Pirates

1. McCutchen CF
2. Paul LF
3. Jones RF
4. Walker 2B
5. Overbay 1B
6. Snyder C
7. Alvarez 3B
8. Cedeno SS
9. McDonald P


Padres

1. Venable RF .195
2. Bartlett SS .222
3. Ludwick LF .198
4. Cantu 3B .188
5. Maybin CF .253
6. Hudson 2B .236
7. Hawpe 1B .169
8. Hundley C .273
9. Harang P .111


Big game for McDonald. Check out the batting averages he'll be facing tonight. I've never seen a lineup with five guys under the Mendoza line, this late in the season.

Padre's team OPS is .600.

Of course, the Pirates' is only .661 but...

Great start!

These starts always make me queasy. Crush the living sh*t out of a horrible Harang in the first inning.

Go on snooze. Sleepwalk through the next 7 innings. Let the pen win the game.

Hey, how about scoring a few more runs? I hear that is allowed.

Goddamn, this game is a death of a thousand cuts.

First inning, stomp Haranging curve.

Next 6 innings, nothing, against incredibly mediocre pitching.

Meanwhile, McDonald knows that he has "the 4" and nothing more is on the way. Hey, don't make one effing mistake, or GAME ON!!

Against a truly horrible team in the Padres.

Jesus H. Christmas, watching the Pirates is torture. They just do not have the wherewithal to put up runs in multiple innings, and put games away.

The game is now, gee what an effing shock, a nail biter.

Against what is the worst team I have seen this year - the slap-hitting, low-talent, horrible Padres.

Why in the world was Overbay trying to steal in the 9th like I'm reading on Gameday? An insurance run was needed, but Overbay? They would have had the bases loaded in the top of the 9th with no outs had they not had one of the slower players try to swipe.

It was a hit and run. Snyder missed. But I agree. Don't run your slow guys.

Watching that inning unfold, I knew - KNEW - that the Pirates would somehow, some way turn 4 consecutive walks into 0 runs.

Hey, you have to give them credit. Not many teams could have done that.

And PH'ing Pearce against Gregorson, who is brutal on righties but who is generally hit by lefties? No left-handed bats at all on the bench, I guess.

Whatever. Let's see if they can eke out a nail-biting, 1-run, stomach churning victory after running up a 4-0 lead in the first inning against a bad pitcher and a bad team.

Raise it!!!!

(mike williams jr. again)

Winning ugly ... look no further than this contest.

9th inning, 4-3 lead, Hanrahan pitching, 2 outs, nobody on, 0-2 count on Hundley. Cruise to victory?

Yeah, not so much. Hit, hit, 1st and 3rd with two outs.

Hanrahan finished it off ... thank heavens. This game was just staggering towards a meltdown.

Throw a slider 0-2 to Hundley, and this thing dies in its sleep. The 0-2 fastball was not a good idea.

Offensive struggle after the first aside, I think a key play was Cedeno trying to barehand that ball he didn't need to in the 8th. He had plenty of time to scoop and throw, and that directly led to the third run, and a much changed batting order faced in the 9th.

McDonald had a nice start, but even I could see he was starting to leave his pitches up in the 6th, which resulted in the 2 run homer. I don't blame Hurdle for trying to get six out of him, but you could see a bad thing coming.

THAT all said.... RAISE IT!

An ugly win, we'll take it!

Chance for .500 tonight. In years past this would guarantee a loss, but the ability to win on the road makes me think this year's team is different.

And what were they thinking when they built that huge ballpark? It's hard enough being a small-market team. No need to further handicap yourself.