Pittsburgh Pirates

In last year's first series against the Colorado, the Pirates went 0-4, being outscored 28 runs to 9, or an "average" of 7.00 to 2.25. They followed part of that pattern last night, when they scored only one run. Since the starter was their ace Paul Maholm however, one run could have been all they needed.

There were quite a few nail biting moments, with two out in the third, Troy Tulowitzki hit a double, then advanced to third on an infield single, but Maholm got the third out.

Call it the series of the Midgets. But the Pirates finally have some "easy" opponents for a change.

The 14-20 Pirates will play their next 10 games against teams with three of the worst records in the majors. The Colorado Rockies are 13-20. The Washington Nationals are even worse. The Chicago White Sox are a tad better. No team has a lower won-loss percentage than the Nats, and only four more teams are worse than the other two, and not much worse at that.

Part of the Pittsburgh Pirates' lineup is formidable.

This includes Nyjer Morgan, who hits for average and steals a ton of bases. Freddy Sanchez is beginning to look like the man who won a batting title in 2006. "Nasty" Nate McLouth is just that to opposing pitchers. And the Pirates are in good hands when one of the catchers with the initials RD, Ryan Doumit or Robinzon Diaz, is batting.

Unfortunately, the rest of the Pirates' lineup isn't contributing as much as the team would like.

April has come and gone, and we are now about halfway through May.  Many casual Pirates fans may be wondering how the farm clubs as well as players such as Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, and Jose Tabata may be doing. 

Look no further as I will update you monthly, between the 10th and the 15th, about the happenings of the Pirates minor league teams.

AAA Indianapolis Indians: 13-17, 2nd place International League West division

Paul Maholm is arguably not a front-of-the-rotation starter. Ian Snell is certainly not a No. 2 starter, even on the weak Pirates staff. That's one reason why the Pirates have lost the last few games. But that may be exactly the point.

Zach Duke and Ross Ohlendorf are decidedly better than the average three and four starters, and Jeff Karstens is a legitimate No. 5. These pitchers are "coming up," bringing the Pirates to the "better" part of a still-questionable rotation.

The Mets defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates by the score of 8-4 at Citifield today, and they completed their three game obliteration of the Pirates, outscoring the feeble opponents by a 25-8 margin.

The win was the Mets’ seventh straight, and they are just red hot right now.

Eight men in the starting lineup had at least one hit, and leading the way with two hits a piece was Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, and Omir Santos. Castillo, Beltran, and Santos also led the way with two RBIs each.

With the song "We Are Family" glaring from the speakers in Three Rivers Stadium, the Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 7-1, in Game Five of the 1979 World Series to extend the series. It would be two games later when the Pirates would go on to defeat the Orioles by winning the next two games in Baltimore.

The Pittsburgh Pirates just finished a series against the Milwaukee Brewers, 0-3. Although they are unlikely to lose every season series, or suffer a sweep in every series loss, the story that was told was not a pretty one. Based on the grid that I posited the other day, the Pirates will not be even a .500 team this year. The series loss by itself drops them to 11-10.

The Padres ran into a buzzsaw by the name of Zach Duke on Saturday night. The Pirates' left hander was absolutely dominant, pitching eight and one-third innings and giving up just one run as the Pirates beat the San Diego Padres 10-1.