[Operation Shutdown]

Week 3:
This week will see the Pirates playing the first 6 games of a six game home stand. They start the week with three games against the Mets, and then they play host to the Chicago Cubs, whom they are 1-2 against this year.

Game 13: Pirates 4 Mets 3 Baseball Cap Day at PNC Park
The Pirates finally won a game coming from behind. With the Mets ahead 3-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth, they brought out their closer Armando Benitez to face Craig Wilson. Wilson took hold of a 2-1 fastball and drove it deep to left field for a solo homerun to tie things up at 3. Then in the bottom of the 10th, with Kendall on first after a single, Giles drove a double down the right field line. Kendall was waved home and Perez missed the cutoff man, and Kendall scored standing up as the throw was off-line. Pirates starter Josh Fogg pitched 8 innings giving up three runs, two of which were earned. Relievers Mark Corey and Jim Mann each pitched a scoreless inning, with Mann getting the win. Benitez got the loss and the blown save giving up 2 runs in 1 1/3 innings.

Game 14: Pirates 6 Mets 7
Neither of today's starters did very well and neither got the win. Jeff Suppan went 7 innings and gave up 4 runs off of 10 hits and 4 walks. Mets starter David Cone gave up 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings off of 9 hits and 1 walk. Once again the story was with the bullpen, where Mark Corey, after going 6 innings without giving up an earned run, gave up 2 runs in 1/3 of an inning and picked up the loss. Middlebrook got the win for the Mets and Benitez picked up his fifth save of the year. Floyd and Vaughn hit homers for the Mets and Craig Wilson and Reggie Sanders hit homers for the Pirates.

Game 15: Pirates 6 Mets 0
20,045 fans came out to see the rubber match of this series, and none were disappointed, as Pirates starter Jeff D'Amico continued his amazing performance so far this season. D'Amico pitched a complete game shutout, giving up 6 hits and walking just one while striking out 8 batters to bring his overall record to 3-0 with a 0.72 ERA. Giles had a big day today offensively, going 3-4 with a 2B, a HR, and 3 RBI's as the Pirates scored 6 runs off of 11 hits. Mets starter Aaron Heilman didn't have his best stuff today as he gave up 4 runs in just 2 2/3 innings of work.

Series Recap: The Pirates pulled off the upset and won their first series of the year against the Mets. Good starting pitching and timely hitting was the story to both Pirates wins as both Fogg and D'Amico had good outings.

In other league news, Braves starting pitcher Mike Hampton injured his tricep on April 16th in a game against the Expos and will miss the next 7 weeks. The Braves placed him on the DL and called up Andy Pratt but only for one day as they sent him back down after they activated Russ Ortiz from the disabled list.

Game 16: Pirates 2 Cubs 5
Kris Benson had his third straight poor outing giving up five runs in five innings and picking up his third loss of the year. Relievers Mark Corey and Brian Boehringer each pitched two scoreless innings. Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano gave up just two runs in 6 innings, one of which was from a solo homerun by Rob Mackowiak, for the win. Mark Guthrie pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his second save of the year. Sammy Sosa had a big day offensively going 2-4 with 3 RBIs, and he set a new record for the longest hit homerun at PNC Park, measuring 479 feet.

Game 17: Pirates 4 Cubs 6
The Cubs scattered all six of their runs, as they scored no more than one run in any inning. They got solo homeruns from Sammy Sosa, Corey Patterson, and Paul Bako. Starting pitcher Matt Clement pitched six innings, giving up 3 runs, and earning his third win of the year. Those three runs were the first runs given up by Clement all year. Mike Remlinger pitched a scoreless ninth for his 4th save of the year. Ramirez hit his second homer of the year, a solo shot off of Clement in the sixth inning. Pirate starter Kip Wells pitched seven innings, giving up five runs for the loss.

Game 18: Pirates 3 Cubs 1
Despite a steller performance by Cubs starting pitcher Mark Prior, the Pirates won the game by making the most of their oppurtunities and managing to score 3 runs off of just the two hits and two walks that Prior gave up in 6 innings. Pirates starter Josh Fogg turned in his own stellar performance, going 6 2/3 innings giving up 7 hits and walking one and King 6. The Cubs tried to mount a comeback in the eigth inning as Bellhorn drew a walk against Boehringer. Beimel was then brought in to face Choi, but Baker brought Sosa out of the dugout to pinch hit, and he doubled to left-center and Bellhorn was held at third as he was unsure whether Lofton was going to make the catch. McClendon then brought out Torres to intentionally walk Ramon Martinez (I guess Torres is really good at those intentional walks????). Reliever Jim Mann was then brought out to face Damian Miller and got him to strike out looking. Dennys Reyes was then brought out to face Tom Goodwing and got him to pop out to very shallow center field. Reyes then got Gonzalez to strike out swinging to end the inning. Sauerbeck then pitched a scoreless ninth to record his first save of the year.

Series Recap: The Pirates once again barely managed to not get swept by the Cubs, and are now 2-4 against them this year. They tried as hard as they could to lose the last game, but the five relief pitchers used in the eighth inning managed to get the job done, albeit a very ugly job.

In other team notes, the Pirates have placed C Jason Kendall, LF Brian Giles, SP Kris Benson, and SP Brian Meadows on the trading block. SP Ryan Vogelsong was promoted from AA Altona Curve to AAA Nashville Sounds. He was then injured with a pulled rotator cuff muscle and will miss the next four weeks.