Pirates 12 Cards 4

Sometimes, laughers can be good. After the bizarro first, in which Ollie took 8 pitches to put down the side and we had a 3-0 lead after three batters courtesy of a Jason Bay three run shot (seriously, the man is a Cardinal killer), it was almost smooth sailing from there on out. I didn't have the game on the radio, but all reports say that Ollie's velocity was good. The lack of strikeouts was kind of unsettling, as is his inability to pitch to opposing pitchers (2 walks tonight), but it all in all seemed like a pretty decent outing for him tonight. He breezed through the first, second, and sixth innings and besides walking pitchers and giving up bombs to Pujols (which is more or less expected at this point) we'd probably be saying he had a great start. This one's a quality start at least, and it's something to start from.

As for the offense, well, every starter except Ollie either scored a run or knocked one in. In fact, the Odin-son was the only starting position player without an RBI, but he smote three doubles so we can forgive that. Burnitz and Jack added homers, Duffy added two hits and got his average over .200, even Jose Hernandez managed to not suck, which is a feat for him (but seriously, if Castillo needs a night off how does Hernandez get the start at second over Sanchez). Maybe most importantly we made it through an entire game without using Hernandez, Torres, or Marte. I'd have to check, but I think this is probably the first game all year in which at least one of the three hasn't made an appearence. Good win all around in this one, it's nice to think we're in position to steal a series from the Cards tomorrow (though I suppose it seems unlikely with Santos v. Carpenter on the mound).