THE BULLPEN

   Take me out to the ballgame! Most of your Pittsburgh Pirates will be off until Friday's game, enjoying some rest and relaxation as they re-charge their batteries during the All-Star break. Fear not, Pirates fans, your team is well represented in the Mid-Summer Classic which will be played on Tuesday night at Target Field in Minneapolis. Reigning MVP, CF Andrew McCutchen, will start for the NL squad as he was voted to the team for the first team. Manager Clint Hurdle will be in the dugout to help coach Mike Methany's squad. LH Tony Watson and UT Josh Harrison are both making their first trips to the All-Star Game.

   After blazing through June and July as one of the hottest teams in baseball, the Buccos closed out the first half of the season as one of the coldest, losing their last 2 series, to division rivals St. Louie & Cincy. The Cards took 3 of 4 while the Reds won 2 out of  3. The majority of those games where lost in the worst possible manner as the bullpen has been hemorrhaging runs left and right.

   At 49-46, the Bucs are in 4th place in the NL Central at 3.5 games back. They're 3 out in the wildcard. Since there will be 4 representatives wearing the black-n-gold this year, Mrs. Black-N-Gold looks at 4 things the Pirates need to make a playoff run again this year.

  
  Offense-Andrew McCutchen is having another M-V-P season. The addition of uber-rookie Gregory Polanco and super-utility-man Josh Harrison into the lineup has improved the Pirates offense. They are 2nd in the majors with a .333 on base percentage. However, they continue to leave runners in scoring position. This is an especially bad thing when your bullpen is always underperforming. The April trade for 1B Ike Davis has barely made a ripple in the waters. 3B Pedro Alvarez has been a shell of the NL Home Run Champ from a year ago. Even Polanco has begun to suffer from mini-slumps. Cutch can't do it alone. The Pirates need to get more consistent offense from their starters and hope that GM Neil Huntington can pull off a deal to bring in some reinforcements. The problem is, the Pirates look set with their lineup. If NH is going to pull off any deadline deals this year, it will probably be for pitching.

   Starting Rotation-The good news for the Pirates pitching staff is that LH Francisco Liriano returned from the DL yesterday. The bad news is Liriano looked a lot like the 1-7 pitcher that he's been this year. RH Gerrit Cole, expected to become the stud of this staff, has also spent time on the DL and will still be there when the second half gets under way. RH Charlie Morton, RH Edinson Volquez, and LH Jeff Locke have been impressive, of late. But they need run support and support from the rest of the pitching staff. The Pirates could have help down on the farm in the form of Brandon Cumpton, Casey Sadler and Nick Kingham. That's good because the price for another starter or two may be too steep for this team.

   Bullpen-The Shark Tank has tanked more games than any other bullpen in the league this season. It's not surprising, they played out of their minds and over their heads last year. A dropoff was expected. A dropoff this big, however, was not. The rumor is the Pirates have been scouting Padres closer Huston Street. The thought is that they'll let Street close and move Mark Melancon back to the setup role. There is also word that the Pirates may add another lefty to the bullpen, Andy Oliver, from Indianapolis. Goodness knows, they have to do something. Imagine what they're record would be if they hadn't blown so many games this year.

   Bench-The Pirates bench consists of JHay and whoever else is not playing. And it's usually not very impressive. Bringing in Chris Stewart to backup the indispensable Russell Martin at catcher was a horrible deal by Huntington. Is it too late to bring back Michael McKenry? Or better yet, bring up Tony Sanchez so he can learn at the hands of the master. The Ike Davis/Gaby Sanchez 1B split isn't working, either. I wonder if the Pirates would trade for Justin Morneau a second year in a row? Michael Martinez was brought up as utility help while Clint Barmes is on the DL. Frankly, I don't see much of Martinez, probably because he doesn't have much. Travis Snider has ridden the pine so much, I almost forgot he was on the team. None of these bench players strike much fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers.

   In conclusion, the Pirates look lucky to still be in contention considering all the question marks. Neal Huntington and the Pirates braintrust better put on their thinking caps and figure out a way to right the ship. If they continue to falter in the few weeks following the All-Star Game, they may end up being sellers at the deadline, instead of buyers. I'll keep my black-n-gold fingers crossed. Let's Go Bucs!!!!!