[Operation Shutdown]

Week 26
Heading into the last week of the season, the Pirates are currently 79-77 and are in fourth place in the central division, just 5.5 games behind the Cardinals and theoretically still in the race. The Pirates travel to Montreal for a three game series against the Expos who are 99-57 and whom the Pirates are 2-1 against. They then travel to Cincinatti and finish out the season with a three game series against the Reds who are currently 81-75 and whom the Pirates are 9-6 against this season.

Game 157: Pirates 2 Expos 4 Fireworks Night at Olympic Stadium
VanBenSchoten pitched a decent game, giving up just three runs, two of them earned, in seven innings, but got the loss. Vazquez worked seven scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and one walk for his 13th win of the season. Nady and House each had solo homeruns in the ninth inning, the only runs scored by the Pirates. Vlad hit his 46th homerun of the year, a solo shot in the seventh inning. Scott Stewart gave up one run, but held on in the ninth for his 41st save of the year.

Game 158: Pirates 7 Expos 5
Dave Williams did not have a good start in his last start of the year, as he gave up five runs in two innings of work. Seung Song pitched a great game, giving up just one run in seven innings, but did not get the win as the Expos bullpen had some trouble. The Pirates were down 5-1 heading into the eighth inning, and Nady led off the inning with a double off of Kim. Craig Wilson the singled home Nady, and that was it for Kim. Dan Smith then came into the game and gave up a two run homerun to Rob Mackowiak to bring the score to 5-4. Smith then gave up a single to JJ Davis before being pulled from the game. TJ Tucker then came in to pitch and gave up a double to Jose Castillo. Davis tried to score on the play but was thrown out at home by Hart. JR House then singled home Castillo, and then Alvarez followed with a pinch hit double, but House was held at third base. Tucker then got Kotsay and Bobby Hill to fly out to short left-center field to end the threat, but the Pirates did the damage tying the game at 5-5. No runs were scored until the top of the tenth inning, when Scott Stewart came on for the Expos. After one out, he gave up a triple to Castillo, that was followed by a two run homerun by JR House to give the Pirates the lead. Montreal threatened in the bottom half of the inning, when with one out Vlad singled and was moved to third base on a double by Jason Hart off of Jim Mann. Wilkerson was then intentionally walked, and with the bases loaded and one out, Jim Mann got Brian Schneider to strike out. Mann then left the game with tightness in his back, and Sauerbeck came in and got Wil Cordero to ground out to end the game as he earned the save. Shields pitched two scoreless innings to get the win for the Pirates, and Stewart got the loss.

Game 159: Pirates 6 Expos 3 Baseball Cap Day at Olympic Stadium
In his last start of the year, Ponson pitched a pretty good game giving up three runs in seven innings to even his record for the year at 10-10. Orlando Hernandez gave up six runs, though only two of them were earned, in 6 1/3 innings for just his 5th loss of the season. Kotsay hit a three run homerun in the sixth, for his 19th homerun of the year.

Series Recap: The Pirates played really well against a team with 100 wins this season. The Pirates have also guaranteed themselves their first 0.500 or better season since 1992.

A quick look at the remaining races, sees the Twins magic number is now one in the AL Central as they are three games up on the Indians with three left to play. The Indians lead the wild card by one game over the Blue Jays and two games over the Yankees and Mariners. In the NL, the Cubs answered their 11 game losing streak with a three game winning streak and are now one game up on the Cardinals with three left. Minnesota plays Detroit (57-102), Cleveland plays Baltimore (66-93), New York plays Toronto and Seattle plays Anaheim (78-81). It looks as if the Twins and Indians will be the most likely to make the playoffs, as New York and Toronto will probably beat each other up, and Anaheim will want to give Seattle as much grief as possible. In the NL central, the Cubs and Cardinals play a three game series to determine the NL Central champ.

Game 160: Pirates 10 Reds 3
Benson did fairly well in his final start of the season, giving up three runs in six innings to finish the year at 15-12. Paul Wilson gave up five runs in seven innings, to finish his season at 13-14. This was definitely a game of homeruns, as Davis, Nady, Alvarez, and Cota each homered for the Pirates accounting for 9 of the Pirates' ten runs, and Eckstein, Colbrunn and Griffey homered for the Reds, accounting for all 3 of the Reds runs scored in the game.

Minnesota 5 Detroit 2
Cleveland 15 Baltimore 4
Toronto 8 New York 7 (15 innings)
Anaheim 8 Seattle 7

St. Louis 3 Chicago 2 (11 innings)

In the AL Minnesota has clinched the AL Central with their win. The Yankees and Mariners are now out of the wild card race with their losses, leaving just Cleveland and Toronto, and the Indians still lead by 1 game. In the NL, the Cardinals and Cubs are tied.

Game 161: Pirates 3 Reds 2
Both starters pitched very well in this game, but neither got the decision as this one took 11 innings to decide. Perez gave up just two runs, only one of them earned, in six innings of work, and Reitsma gave up just one run in seven innings. The Pirates trailed 2-1 heading into the ninth inning, when Craig Wilson led off with a solo homerun off of Riedling to tie the game at 2-2. Niether team scored a run until the 11th inning, when with two outs and no one on base, JJ Davis hit a solo homerun off of Scott Sullivan to give the Pirates the lead. Shields pitched a scoreless bottom half of the inning, as part of a great effort by a bullpen that gave up just one walk in five innings. Shields got the win, while Sullivan got the loss.

Cleveland 3 Baltimore 4 (11 innings)
Toronto 4 New York 3

St. Louis 5 Chicago 4

Toronto has now tied the race for the wildcard in the AL and St. Louis has gone up one game on the Cubs in the NL central.

Game 162: Pirates 6 Reds 4
VanBenSchoten finished the season strong for the Pirates, giving up just one run in 5 2/3 innings to finish the season at 3-4. Oswalt gave up five runs, two of which were earned, in seven innings, getting the loss and finishing the season at 14-10. The Reds mounted a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, scoring two unearned runs off of Beimel, but Greg Maddux came in and shut them down for his first career save.

Cleveland 6 Baltimore 5
Toronto 11 New York 1

Chicago 5 St. Louis 4

Well, 162 games weren't enough to decide the AL wildcard and the NL central races, so there will be a one-game playoff to decide the winner of both races. The NL game will be played in St. Louis and will feature Joe Kennedy (17-12 3.87) for the Cubs and Rick Ankiel (8-7 5.30) for the Cardinals. The AL game will be played in Toronto and will feature Ricardo Rodriguez (15-7 3.28) for the Indians and Denny Neagle (10-18 6.04) for the Blue Jays.

Cubs 4 Cardinals 2 (11 innings)
This game was a real close one, as the score was tied 1-1 through nine innings. Kennedy went 6 innings, giving up one run for the Cubs, and Ankiel went 5 innings giving up one run for the Cardinals. Niether bullpen gave up a single run until the top of the eleventh, when Tyler Johnson gave up a two run homerun to Ben Davis followed by a solo homerun by Dee Brown to give the Cubs a 4-1 lead. The Cardinals tried their hardest to mount a comeback victory in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Edmonds singled off of Ohman and Ohman was injured on the play. Borowski then came in and got Tejada out, but then walked Drew, gave up a single to Travis Lee that scored Edmonds, and then walked Vina to load the bases. He was then pulled in favor of Beltran, and Beltran got Delgado to ground out to the second baseman with two outs and the bases loaded to end the game.

Indians 12 Blue Jays 11 (10 innings)
Neagle lasted just 2 2/3 innings, giving up six runs, three of them earned, for the Blue Jays. The Indians seemed to have this game in the bag early on as they had a 9-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Something sparked on the Blue Jays benched and they decided they weren't gonna give up without a good fight. Millar led off the inning with a single, Barrett followed with another single, Malloy followed with another single scoring Millar, and then Gabe Gross followed with yet another single, scoring Barrett, while Malloy and Gross moved to third and second respectively on the throw home. Rodriguez finally got Luke Allen to ground out to second, but that scored Malloy and moved Gross to third. Hinske then followed with yet another single in the inning, scoring Gross, and at that point Rodriguez was pulled from the game. Riske then came into the game and gave up a walk to Delgado and then a single to Wise to load the bases. Woodward followed with yet another single, the sixth of the inning, that scored Hinske and Delgado to make it a one run game, 9-8. Riske finally ended the inning by getting Millar to fly out to short left field and got Barrett to strike out swinging. Rodriguez gave up a total of 7 runs in 6 1/3 innings. The Blue Jays still were not done, as they managed to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, when with one out, Kevin Millar hit a solo homerun off of Escobar to tie the game at 9-9. The Indians finally woke up and realized that they had a game to play, and in the top of the tenth with two on and two outs, Victor Martinez hit a three run homerun to give the Indians the lead. The Blue Jays were still not giving up yet though, with two outs and one on, Dewayne Wise hit a two run homerun off of De los Santos to bring the Jays to back within one run. However, De Los Santos got Woodward to strike out swinging to end the a terrific game that took 4 hours and 45 minutes to play.

Well that's it for the season, I'll be back sometime tomorrow with the playoffs and the in-depth season wrapup for the Pirates. I'll be posting all the players pages and league files on the internet tonight through the end of the regular season, so enjoy.