Pirates Cardinals Link Fest

Projected Pittsburgh Pirates rotation:  RH A.J. Burnett (10-11), RH Gerrit Cole, (10-7), LH Francisco Liriano (16-8), RH Charlie Morton (7-4).

Projected St. Louis Cardinals rotation: RH Adam Wainwright (19-9), RH Lance Lynn (15-10), RH Joe Kelly (10-5), RH Shelby Miller (15-9)

Burnett has an ERA of 13.50 in four starts at Busch Stadium.  Yeh, that pounding is still hanging over Burnett’s head.

The teams meet for the first time since the Cards swept the Bucs outscoring them 26-10.  Think the Bucs still taste the blood in their mouth from that shit of a series?

It’s hard to imagine, but the Cards are the top dogs despite losing their starting shortstop, closer and ace Chris Carpenter.

The Cards rookies pitched 40 percent of the innings for the team.  Un freaking real.

Our homeboy from Philipsburg Matt Adams has piled up 17 bombs and driven in 50 runs without getting 300 AB.

Adams isn’t going to be getting tickets for anyone, but his Mom and Dad.  MLB

The Bud Clydesdales will be in the parking lot!  Andy Benes is signing autographs!  A Mercy Rally Towel is being handed out!   Oh, the excitement!  The NLDS Preview.  KSDK

Bored at work today as you count down the hours.  Make some funny postcards and send them to the Cardinals.

"Fans can also send digital postcards to the team through the Cardinals’ website. The template can be downloaded, a personal message added, and then shared on social media using #PostCards."

The Pirates are having a viewing party of the game tonight.

Adam Wainwright is going to be a beast taking his 1-0 record, a .208 batting average against and 20 strikeouts in 21 innings against the Bucs this year.  Smitty does the breakdown.  RumBunter

This never gets old….

Five Burning Questions including Pirates momentum, Missing Allen Craig, the fact that nearly 40 percent of the Cardinals innings this year were thrown by rookies,    ESPN

NY Times goes deep on the Pirates.

"“Were we trending up?” Frank Coonelly, the team president, said before a game late this season. “We believed we were. But it took a couple of days, a week, to take a deep breath and look at the season as a whole and honestly evaluate ourselves about what we needed to do to get where we want and not have disappointment at the end of the year.“That was difficult because there was a lot of movement to say: ‘You know what? You’ve given these guys the chance, they’ve gotten close and tried hard, but it’s not working. Let’s tear it down and rebuild it. This isn’t going to work.’ There was a fair amount of push for that.”"

The Pittsburgh Pirates 95-year old usher, Phil Coyne, stole the show and admits he should have grabbed a few pieces of memorabilia.  It’s pretty cool that he didn’t though.  (At least Coyne was hip enough to wear black, unlike some of the ushers at PNC Park.) People Magazine

"“You could always get a ball. You’d get one with Honus Wagner‘s autograph on it one day, and the next it’d be all scuffed up because you played with it down the Oval.”  Phil Coyne"

Let’s Go Bucs!