10 and 11..

Two for the price of one today as we look at the Pirates 10th and 11th losses in a row with the last two at the hands of the Chicago White Sox.
Zach Duke (3-8) lost the Wednesday game 7-2 and Ross Ohlendorf (0-5) dropped the 5-4 decision last night.
Jose Tabata (1) homered on Wednesday,while Neil Walker (2) homered last night.
The Pirates host the Cleveland Indians for the most personally painful games of the season.
Paul Maholm (4-4) for Pittsburgh as Cleveland counters with Fausto Carmona (5-5).

Pirate Hooks

1) Getting the news out of the way first,Neal Huntington and John Russell both had contract extensions announced yesterday.
I am basically fine with that decision as Huntington needs more time to revamp the organization and while Russell does little for me as a manager,I don't see where bringing in a new manager would change things dramatically.

2) SIX errors in Wednesday's game!
The Pirates had more errors than hits in the contest and that should never be acceptable.
I would point the worst one,but all were pretty bad.
Hard to choose between Neil Walker's kick,Pedro Alvarez's miss of a Ryan Doumit throw to third or the latest in Pirate pitchers throwing the baseball away on pickoff attempts.

3) Not sure why the Bucco pickoffs have suddenly gone awry,but between pitchers struggling and having runners on constantly along with a revolving door at first base lately in interleague play,the problems have become quite visible...

4) It was nice to see Jose Tabata get his first home run early in his season.
Take a lot of pressure off a young player and they tend to play relaxed and loose.

5) Want to know my choice of who to move off the roster when Steve Pearce is ready?
Ryan Church has had a poor season,but you at least hope for a quality pinch hitter and Church hasn't even been able to do that.
Church's at bat that ended Thursday's game against Bobby Jenks looked like a chimp trying to open and close an umbrella...

6) Pedro Alvarez is o for 6 in his first two dates,but hang in there fans,he will finish much stronger than he has started.

7) Ross Ohlendorf continues to pitch passably and then allow one or two bad innings to tab him with yet another loss.
Ohlendorf provided one note of hope last night as he didn't walk a batter in his six and a third inning outing.

8) A quick look at the State College Spikes roster shows three of the arms that the Pirates paid a premium to sign from the 2009 draft with the Spikes.
Zach Von Rosenberg,Zach Dotson and Brooks Pounders are all with the team and Colton Cain and Trent Stevenson are expected to join the team later in the season.
Assuming all five pitch reasonably well in the NY/Penn league,the 2011 West Virginia Power rotation will be a interesting one to watch.

9) I will be watching tonight's game against the Indians with a heavy heart.
I love both teams and hate watching them play each other.
I am really torn on which to root for,but at least they should be competitive games.

10) Be sure to vote on the latest poll-Next Thursday with the Pirates in Texas,there is no way that the game will be over with for me to take to work.
So the vote will be which game to cover on 6/24-Indians @ Phillies or Giants @Astros.
The Indians will likely be the covered team for the next two games following with the Pirates in Oakland before finally seeing the Pirates finale' in Oakland...

Photo Credit:Peter Diana-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette