Bucs and Brewers

I think it's safe to say this could be the most important series the Pirates and Brewers have played since the Brew Crew switched to the NL Central a few years back. Granted, I don't really think a playoff spot is on the line here, and I'd tend to agree with the comments on my last post, I'm not exactly sure the Bucs are red-hot right now, but this is a huge series for the Pirates. They're coming to the same fork in the road they came to last year towards the end of May. They can play with spirit and do what they're capable of doing and win some games in spite of their manager and make a run at .500 or they can be the same old Pirates. Last year at this fork they went 4-21, the choice they made was obvious. This year they seem to be approaching the same fork (same record as last year, but this hot streak is coming a little sooner), so the question is, What road will it be? Tonight will be a good indication. Kip Wells is kind of a microcosm of the whole Pirates team the last couple years, you know there's loads of potential there but you're not sure if it's ever going to be tapped into. Kip has made three good starts in a row and he needs to keep down the path he's headed on. That is, stop thinking so much. We've talked about "McClendonitis" (as I call it, Pirate Disease as Rory calls it) and Kip is showing signs of breaking out of it. What he needs to do is just pitch, not think. For some reason Kip doesn't always trust his stuff and thinks he needs to outthink the hitters when in reality he's got the stuff to be an ace, but the head of a 5th starter. If he can keep trusting his own pitches and his fielders (and keeping fastballs away from Russell Branyan, sheesh, no one wants to see that happen again) he's going to blossom the way Jason Schmidt did in San Francisco. If not, well, at least we can't blame his wife for it, like a certain ex-Pirate. It may be early, but this is a very important series for our Buccos.