Bucs Bats Take Night Off

     It's the first day back from my vacation and I witness the Pirates lay a goose egg in a 2-0 loss to the Cubs. What makes this loss more frustrating is the fact that Erik Bedard looked amazing by only allowing one hit and one run in seven innings of work. Alfanso Soriano and Starlin Castro played Pirate killers by plating both runs by way of two doubles by Soriano after Castro reached base by walk and hit. The Buccos got the tieing run on in the ninth when Josh Harrison led off the inning with a pinch-hit infield single. Drew Sutton and Alex Presley would then strike out and Neil Walker would ground out to end it while leaving Cutch in the on-deck circle to watch. Ugh, just frustrating to watch. There's always tomorrow, though.

     While I was gone, the Buccos righted the ship after a not-so-good start to the second half. They got down early to the Rockies in the second game of their series but were able to come back and win starting a 5-game winning streak which included a sweep of the Miami Marlins. Cutch and Pedro's homerun battle continues as Cutch leads by one, 22-21. Bedard's start tonight is a good sign that he could be coming around to the form he had at the start of the season but it's hard to tell because he faced the Cubs tonight.

     Another thing I was impressed at was the atmosphere tonight. The largest Monday crowd in PNC Park history was on hand (27,586) and the place was electric up until the final out. This is a good reason to say that Pittsburgh is, indeed, a baseball town one again. The Bucs, going into tonight, were tied with the Reds, in the loss column, for 1st in the Central and three games up, in the loss column, to the Braves and Dodgers in the Wild Card.

     Don't worry Bucco fans, we couldn't win the rest of them. It's just time to start another long winning streak to keep this amazing season going.

#YouGottaBelieve