The Sports Monitor

The next 10 days will go a long way to determine the Pirates' fate this season. Today, the Bucs start a three-game series against the Cardinals at PNC Park. After that, it's a brutal, seven-game trip on the road against NL East powers Atlanta (four games) and Philadelphia (three games). The Pirates begin play today percentage points ahead of the Brewers for first place in the NL Central. The Cardinals are only one game back while the Reds are four. The Braves and Phillies, for now, look like two playoff teams, with the loser of their NL East race likely the wild-card winner. If the Pirates can survive these 10 days, then they head into August a contender. If they stumble, especially in the first half of this stretch, I can easily see management holding off on any big moves before the July 31 trade deadline. Hopefully, the Pirates can continue their strong play, find some key hitting and get some big wins. Then it's up to general manager Neal Huntington to show us ...

The Penguins can advance tonight and we're all waiting to see if Ben Roethlisberger gets traded during the NFL draft or sometime after. Before that action takes place, I just have to write about the Pirates. Did you see the score Thursday afternoon? 20-0. Yes. Twenty. And, if you weren't sure, they lost. That makes it 36-1 against the Brewers in the three-game homestand. The Bucs just can't beat the Brewers. And, for this series, they weren't even on the same playing field. That drops the Pirates to 7-8 on the season. To paraphrase the coach from "Bull Durham," how did they ever win seven? You can check out the scene here , it's one of my favorites from the movie.  Beware, there is some R-rated language there.