Pitch By Pitch

Joel Pineiro (4-2, 3.66) @ Ross Ohlendorf (3-3, 4.14), 7:05 P.M., PNC Park

Postgame Update:
There was a lot to feel good about in Pittsburgh last night. The Penguins destroyed the Capitals 6-2 in Game 7 of their Stanley Cup playoff series. The Pirates beat the Cardinals 5-2 and started a much-needed winning streak.

Ross Ohlendorf pitched another nice game (6IP, 2H, 1R, 5K). Pirate pitchers allowed 0 walks tonight. Matt Capps entered the game with a bit of a jam in the 9th (runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 out, 4 run lead). He allowed an Albert Pujols RBI single, but then he got Chris Duncan to ground into a double play for the save.

Jack Wilson found himself at the plate tonight. He was 3-4 with an RBI double. Like I said yesterday, it’s great having him healthy again.

Adam LaRoche hit a “home run” in the 1st that was reviewed with video replay. Replay showed that the home run hit the railing and did not clear the park. The call was overturned, and LaRoche was given an RBI double. That’s the first time that video overturned a call in PNC Park history.

Finally, in non-Pirate news, Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman had a 30 game hitting streak going into last night. Unfortunately, he failed to record a hit against Barry Zito and the San Francisco Giants. Zimmerman spent a few months with the Harrisburg Senators on his way up to the big leagues, so I’m a fan of his. I hope he starts a new streak tomorrow (but hopefully he doesn’t hurt us too bad in our 4 game series with the Nats next week!).

Well, we’ve got a winning streak, and we’ve guaranteed a series win against the Cardinals! We’ll be reaching for the brooms tonight.

Go Bucs!

The M-Boys: McLouth, Morgan, and Moss Celebrate the Win

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After a disappointing home-stand against the Reds and Brewers, the Pirates travel to St. Louis to take on the division leading Cardinals. At 17-10, the Cardinals have one of the best records in baseball, but the Pirates managed a 2-2 split with them in their season-opening series.

Tonight, we’ll see: Zach Duke (3-2, 2.21) @ Mitchell Boggs (1-0, 3.29)

Delwyn Young will be starting in right field.

Post Game Update:
Given the current state of the Pirates’ offense, it tough to win many games. Pirate hitting was too few and far between, and the Pirates lost to the Cardinals 4-2. That’s their 8th loss in 9 games. (I guess I need to be in attendance more often!)

Tonight wasn’t Zach Duke’s best outing, but he still left the game in a manageable condition. Sean Burnett continued to be the strongest member of the Bucs’ bullpen, pitching 2 and 1/3 strong innings.

Albert Pujols was nasty, as always, going 4-4 including a 1st inning homer.

Our offense needs a jump-start.

Delwyn Young... until I can find a picture of him in a Pirates' uniform

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The NL Central leading Pittsburgh Pirates looked for their first winning streak of the season this afternoon.  I got to enjoy most of this game on MLB.com’s Gameday Audio.  The nice advantage of Gameday Audio over XM Radio is that you get to choose the home OR away feed.  XM Radio typically gives you only the home feed.  I quickly got annoyed with the Cardinals play-by-play announcer, so it was nice to switch to the hometown feed.

The Bucs started off nicely, with Nyjer Morgan and Freddy Sanchez leading off with hits to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the 1st.  Unfortunately, Ian Snell didn’t have much to offer, and this game was “over” in a hurry.  Snell gave up 8 runs (6 earned) in 4 innings of work.  Andy LaRoche has struggled at 3rd base, with 3 errors in 2 games.

Albert Pujols has destroyed the Pirates in these first two games:

Game 1: Double, Single, Fly Out, Intentional Walk, Single

Game 2: Walk, Home Run, Reached on Error, Walk, Single

Oh well.  You can’t win ’em all.  Game 3 of the 4 game series is tomorrow at 8:15 P.M.