[Operation Shutdown]

Week 5:
The Pirates, currently 7-17, this week begin a 10-game road trip. They start off with 3 games in San Diego, against the Padres who are currently 8-17. The Pirates then finish up the week with three games in LA against the Dodgers, whom they are 2-1 against this year.

Game 25: Pirates 5 Padres 7
Neither starters faired too well in this game, as the Pirates jumped to an early 5-1 lead through the third inning. However Padres starter Adam Eaton held in their for long enough, pitching three more scoreless innings, allowing his team to score five more runs off of Jeff D'Amico. Eaton gave up a total of five runs in six innings for the win, while D'Amico gave up six runs in 4 1.3 innings for the loss. Aramis Ramirez homered for the Pirates, but Reggie Sanders put in the best performance for the Pirates, going 4-4 with 2 RBI's.

Game 26: Pirates 3 Padres 0
Pirate fans have been waiting all month for Benson to finally begin to show his stuff, and he finally came through in today's game. Benson pitched six scoreless innings, giving up just two hits, while walking none, and striking out 3 to get his first win of the season. Despite throwing only 56 pitches, Benson was pinch-hit for in the top of the seventh, as McClendon felt that trying to add another run to a 1-0 lead was more important than leaving Benson in to try and get a shutout. Pinch hitter Randall Simon reached on an error during that at-bat, and moved Pokey Reese to third base, who then scored on a sac-fly by Kenny Lofton. Padres starter Kevin Jarvis pitched well, going 8 innings and giving up just three runs, two of which were earned. One of those runs was a solo homerun by Craig Wilson in the top of the eighth. Scott Sauerbeck pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, to pick up his second save of the year.

April Wrapup
The Pirates finished the month of April with a record of 8-18. None of the Pirates had a real hot bat this month, but Craig Wilson hit 0.281 with 4 HR and 8 RBI's, while Lofton hit 0.290 with 1 HR, 9 RBI's, 13 runs, and 11 stolen bases. Kendall was disappointing with the bat, hitting just 0.217 with no homeruns and 3 RBI's. Despite two poor starts, Jeff D'Amico is still leading the staff with a 3-2 record and a 3.44 ERA. Despite not getting a win yet Kip Wells is also pitching well with an 0-2 record and a 3.82 ERA. Despite a recent good outing, Kris Benson's performance has been disappointing this month with a record of 1-4 and a 7.89 ERA.

Around the league, the Red Sox are leading the AL East with a record of 17-11, 3 games ahead of the Yankees. The AL Central is being lead by the Twins who have a 17-10 record and are 3 games ahead of the Royals. The Oakland A's are leading the AL West, also with a record of 17-10 and two games ahead of the Angels. In the NL, the Braves, with a record of 15-12, are leading the eastern division by 2 games over the Marlins. The Cubs, with a record of 16-11, are leading the central by 1 game over the Astros. The Arizona Diamondbacks with a league best record of 21-7 are leading the NL West by 3.5 games over the Dodgers.

Indians pitcher Ricardo Rodriguez won the award for best pitcher of the month award in the AL with a record of 4-1 and a 2.03 ERA. His counterpart in the NL Randy Johnson, went 6-0 with an ERA of 1.46 in the month of April. Jim Thome hit 0.386, hitting 11 homeruns and driving in 31 to win the NL Batter of the month award. His AL counterpart Garrett Anderson hit 0.362, with 9 HRs and 28 RBI's.

League Transactions:
On the first of the month, the Dodgers got 2.5 star LF Kevin Millar from Boston in exchange for 2.5 star 1B Josh Phelps and 1.5 star prospect C John Schneider. The Padres also received 1.5 star Melvin Mora in a trade with the Orioles that sent them 3.5 star prospect CF Jason Bay, 3-star prospect MR Gabe Ribas, and 1.5 star prospect Chris Oxpring.
On the sixth, the Devil Rays sent 2.5 star C Toby Hall to the Orioles in return for 4.5 star prospect SP John Stephens and 3 star prospect SP Daniel Cabrera.
On the eighteenth, the Rockies received 4.5 star prospect 2B Orlando Hudson and 1 star prospect 1B Jarad Mangioni in a trade that sent 3 star prospect RF Luke Allen to the Blue Jays. The Reds also received 2.5 star 1B Greg Colbrunn from the Mariners in return for 2 star prospect C Miguel Perez and 1 star prospect SS Hector Tiburcio.
On the 22nd, the Cardinals got 2 star 1B Travis Lee and 2 star prospect LF Blair Irvin from the Devil Rays in exchange for 2.5 star RF Eli Marrero. Also, the Giants got 2 star 1B Fred McGriff from the Dodgers in return for 3.5 star prospect RF Deivis Santos and 1.5 star prospect C Dayton Buller.
On the 24th, the Rockies finally found their replacement for the injured Helton by picking up 2.5 star 1B Scott Speizio from the Angels in return for 2.5 star prosect 3B Javier Colina, 1 star prospect 1B Jarad Mangioni, and 1 star prospect LF Trey George.

Game 27: Pirates 3 Padres 5
Nothing exciting in this game happened. Kip Wells gave up 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings for the loss. Padres starter Jake Peavy pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up three runs, two of which were earned for the win. Despite putting two people on base wtih two out Mike Matthews got Craig Wilson to ground out to end the game and pick up the save. Brian Buchanan and Ryan Klesko homered for the Padres.

In other league news, Rafeal Palmeiro hit homeruns number 499 and 500 today. The first coming in the third inning with one on against Blue Jays pitcher Walker. The second also came against Walker with one on in the fifth inning.

Series Recap: Well, this series was a bad team in the Padres going up against a worse team in the Pirates. The Padres came out on top, and the Pirates now lead the reverse standings of the majors by 1.5 games.

Game 28: Pirates 3 Dodgers 2
After giving up two runs in the bottom of the first, Pirates starter Josh Fogg continued by pitching five more scoreless innings and holding on for the win. He pitched a total of six innings giving up two runs, only one of which was earned. Boehringer and Sauerbeck each held the lead through the seventh and eighth inning, and Solomon Torres came in and closed out the ninth picking up his third save of the season. Dodgers starter Hideo Nomo pitched 7 innings, giving up three runs, all of them earned.

Game 29: Pirates 9 Dodgers 5 Retro Game Day at Dodger Stadium
The Pirates offense really exploded today, scoring nine runs, 6 off of starter Darren Dreifort, and the other three off of reliever Guillermo Mota. The Pirates hit four homers in the game, one each from Kenny Lofton, Brian Giles, Matt Stairs, and Rob Mackowiak. Pirates starter Jeff Suppan picked up the win, pitching 6 1/3 innings, giving up four runs. Dodgers starter Darren Dreifort received the loss giving up six runs, five of which were earned, in four innings of work.

Game 30: Pirates 3 Dodgers 8
Jeff D'Amco had his third straight poor outing today, giving up six runs in just 2 2/3 innings, picking up his third loss of the year. Dodgers starter Wilson Alvarez pitched well, giving up all three of the Pirates runs in 6 innings of work for the win. The Pirates got homeruns from Brian Jordan and Shawn Green.

Series Recap: The Pirates continue to have the number against the Dodgers, as they are now 4-2 this season against a much better LA team.

The Pirates today traded 1B Randall Simon and 2B Pokey Reese to the Chicago Cubs in return for 2B Bobby Hill and 3-star prospect RF JJ Johnson.
Bobby Hill will be placed on the 25-man roster, and Carlos Rivera will be promoted from AAA Nashville to the 25-man roster. Hill has two more years of options remaining, and JJ Johnson has two more years remaining before he must be placed on the 40-man roster. The Pirates now have only 39 players listed on their 40-man roster. The Pirates also promoted C Ryan Doumit from AA Altoona to AAA Nashville. He will assume the catching duties in Nashville and JR House will be moved to DH. JJ Johnson was placed in AA Altoona where he will be the starting RFer.

In other league news Mariners DH Edgar Martinez collected his 2000th hit on Saturday off of White Sox starter Bartolo Colon in the first inning.