Pirates 11 Nationals 4- A lead Mesa can hold (from 332)

Well, that was nice to see. We jumped on Drese early and actually for once kept pouring the runs on for once. In a stunning development, Bobby Hill started at third base tonight, and got on base four times. I stopped lobbying for playing time for Hill months ago, simply because I never thought it would come. I winced in pain watching Tike play center and Mackowiak on third, wondering if Hill would ever see the light of day again. He finally did today, and he responded well. He started rallies in both the first and third innings. Matt Lawton also figured out a way to stop getting thrown out on the bases, just hit it out of the park. He had five ribbies tonight, for the second time this year. Perez didn't pitch well but flashes of the old Ollie came back, especially in fourth. He let the first two runners on, then went strike out, sac bunt, strike out, topping out at 96 on the final K of the inning. He was so pumped he forgot to jump over the line on the way off the field.

Other ballpark observations from tonight:
Jamey Carroll is a scary looking person. Don't leave your kids unattended around this guy.

One time, a guy named Johnny Dickshot played for the Pirates (and wore #17, or #2, I don't remember). His middle name is Oscar, and his nickname was (among all things) "Ugly".

The crowd was excited tonight. They stood up for Mesa with two outs in the 9th (for some reason Mesa saved his A game for a 7 run lead, I really don't like that guy). It was a really good crowd for a Tuesday.

Lloyd finally blew his top, getting tossed for arguing a call at the plate concerning Bobby Hill and a sac fly. They didn't show the replay on the Jumbotron, but reports from home said Hill was indeed out. But it's about time Lloyd lost it, I've been waiting for this for a week now. He even kicked dirt all over the plate, a la Lou Pinella, and on the night that his stealing first base was celebrated as the second great PNC Park moment ever! We really need to create some memories to back up Mackowiak's day from last year, the top three PNC moments (as voted by the fans) were Opening Day, the day Mac stole first, and the Mackowiak double-header.

All in all a good win, but a win tomorrow would be better to get some momentum before running into our whammy team, the Cards.