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I’m here . . . sorry that I’m running late. Tonight, the Pirates go up against the Arizona Diamondbacks who are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the game. So far, it appears as if nothing of note has happened. I’ll put more stuff after the jump . . . starting in about three minutes.

10:03 - Micah Owings just walked Jose Bautista to put runners (Bautista at first, Doumit at second) with one out for Ronny Paulino. Uh oh?

10:04 - Paulino is hitting only .192 versus right-handed starters. He’s another guy who has managed to turn himself into a utility player this year. If the Pirates are going to turn it around (Ha!), Owings looks like he would be the perfect guy to do it against. He is 0-4 with a 6.49 ERA over his last seven starts.

10:06 - And Ronny struck out. Surprise surprise.

10:09 - Wow wow wow. Owings just struck out both Ronny and Wilson to get out of this jam. Good teams don’t let this crap happen. With runners on first and second, one out, they manage to push a runner across. Perhaps most disappointing about this inning is that Jack is supposed to be the veteran on this team and, yet, he is the one that strikes out when a hit is absolutely necessary.

10:11 - Mark Reynolds is a Pirate killer. It’s not official yet, but I remember that game May 19 where the Diamondbacks came back from a 7-2 deficit to win it 9-8. Oh, wait, Gorzo just struck him out. Good.

10:13 - Reynolds hit a home run in that game, by the way. Uber-prospect Justin Upton is now coming to the plate. This could be very very interesting . . .

10:14 - For Diamondbacks fans. Upton just hit a very nice triple where he dead-sprinted around the bases, putting a runner on third with one out. The ball was hammered, too.

10:17 - Catcher Chris Snyder chops the ball softly to the middle of the infield and Jack drops the ball, letting Upton score and putting Snyder at first. I guess we already know who the goat of the game is.

10:18 - Is Gorzo seriously gonna walk a guy hitting .238?

10:19 - Nope, thank God. He struck him out instead.

10:21 - Gorzelanny is throwing sort of hard tonight and looks healthy to this point. The issue is still that he has a history of breaking down at the end of the season and that he has thrown a lot of pitches to this point. Tracy should pull him at 100, no matter the score or the situation.

Owings just flied out, ending the inning. 1-0 DBacks

10:22 - Eric Byrnes signed a 3-year, $30 million contract extension today, keeping him in a Diamondback uniform through 2010. Remember when Dave Littlefield had a mancrush on Byrnes? Yeah, figures that the one guy he didn’t get turns out to be good.

10:26 - Nate McLouth, who just crushed a foul ball, is now trying to become the first Pirate in the last three to not strike out.

10:27 - Nate just made Jackson look stupid bouncing a ball past the lumbering first baseman and getting a single.

10:30 - Wanna know something pathetic? Freddy Sanchez was the Pirate home run leader in July. With five.

10:31 - Nate really wants to steal second.

10:32 - The Pirates just crushed their second foul ball in the inning. If they could only hit it straight, they would have a 2-0 lead and back-to-back home runs.

10:33 - It looks like Adam LaRoche may finally be doing that late season thing that we were all waiting for, as he has gone .336 in his last 28 games and crushed a ball in the first inning. A little bit late.

10:34 - The Diamondbacks were very scared that McLouth was going to steal second. I don’t know why . . . if the pitcher just focuses on the hitter (no matter who, as long as it’s a Pirate), the hitter will eventually strike out.

10:38 - Gorzo just walked Chris Young (not the pitcher) for the second consecutive time. Young is the type of guy to not walk, as he has tons of speed and will be more of a distraction if you walk him than if he does anything else (think Nate McLouth . .. but good). The Pirates (actually Ronny Paulino) are lucky that Chris Young could not see that ball.

10:40 - Gorzo just picked Chris Young off, which is the first time this season that a Pirate pitcher has officially picked a runner off.

10:43 - Jason Bay has sort of unsucked offensively over the last fifteen games, as he has hit .339 with three home runs and 14 RBIs. He is also two home runs away from passing Bobby Bonilla for fourteenth on the all-time Pirate list.

10:46 - Doumit gets on with a walk. They should definitely be doing some damage against this pitcher . . . he keeps giving them chances.

10:48 - Jose Bautista tried to mess up, sending a tapper right back to Owings. The pitcher promptly threw the ball away, allowing Doumit to head to third and Bautista to end up at second. Who is trying to lose the game more, Owings or the Pirates?

10:50 - What? Ronny Paulino just lined a ball into the gap, bringing Doumit and Bautista around. Considering that, prior to tonight’s game, Ronny was hitting .2o2 with runners in scoring position this hit is a very, very pleasant surprise. Ronny went to second on Justin Upton’s questionable throw.

10:51 - What is going on? Jack just hit a double, bringing Paulino home and putting a runner on second with one out. Owings, who had been choppily getting through the game, now looks very very bad.

10:53 - And Jack ends up looking stupid, as Gorzo lines the ball at Hudson and Wilson ends up getting doubled up at second. Oh well, the top of the order starts out the next inning and the Pirates have a 3-1 lead.

10:56 - Conor Jackson, the biggest under-performer in the Diamondbacks lineup, strikes out. Jackson has Pirate-esque stats . . .

10:58 - Mark Reynolds has simply not hit lefties to this point in the season, going 15-for-71 to this point.

10:59 - Ronny may have lost his faculties . .. maybe he’d be better if he played unconscious. Okay, that was mean. Sorry.

11:00 - Gorzo be rollin,’ as he just struck out his second hitter in a row for his fourth on the night.

11:01 - Now he not be rollin’ . .. Upton just hammered his first major league home run. This kid’s gonna be something special.

11:03 - Gorzo strikes out the side, getting Chris Snyder. Justin Upton, though, brought the game closer with his first home run, making it 3-2 Pirates. Gorzo would be fine if Upton weren’t in tonight’s game.

11:06 - McLouth flies out to right-center field. More importantly, though, John Van Benschoten had a very good start tonight, going seven scoreless innings against Louisville. JVB let up six hits and walked one while striking out six. See, all he needed to do was escape Colborn.

11:07 - The Pirates need to begin punishing Owings for constantly walking them.

11:09 - LaRoche advances Sanchez to second on a chopper to Owings, bringing Jason Bay to the plate with a runner in scoring position.

11:11 - And Bay flies out. Surprise. 3-2 Pirates, still.

11:14 - Strikeout #6 as Gorzo gets Stephen Drew to chase a ball in the dirt. His strikeout stuff is on tonight and he is working very efficiently. Gorzo looks good . . . of course, he gave up a home run the last time I said that.

11:15 - And he gets pitcher Micah Owings, too. Seven strikeouts through four and two-thirds innings.

11:17 - Is Gorzo re-establishing himself as the Pirates’ “stopper” with this performance?

11:20 - In Portland tonight, the Altoona Curve defeated the Sea Dogs 6-1. The Pirates’ AA farm team saw a seven-inning performance from Yoslan Herrera (he only struck out one batter, though) and two RBIs from former prospect Javier Guzman. Neil Walker also got an RBI and Andrew McCutchen stole his 16th base. New-found prospect Jason Delaney went two-for-four, but also struck out the other two times he was at the plate.

11:21 - The Diamondbacks flash some leather, as Chris Young makes a diving catch and Stephen Drew nicely handles a Ronny Paulino smash.

11:25 - Gorzo just set his career high in strikeouts with eight, striking out Orlando Hudson. And he’s only one out into the sixth inning.

11:28 - Gorzo induces a pop-up from Conor Jackson after he hits Eric Byrnes in the backside. There is a runner on first with two out.

11:31 - And Gorzo gets nine, as he sets Mark Reynolds down. That’s nine through six .. . wow. Wait, I didn’t start him in my fantasy league tonight . .. uh oh.

11:34 - Jack apparently can’t decide if he wants fans to love or hate him, as he just smashed a ball off of Mark Reynolds’ glove for a double, putting a runner at second with no outs and allowing Gorzo to bunt the SS over.

11:36 - Gorzo drops down the bunt, moving Jack to third. The Diamondbacks will start at the top of the Pirates’ order with a new pitcher.

11:40 - Joe Kennedy, the ex-Athletic, is the new pitcher. Kennedy was claimed on August 4 and made 16 not so bad starts against the AL. As has been stated elsewhere (bucs dugout?) this is the type of guy that the Pirates should definitely be looking at.

11:41 - And McLouth hits a sacrifice fly, bringing Jack 90 feet longer and giving the Pirates a 4-2 lead.

11:42 - Freddy just launched a ball, but Chris Young caught it on the warning track. At least the lead extended that inning. For the record, Gorzo has thrown 91 pitches to this point (beginning of the bottom half of the seventh).

11:45- And Justin Upton just hit a double off the top of the wall. He is now a single away from the cycle and absolutely owns Gorzo right now.

11:48 - Jason Bay just showed some spirit! He leaped at the top of the wall, stealing a two-run home run from Chris Snyder and promptly firing a one-hop strike to second to double up Justin Upton. Gorzo owes Bay his victory tonight, if he gets it.

11:52 - 756 just happened.

11:53 - Arizona’s stadium sounds as if it is in a state of shock.

11:53 - After a strikeout of LaRoche, Bay hit a ball to Eric Byrnes who dropped the ball, putting Bay on 1B and giving Byrnes an E-7.

11:54 - Doumit pops out easily. I honestly don’t know what to say right now. Do I just pretend that everything is normal or do I comment on it? It’s very fortunate for the Pirates. Now one of their starters can not be marred by Bonds hitting it off of them.

11:56 - The Diamondbacks are playing very sloppy defense right now, as Jose Bautista just hit a ball that Chris Young misplayed, bringing Bay home and putting Jose on second. I wonder where the D’Backs’ minds are right now. 5-2 Pirates

11:59 - Juan Cruz will be the new D’back pitcher. Cruz has a ton of talent and has thrown 42.2 innings with 38 strikeouts this year. He just walked Paulino, putting runners on first and second with two outs.

12:04 - And Jack strikes out to end the inning. Here comes Salomon Torres . . .uh oh.

12:07 - Augie Ojeda (pinch-hitter) pops out to LaRoche for one out.

12:09 - After Chris Young strikes out, Orlando Hudson hits a home run off the awful reliever to make the score 5-3 Pirates.

12:10 - Rajai Davis is taking Barry Bonds’ place in San Francisco’s outfield. He should call Dave Littlefield and thank him for allowing him to be a part of history.

12:11 - I am still in a slight case of shock. 5-3 Pirates after Byrnes flies out to Bay.

12:14 - Cesar Izturis gets a broken-bat pinch-hit single, putting a runner on first with Nate McLouth at the plate.

12:15 - Brandon Lyon is the new pitcher (I didn’t even realize that) and takes the time to field a ball that Nate McLouth bunted, allowing McLouth to get to first safely and moving Izturis to second. Freddy Sanchez, he of the .320 average with runners in scoring position, is up.

12:17 - Sanchez puts the ball in left field, bringing Izturis home and moving McLouth to second. Adam LaRoche comes up looking to extend his hitting streak.

12:19 - LaRoche grounds the ball to Conor Jackson, who promptly throws the ball off of Stephen Drew’s glove, bringing McLouth home and giving the Pirates a 7-3 lead.

12:20 - Is it coincidence that Arizona’s defense has been awful since 756? I doubt it.

12:22 - Bay pops out to second. Runners on first and second with one out.

12:23 - The Pirates somehow score another run. I’m too busy watching Barry Bonds hit 756 over and over again to care. 8-3 Pirates after eight and a half.

12:27 - Matt Capps comes in with the non-save situation on the line. He was awful Saturday night . .. I hope he’s only half that bad tonight.

12:28 - One down as Conor Jackson flies out to Bay.

12:34 - Justin Upton one-hops to Sanchez (Tracy got out somehow), ending the game and preventing him from getting the cycle.  The Pirates win 8-3, Gorzo pitches awesome, Upton ends the game a single away from the cycle, and Bonds hit 756.  Good night.  I need to go sleep this one off.

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