d will post Part 1 of the Plan later today.The Pirates added another win over the Chicago Cubs with a 6-2 victory.
Jason Bay hopefully took the steps to break out of his slump with a 2 run homer,his 13 th of the season and finished the day with 4 total RBI.
Xavier Nady and Jose Bautista added the other 2 RBI.
Shane Youman pitched 6 solid innings,allowing just 2 runs to improve to 2-0.
I still think that the soft tossing Youman will not be as effective once teams have seen his stuff,but
I will take solid performances when and wherever I can.
The Buccos enter the break with a 40-48 record,which leaves them in 4th place in the NL Central and 9 games behind 1st place Milwaukee.
Pittsburgh's " season-breaking" homestand finished with a 5-2 record,which looks good on the surface and does keep their slim hopes alive,but did not really help them gain much ground either.
Paul Byrd suffered a hard luck loss in falling to Toronto 1-0.
Byrd allowed just 1 run in 8 and a third,but it was not enough to overcome the Blue Jays,who scored the winning run on Alex Rios 9th inning single off Rafael Betancourt.
Byrd drops to 7-4 with the loss.
The Wahoos enter the downtime with a 52-36 record,they are in second place in the AL Central,one game behind 1st place Detroit.
Their record would be good enough to qualify them as the AL wild card team.
Bullpen Notes
Here is a link to the Post-Gazette looking back at the contending 1997 Pirates.
They were in the race until the last week,despite winning only 79 games.
They would not have been close in a real division and it speaks volumes about the Pirates when a 79 win team is your best memory since 1992.
I used to be a huge gamer,but play seldomly anymore.
But for the Hockey diehards here (Hey Ryan),the new NHL 08 will have the official AHL hockey teams for the first time.
Always a great touch!
Finally,take a look at the new poll that I put up yesterday.
Photo Credits
Bay-AP Photo-Gene Puskar
Byrd-AP Photo/CP-Nathan Denette
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