The Buccaneers and the Brew Crew

It sounds strange to say about a team that's 16-34, but tonight's game may be the most important game of the year for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Just when it seemed that our Buccos were ready to pull themselves out of their season long funk, they suffered what was their worst loss of the year, blowing a 4-0 lead in the 9th inning to the Astros yesterday afternoon. Accordingly, we send Zach Duke to the mound to try and rally what I would imagine is a very, very tired team behind him before yesterday's win can sink in too deep. Duke himself carries in a four game losing streak, though he hasn't really pitched as badly as his 2-6 record would indicate (he hasn't exactly pitched very well, either). He faces off agains Doug Davis, who has also failed to live up to early season expectations to this point. Davis is a lefty, which would make it a curious night to bring Sean Casey back on, except that Jim Tracy has finally gotten the hint and is playing Craig Wilson in right field tonight!!! It's probably only against Davis the lefty, but for now we'll thank God for small favors. Bautista makes the start in center for the struggling Nate McLouth, which makes sense, and a very tired Ronnie Paulino will start behind the plate.