I think it's important that the Pirates get a split in this four-game series in Philadelphia and since James McDonald is on the mound tomorrow, tonight might represent their best chance to do it. Wandy Rodriguez takes the mound for the Pirates and he's been excellent in the two full starts that he's made this […]

Of course Brandon Inge would be the player to get the key RBI double in this game. Of course he'd be the one to turn in two stellar plays at third base to keep the Phillies off of the board with the Pirates clinging to a 1-0 lead and the Phillies threatening. Of course that's […]

The second game of this Pirates/Phillies series comes with an unwanted surprise: Brandon Inge's rehab assignment is over and he'll be joining the Pirates in Philadelphia tonight. And also starting at third base against Cole Hamels. Inge went 9-for-60 on his rehab stint and he hasn't had a season with an OPS+ of over 100 […]

This game was about as tough to watch as baseball games come. Undistinguished rookie Jonathan Pettibone shut the Pirates down over his 5 1/3 innings, striking out six Bucs and walking none. The only runs the Pirates managed against him (or anyone on the Phillies' staff) were two solo homers by Pedro Alvarez and Russell […]

The Pirates are 10-8. They're hitting the ball well and besides uneven starting pitching, playing a brand of baseball that I think we can fairly call "very good" over the last two weeks. They're coming off of a 7-2 homestand against the Reds, Cardinals, and Braves. Still, it feels like they're stuck in a sort […]

I was excited to watch Gerrit Cole pitch on Sunday afternoon. When the Minor League season started, I bought the MiLB.tv package for the first time since it's come into existence, mainly for the purpose of watching Cole and Jameson Taillon pitch this year (I debate buying it every year, but only the teams in […]

Here is Jonathan Sanchez's line from this afternoon:  3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K And here is Kris Medlen's line:  6 IP, 7 H, 3R, 1 BB, 6 K That's not a line that would seem to bear well for the Pirates, but they found a way anyway today, mostly on […]

It's easy to look at today's game and see Jonathan Sanchez and Kris Medlen on the mound and to say, "Well, the Pirates are 6-2 on this homestand already and they took two games in a row from a team that only lost twice in their first 15 games and so a loss this afternoon […]

Figuring James McDonald out is not easy. McDonald was so bad on Monday that it seemed like either a trip to the disabled list or removal from the rotation was unavoidable. On Monday, his fastball averaged a little over 90 mph and he never hit 92. His curveball seemed flat, and he got one swinging strike […]

When the Pirates play games like they did last night, with Wandy Rodriguez cruising on the mound and the defense clicking behind him and all sorts of guys coming up with big hit after big hit, it's actually sort of easy to watch them and think, "Seriously, this team could contend for a playoff spot." […]

For almost the entire night, the Pirates had to play catch up in this game against the Braves. For most of the game, they did just that. BJ Upton lead the game off with a home run, the Pirates tied it on a sac fly. After the Pirates took a 2-1 lead on a long […]

The Pirates' long homestand concludes with a four-game set against the Braves, who are almost certainly the best team in the early part of the 2013 season. The Braves are currently 12-2 and they've outscored opponents 68-27 (that is, the most runs scored and the fewest allowed) on the season. They're just steamrolling teams pretty […]

I've said this before, but the biggest revelation of the AJ Burnett's time in Pittsburgh is that occasionally a pitcher with great stuff can take the mound and you'll know within minutes that he's going to take the game over. It happened for Burnett a few times last summer against the Astros and once on […]

Every year I say I'm going to do better at writing regular minor league updates and every year that plan falls apart by mid-May. But it's still mid-April and it's been a loooong time since I've written about any prospects besides Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon, so let's make a trip through the minor league […]

The Pirates were hitting the ball well and Jonathan Sanchez didn't look awful, so of course this game got rained out after two innings. I haven't seen a date for the makeup game yet, but I suppose it'll probably be later in the season since the Pirates and Cardinals play each other about a million […]

I think that it's usually a pretty ominous sign when in advance of someone's start, a team specifically demotes a tired pitcher in favor of a long reliever. In this case, I'm talking about Bryan Morris being sent back down to Triple-A Indy after throwing three innings yesterday to make room for Vin Mazzaro. It's […]

Buried somewhere beneath the final score is another nice outing for the Pirate offense against a Cardinal team that's been particularly stingy with runs of late, but that's not what anyone will or should be talking about in the aftermath of this game. Instead, there's going to be a lot of focus put on James […]

I had some things I was going to say about this game, but man, I just can't really get my head together at the moment. I was in Boston for the marathon two years ago to watch my little brother run, and it was just one of those life-affirming days that we live for as […]

The strange thing about big late-inning comebacks is that they've started before you ever fully realize what's going on. When Mike McKenry sent a Mat Latos pitch into the Reds' bullpen in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Pirates' win expectancy barely ticked up at all, going from 2.5% to 4.9%. I mostly filed […]

After a fairly improbable win last night that required a Johnny Cueto injury and a million or so Reds left on base, the Pirates have a chance to sweep the Reds this afternoon. They're going to have to do it with a pitcher making his big league debut, as Phil Irwin's been called up to […]