It's a little cliche, but the best way to bounce back after a winning streak ends is to start a new winning streak. Jeff Locke looks to bolster his All-Star candidacy tonight (that is not a sentence I ever thought I'd type) with a strong start (he's probably got two more before the break), while […]

With Monday's news that Wandy Rodriguez had received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his elbow, the looming controversy over Gerrit Cole's possible demotion was deflated a bit. The best-case scenario is that Rodriguez would be back in August, but I think it's more realistic to assume that he'll be out longer than that. That means […]

When I found out yesterday that Brandon Cumpton would be starting today's game, I kind of had a hunch that the winning streak might be coming to an end. Cumpton's one start in Triple-A since being sent back to Indianapolis was pretty ugly (five innings, eight hits, six runs) and the Phillies are a pretty […]

The second half of the season begins tonight, with the Pirates defending the best record in baseball and sending Brandon Cumpton to the mound. That's one crazy sentence. Because of the Pirates' 14-inning game against the Brewers necessitated him to warm up, Jeff Locke's start is being pushed back a bit. Because Sunday was Jeanmar […]

This comes straight from the Pirates themselves, as everyone that covers the team tweeted out something along these lines almost simultaneously:

This is how the first half of the season comes to a close: with a 2 1/2 hour rain delay that puts Charlie Morton on the shelf after just two innings and 22 pitches. With five perfect Vin Mazzaro innings in relief of Morton. With Justin Wilson, Bryan Morris, Jason Grilli, and Mark Melancon all […]

The best team in baseball, your Pittsburgh Pirates, play the Brewers one more time at PNC Park this afternoon. Charlie Morton is on the hill for the Pirates, Kyle Lohse is pitching for the Brewers. I see no reason to stop at eight. First pitch is at 1:35. 

The Pirates are the first team to 50 wins in all of baseball for the first time since 1960. Here are some morning links before Sunday's game post goes up.  Wandy Rodriguez threw his bullpen session yesterday and it did not go well. He's still bothered by the forearm tightness that put him on the […]

There is no team in baseball with a better record than the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, you may not think that the Pirates are the most talented team in baseball. You may not think that they've played quite well enough to have baseball's best record. You probably wouldn't be wrong about that. Here's the thing: the […]

The Pirates are tied for first place and playing at home. The Brewers are in town. Gerrit Cole is on the mound. Can you think of a better Friday? I'm not sure that I can.  First pitch will be at 7:05. After Cole's first three starts against Tim Lincecum, Zack Greinke, and Jered Weaver, tonight […]

Confirmed:

The Pirates are tied for the best record in all of baseball on June 27th. This is a wonderful thing. It's also not a very meaningful thing starting on June 28th. The Pirates were in first place in July of 2011 and from late May to early August of 2012 they had one of (if […]

If there was a formula for a team like the Pirates to beat Felix Hernandez, I suppose that it would to be try and score a run or two with Felix on the mound, get a good start of your own, and turn it over to a bullpen battle. And so Neil Walker hit a […]

The Pirates are 4-0 on their trip to Anaheim and Seattle and Felix Hernandez is starting against them today. This would seem like a good opportunity to say, "This has been a pretty successful trip, no matter what happens this afternoon." I'm not going to say that, of course, because I want the Pirates to […]

Since this blog is mostly read by Pirate fans, I don't actually need to start out by saying that Starling Marte has been good this year. Pirate fans certainly know that. Seasons play out in shifts, and Marte was the first Pirate to really carry the offense in 2013. He handed the baton off to […]

The Pirates hit a bunch of home runs and Jeff Locke pitched well and now they're seventeen games over .500. That or it's 1:20 AM on a Wednesday morning and I'm hallucinating things. I mean, Brandon Inge home run. Wait, what?

As I noted yesterday, the Pirates are 9-4 over their last 13 games with a rotation that, depending on how you want to spin things, only contains one or two people that was a part of the rotation at the beginning of the year (Jeff Locke was on the Opening Day roster, but he had […]

Trying to describe this game with words is a pretty tall task. All of this actually happened:  – Pedro Alvarez homered for the fourth straight game to give the Pirates a 1-0 led.  – In his first big league at-bat, Tony Sanchez hit a double that got stuck in the wall, probably costing the Pirates […]

Normally, I'd be plenty happy with two wins in three games on the road, particularly on the West Coast with AL rules against a decent offense like the Angels with a ton of pitchers on the disabled list. Here's the thing, though: Joe Blanton is starting for the Angels today. Joe Blanton has served up […]

After beating Jered Weaver last night, the Pirates now face Jerome Williams and Joe Blanton. Yes, the Jerome Williams that you probably remember pitching for the Giants or Cubs in the middle of the last decade. Francisco Liriano goes tonight. It'd be nice to score him some runs. First pitch is at 10:05