Pirates Sign 16-Year-Old SS Dilson Herrera, Beat Cardinals Again

Continuing a recent and welcome trend, the Buccos signed another talented international amateur today: SS Dilson Herrera, a 16-year-old from Colombia. Sorry, that's the best I could do for a picture. It looks like it was clipped out of his high school yearbook and glued crookedly onto my screen.

CARDS FIND THEIR BATS, CRUSH PIRATES

The St. Louis Cardinals were held to four runs in their two previous games against the Pittsburgh PirateS, and we all knew it was a matter of time before the averages would play themselves out. That eventually happened on Sunday, as the Cards thumped the Bucs, 11-4, before a chilly Mother's Day crowd of 17,342 at PNC Park.  

The Redbirds lit up Paul Maholm for six hits and six runs (four earned) in 3 1/3 innings of work, and Brian Bass wasn't much better in relief, surrendering five earned runs in 2 1/3. The Cardinals would bat around twice in the blowout, which was the Pirates' 12th loss of six runs or more in 31 games. 

The Pirate offense got hits from seven different starters, but only one extra base hit, an Andrew McCutchen double off of Adam Wainwright. Wainwright had his way with Pittsburgh, striking out seven and allowing two runs in six innings of work. 

The 14-17 Buccos have a busy week ahead, with three games against Cincinnati starting on Monday and three at Chicago starting on Friday. Your Monday starters in Pittsburgh are Bronson Arroyo (6.14, 1-2) and Mr. Wonderful, Ross Ohlendorf (3.60, 0-0). Ohlendorf has only one start this season, allowing three runs in five innings against Los Angeles on April 7.

Email your feedback, questions, and tips Mondesishouse@gmail.com 

JOLLY ROGER FINALLY RAISED

PIRATES 7
CARDINALS 1

Zach Duke (4-3) allowed one run and four hits over eight innings, and Brandon Moss added three hits to lead the Pirates to a 7-1 win over St. Louis on Tuesday night, ending an ugly eight-game losing streak. With the win, the Pirates move to 13-19, just 6.5 games out of first place in the NL Central. Sadly, that's still bad enough for last place.

The Pirates outhit the Cardinals by an 11-5 margin, but Albert Pujols managed to once again touch all the bases with his 13th home run of the young season, a two-out shot in the first inning. The home run was Pujols' 21st in 63 games at PNC Park, the most of any opposing player and more than most Pirates have ever hit in a 162-game season at the stadium.

In addition to Moss, the Buccos also got multi-hit games from Nyjer Morgan and Robinson Diaz. Moss also hit his first home run of the season, and Adam LaRoche added his sixth of the 2009 campaign in the win.

The two teams meet up again on Wednesday night, with Joel Pineiro (4-2, 3.66) pitted against Mr. Wonderful, Ross Ohlendorf (3-3, 4.14). The game starts at 7:05, which is around the same time the Verizon Center in Washington should be worked into a healthy frenzy for a certain Game Seven. Which means there should probably be about 75 people in the stands at PNC on Wednesday night.

Email: Mondesishouse@gmail.com Twitter: twitter.com/mondesishouse Facebook: Facebook Group

PIRATES ONE-HIT IN LOSS

Quite an unsettling trend has developed through the first four Pirate games: good game, bad game; good game, bad game. Being that they had 17 hits last night, that means today was due to be a "bad day", so we then shouldn't be surprised that the Buccos would get a total of one hit in a 2-1 loss in St. Louis.

Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter took a no-no into the seventh inning, but Ramon Vazquez would have none of that, singling under 2B Skip Schumacher's glove with two outs in the seventh. The Pirates went three-up-and-three down in five of the first six innings, managing an unearned run in the third for their only run of the contest. There were no extra-base hits by either team, so I hope the 35,293 in attendance liked pitching.

On the positive side, Ross "Mr. Wonderful" Ohlendorf was OK, surrendering two runs and seven hits over six innings. But beyond that, there obviously wasn't much to write home about for the Buccos on this day. That being said, leaving St. Louis with two wins would probably be considered an acceptable scenario for the opening series.

Next up for your Buccos: the Cincinnati Reds, sans Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. , for a three-game set. The teams will match up tomorrow night in The City of Ocho Cinco at 7:10 PM, with Jeff Karstens starting opposite the always-dangerous Johnny Cueto.

Send your news, tips, and links to Mondesishouse@gmail.com.

UNDEFEATED

That's right, Bucco fans. You're in first place. It's OK to gloat - no one's going to begrudge you.

It wasn't the prettiest all-around win, but it was an exciting first day for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who got a two-out, two-strike, bases-loaded double from Jack Wilson to save the day, pushing the Bucs over the top in a 6-4 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals. To see the dejected reaction of Cardinals manager/supervillain Tony LaRussa after Wilson's hit would've been well worth the price of admission and a plane ticket to St. Louis, but luckily TV captured it quite well.

Wilson's double off a 96-MPH fastball on an 0-2 pitch from new Cards closer Jason Motte contributed to a four-run ninth inning, and Matt Capps closed the door in the bottom half of the frame to lock up the Pirates' first win of 2009. Raise the Jolly Roger, Greg Brown.

Paul Maholm, just as SI predicted, had a decent outing, giving up just one run while working into the seventh inning. The Pirates also got a big game from the top of the lineup, as Nyjer Morgan had three hits in the leadoff spot and Freddy Sanchez two hits in the second spot. Even notorious slow-starter Adam LaRoche had two hits in the opener, which is usually his quota for the entire month of April.

There were a few ugly moments, particularly a hacky Andy LaRoche strikeout, to be added to his two fielding errors. And Ryan Doumit left five on base while going 0-for-5. But a comeback win on a cold day in front of a hostile crowd at 104% capacity is a welcome sight at any time of the year.

The Cardinals, who used Donora's Stan Musial alongside Red Schoendist to throw out the first pitch, fielded quite the interesting lineup. SS Khalil Greene was the head-scratching choice at cleanup, but this comes from the same manager who sometimes bats the pitcher eighth. LaRussa doesn't have much time to ponder any changes, because the two teams meet again on Tuesday. Ian Snell (7-12, 5.42 in 2008) meets up with Kyle Lohse (15-6, 3.78). Gametime is scheduled for 8:15.

Wilson, Pirates rally with 4-run 9th vs. Cards new closer Motte [ESPN]

Send your news, tips, and links to Mondesishouse@gmail.com.