Gorzo Gets 3rd Win as Pirates Beat Dodgers 7-5

Go ahead and cheer, Pittsburgh fans. Your Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Dodgers yesterday, 7-5, in Los Angeles. No extra innings here. No walk off grannys. Just good, Pirates baseball. Chris Duffy had 3 hits, scored 3 runs and swiped a pair of bases, while ADD Laroche (I've quit calling him Adam) hit a solo shot. I hope the Pirates offense is coming around, because we can ill afford to get stuck in the Central cellar again.

Before the season started Tom Gorzelanny was the last Pirate pitcher I would've expected to start the season with 3 wins. Ian Snell, if he could find his location, would've been my 1st pick. Zach Duke, if he could keep the opposing team from scoring 8 runs in the 1st inning, would have been a close 2nd. I probably even pictured Tony Armas Jr. with a couple of wins of his own. Paul Maholm...yeah I don't think I even figured him into the equation. But it is impressive that Gorzo leads the team in wins. No other young Pirate arm even has 2 wins.

The team's record is 7-10, which is still 3.5 games behind Milwaukee. I'm just happy that the team didn't lose again.

Paul (great...) Maholm (0-2) is on tap to pitch Tuesday in Houston against Woody (maybe we will have a chance) Williams (also 0-2). Both pitchers are sportin' ERA's over 6, so maybe the Buc's offense will be able to keep the momentum and really tee it off in Houston.

One more thing. Why are the seats behind home plate at PNC called the Lexus Club? Do you have to own a Lexus to sit there? And if the "Lexus" refers to preferred, or exclusive seating, then shouldn't the general admission bleachers be renamed the 1993 Plymouth Duster Club? Just a thought...

Wolf Uses Arm, Bat To Beat Buccos

Allow me to shed one more tear for the completion of hockey season in Pittsburgh. Why? Because the raucous fans in Pittsburgh get to focus on the Pirates, and only the Pirates, until the NFL draft and the start of training camp. And in a 162 game season, the layoffs between hockey and football can seem endless. Especially when your team decides to alternate winning streaks and losing streaks.

The Pirates lost, again, to the Dodgers, 10-2. Randy Wolf struck out 10 Buccos and hit 2 doubles (the picture above shows Wolf hitting a two-run double in the 3rd). With one swing of the bat, pitcher Randy Wolf equalled the total offense the Pirates could muster all game. Tony Armas Jr., who last started on April 7th (nothing like a 2 week break), lasted only 2 2/3 innings, giving up 8 runs.

Just when it seems like the Bucs have turned it around with a 2 game sweep of the defending champion Cardinals, Pittsburgh decided to take a mental break, and have now lost 3 in a row. The first 2 losses came against the Brewers, and yesterday's loss was to Wolf and the Dodgers. Ian Snell pitched today, with hopes of getting to 7-9! Awesome. After the sweep of the Redbirds brought the Buccos back to .500, I didn't think Pittsburgh would suffer its 9th loss before its 7th win. Unfortunately, this is how it goes in Pittsburgh baseball, or at least how its gone over the last 14 seasons. Now that the Warriors are in the NBA playoffs with a record over .500, the Pirates are the only team in the four major sports with a losing season-mark in the double digits. Always nice to be recognized!

That's enough for now. Hopefully the Buccos win tonight. We can sure use a decent outing by Snell. Anything to snap this current losing streak would be great. If not, we've got a long wait till Steelers' training camp.