[Operation Shutdown]

Week 5
The Pirates promoted CF Vic Butler and 3B Yurendell DeCaster from AA to AAA and promoted SP Josh Shortslef from A to AA. Butler, 23, was hitting 0.318 with 2 HRs and 9 RBIs and DeCaster, 24, was hitting 0.318 with 4 HRs and 13 RBI's for the Curve. Shortslef, 22, was 2-2 with a 2.43 for the Hillcats. This week the Pirates play three in Colorado against the Rockies who are 16-9. They then travel to San Francisco to play three against the Giants who are 17-9 and whom the Pirates are 1-2 against this year.

Game 25: Pirates 4 Rockies 9
In his first major league start, John Grabow went just two innings, giving up six runs for the loss. Jason Jennings was injured in the game and pitched just four innings, giving up three runs. Matt Herges picked up the win, giving up one run in two innings. Jennings was diagnosed with bone chips in his shoulder and will miss the next seven weeks.

Game 26: Pirates 2 Rockies 7
Ponson picked up his fifth loss of the season, lasting just six innings and giving up six runs. The winner Tsao, gave up just one run in seven innings of work. Hudson, Closser and Pellow hit homers for the Rockies, while Nady hit one out for the Pirates.

April Wrapup
The Pirates played some horrible baseball this month, finishing 8-18. Despite a record of 1-5, Ponson didn't do too terrible as he was the only Pirate starter to finish below a 4.00 ERA, with an 3.68 ERA. Torres and Corey were the only members in the bullpen to finish below that mark. Craig Wilson had a good month, hitting 0.351 with 3 HRs and 19 RBI's, while no one else on the team hit above 0.285. Davis, 0.213 with 2 HRs and 7 RBIs, and House, 0.211 with 1 HR and 9 RBI's, had the worst months offensively.

Around the league, Boston leads the AL East by 2.5 games, with a record of 17-11. The central is lead by Minnesota with a record of 19-8, and they are 4 games ahead of the White Sox. Oakland has the best record in the majors, and at 22-5 they lead the west by 9 games over the Angels. In the NL, the Braves lead the east with a record of 20-8, 2.5 games ahead of the Expos. The Cardinals lead the central by one game over the Cubs, with a record of 17-10. In the west, the Rockies with a record of 18-9, lead both Arizona and San Francisco by one game.

Blue Jays' Carlos Delgado hit 0.340 with 10 HRs and 33 RBIs to win the AL BOM award. Sammy Sosa won the award in the NL, belting 18 homeruns and driving in 33, while hitting for an average of 0.350. Angels' Ramon Ortiz finished the month with a record of 7-0 and an ERA of 3.86, good enough to win the POM award for the AL. In the NL, Braves' Adam Wainwright went 4-1 with an ERA of 1.72 to win the award.

Game 27: Pirates 9 Rockies 11
The Rockies continued to pound Pirates pitching, scoring five runs in four innings off of Kris Benson, who picked up the loss. The Pirates managed to score 7 runs in eight innings against Shawn Chacon, but it wasn't enough as he picked up the win. The Pirates tried to mount a comeback in the ninth. After already scoring four runs, and with a runner on second and nobody out Jose Jimenez came in and gave up just one hit, allowing one more run, before shutting things down, and picking up his 8th save of the year.

Series Recap: Problems persist in Pittsburgh. It seems to either be the pitching or the offense is just non-existent. They gotta figure a way to start winning some more games.

Game 28: Pirates 2 Giants 1
This one was a real nail biter. Oliver Perez did not give up a single run until the bottom of the ninth inning, when Cox hit a sac fly off of Mann, scoring Spiezio who led off the inning with a triple off of Perez. Likewise, Jesse Foppert gave up just one run, a solo homer by Kotsay in the sixth inning, in 7 2/3 innings of work. The two bullpens battled each other, not giving up a single run until the top of the 15th inning. Hill hit a one-out single and then stole second base. Nady then singled home Hill for what turned out to be the game winning run. Boehringer got the win for the Pirates and Zerbe the loss for the Giants.

Game 29: Pirates 2 Giants 3
Fogg did well today, giving up just three runs in seven innings of work, but got the loss. Schmidt did even better giving up just two runs, a two run homer by House in the sixth, in seven innings of work for the win. The Pirates picked up a hit, but that was it, as Felix Rodriguez closed things out in the ninth for his 8th save of the year.

Game 30: Pirates 5 Giants 6
Grabow did much better in this start, giving up five runs in 6 2/3 innings. Damian Moss also gave up five runs but in just 5 1/3 innings of work. The game winning run came in the bottom of the ninth, when after two outs, Torres gave up a single to Spiezio. Mann then came into the game and walked Alfonzo and Bonds to load the bases. He then gave up a single to Steve Cox that scored Womack, the game winning run. Torres ended up with the loss, although it should have been given to Mann, and Rodriguez got the win.

Around the league, on Tuesday Montreal's Orlando Hernandez tore a tricep muscle and will miss 5-6 weeks. On Thursday, Toronto's RF Jayson Werth inflamed his ACL and will miss the next 4-5 weeks. On Saturday, the Rangers' third baseman Mark Teixeira tore a tricep muscle throwing the ball to first base. Also on Saturday, Florida's right fielder Gary Sheffield collected his 2000th career hit in the ninth inning of Cardinals' Jason Isringhausen. On Sunday, Oakland's Barry Zito pitched a two hit shutout against the Tigers, winning the game 5-0.