Anyways, after a somewhat sloppy and painful loss last night, the Pirates rebounded with a great win tonight. The solid starting pitching just keeps on coming. Tonight Zach Duke was the star, going 8.1 innings giving up only 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 5. You can’t ask for anything more than that. After an extended game last night and a lot of work from the bullpen, it’s really good to get those guys a rest. The only pitcher needed was Evan Meek, who came in and amazingly through only 2 pitches to end the game. Here are the game notes besides what was already mentioned :

• The Pirates offense collected 14 hits without Nate McLouth and Jack Wilson. The lineup featured all 3 offseason additions for the first time this year, with Monroe in left, HInske in right, and Vasquez at shortstop. Those three combined for 6 hits and 4 RBI. 
• Freddy Sanchez got rid of any bad taste in his mouth from an 0-5 performance yesterday by collecting 3 hits and scoring 3 runs. He was back in the 2 hole in the lineup, I guess he likes it better there. We really need Nate back, it would be a huge blow for him to miss significant time. 
• The Pirates got deep into the Padres bullpen for a second straight night. After starter Shawn Hill only made it through 2 innings (due to an injury, I assume) the bullpen used 3 pitchers to combine for the other 7 innings. Josh Geer through 4 innings giving up 7 hits and 5 runs, Eulogio De La Cruz went 2 innings giving up 2 runs on 2 hits, and Luis Perdomo had a perfect inning in the 9th. This should make the Padres push the limits on Jake Peavy tonight because they really need their bullpen to get some rest tomorrow. Let’s hope the Pirates can be patient at the plate and make Peavy throw a lot of pitches early, then touch him up in the middle innings. 
• Looking at the standings, if the season ended today, the Pirates would be in a tie with these Padres for the wild card spot and would be playing a play-in game to earn a playoff bid, wouldn’t that be something?