Not to sound too much like Clint Hurdle, but I really don’t care if the Pirates get above .500 in the early part of May. It’s a pretty meaningless accomplishment by almost any standard. What I do care about is whether or not the Pirates can beat one of the few teams in baseball that I’m almost certain that they’re better than in a three-game series at PNC Park. The Pirates have played generally well on the road and generally poorly at home and while they’ve surely lost some games they should’ve won and won some games they should’ve lost both at PNC and away from it, they should by any standard be able to take at least two of three from the Astros.
Tonight Paul Maholm takes the mound against Wandy Rodriguez. The Pirates are again over-loading the lineup with righties against Wandy, with the notable exception of Lyle Overbay playing first and Steve Pearce sitting. Jose Tabata is back in the lineup, but Pedro Alvarez is sitting out again. It’s hard to tell if that’s because of Wandy or because of his quad. I suppose we’ll know in the near future.
First pitch tonight is at 7:05. Hopefully the Pirates can keep the bats going strong after some nice games on the road.
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