With the Pirates dragging seven losses in their last ten games behind them, their only option to remain relevant into the middle of August is to beat up on the Cubs and Padres in the seven games in front of them. I don’t mean a split with the Cubs and two of three from the Padres, I mean the Pirates probably need at least five wins this week and more than that won’t hurt them. My hunch is that the Brewers aren’t going to cool off a whole ton and the Pirates are going to have to re-assert themselves on their own.
Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick are both at PNC Park and in the lineup tonight, with Lyle Overbay being DFA and most likely Pedro Ciriaco being demoted to Indianapolis. Paul Maholm pitches for the Bucs against Carlos Zambrano. If the games against the Phillies and Braves weren’t must-win games, than I think these games against the Cubs almost certainly are. The Pirates aren’t a team built to make up a huge deficit in a short period of time. Build the wall around the weekend, and start fresh at PNC tonight. It’s time to forget about the last week as quickly as possible.
First pitch tonight is at 7:05.
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