Nickelback, seriously L.A.?

Pittsburgher Bret Michaels on a Dodgertown Billboard....

We have many reasons to believe the Pittsburgh Pirates will be just fine as the season moves forward.  The pitching as of late, and the bench the entire season has been disturbing, very disturbing, but a few moves will be made there.  There is no reason to believe that the roster won’t be upgraded as the team moves into September.

We feel good about this team based on what they have done at the plate.  The two big dogs will start progressing again— Andrew McCutchen will bounce back and Pedro Alvarez will hit long balls again.   The team needs those two players to produce as much as anyone in the starting lineup for the Bucs to stay in the hunt.  We feel strongly that will happen.

As far as pitching for the Bucs, it’s not like alternatives don’t exist.  That’s the biggest difference between last year and this.  A calvary lies waiting.

Looking at tonight’s third game of the series against L.A., if one Pirates pitcher could be perceived as being a Big Blue Killer,  it would be Wandy Rodriguez.  The lefty has given up just two earned runs in his last three starts against the Dodgers.  The career numbers for Wandy against the Big Blue are even better.

The other reason we are keeping faith in this team is their power.  The Pirates have 92 bombs since June 1st, that is the best in the National League.  Only the Yankees and Angels have hit more in MLB.

Frank Victores-US PRESSWIRE

Neil Walker has driven in more teammates than any National League second basemen this season.  He is tied with Dan Uggla and Aaron Hill for the NL lead in homers.  The Hometown Kid has hit 14 long balls and is chasing down Bill Mazeroski’s record (19) for homeruns in a season for a 2B.

Michael McKenry has hit safely in ten consecutive starts.  MAC is ripping for a .378 average in his past 15 games.  His eleven bombs are the most since Jason Kendall belted 14 in 2000.

Credit: Thomas Campbell-US PRESSWIRE

Garrett Jones is in flames right now.  Of his sixteen hits in his last 42 at-bats, five have gone for doubles, that crushed triple, and a homer.  He has six multi-hit games over that time.

Starling Marte has played in 18 games in his rookie season.  #MartePartay has reached base safely 13 times, he has hit four bombs.

And finally, the Dodgers use Pittsburgher Bret Michaels to try and seem cooler.  We can understand that I guess.  It’s disappointing the guy with a Steelers card would sell his blood for the Dodger Blue.  But heh, can we all agree that the Pirates not using Nickelback in their marketing efforts is a bonus…c’mon.

Now this is a Pittsburgh Pirates billboard

The Neal Huntington Show was on 93.7 The Fan this afternoon and we listened in so we could pass along some of the information the Pittsburgh Pirates GM had to say.  Wandy Rodriguez was the first subject of conversation after Greg Brown asked if Huntington was scoreboard watching.

This is what Huntington had to say on the Wandy topic which was very candid by the Pirates GM.

Wandy gives us a chance to win every time out we thought he was significant upgrade to rotation, Huntington said.  [Note:  we didn't get word for word quotes because we were preparing for domination on the softball diamond, but they are pretty close.  Check out The Fan's website  in case they put it up]

Kevin Correia was a hot topic.  Huntington spoke very highly of the right hander.  In fact, Neal said it would be hard to imagine KC  not getting another start with  injuries or the need for a spot start in the upcoming stretches of games during August or September.

Reading into the comments, Huntington sounded very confident that the Bucs have six quality starting pitchers.  Perhaps, a deal for KC won’t be in the works, unless he demands it.  We would have a hard time seeing KC just being given away in a deal.  Skipper Clint Hurdle likes veterans and that might have an impact on any deal involving Correia.

This nugget on Jose Tabata sounded promising.  Tabata looks like he saw what was written about him and he looks like he is back on track at AAA, said Huntington.

Huntington mentioned the team was set to recall Starling Marte, but he looked tired after the AAA All-Star game in Buffalo.

It sounds like Brad Lincoln will stay in pen and the team would look toward Jeff Locke or Justin Wilson if a spot start would be needed that Correia couldn’t pitch.

All of the typical jargon was exchanged, but one that jumped off the radio for me was this:  sometimes  clubs in our position add and subtract….  not that we are doing that though, but sometimes comprable clubs have done that.

Now that sounds like a really interesting deal could be on the horizon if a scenario like that one were to occur.

Nothing earth shattering was revealed by Huntington as one could expect, but we liked this one.  He said this quickly and I think I caught what he meant…some of the bench players the Pirates were inquiring on had higher asks from the teams GM’s than some of the starting pitching the Pirates were looking at acquiring.

In other words, if you want offense, you are going to need to pay.  At least right now, which would make sense.

One of the most interesting things Huntington said on the show was this, there are players that fans think are available right now, that really aren’t available, or aren’t going to be available.  The sellers are being very agressive with what they are asking for in return.

It’s funny to hear this as you might recall, that was what was being said about the Pirates during rebuilding seasons.  Comments like the ‘Pirates value their prospects a little too highly,’ was commonplace during the past two trade deadlines.

The Bucs did make a trade with the Atlanta Braves yesterday and Neal talked about it.  Brian Friday is a really good person and we got a bat back that we liked, said Huntington at the conclusion of the show.  Friday was blocked in the organization, Huntington mentioned, and the team felt it was a good opportunity for Friday.

So, that was Wandy Rodriguez. Hmmmm….that performance by the new Pittsburgh Pirates starter against a Houston Astros team that might lose 110 games this season?  Didn’t impress me. Hell, it didn’t impress anyone.

But here is the skinny:  The big picture success continued with a 4-3 victory over the Astros, who have now lost 12 games in a row for the first time in the history of the Houston Astronauts.  Rodriguez walked five, a season high, but wiggled off the hook on numerous occasions; thank God Houston is in full rebuild mode.  And thank the big guy for line drive outs speared by Pirates defenders.

Rodriguez allowed three runs on six hits and had  five strikeouts. The Astros are in full free-fall mode and have lost 25 of 27 games.

It has to be a tough time for Astros fans.  We have all been there.  The team seems to have hit the bottom on a rebuilding effort that might take years with the ‘Stros moving to the American League next season.   It’s so bad the team has signed the #PearceFactor for Lord’s sake and we’re feeling it for Pearce.

Wandy left after putting down a bunt and it was up to the Pirates bullpen to hold the game, which was tied at three.  The Pirates  did that effectively.  The Disastros did not.

The Astros went to Chuckie Fick, just claimed off waivers Friday.  Fick fired a perfect seventh, but in the eighth yielded a leadoff walk to Andrew McCutchen.

Manchild Garrett Jones moved Cutch to third with a single and Houston skipper Brad Mills went to his bullpen.  Fernando Rodriguez nearly made magic happen for the ‘Stros skipper.  Rodriguez got two quick outs via a popup and a punchout looking.

Thankfully, Rod Barajas came to the rescue.  The Pirates catcher ripped a single into left field to plate McCutchen with the go-ahead run.  But GFJ was gunned at third to kill the rally.

It was all the Bucs needed once again.  Two big players came up big for the Bucs.   Brad Lincoln fired a scoreless eighth and Jason Grilli threw a perfect ninth to record his second save.

The Bucs got their offense by crushing bombs off the bats of Alex Presley and Neil Walker.  Let’s hope that continues, especially when the Bucs send Rodriguez to the mound down the stretch.