Don't say the S word

The Pirates look to take their third straight from the Cards this afternoon and bring their record to 5-5 in the past 10 games, despite their five game losing streak right in the middle of the time frame. Paul Maholm and Jason Marquis will go at it, which I should actually put the advantage in our column. Maholm has pitched very well lately while Marquis has generally been putrid. Still, the Cards will re-insert Scott Rolen into the lineup and we're still the Pirates and the sun hasn't exploded, so that means it's likely the Cards will be able to make the Pirates put the brooms back into the closet. I mean, we're dealing with more than baseball here, we're talking about cosmic forces.