grand slam in the 1st
solo shot in the 2nd

vs. the Brewers

Pirates lead 10-3

they'll still lose but Alvarez now with 5 HRs and starting to make some nice adjustments after striking out about 30 times in a row to begin his career

They held on to win 11-9. Alvarez finished 2-4 with the 2/5 HR/RBI line. Like I've said before, he's started out horribly in his minor league stops and wound up being good for both average and power. He's turning it on now just like he did in the minors. Walker was 5-5 and has made an amazing turnaround from, well, his previous time in the system. I mean, entering this year, he was like a .240 AAA batter with decent power. He's over .300 in the bigs and looking like a contender for the team's best pure hitter right now. Lincoln sucked ass, but Carasco did a great job of bridging the early/mid innings and after Donnally sucked the quartet of Lopez, Meek, Hanrahan and Dotel finished things off nicely.

Team NEEDS Duke to give a strong outing tomorrow. Meek and Hanrahan (at least) have pitched two straight days, which could really deplete the team's QUALITY relief. At least the Brewers, having only gotten a total of 9 innings from their starters in two games, can't be much better off in the pen.

Alvarez 4 HRs in the last two games

7 on the year

Pirates win 15-3

Who are these guys? It's like the Lumber Company days of the '70's.

If the young guys don't all hit extended slump periods at the same time and the starting pitching can improve to "consistently mediocre", the Pirates could have a halfway decent finish to the season. Huge days like today are part on Milwaukee, as their staff is depleted enough they had to try to get 6 out of Randy Wolf even though he was getting blasted all over the park (5.2, 12 runs...I think). If they had gotten more than 9 total innings from their first two starters in the series, they probably would have yanked Wolf well before the outcome was all-but-decided.

Still, Pirates have just been blasting the ball since the All-Star break more often than not. At this rate, Alvarez will be leading the team in home runs by the early part of August...despite having two fewer months than most of the players. Tabata and Milledge have been doing a good job of getting on base. Delwyn Young's recent performance with McCutchen missing a couple games is making me wonder exactly why the team signed Ryan Church.

I can't see them making any big trades.

There have been Maholm rumors but they can't get rid of him. The pitching stinks as it is and he's the only semi-reliable starter they have.

Picked up Alvarez in my fantasy league. Hoping he continues this streak for a little bit. I have Rolen on the DL and Backham I just picked up a few weeks ago, but he has to anchor my 2B spot right now.

Non;429881 wrote:I can't see them making any big trades.

There have been Maholm rumors but they can't get rid of him. The pitching stinks as it is and he's the only semi-reliable starter they have.

Read a funny thing on a Pirates blog. The Rangers asked about Joel Hanrahan. Huntington's response: "Sure he's available...for Neftali Perez!" I LOL'd.

And I'd hope they don't trade Maholm unless the Dodgers or whoever want him so badly they'd allow them to rape and pillage their system, overpaying by about 450%. He's the closest thing to a decent starter the team has and is under contract for next year, with an option for 2012.