[BigRed75]

The Secret Harbour Pirates are pleasantly in first place, 16-10 with a 1 1/2 game lead. Surprisingly, the whale I was worried about is in LAST place with a 8-17 record. In looking at the lineup, they look to be putting out a strong lineup and aren't tanking so this just seems to be a case of bad luck for the Trash Pandas.

I mentioned that I was annoyed that we had 7 of our first 9 games of the season against them. Well, we won five of those seven games to give us a strong platform for the rest of April. We have three more games to close out the month. At some point the Trash Pandas are going to put it all back together, they are too good a team not to. I'm just glad that we will have already played the majority of our games against them this season after they find their groove.

The other big news for the Pirates is that we have completed the Mets mission, and Mike Piazza should finally plug in that sucking wound that is our backup catcher spot. Well, technically Jason Kendall is going to fill that hole as Piazza becomes our new starter, but you know what I mean. In his first game as a Pirate, Piazza only went and hit two home runs and was named player of the game. Nice!

Also, that Mets mission was our fifth and final NL East mission, which means we welcome SE Steve Carlton to the rotation. With that, the rotation is now complete. Ted Lyons goes back into the bullpen where I'm hoping he can revive his Pirates career much as Live 94 OVR Jack Flaherty did a few seasons ago. Dutch Leonard did well for the Pirates in the early years, but his time on the active roster has come to an end. He will stick around on the reserve roster should a bullpen arm falter, but if he becomes part of a mission we won't hesitate to sell him for a tidy sum.