The opener

Bucs and Brewers, Perez and Davis, let's do this.

UPDATE (2:22)- We took a ton of pitches in the first inning and made Davis do some work, resulting in an infield single from Duffy, a DP from Jack Wilson (GET HIM OUT OF THE TWO SLOT), a fly ball off of Carlos Lee's glove hit by Casey (very Lawton-esque), a walk by Bay (shocking), and a looking K from Randa (welcome back, Joker). But yeah, at least we made Davis throw a bunch of pitches.

UPDATE (2:27)- Ollie's missing his spots, throwing 87, and giving up monstrous homers to JJ Hardy. So, basically, he looks just like he did last year. 1-0 Brewers.

UPDATE (2:42)- An RBI single from... Oliver Perez? He knocked in Castillo who laced a double in the left center gap. Burnitz and Cota, well they both struck out. McClatchy is in the booth, he hopes Castillo does well this year, you know, because, well he didn't say why. But I'm assuming it's because he's a Pirates fan or something.

UPDATE (2:49)- An outfield assists for... Jason Bay? That's almost more surprising than Perez's RBI. Rickie Weeks (who will be the next Pirate killer, write that down) tried to stretch a line drive single hit right at Bay into a double.

UPDATE (2:52)- Jack Wilson starts a double play from deeeeep in the hole (thanks for that range, Joe Randa) with a nice turn from Castillo. Those guys are gooood.

UPDATE (3:03)- An early prediction: Jason Bay might not see a pitch to hit until May. So far today batting Joe Randa behind him has lead to two intentionally unintentional walks. Joe Randa might inspire less fear in pitchers than Daryle Ward. That's saying something.

UPDATE (3:13)- Ollie is looking much better and the annoucers are noting the disparity between the FSP gun and the stadium gun. He just struck out Jenkins on something nasty.

UPDATE (3:41)- Sorry, having some trouble with Blogger and haven't been able to update. Not much is happening on the offensive side of the ball, but Perez has been filthy the last couple innings. After walking Carlos Lee to open the fourth and falling behind to Prince Fielder 3-0, he K'd Fielder, Weeks, Hall, and Miller consectutively (Miller on that split-change I think). He also got Davis and Clark, to make it an even six in a row. His pitch count is creeping up to around 85 through five innings though.

UPDATE (3:48)- Jason Bay walks again. The BBWA may not have realized that Bay was the third best hitter in the NL last year, but Doug Davis definitely has. Mike Maddux has an awesome mustache.

UPDATE (3:59)- Not going to second guess Tracy yet, but he let Perez bat with bases loaded, 2 outs, and one run already in as Clutch-hit-Cota clutched a squibbler up the middle that Rickie Weeks almost turned into a fantastic force-out at second. Perez may be the most competitive human being alive, as he smashed his bat into the ground after he K'd to end the inning. I hope someone put the laundry carts away...

UPDATE (4:05)- Perez strikes out Hardy on the nasty split change, and strikes out Jenkins, but with a passed ball by Cota. Tracy then decides to pull Perez, which is kind of a head scratcher as he could've definitely pinch hit for him last inning if he was only going to let him face two batters in the bottom of the 6th. Lloyd? Is that you calling the shots from the locker room? Still, Perez was pretty much dazzling today with his 9 Ks and only 3 hits and 3 walks in 5 and 1/3. Torres is on the mound, hopefully to prove all of my bitching about his contract wrong.

UPDATE (4:20)- Sean Casey continues on his specialty, hitting into double plays. That means Jason Bay will lead off next inning, and theoretically might see a pitch to hit. Torres looked solid in the bottom of the 6th, so I'm guessing he'll be back out for the 7th.

UPDATE (4:31)- Two walks from Torres to open the 7th, but Damian Miller is up, then presumably a pinch hitter. Still, being a Pirates fan and all, I've got this sinking feeling...

UPDATE (4:37)- Oh, that's what that sinking feeling was. Torres dropped a bunt that would've been an easy force at third, then Marte came in and gave up a 2 run single to Jeff Cirillo. Welcome back Damaso! Things really haven't changed since you left. It's now Matt Capps time with the top of the order up and one out.

UPDATE (4:57)- Matt Capps tried to throw approximately 12 two strike fastballs past Carlos Lee, and Lee fouled them off before finally crushing one towards the stratosphere. So much for that dominant bullpen, at least in the opener. 5-2 Brew Crew.

UPDATE (5:05)- When Capps made the team I assumed it was a good move, though I hadn't seen him pitch in the spring. I assumed that because I figured someone had taught him a pitch besides a straight fastball, because a 20some odd kid with only a fastball doesn't make big league teams... right? Wrong. Capps threw about 40 straight fastballs today. It might work here and there, but not all the time, as Carlos Lee proved.

UPDATE (5:12)- With Turnbow in to close, Castillo struck out, McLouth (pinch hitting for Cota) lined a single to center, and Freddy Sanchez hit into a game ending DP. Craig Wilson was, well, I don't know where Craig was, but it wasn't in the game where he should've been. All in all, it was pretty disappointing to waste the performance that Ollie put out there. Final, Brewers 5 Buccos 2. I'll have a condensed version of this to put up as post-game thoughts later, but for now I gots me some work to do. Thanks to the two or three of you that stuck around to read the whole thing.