Pirates 5 Cardinals 3

Just saw the "highlights" of today's game on SportsCenter. Apparently all SC saw fit to show was highlights of the "feud" over the past couple weeks, followed by Perez beaing Hector Luna in the ankle, you know, just where you aim when you want to hit someone, followed by him throwing his head back in a good impersonation of the Peyton Manning face, as if to say "I can't believe this, I really have no idea where the ball is going," only to then get tossed. Bottom line, it was clearly accidental. There's no way any rational manager would take umbrage at Oliver Perez in his current state beaning anyone. The emphasis is of course on the word rational. Sometimes Tony LaRussa is just way to egotistical to be rational. Someday if we're ever actually competitive again we could have a fun little rivalry with the Cardinals, what with the hatred and the beanings and the Tony LaRussa despising us for some unknown reason.

OK, there was actually a game today and we actually won it. How did we accomplish said feat? With a little help from Mr. Brad Eldred who had his first ever multiple homer game in the bigs. It's a good thing we almost benched him for Daryle Ward for the rest of the season. For a guy that's supposed to be a slow adjuster he's got 9 homers in about 135 at-bats to this point in his first stint in the bigs, which is way more than just about anyone expected from him in the twilight of this season. That Jason Bay guy also went yard and had an RBI double bringing him within 15 of his quest for 100. Oh, and Tike had an RBI too, but no one really cares about him anymore.

The bullpen was solid today (as it had to be) with one key exception. John Grabow came on and walked two guys, then was removed for JOSE MESA. Yep, in a three run game we brought Jose Mesa in with two on and no outs. Both runs scored, of course, and we had to hold on for dear life while Salomon and Gonzo nailed things down. I like seeing Mike Gonzalez back to his old un-hittable self. That guy is fun to watch. I also like the fact that the Cards didn't clinch on us. It's the small victories we can all savor for here on out