I Think We Started That Game With 8 On The Field

First of all lets just get this out of the way. It was an absolute HUGE night for the Rookies, Pedro went deep twice including his first career grand slam. Neil went 5-5, first time a Pirates rookie had 5 hits in a game since John Wehner. Jose even got into it with a rbi double.

Other notables include DY with a solid 2-3 game as well as Lastings Milledge going 1-3 keeping his bat going. Pedro has been able to jump his season average up to almost .250 and after the last two games, his walk percentage per plate appearance is now almost at 10% which means hes learning and with learning comes success and with Pedro we're all hoping for a lot of success. Neil looked in rhythm all night and thats what I love to see. Walkers season average is up to .311 with his OPS being just over .800, I would like to see Walker walking a little bit more but going 5-5 is just as pleasant to see.

The UGLY part of this game involved the starting pitcher. When I said the rookies had a huge night I should have clarified it was just the position players, unless you count your era ballooning to be a HUGE night going in the opposite direction. Brad Lincoln was spotted 9 runs count it 9 runs in the first inning! and ended up giving up 7 of his own in only 2.1 innings. This was by far his worst outing of his career and hopefully we don't see any more starts like this one. DJ Carrasco who was the topic of some trade rumors earlier today came in a did a fine job pitching 2.2 innings striking out 5 while allowing 1 walk. Brendan Donnelly allowed a couple of runs late but the back of the bull pen was able to hold down the fort. Meek was solid as usual not much to say there. Joel Hanrahan after allowing a double painted the corners perfectly to strike out the next two batters reaching 97 on the radar gun. Octavio Dotel came in to close down the game striking out the side after allowing one hit.

All in all the game could have been much better from a pitching perspective but the Buccos pulled it out behind Pedro and Neil's enormous games. The Pirates move to 33-60 (22-22 at home) and 3-2 after the all-star break.