Buccos begin to blast the baseball

The last two evenings have not only seen Pirate victories,but have seen 26 runs cross the plate.
The Pirates conclude their series against the Milwaukee Brewers tonight.

Pirate Hooks

1) The leader of the this suddenly powerful lineup?
Pedro Alvarez,who has crushed four homers in the two wins.
Alvarez is following his pattern of his minor league performance of taking a few weeks to adjust before he begins to start mashing the baseball.

2) The other? Neil Walker as Walker went five for five on Tuesday and followed that up with two more hits and RBI on Wednesday.
Walker's minor league career was filled with stops and starts,but his performance at AAA Indianapolis forced the Pirates to make the move and even when he was called up John Russell and Neal Huntington saw him as a "utility player".
Walker has changed those opinions.

3) However,considering that was more of the rule than the exception of the major league talent evaluation of Neal Huntington,shouldn't that make one worry?
Especially when one considers that the next young talent to make an impact is likely at either Altoona or Bradenton right now and not Indianapolis.

4) Want to know why the Pirates are still known as a difficult team to trade with even after Dave Littlefield gone with his ridiculous trade offers?
The Post-Gazette reports that Texas asked about Joel Hanrahan and the response was how about Neftali Feliz?
End of talks.
There isn't a pitcher in the Pirates organization right now that I would not trade Feliz for,so I don't blame them for asking,but silly offers like that are counterproductive.....

5) Ryan Doumit caught three innings and left the game with lightheartedness.
I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV,but Doumit's history with concussion type issues make me wonder whether he will be able to catch in a year or two.
Without catching,his value dips quite a bit...

6) I missed this when the Astros were in town and he didn't pitch that well, but I like Bud Norris.
I like his arm a lot and he strikes me as one of these pitchers that might take a few years and a team or two to put things together,but when he does-look out!

Photo Credit-Matt Freed-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette