Pirates Leaders Headed into Yankees Game Tonight

The former Mud Hen Virgil Vasquez can take another step toward the Pirates starting rotation tonight.  He threw well against the Twins last time out, three innings pitched and no earned runs.  His outing against the Rays was less than stellar.  Heh, Virg…it’s yours for the taking.

Some other exciting tidbits below for all those Grapefruit stats hounds:

**Paul Maholm ranks second among all Major Leaguer pitchers with 0.66ERA
**Robinzon Diaz has gone 8-for-18 (.444) and has six hits in his last 10 at bats.
**Brian Bixler hit safely in 11 of last 13 games
**Andy LaRoche has hit safely in all 12 games leading all NL hitters with a .538 average
**Andrew McCutchen hit safely in 10 of last 12, reached base safely 13 straight.
**Nate McLouth has reached base in 10 straight
**Craig Monroe leads all Major Leaguers with six home runs
**Jose Tabata has hit safely in five of his last seven games .450
**Evan Meek three saves and 0.00ERA in 9IP
**Garret Jones leads all Major Leaguers with 15 runs scored