.  He ends up hurting his ankle on the play and is replaced by Jeff Clement for the rest of the game.  Young did have a nice day at the plate, going 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs and a run, but for the love of God, he does not belong at 3rd base.  I can only hope it's not too long before Pedro gets the call and we can leave this sort of nonsense in the past.

Anyway, the Bucs can't get anything going in the 8th or 9th, but D.J. Carrasco had a perfect 8th, taking them down in order with 3 Ks.

GAME.

Don't Tase Me Bro. Bucs LOSE

	R	H	E	LOB
	2	5	1	4
	12	13	1	5

Yep, it's the Phillies.  The NL's best team.  Didn't really expect much.  Charlie Morton got back in his bad pitching form, allowing 6 runs, including a 3-run homer.  He only lasted 4 innings.  Karstens allowed 2, one of which was unearned.  Taschner gave up a Grand Slam.  Was over way before that though.

Biggest highlight for the Bucs was Delwyn Young hitting a homer on the 4th pitch of the game.  He had both RBIs for the Bucs, the other being a sacrifice grounder that scored Cedeno in the 5th.  Ryan Doumit went 2 for 3 with a walk.

GAME.

Defense. Bucs LOSE

	R	H	E	LOB
	3	4	1	3
	4	7	1	3

Short recap as I'm busy with finals prep at the moment.  Bucs' rally in the 7th fell short and they lose their first close game of the season.  Paul Maholm was pretty much excellent, but the defense behind him was suspect.  If Milledge had started in LF and not Church, and if Bobby Crosby or Andy LaRoche had been at 3rd instead of Delwyn Young (who is NOT a 3B any way you try to spin it), I'm fairly certain this is a W for the Pirates.  Garrett Jones got his 4th HR of the year, scoring 2 runs, and Jeff Clement hit his 2nd HR of the year, a solo shot.

Looks like Chris Jakubauskas will be the starter on Saturday.

GAME.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Blass. Bucs SWEEP

	R	H	E	LOB
	3	5	1	5
	5	5	1	4

This game immediately turns into a pitching duel if not for Bronson Arroyo's meltdown in the 4th.  Only one player made it on base through 3 innings for both teams, a Maholm walk of Cabrera in the 1st.

In the 4th, Delwyn Young and Clutch get singles and Legend draws a walk to load the bases.  Ryan Church hits a single to shallow left to score one run, but the other baserunners are forced to hold.  Bobby Crosby gets hit by a pitch to score Young.  2-0.  Jason Jaramillo comes up to the plate.  Bases clearing double.

5-0.

That was pretty much it for the Pirates' bats, but that was all it took.  Jay Bruce hit 2 solo home runs and Maholm gave up a run on a double in the 7th, but it was all meaningless.  Octavio Dotel had 3 strikeouts in the 9th.

GAME.

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Miscellaneous shit

• Much has been made about this season so far resembling the 1960 World Series.  I can definitely see where they are coming from.  Currently, the Pirates are 1 game behind the NL Leaders (St. Louis, San Francisco, and Philadelphia all are at 8-4) and a half game behind Florida (8-5).  And yet, the Bucs have the third worst run differential in all of baseball at -22.  Only Baltimore and Houston are doing worse (-24 and -29, respectively), but neither of those teams have more than 3 wins.  So what does this mean?  The Bucs had a few bad outings. And I mean really bad.  However, they're winning the close games.  Games where maybe in previous years they don't get it done.  The relievers, apart from those really bad games where the starter had already made the game a foregone conclusion, have been pretty good.  Not great, but good.  Good enough to get the job done when necessary.  Yeah, they might give up a run here and there.  Yeah, they might have that one night where they walk in 2 runs.  In those cases, the batters have stepped up, as evidenced by the 3 walk-off wins the Pirates have so far this year.  The only thing I can say about it is that I would rather take those close wins and a few blowout losses than to lose the close games and have a few blowout wins.  In the world of baseball, and especially for the Pirates, winning is everything.

• There were a lot of defensive highlights in the early part of this game.  Ronny Cedeno had a nice leaping throw in the 2nd to record an out at first that you can see here (it's the #4 play).  Just ignore the random splicing of clips from the Deadliest Catch.  Later in the game Garret Jones made a couple leaping grabs and Paul Maholm made a nice catch between the mound and first base.  Not exactly his circus throw of a few games ago, but pretty neat nonetheless.  Lastings Milledge made a nice diving catch at some point too.

• Paul Maholm had a great start today, with only 4 hits, 2 runs and 1 walk allowed.  He also had 5 strikeouts in his 6.6 innings.  The win improves his record to 1-1.

• Nearly 14,000 for a 43 degree, cloudy game is a pretty decent draw.

• Bucs take on the Brewers next at PNC.  This series will be a good measure of exactly how well this team is doing.

Legend. Bucs WIN

	R	H	E	LOB
	4	6	1	4
	5	7	0	9

What  rollercoaster ride this game was.  The Reds started things off by taking a run from Daniel McCutchen, who probably learned that he was going to start about 2 hours before game time.

The Bucs were able to take a 3-1 lead through the 2nd thanks to RBIs by Clutch and Delwyn Young in the 1st and a Ronny Cedeno homer in the second.

But then the Reds scored 2 in the 3rd to tie it, and took the lead 4-3 in the 5th after McCutchen was relieved by DJ Carrasco.  That's right, the starter only went 4 innings.  That's probably more a result of his last outing and the 13 run inning in Arizona than his performance in this game though.  Carrasco was solid in the 6th, taking the Reds down in order.

Evan Meek was awesome for two innings, allowing no hits and 2 strikeouts. Jack Taschner was just as good in the 9th.

But the score was still 4-3 in favor of the Reds.  Clement grounds out to the pitcher.  Pinch hitter Ryan Church gets a single.  Cedeno and Iwamura both walk.  Bases loaded.  McCutch is up.  Hits it deep to left, but the catch is made and quickly thrown in.  Runners can't advance.  Clutch comes to the plate.

He gets walked.  4-4.

Legend comes to the plate with a chance to win it.  Walk-off single.

5-4.

GAME.

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Miscellaneous shit

The Reds closer suffered the same meltdown that Pirates relievers had on Friday, walking in runs.

Cincinnati's last hit of the game was an RBI double in the 5th.  That was also the last time they got on base.

Pirates are now 4-1 at home and 4-0 in 1-run games.

Lots of people will have the day off Sunday with the Bucs already clinching the series.  Delwyn Young at 2B for Iwamura, Legend at 1B for Clement, Ryan Church in RF for Legend, Bobby Crosby at 3B (although this might be because LaRoche is still injured), and Jason Jaramillo at C for Ryan Doumit.

Bucs look for their first sweep of the year on Sunday at 1:35p.