The last 20 hours or so have been awesome. Pirate fans are going crazy reveling in a relevant baseball team after the All-Star break. Non-Pirate baseball fans have been happy for Pirate fans and let us have our fun. But here’s there truth: the job’s not done. Not by a long shot. First place on July 16th is a moral victory. I don’t care how many losing seasons in a row the Pirates have had, I’m not here for a moral victory. I don’t care how long of a shot it is, I want to see this stick.
The Pirates’ first game as a first place team since the first day of the season is again against the last place Astros. First place teams should beat last place teams. Paul Maholm, who’s first start as a Pirate came shortly before Lloyd McClendon was fired, has to be absolutely loving a chance to pitch a game with this team in first place. He gets the toughest draw of the series against Bud Norris. Norris has made three starts against the Pirates this year: he was excellente in two of them and he lost both of those starts, then made a mediocre one that he won. You know the drill by now. He strikes a ton of guys out and the Pirates will have to try to bunch their hits against him.
Remember that the first pitch tonight is an hour early, at 7:05.
