The Sports Monitor

The Pirates got some good news in their pennant chase Friday night. First, they beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team that's trying to be a wild-card contender. Second, the Cardinals lost to the Cubbies, giving the Pirates a three-game lead in the NL Central. Finally, the surging Reds blew a lead in the ninth and lost. That's a better feeling than after Starling Marte's dropped fly ball.

Pirates Nation can breathe a sigh of relief. Francisco Liriano erased the bad memories of Tuesday night's loss to the Cardinals with a complete-game gem Wednesday night. Liriano needed just 94 pitches to turn back the Cards in a 5-1 win. It was enough to forget Starling Marte's blunder in the ninth last night. Marte furthered his redemption with a two-run double to give the Pirates a 5-0 lead. The Pirates got a boost before Marte with homers from Garrett Jones and Pedro Alvarez. It's a big win to ease worries about any potential collapse. It was another superb start from Liriano. The Bucs now lead the Cards by three games in the NL Central and the Reds by 3.5 games.

Do you believe the Pirates are jinxed? That thought has to be going through Bucco fans' minds after Tuesday night's 4-3 loss in 14 innings to the Cardinals. That's the Pirates' fourth loss in a row. The Pirates had the game locked up when Starling Marte got lazy and dropped a lazy fly to left. It would have been the second out of the ninth inning. The Cardinals tied it, thanks to Marte's error, and won it in the 14th, thanks in part to the Pirates' inability to score Andrew McCutchen from third base with no outs. In the 14th, Clint Barmes couldn't handle a grounder by John Jay, who scored the winning run. The Cards are now just two games behind the Pirates in the National League Central. Let's get back to being jinxed. You have to think that after going through the last two seasons. It's hard to fathom the Pirates not getting to 82 wins this season. After what's happened so far, just a winning season won't cut it. The ...

It had been more than two years since I had been to a baseball game. That ended Tuesday night. Gerrit Cole warming up. Pic courtesy of my lousy phone camera. And what a night to catch a game; it was a playoff-like atmosphere at PNC Park. Gerrit Cole had a smashing debut, striking out his first batter faced on three pitches. In his first at-bat, he drove in two runs. Starling Marte hit a homer, Pedro Alvarez hit one, too, and the Pirates beat the World Champion Giants 8-2. What more could you want? Burger featuring egg and bacon on a doughnut. Well, I guess the timing for the metal-detector wands, but the Pirates admitted their mistake on that one. That wouldn't have been much of a problem if there weren't 30,000 fans there. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to see Cole's first start. He hit the upper-90s, including 98 in the seventh inning. He only struck out two, but he had tremendous control -- he didn't walk a batter and had a three-ball count o...

The Pittsburgh Pirates have their power-hitting outfielder. The question is: Will it pay off this year for them? The Bucs picked up Travis Snider from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for pitcher Brad Lincoln. On the surface, it appears the Pirates got a minor league player for a successful reliever. This trade should be better than that. Snider provides a power-hitting threat needed. He's also under control for at least three seasons, meaning the Bucs should have an outfield of Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Snider for a few years. That should be a very good outfield. I'm not sold on Lincoln as a starting pitcher in the future. I think he could be a future closer, which always is appealing. However, relievers aren't as difficult to find. Plus, they can bottom out really fast. Remember Evan Meek, the former All-Star for the Pirates? This also reminds me of the deal that sent Ricardo Rincon to the Indians for Brian Giles. We'll find out soon en...