It’s May 9th. The Pirates are 17-17. Many people, Pirate fans included (including me; I’m still sticking with my 70-75 win prediction from the pre-season) don’t think they’ll be able to keep this pace up over the course of the season. The only way to change people’s minds is to keep on winning. Tonight, the Dodgers come to PNC for a four-game set. They’re not playing terribly well at the moment and it would be fantastic to see the Pirates get three of four to run their record to 5-2 on this homestand. 

Tonight, Pedro Alvarez returns to the lineup. Andrew McCutchen has heated up a bit in his last nine games (.294/.385/.500 since the beginning of the Pirates’ Colorado/San Diego trip); if Pedro can heat up, too, I think this team can hang some crooked numbers on the scoreboard. Hopefully, his few days off help him get his head straight rather than set him back even further. 

Jeff Karstens pitches for the Bucs, Chad Billingsley for the Dodgers. The first pitch tonight is at 7:05.  

REMINDER: If you’re interested in WHYGAVS Night or a WHYGAVS Shirt, I need to hear from you ASAP.

You know what I’m going to say here. One win isn’t nearly enough after 12 straight losses. The only way to follow up last night’s good performance is with another good once. The team has won a game, Pedro Alvarez has a hit, Milledge is starting to hit the ball. Today, Brad Lincoln has a chance to keep things going the right direction by making his first good big league start. He’s shown flashes in his first two starts, but nothing terribly consistent. Maybe a home assignment against the Indians with the weight of the losing streak off everyone’s shoulders will help.

Two bits of injury news this morning that are leftover from yesterday. One is really disappointing; shortstop prospect Brock Holt, who was hitting .351/.410/438 with Bradenton in his first full season of pro ball (he was last year’s ninth round pick) has a torn MCL and may be out for the rest of the season. With the way he was hitting, it looked like Holt would be moving along to Double-A with Tony Sanchez before long, but instead he won’t get there until next year. Holt and Starling Marte were two of the bigger breakout guys in the lower minors this year, and they’re both out for a huge chunk of the year. Sometimes this team just can’t catch a break. Zach Duke will also miss his next start with “elbow soreness” which presumably means that Zach Duke lite (Dana Eveland) will get the start. If you squint hard enough, you might not even notice a difference.

First pitch today is at 1:35 with Justin Masterson on the mound for the Tribe against Lincoln. Clemente/Cangelosi is after the jump.

Not sure what this is? Check here and here. Short version: in the comments pick the Pirates you think will be most and least valuable in today’s game. If you haven’t jumped aboard yet, it’s been a lot of fun so far and now’s as good a time as any to join in.

It should be of no surprise to anyone that watched last night’s game that Milledge and his four RBIs and McCutchen and his five times on base garnered Clemente honors, though Evan Meek’s 1 1/3 big innings of relief nearly nudged ‘Cutch out for second place. On the flip side, Jose Tabata’s 0/5 earned him the first Cangelosi of his short career, while Jeff Karstens’ attempt at blowing a 5-1 lead got him the runner up.

Today’s standings:

1. Don_Madden: 38
2. Carnegie Chip: 24
3. brian2: 23
4. North Shore Ryan: 22
5. dafletch, Woodward: 21
6. ndbrian: 18
7. J. Latrobe: 17
8. pdiddy0020: 16
9. hisjazziness: 15
10. Wizard of Woz, michaelbro8, Garrett 122: 14
11. hwtrine68, michaelbro8, whygavs: 13
12. Mornacale:12
13. UtesFan890, dboz, apk: 8
14. bwzimmerman: 7
15. TuckerD13, edgeman2k, Nate: 6
16. TheHulk, WallyR, Cecelio_Guante, Dave Mesing: 5
17. TomKaikis, Joek, tylerrcurtis, TheJewelryMan!, fruitbat, appeal2smail: 3
18. PatrickHealy, MattB, SteelCity66, BadAndy, spazaru, Adam_Reynolds, Mr. Ando, cocktailsfor2, hilltoppeer, PHook4000: 2
19. FSU Bucs, Christy, appeal2smail, SeanGentile, shsteimer, TheHulk, Traco Bucco, Tate, Neopold, IndianaJohns04, wk kortas, jac8, Mr. Ando,  DoctorGeeves, CoryR, Polish Prodigy: 1
20. Everyone else: 0
21. NSN, Mosca, danatural, Teflon, John Sparrow, matt w, Fielding Yost: -1

Clementes: Milledge, McCutchen

Cangelosis: Tabata, Karstens

Chip: +3