The Orioles struck first, loading the bases against the abnormally inconsistent Phil Dumatrait in the first inning. Dumatrait got out of the inning with only one run surrendered, though, by getting a double play ball from Aubrey Huff and then getting Luke Scott to ground out.

The Pirates then went on a roll, spotting Dumatrait a 6-1 lead through various methods including:

• A two-run single by Jack Wilson that scored Xavier Nady and Doug Mientkiewicz, promptly followed by a Jose Bautista out, of course. Wilson has been clutch since getting back from the disabled list, proving that he’s a vital part of the Pirates’ offense.
• A Mientkiewicz single in the 3rd that scored Jason Bay. Mientkiewicz received the start over Adam LaRoche because John Russell didn’t want to subject LaRoche to the left-handed Burres and also wanted to let him sit out for one more day.
• The Mientkiewicz single was followed by a Jason Michaels three-run home run. Michaels is sitting .500 with runners in scoring position with 18 RBIs and if the Pirates trade either Bay or Nady at the trade deadline, he will fit in very well as a starter in the outfield.

The issue, however, came after the Pirates got that 6-1 lead, particularly in the Orioles’ half of the fifth inning. (Dumatrait gave up one run in the fourth, so it was 6-2 at that point.) Dumatrait has had control problems at times and, in finishing the game with five walks, they came about in a big way tonight, particularly in the fifth.

First, the Pirates’ lefty walked Brian Roberts. Then, he surrendered a single to Nick Markakis that moved Roberts to third. Then Dumatrait walked Melvin Mora, moving Markakis up to second and into scoring position. From that point, it was a foregone conclusion that runs were going to score and three of them did, energizing Camden Yards and leaving the game for John Russell and his misuse of the bullpen to lose. (Well, the Pirates having their last 17 batters retired didn’t help matters any, allowing the Orioles to just take complete command of the game.)

Franquelis Osoria allowed two runs in his two-thirds of an inning, Sean Burnett screwed up for the second day in a row and allowed two runs and then Marino Salas managed to get out of the eighth inning without further damage. The most important part of all of that is that the names Grabow, Yates, Marte or Capps aren’t there. Russell didn’t trust his four best relievers in a one-run game, instead leaving it up to two pitchers who have proven over the last week that they can’t be trusted (Osoria and Burnett) to lose the game.

We have all seen nutty decisions by Russell this season and they had thus far worked out, but he completely cost his team tonight’s game with his inability to manage the bullpen and should seriously consider how he could use it better. Also, Sean Burnett shouldn’t be in the major leagues. There can no longer be any doubt of that.

The magic number is now down to 47. Or it is back down to two, depending on whether your glass is half-empty or half-full, even though if Russell continues to manage like he has thus far, half-empty may be the more logical choice.

Also vital to the victory was Ryan Doumit’s third home run in two games.  Doumit, who went 3-for-4 and is now up to .358 is quickly becoming the face of this Pirate team.  He is a player who has potential and grit and who wants to win and is increasingly able to capitalize on that to the benefit of everyone around him.  Doumit could become the franchise’s anchor at catcher, answering questions at one of the most important positions of the diamond on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

The Pirates did struggle a bit on offense, not blowing the game open in the first inning after Jason Bay hit an RBI double to put runners on second and third with one out, failing to get out of the inning with any more than a 1-0 lead.  They then failed again later in the game when Adam LaRoche (who really is struggling) and Jose Bautista struck out with the bases loaded, preventing the Pirates from getting any more than one run out of a potentially breakout inning.  In order to beat good teams, the Bucs need to capitalize on those opportunities, going for the kill when it is possible and not failing as they did on Wednesday.

Fortunately, Matt Capps was up to the job, something that he wasn’t on Tuesday night.  Pitching for the fourth straight game, Capps bounced back from his first blown save of the year to walk Ryan Langerhans, get Christian Guzman to line out to right field and then coax Elijah Dukes, he of the rally-beginning double and near fight with Nats’ manager Manny Acta of Tuesday night, to hit into a ballgame ending double play.

Capps’ resiliency is admirable and his ability to bounce back from hardship just affirms his status as one of probably the best closers in all of baseball.  Capps has the stuff and the guts and the Pirates just need to continue getting him the opportunities to close out games and he’ll keep doing it with flying colors.

Tomorrow, the Pirates have a 12:35 game against the Nats, a rubber match that should be deciding whether they are going above .500 but will instead decide whether or not they’ll be at that tantalizing one game under or not.  Jason Bergmann, who has not been great, will go for Washington while Tom Gorzelanny, who has stunk, will go for the Pirates.  Hopefully Gorzo can follow in the steps of co-ace Snell and snap out of his very own funk.

Maholm threw very well except for the home runs, getting four strikeouts on 88 pitches.  He did, however, seem to wear out in the seventh inning as he gave up home runs to Dmitri Young, Jesus Flores and Ronnie Belliard (Belliard’s second of the game).  Both of Belliard’s home runs came off of fastballs that he left over the plate.  The other two came off of curveballs, one of which was imminently hittable.

Maholm had a problem with surrendering home runs a couple of years ago, but he had mostly been cured of that except for, evidently, on Tuesday night.  Unfortunately, his issues seemed to spread to the rest of the staff as, for the first time all season, Capps broke the hearts of the Pirates’ fans, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Capps had two outs in the ninth before he left a fastball chest-high over the plate to Nationals’ CF Milledge, who promptly launched it out of the park.  It is worth noting that the pitch was essentially the same one that Capps had thrown one batter before to RF Elijah Dukes who hit a double and scored on Milledge’s blast.  In order for Capps to be effective, he will need to start mixing other pitches in as he may have fallen into a predictable trend.

The Pirates were effective on offense, but the most important player by far was catcher Ryan Doumit who seemed inspired by Monday’s events at PNC Park and blasted two home runs, one in the first and one in the sixth inning, as well as hitting two doubles.  Doumit ended the day with three runs and three RBIs, an impressive stat line that shows just how important Doumit can be to the Pirates when he’s focused.

The Pirates’ starters have been the bane of their offense’s existence all season and the team really can’t afford for the bullpen to get in on the act as they really would become an abysmal bunch.   The Pirates have become a team that can hit but that can’t win, which is definitely not a reputation that they want.

The magic number is now at 48 and this team, despite occasionally showing some encouraging signs over the first half of this season, still has a long way to go before they become a contender for anything, much less reach .500.

(Yeah, I’m a little bit bummed out by tonight’s loss.  It was one of the most painful I’ve ever seen in person.  That guy standing on the rotunda with his head in his hands as soon as the ball left Milledge’s bat?  That was me.

Oh, and the ushers in the grandstand didn’t help any.  My friend and I tried to sit in two pretty empty sections and, after getting by the ushers, were twice approached by the guys and asked for tickets that we couldn’t produce.  Seriously, if there’s nobody in the seats, does it actually matter if someone sits there?  I don’t think so.  Oh, and it makes a better picture for TV, especially since the Pirates aren’t going to sell very many tickets anyways because they find new and ever more painful ways to lose like the way they did tonight.  Okay, I’m done.  Rant over.  Tomorrow’s a new day, the Pirates just have to play one game at a time, insert your favorite sports cliche here.  But, in complete seriousness, that loss completely sucked.)

The Mientkiewicz incident came in the 3rd inning, when Mientkiewicz stepped out of the box while Johnson was in his motion.  Both veterans began walking towards each other and the benches rapidly emptied, quickly demonstrating an Us vs. Them mindset that has been absent from past incarnations of the Pirates and erasing any doubts in the minds of Pittsburghers that this team only has one goal: to win.

In past years, the pride of the franchise has only mattered to a select few players, notably Jack Wilson and Snell.  Right now, though, everybody seems to care.  Maybe it’s because the team is only two games under .500 67 games into the season.  Maybe it’s because Neal Huntington and Frank Coonelly emphasized the history of the franchise in spring training.  Or maybe it’s because the team now has a bunch of players who have won elsewhere and don’t want to sit back and watch their current team falter as it has in the past.

Onto the game, though.  Zach Duke was again solid, going six innings, striking out five hitters and only surrendering two runs.  Duke is showing that he has the stuff and the mentality to be the effective, consistent fourth starter that the Pirates need him to be.  Today, he had a cut fastball working better than it has in the past and the Diamondbacks just couldn’t really deal with it.

The most important pitch of a Pirate pitcher, though, may have been Tyler Yates’ fastball, which he used five times in a row against Arizona catcher Miguel Montero with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth inning, eventually striking Montero out and ending the threat.  It is worth noting that the jam was essentially inflicted on Yates by himself, as he walked two batters in the inning, loading the bases after Damaso Marte allowed one single.  Yates’ control is a serious issue and is something that the Pirates should start working on.

On the offensive side of the plate, the Pirates were in Randy Johnson’s head and it may have been a direct result of the Mientkiewicz incident as Johnson walked the first baseman and then made a throwing error on a simple grounder back to him by Jose Bautista, continuing the threat.  Montero then messed up on Duke’s sacrifice attempt, loading the bases for Luis Rivas (who got on base three out of four times out of the lead off spot) who was a beneficiary of Johnson’s wildness, strolling across the plate due to a walk and giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

The Pirates would score one run off of Johnson in the next three innings, giving them a 4-1 lead (the D’Backs’ run came off of a Mark Reynolds home run) that would prove to be enough to win on this day, as the Diamondbacks only scored two more times for a 5-3 final.

The other interesting incident of the day came when Reynolds hit a fly ball that appeared to be a home run in the seventh inning, but which was ruled a double due to fan interference.  Fortunately, the incident ended up being a non-issue because Reynolds scored during the next at-bat as the result of a Chris Young double or else Arizona would have had an even bigger reason to gripe than Bob Melvin’s getting ejected as an immediate result of the umpires overturning the call (Oh yeah, I left that part out . . . the umps originally called it a home run until John Russell came out to remind them of the ground rules).  If the hit had been ruled a home run instead of a ground-rule double, Reynolds would have had four home runs in the last two days.  Is it time to add him to the list of Pirate Killers?  I think so.

Pittsburgh is beginning to talk like the Pirates can reach the .500 point this week against the faltering Washington Nationals, which clearly shows that this group of executives and this group of players has done something that hasn’t been done since 1997 or 2003: give Pittsburgh baseball a small jolt of hope.

Dumatrait, who has effectively become the Pirates’ ace, was not at his best Sunday, throwing 94 pitches during his time in the game and giving up one run on a passed ball and another to Mark Reynolds, who hit his first home run of the game in the fifth inning. (He would hit another later on, in the eighth inning.)  The heat may have had some effect on Dumatrait’s performance, which was very solid in the end, but which never quite felt like he was in total control (even though looking over the play by play, he did pitch very well).

The Pirates’ offense breaking out was more important, as they were just severely shut down by Brandon Webb/Dan Haren the past two nights.  Just as important, though, were the guys who were contributing.

• Adam LaRoche had a three-hit day, something that he desperately needed.  LaRoche really isn’t that bad of a hitter, but he just seems to have convinced himself that he can’t hit early in the season.  I’m not sure that this game was some great turning point for him, but hopefully he isn’t the .220 hitter that he has been to this point in the season.
• Jose Bautista had an RBI double.  Bautista probably profiles as the Pirates’ supersub of the very near future, particularly with the drafting of Pedro Alvarez, but while he is still a starter it is nice to see him having some success at the plate.  When he is on a roll, Bautista is actually a pretty good hitter.
• Raul Chavez had a two hit, one RBI day.  Chavez was known for his defense coming to the Pirates, but his bat has also been good lately.  He handles the pitchers noticeably better than either Ronny Paulino or Ryan Doumit do and, if he starts hitting, could be on his way to becoming the next, much older, better version of Humberto Cota. (And there are much worse players to have as your backup catcher than that.)
• Jack Wilson had two RBIs.  It’s vital to the Pirates’ offense that Wilson gets going, as the outfield has been carrying the team for the first two months of the season with the infield getting little to no production, especially out of the shortstop spot.  If Wilson can start hitting in RBI situations, the Pirates will be much better off from a run-producing standpoint.
• Jason Bay had a two-run double.  It is vital for the future of the Pirates that Bay hits, as if he continues to produce he will be worth even more at the trade deadline.  Yes, that is cynical and the reality is that right now he is helping the Pirates win games, but the truth is that if he’s wearing a Pirate uniform after July 31 someone has failed to do their job.

The Pirates did manage to prevent the magic number from falling with a very good effort against Arizona despite Franqulis Osoria attempting to give the Diamondbacks the game in the eighth inning until John Grabow was called on to settle the situation down.

On Monday afternoon, they face Randy Johnson, who has owned the Pirates over his career, in what could be the Big Unit’s last start against Pittsburgh ever.  Of course, I said that last year when I went to sit in the sun on an uncomfortable Sunday afternoon to see Johnson shut the Pirates down.

Hopefully the result is better tomorrow and the Pirates can inch ever closer to .500 and ever further away from the cellar of the NL Central.

On Friday, Snell looked almost dominating for the first time in a while, striking out nine batters over five innings.   Snell had to work for his outs, going for the full count on seven of 16 Diamondbacks to start the game, meaning that his 107 pitch count after the 5th inning forced him out of the game despite the strikeouts.  Snell gave up two runs, one unearned, in his five innings of work.

The start was possibly the beginning of a return to normalcy for Snell, as he did look confident at times on the mound.  His fastball hovered consistently around the 92 mph range, but it’s imperative that he goes deeper into games.  By working only five innings and seemingly looking for a ton of strikeouts, Snell was taxing the bullpen.  That cannot be done in the future, as part of what made Snell good last year was that he consistently went six or seven innings deep into games.

It was nice to hear that he had his “swagger” back on the mound, or thought he did.  Snell pitches best when he is angry or confident and as long as he isn’t playing “I suck” mindgames with himself, he’ll be a solid pitcher for the Pirates.

Of course, the Pirates’ offense was no help to Snell, looking particularly anemic against Webb, who only threw 95 pitches over seven innings, getting 15 ground balls.  Jason Bay hit an RBI double in the sixth for the Pirates’ lone run.

It was unfortunate that the Pirates couldn’t take more advantage of some of the opportunities that they had, as they couldn’t bring Nate McLouth home despite his being on third base with one out in the first inning, got runners on base with two outs from every inning between the fifth and the eighth (only scoring once) and couldn’t take advantage of Brandon Lyon, who is one of the worst closers in baseball, in the ninth inning.

Saturday’s game looked like it was going to get out of hand from the very beginning, as Gorzelanny gave up three quick runs in the first inning on a Conor Jackson single, a Chris Young double and a Mark Reynolds sacrifice fly.  The three runs would hold for much of the night, but the Pirates slowly chipped away at the lead as McLouth doubled Adam LaRoche home in the third inning, Jason Bay hit his 14th home run of the season in the fourth and McLouth, refusing to allow Bay to keep the team lead, followed with his 14th in the fifth.

It was important for Gorzelanny to rebound from his horrid start, which he did effectively by throwing six more strong innings despite only striking out one hitter the entire night.  Gorzelanny, like Snell, needs to get back on track in order for the Pirates to be successful due to their status as the co-aces of the team, at least at the beginning of the season.  Both pitchers have the ability to be successful, they just need to convince themselves that they can do it mentally.

John Grabow was the cause of the loss tonight, throwing a changeup over the heart of the plate for Diamonbacks’ catcher Chris Snyder who hit a home run, putting Arizona up 4-3, a lead that would hold for another half inning.

The Pirates, for a second consecutive night, played just well enough to lose, an unfortunate occurrence that, hopefully, they will be able to turn around.  The magic number is now down to 49. (If I had told you at the beginning of the season that the Pirates would be 29-33 on June 8th, but would be in last place, would you have believed me? I wouldn’t have.)

This draft was more important to Pirates’ fans than any other fans. For the last decade, we have been forced to embrace the hope that lies in the farm system instead of the product on the field. That meant that Dejan Kovacevic’s mailbags were filled with questions about the upcoming draft and the potential picks while stories about the draft were sometimes featured more prominently in the paper than game recaps even as the team quietly hovered near .500.

The fanbase seemed to be in general agreement that they guy it wanted was Vanderbilt 3B Pedro Alvarez, who was the consensus #1 prospect for much of the time since last year’s draft, but evidently fell beneath Georgia high school SS Tim Beckham in the eyes of the Tampa Bay Rays, who held the first overall pick. From there, Pirates’ management had to pick its poison: to pay for Alvarez or Florida State C Buster Posey.

Thankfully, they chose Alvarez who projects to be a superstar in almost every way. Yes, his numbers declined in his senior year due to a hand injury, but that injury reportedly only saps power for 12-18 months, so Alvarez could still be ready to make his first appearance at PNC in the pretty near future. There will be a contract battle between Huntington and Alvarez’s agent Scott Boras over Alvarez’s contract and whether or not it is a major league contract, but the issues are actually minimal.

For one thing, if Alvarez receives what he is demanding and produces like he is projected to, he will still be a bargain. Second of all, Alvarez’s receiving a major league contract won’t be that big of a deal. He’ll be here in between two and three year, taking up his spot at either third or first base while Neal Walker gets acclimated to the bench or Adam LaRoche is pulling on a Kansas City Royals’ jersey. (Of course, Alvarez would be more valuable at first base, but when was the last time the Pirates had a legitimate superstar bat in their lineup? You probably have to go all the way back to Barry Bonds.) Plus, Alvarez is a left-handed bat in a system that just doesn’t have any left-handed bats, somehow, which is just another plus to his all-around package.As Baseball America put it, it’s been a very long time since the Pirates picked the best talent in the draft and they did it this year, meaning they aren’t going to let him slip through their fingers. This is someone who we, as fans, should be very, very excited about.

Second round pick Tanner Scheppers was someone who the Pirates were actually connected to with the second overall pick for quite a while, so to get him at #48 was an accomplishment. Scheppers only fell so far because of either a stress fracture or a sprained/torn labrum in his shoulder, but the Mariners’ doctors had given them the go ahead to pick him at #20, reportedly, so the Pirates felt okay about taking him where they did.

If he is healthy, Scheppers is a potential top of the rotation starter. He throws a fastball that is consistently between 92 and 95 mph and that goes as high as 98 mph. He also has a cutter, a sinker, and a slider. There is some talk that he could actually gain more velocity as he gets stronger, as Fresno State actually recruited him as a shortstop.

Scheppers will demand a top-1o amount of bonus money, but Connelly and Huntington should be willing to shill it out. After all, if Scheppers is healthy, the Pirates basically had two top ten picks in this draft. That would be a phenomenal accomplishment and would add immediate strength to their farm system.

Scheppers is exactly the type of risk that teams like the Pirates have been shying away from on the conjecture that they “can’t afford” to make those mistakes and that teams like the Yankees and the Red Sox have been leaping at, because they can supposedly afford to make them, allowing them to stockpile players like that who have rewarded them. As long as the injury isn’t lingering, this was an awesome pick for the Pirates. As Baseball America put it, “They need impact talent, and Scheppers is an impact talent.”

Shortstop Jordy Mercer was selected from Oklahoma State in the third round. Mercer is a decent prospect, who has all five-tools, but does nothing extremely well. He’s the type of player who will probably work his way up the ladder level by level, taking some time to get acclimated and then doing well enough to get promoted each time.

At this point, it is worth noting that out of the Pirates’ first nine picks, six of them were either shortstops or third basemen, something that shows where Huntington and Coonelly think this organization could be weakest. It’s also worth noting, though, that those types of players are easy to move elsewhere. A third baseman who can mash can be moved to first base or a corner outfield spot. A shortstop can be moved to the outfield or second base, giving the organization some options about what to do.

Fourth round pick Chase D’Arnaud out of Pepperdine was a similar selection to Mercer, a solid shortstop who can probably hit. D’Arnaud had some questions raised about his bat after an abysmal performance in the Cape Cod League last summer, but he answered most of those by hitting .310 in his junior campaign and many scouts believe that whatever issues haven’t been resolved yet are still correctable.

Fifth round pick Justin Wilson, a left-handed starter out of Fresno State, seems like kind of a questionable pick. He is not at all consistent and didn’t get better during his time at FSU. If Pirate fans are looking for someone that Dave Littlefield would pick, this is definitely that type of pick. Wilson looks like someone who will just fill a spot in the minors and maybe have a cup of coffee in the majors, but never really contribute anything of significance to Pittsburgh.

Sixth round pick Jordan Grossman may be one of the steals of the draft. Scouts viewed him as a potential late first or early second round pick, but he somehow dropped to the Pirates at the beginning of the sixth round. His skill set has drawn comparisons to that of Reds’ phenom Jay Bruce due to their both having grown up in Texas, but Grossman is very rough around the edges. He is very gritty, but he doesn’t really excel in anything (granted, he was pitched around for his entire senior year of high school). The Pirates should attempt to sign him and bring him into the fold so that when he’s being picked with the fifth overall pick in three years, they don’t need to say “we could have had that guy.”

Shortstop Benji Gonzalez, the seventh round pick, has a commitment to Oklahoma State. Gonzalez is a flashy defender who can’t do too much with the bat, but he’s good enough on defense that his failure to hit might not matter. Interestingly, if the Pirates sign both him and Mercer, they will have four Oklahoma State infielders or commits in their system (Shelby Ford and Matthew Hague, who was taken in the ninth round. Hague is an interesting prospect, as he transferred from Washington, where he led the team in a bunch of batting categories, to finish his college career up at OSU.).

In the eighth round, Coonelly and Huntington set about correcting one of their greatest mistakes, drafting 3B Jeremy Farrell, Boston pitching coach and former Pirate managing candidate John Farrell’s son. Farrell, who had injury problems throughout college, seemed to right himself a bit this year. He is known as an advanced player, but he really doesn’t have that much power for a corner infielder. Like many of the Pirates’ picks, Farrell fell for some reason. He was projected to go right around the fifth round, but he somehow lasted until the eighth round, where the Pirates could no longer pass him up.

The Pirates’ tenth round selection was a very interesting one, as they selected pitcher Andrew Gagnon out of a California high school. Gagnon fits to a tee the definition of a pro pitcher, but said prior to the draft that he wasn’t going to go pro unless he was drafted in the first five rounds. If Coonelly and Huntington decide to wave some money in front of him, he might renege on that decision and choose to become a State College Spike instead.

The Pirates’ 15th round pick hails from North Pole High School in Alaska.  Chris Aure is a pitcher who has never really focused on baseball and is described as being “a perfect draft and follow” by Baseball America because of his potential for rapid improvement.

Even more interesting is the 16th round pick, Florida HS OF Wesley Freeman, who has committed to the University of Central Florida.  As Freeman’s possible coach at UCF, Bryan Peters, puts it, “Wesley Freeman is probably one of the most publicized guys we have ever had. He was an Aflac All-American and highly rated by Perfect Game USA. We are talking about a 6-foot-5, middle of the order hitter who can really run. His best tool, surprisingly with his 6-foot-5 frame, is that he has speed. He is a five-tool player with arm strength, big-time power, exceptional speed and good batting average and defensive skills. This is a high-caliber, high-class guy whose ceiling is really high. Just a phenomenal player.”  That sounds like the type of player that the Pirates desperately need to sign.

In the 20th round, the Pirates got SS Nick Akins out of Riverside (Cal.) CC.  Akins is a potentially very good prospect who has power and athletic ability, but supposedly had temper issues in the past.  In looking into the incident, I discovered this article from Baseball America.  Take from it what you will, but it seems as if Akins’ dad and the other team are more at fault for the incident than the player himself.

With their 26th round pick, the Pirates took 3B Zach Wilson out of Wilson High in Long Beach, California. Wilson’s story is pretty interesting as not only is he a stud prospect, hitting .485 with 13 doubles and five home runs, but he was raised in a single parent household where he describes himself and his mother as living “from paycheck to paycheck.” Read this article for more about Wilson. He sounds like he could be something, and, more importantly, someone special.

Coonelly was interviewed by Stan Savran on FSN prior to the game, revealing that the Pirates plan to sign 25-30 of their picks, a number that Huntington had placed as low as 20 as little as a month or so ago. For Coonelly to say that clearly indicates that he is excited about the talent in this draft, which could be one of the deepest for the Pirates since the final Mickey White draft.

If these prospects all come into the system, the Pirates will no longer have one of the most barren farm systems in all of baseball, but instead have one that is prepared to move into the middle of the pack with Huntington and Coonelly continuing their rebuilding job.

Pirates’ fans, we finally have something to be excited about again. Our team is definitely in the hands of men who know what they are doing. It feels odd, yes, but we need to trust them, meaning that, hopefully, the draft won’t be such a big deal next year.

(We will keep you updated on which of these guys the Pirates actually sign and which are allowed to re-enter the draft pool.)

Alvarez, who is represented by superagent Scott Boras, has caused a bit of a stir with his contract requests.  He will instantly become the highest paid player in Pittsburgh Pirates history (a distinction currently owned by Matt Morris), completely disregarding MLB’s slotting system that recommends contract size based on the number of draft pick.  Additionally, Alvarez wants a guaranteed major league contract, meaning that the Pirates will need to immediately burn one of his options to send him to the minors.

It shows that the Pirates are serious about acquiring talent and may be willing to break the bank to do so.  Alvarez may be playing in Pittsburgh as soon as next year.  The team’s commitment to picking the top player on the board, regardless of financial matters, is refreshing.  Hopefully there will be no more Daniel Moskos over Matt Wieters scenarios.  Sorry Danny, but unless you become a star, you’ll be hearing complaints from Pirate fans about that draft for the rest of your life.

After Petr Sykora scored his goal in the third overtime of Game 5, we could be excused for thinking that the Penguins had a chance. After all, our goalie was playing better and the Red Wings would be tired heading into Game 6. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out that way as Marc-Andre Fleury didn’t play his best game in net, giving up two ridiculously easy goals, one to Valtteri Filppula and the other to Henrik Zetterberg. Both times, the issue was that Fleury just didn’t stop the puck between his legs, instead letting it trickle through and, eventually, over the goal line.

To blame Fleury for this loss, however, would be ridiculous. The Penguins did miss several golden scoring opportunities and clearly looked like a team that was ready for its season to end, which is to be expected in NHL games in the beginning of the June. Sergei Gonchar (who scored a goal) played well despite a bad back, Evgeni Malkin finally played something approaching his game and Petr Sykora didn’t look too bad.

This series, though, was about the Red Wings just flat-out being a better team despite the special makeup of the Penguins. Yes, the Penguins had a ton of star power and all of the little pieces, but Detroit had the lock down defense as well as the potentially high-powered offense and the forechecking game to negate whatever advances the Penguins made. These were evident all throughout the series and again in Game 6.

The Penguins put up the best fight that they could, which actually proved to be somewhat better than that which they had been expected to put up, but all of their toughness was just outmatched by Detroit’s skill. This was even evident in the final seconds of the series as the Penguins mounted one final charge that had all of their fans thinking “What if?” only to see it fail on the left pad of Chris Osgood.

Seeing the Penguins sit on and around the ice, completely spent, just holding their sticks in their hands looking exhausted, was an awe-inspiring site. Pittsburgh knew that its team had given its all to win the series and that, despite coming short, our team still deserved to be honored. There was no feeling of being short-changed or anything like that, even if the first time the Stanley Cup was won in Pittsburgh was by a visiting team.

The hometown kids deserve a pat on the back. The business of keeping the success going can begin in a few weeks, but for now the players and coaches can sleep tight, knowing that even if they didn’t come out victorious, they have represented their city and themselves better than much of the world expected.

The Pirates’ offense just didn’t get the job done again, particularly Adam LaRoche.  LaRoche came to the plate with the bases loaded in the sixth inning, but hit the ball right at Miguel Tejada, ending the inning and the scoring opportunity.  LaRoche needs to start producing again, as it is a little late for any hitter, even one who starts as abysmally as LaRoche, to be hitting .211.  It is beginning to become fair to say that neither team won the Mike Gonzalez for LaRoche deal, as neither player has been effective for his current team.

The Astros received most of their offense from 2B Kaz Matsui, who went 4-for-4 and scored both runs, one on an RBI double by Lance Berkman that glanced off of Xavier Nady’s glove and another on a Tejada double.  That was all of the offense that the Astros would need and should just go to show the Pirates that it is vital to bring runners from the top of the order who get on base around to score, particularly on a night where Jack Wilson, the Pirates’ second hitter, got two hits.

Wilson looks very good for just coming back from injury and may be the spark that the infield so desperately needs in order to start producing the way the outfield has all season.  If he can be that catalyst, then the Pirates will probably be okay in terms of production as Jose Bautista is hitting .256, which is about as well as can be expected, while LaRoche and Freddy Sanchez are both drastically underachieving.  Hopefully the presence of Wilson will cause them to pick their games up.

Tyler Yates had issues with wildness again, walking two hitters in his one inning of work but managing to not give up a run.  Part of being a good relief pitcher is not putting runners on base.  Someone should give him that message.

The magic number is now down to 51.