Sunday, June 01, 2008

Game 55: Pirates 14 Cardinals 4

Where do you start with this one? On some nights, everything just clicks at the ballpark. Sometimes Paul Maholm gives you a solid start, holding the Cardinals to just four hits through six and two thirds. Sometimes Ronny Paulino hits a two-run homer. Sometimes Freddy Sanchez hits a two-run homer. Sometimes (though this is rare), Luis Rivas hits a grand slam. Crazily enough, not one of those things happened tonight. All four of them did. That's the recipe for a 14-4 victory if I've ever seen one, and that was exactly what the Pirates got last night.

Can anyone even wrap their minds around the insane set of circumstances that lead to the 14 runs in that game? What are the odds of those three guys hitting homers in the same game ever again? With one of them being a grand slam? On a night when the Pirates got a good start? We'll lose every single game for the rest of the year before this set of circumstances replicates itself.