Boxscore

Zach Duke actually pitched well for the Pirates (11-17) and his pitch count wasn’t even murderously high. But the rest of the team didn’t bring enough to beat the Nationals (12-17) and a struggling Austin Kearns.

Kearns drove in the go-ahead run in the 8th off of John Grabow (1-1), raising his batting average to .194 on the season. (Yes, I said raising.) Luis Ayala (1-1) got the win and Jon Rauch (S 6) got the save.

Pittsburgh’s offense was a no-show, though. The two runs were provided by solo-shots from Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Doumit. And only two runners were left on base. Although it didn’t lead to a victory, the players should rest comfortably knowing that somewhere, Dusty Baker is smiling.

Phil Dumatrait pitches for the Pirates tonight, hoping an offense shows up behind him because he’s likely to need it. He faces John Lannan at 7:35pm EDT.

Boxscore

The Pirates (11-16) made short work of the pitcher they stupidly traded away to the Mets (14-12).

Oliver Perez (2-2) lost the game, allowing 7 runs, but only 2 of them earned, in 1 and 2/3 innings. Wow. Way to pick up your pitcher, defense. The Pirates took advantage of downright terrible Mets defense and rolled to an easy win behind Tom Gorzelanny (2-3).

That’s such a weird sentence to write. “The Pirates…rolled to an easy win.” It’ll take some time to get over that.

Pittsburgh travels to our nation’s capitol next where Zach Duke will battle Odalis Perez at 7:10pm EDT.

Boxscore

In a shocking turn of events, the Pirates (10-16) played extra innings against the Mets (14-11).

I’m not going to bother to look this up–I don’t have the time and I don’t know how–but it seems obvious to me that the Pirates are on pace for the most extra-innings games in the history of baseball.

This game featured what might be the best pitching match-up in any game this year for Pittsburgh, with Ian Snell going against Johann Santana. Naturally, both were gone before the end of the 6th.

David Wright drove in the winning run in the 11th to give the win to Jorge Sosa (3-1) and the loss to recently called up Jon Van Bernchoten (0-1).

The Pirates send out Tom Gorzelanny to face the Mets’ Oliver Perez today at 1:10pm EDT.

Life and work have been a bit busy for game wraps the last few days, so why don’t we take a look at the standings since the weekend?

The Cubbies continue reside in first place, although they have definitely cooled off from the awesome hot streak that swept them into first. I mean, they lost a series to the Nationals. That’s gotta hurt. And all that without the hoppy Alfonso Soriano. He’ll be coming off the DL soon, so it should be interesting to see if he helps or hurts the team. If he continues to insist on his ridiculous idea of leading off, it’ll hurt.

The Cardinals are holding onto second place, despite losing to the Reds last night. (Even a blind squirrel like Bronson Arroyo can find a nut once in a while.) They did take a series from Houston over the weekend to continue their surprising start. Odds are good they’re winning ways will continue against the Reds, despite the opening game’s result. The Cardinals just win, and the Reds, and Dusty Baker, don’t.

In third place are the Brewers. They’re struggling along right now, losing their weekend series to the Marlins. However, Mike Cameron’s back from his drug suspension, so things should be looking up. Plus, they play the Cubs starting today, which provides ample opportunity to change their fortune.

The Astros and the Reds are tied for fourth place. The Astros got their thanks to a 6-game winning streak last week, including a sweep of the Reds, although they faltered against the Cardinals and the Diamondbacks. The Reds have a modest 3-game winning streak that’s lifted them from last place. Way to ride that general manager firing!

Bringing up the rear, of course, are the Pirates. They made big news by releasing former Cardinal Matt Morris at the end of last week. The team continues to lose a lot and abuse the good pitchers they do have. There really aren’t any better options than Morris in the minors for Pittsburgh, so I don’t know that the move will actually improve things. It’s looking like a 100-loss year is possible.

Boxscore

The Cardinals (14-9) stopped their losing streak thanks to the Pirates (9-13) sending out an obviously injured Tom Gorzelanny (1-3). The team is without Dave Littlefield, but they don’t seem to have gained much knowledge about how to deal with pitchers if the response from Pirates bloggers is any indication.

Joel Pineiro (1-2) pitched his first good game since returning from the DL, going 7 innings and allowing only 1 run. Of course, it was against the lowly Pirates, but I bet he can use it as a confidence booster nonetheless.

The Cardinals return home to host the Astros tonight at 8:15pm EDT sending Braden Looper against Shawn Chacon. The Pirates host the Phillies in a matchup that sees Adam Eaton against Zach Duke at 7:05pm EDT.