Well so far the series has gone exactly the opposite of how I thought they would. The Pirates get the win on Monday night with some luck, help from the umpires and clutch 8th inning hitting while they take the loss on Tuesday because of another weird outing at home from Kevin Correia and after that Mike Crotta and Chris Resop or Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum as I will call them here. Correia was cruising through 5 2/3 innings much like he had early success against the Brewers in a home game earlier in April. However, Correia got a little unlucky when Jamey Carroll singled and Aaron Miles bunted for a base hit. After that he started leaving the ball up in the zone and before you knew it the score was 4-0. McCutchen brought the Pirates to within two runs with his 6th home run of the season but then like I said earlier Dee and Dum entered to screw everything up and the Pirates staggered to a 10-3 loss. The only thing to take away from the game is the fact that it looks like McCutchen is starting to come around. His 3 for 4 day yesterday raised his season average to .242. Hopefully it continues to climb because it most games, the Pirates go as Cutch goes.
Tonight, Paul Maholm will attempt to notch his second win of the year after getting ABSOLUTELY no run support over his past few starts. Actually its a grand total of 3 runs in 2 starts but who's counting. Also, Pedro, Jones and Overbay will return to the lineup tonight with the righty Kuroda on the hill for the Dodgers. I think Jones will have another good game after going 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI in Game 1 of the series. I also think that Pedro is starting to make some progress. His at bats in his last start on Monday were alot better and he is starting to make more solid contact, something he just hasn't done this year. To steal a few stats from the great Rocco Demaro (who got hosed when 104.7 let him go as the pre and post game host earlier this year), Pedro has half as many extra base hits this year (4.5% to 9.8% in 2010) and is hitting a ton more balls on the ground (54.5% to 9% in 2010). Personally, I think the kid is thinking and pressing too much. He is a talented hitter with a ton of raw power. Just sit on the fastball and drive it somewhere. There is no need for him to be swinging out of his shoes. If he squares a ball up and puts all 235 lbs into it he is going to hit the ball a long way. Allegheny River...be warned.
Prediction: Pirates win, 5-2
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