[Operation Shutdown]

Week 4
One more week before heading to bed. On a side note, I decided to see what it'd take to get uber ace Jesse Foppert from the Giants, and they wouldn't take JJ Davis, Lopez, Ponson, Moses, and Loewen saying that the trade would hurt their team. Not so sure about that, but it probably means that Foppert will never be traded from the Giants. Also, as another note, in case you haven't noticed, I had been using last years stats for a while as there just wasn't enough time for this year's stats to mean anything, but I think I'm gonna switch now to this year's stats. Anyway, back on track, the Bucs start the week with a three game series at home against the Rockies, who are 9-10. The Rockies finished last year at 78-85 and just missed the playoffs, losing the last game against the Padres. The Padres have Danny Graves (1-2 3.60), Ryan Kibler (2-0 2.25), and Bert Snow (2-2 3.80) at the top of their starting rotation. The Rockies added Ken Griffey Jr. (0.277 3 10) to their lineup and also still have Larry Walker (0.253 2 10) and Todd Helton (0.349 6 20) in their lineup as well.

Game 20: Pirates 3 Rockies 5
Both starters once again turned in great performances, with Bullington giving up three runs in seven innings, and Graves giving up three runs in eight innings and neither starter getting the decision. Carbaugh led off the top of the tenth with a walk and went to third on a Walker double one out later. He then scored on a wild pitch. Mann got Miller to strike out before giving up a double to Closser to give the Rockies a two run lead. Puffer then shut down the Pirates in the bottom of the tenth, going 1-2-3 and picking up the win, while Mann got the loss.

Pedro Martinez picked up his 200th career win as the Giants defeated the Cubs 3-1. He gave up just one hit and two walks while striking out nine and working seven scoreless innings.

Game 21: Pirates 3 Rockies 2 Glove Day at PNC Park
Ponson pitched a great game giving up just one run, a solo homerun to Closser in the fourth inning, in seven innings of work for the win. Kibler pitched all eight innings for the Rockies, giving up three runs for the loss. Corey picked up the save in the ninth despite giving up two hits and allowing a runner, put on by Jimenez, to score.

Game 22: Pirates 5 Rockies 4
Lopez pitched a pretty good game, giving up three runs, only one of which was earned, in seven innings of work, while Snow also went 7 innings, giving up three runs, all of them earned. The Bucs were down 3-0, before scoring three runs in the seventh off of Snow to tie the game. Then in the top of the 11th inning, the Rockies took the lead when Griffey singled off of Shields to score Atkins. The Pirates did not lay down, as in the bottom of the 11th, DeCaster led off by getting hit by a pitch, and McDougall followed that with a walk off homerun to give the Pirates the win. Shields got the win, while Fuentes was charged with the loss.

Series Recap: Nice series for the Bucs as all three games could have went either way, but two of the three went the Pirates way. They now lead the central by two games.

The Pirates wrap up the week with a trip to Arizona for a three game series against the Diamondbacks who are 11-11. Kenny Baugh (3-0 4.70), Miguel Asencio (1-2 3.03) and Kurt Ainsworth (1-1 7.33) are the top of a rather average DBack rotation that once featured the likes of Johnson and Schilling. The DBack offense is much improved after acquring LF Brian Giles (0.329 4 18) through free agency to add to their lineup already consisting of Magglio Ordonez (0.333 5 26) and Felix Escalona (0.293 2 8).

Game 23: Pirates 8 DBacks 10
Neither starter did too well with VanBenSchoten giving up five runs, three earned, in 5 2/3 innings, and Adams gave up four runs in 6 innings, and neither starter got the decision. The Pirates led 7-5 through seven innings, but Hidalgo hit a solo homer in the eighth off of White and Myers hit a solo homer off of Grabow in the ninth to tie the game at 7-7. Then in the top of the tenth, the Pirates picked up one run off Isringhausen when McDougall doubled home DeCaster with one out in the inning. Then in the bottom of the inning, Corey gave up a single to Cintron, a double to Hidalgo and hit Escalona with a pitch to load the bases while just getting Cresse to strike out. Then with one out and the bases loaded, he got Martinez to line out to second and it looked like he'd be out of the jam. However, former Pirate Brian Giles came up to the plate and smashed a double scoring all three runners, even though they only needed two runs to win the game.

Game 24: Pirates 1 DBacks 5
Williams didn't do too bad, giving up four runs, two of them earned, in seven innings but he picked up the loss. Good pitched a great game for the DBacks, giving up just one unearned run in seven innings for the win. The DBacks scored one insurance run when Ordonez homered off of Vogelsong in the eighth, but it proved to not be needed as Fluker pitched two perfect innings without giving up a hit to pick up the save.

Game 25: Pirates 6 DBacks 3
Bullington rebounded nicely from his last start, giving up just three runs in eight innings for the win in this one. Baugh gave up five runs, four earned, through 6 1/3 innings for the loss. Drew Henson knocked home what turned out to be the winning runs with a three run homerun in the seventh inning with two outs against Koplove. Former Pirate Giles hit a solo shot for the DBacks. Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 8th save of the season.

Series Recap: A tough series and a tough week for the Bucs as they once again win just one out of three. Luckily the rest of the central had a bad week as well, and the Pirates are still atop the division, now 1.5 up on the Cubs.

Around the league, on Saturday Montreal's Vlad Guerrero starred in the game against the Giants, hitting for the cycle, becoming the 6269th player to do so.