Buccos Sweep Marlins and Extend Winning Streak to '5'

The Pittsburgh Pirates are getting the job done...it isn't always pretty, but they are getting the job done.  Since the last Buccos article, the Pirates won their last 2 games against the Miami Marlins completing the 3 game sweep, and extending their winning streak to 5.  This is great news for the Pirates, but unfortunately the Reds have been keeping pace keeping the Bucs from standing atop the NL Central mountain.  The Pirates are only .5 game out of 1st as of today, but that could all change as any baseball fan knows.  The Pirates' last 3 wins have been unique to say the least.  You have the come from behind victory on Friday, then on Saturday they win a game 5-1 without recording a hit with runners in scoring position.  Luckily for the Pirates Carlos Zambrano decided to walk / hit batters to help us drive in some runs in the 4th inning.  Lets not take anything away from that 'W' because AJ Burnett looked phenomenal.  He now has 11 wins to his record and has won all 7 starts at PNC Park...pretty amazing numbers for a guy that the Yankees were content to just throw away.  Then there was the afternoon game on Sunday where the Pirates got an early lead and never let it go thanks to Mr. McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez.  I joked in the last article about how Pedro seems to either hit a HR or strikeout, and I am believing that to be true more often than not.  This guy has amazing power to all parts of the field, and if he could just put the bat on the ball more often, who knows what their lineup would look like.  He has 21 HRs already this season, and that far exceeds anyone's expectations of him (especially when he was sent down to the minors earlier this season to get his head right). 

I only have one real reservation with this team, and it isn't their starting pitching, and it isn't them hitting for power, and it CERTAINLY isn't their bullpen.  It is their inability to get timely hits.  Go back to Saturday's game where they had bases loaded with one out.  They ended up plating one more run, but where is that line drive base hit that scores 2 runs, or the double that clears the bases?  I guess really good teams can pull through in the clutch, and the Pirates haven't had that too much this season.  They've gotten their share of good bounces, but also been on the other side of that coin.  If the starting rotation continues to shine, the bullpen continues to take care of business, and the bats stay hot...there is no telling where this team might end up at the end of the season.  Pittsburgh fans only hope that it ends with a playoff birth!

Bring on the Cubs! GO BUCS!