Pirates 5 Rockies 2

Can't ask for a better way to start a road trip, especially given the way we've played on the road this year. Ian Snell flashed his dominant side tonight, notching 10 Ks in only 6 and 1/3rds innings of work. Similar to his great start against Arizona, this was made more impressive by the glut of lefties the Rockies trotted out against him tonight. The bullpen came in and slammed the door shut, with Torres, Marte, and Gonzo going the final 2 and 2/3 only allowing 2 hits. The stat of the night for the pitching staff is 129 pitches, 89 strikes. Accordingly, we only walked one guy, and it was a great outing for the pitching staff.

Meanwhile, Freddy Sanchez either played like a guy with a monkey off of his back, now that he knows the job is his, or he just kept on playing like he's been playing all year. We'll just say that his 3-for-5 was a little bit of both (I'll say it again, Jim Tracy, how is a guy who's batting .352 and getting on at a .387 clip batting so far down in the lineup when Nate McLouth is at the top, I like Nate and all, but scoring runs is a PRIORITY). The other two RBIs went to the reigning Player of the Month and the reigning Player of the Week. I'm still stunned that they're on the same team. This team isn't going to contend for anything, but I still think they can play some good baseball for an extended period of time (and I don't mean 10 games, think a month). This road trip may give us some insight into whether we'll see that any time soon.

And in the comments, commenter The Guy was at Coors field tonight and gives a first hand account.