THE BULLPEN

     One, two, three strikes, you're out! Your Pittsburgh Pirates wrap up their 2-game set against the Minnesota Twins tonight at PNC Park. These are your keys for tonight's game. 1)With last night's 8-5 win over the Bucs and LH Francisco Liriano, the Twins improved to an AL-best 12-5 against lefties this season. They'll face another Pirates southpaw in Jeff Locke, 2-2, 5.40 ERA. The Twins will start RH Mike Pelfrey, 3-1, 3.23 ERA. Locke is 0-2 with a 7.27 ERA in his last 5 starts, giving up 5 runs in 3 2/3 innings in his last outing, an 11-10 loss to the Cubs. We need to Locke down a win! 2)The Bucs did battle back from an 8-1 deficit last night after 3 innings but fell short, 8-5. They collected 13 hits but were just 4 for 17 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 men on base. You don't win ballgames if you don't Hit, Run & Score! 3)Now, Mrs. Black-N-Gold would like to reach out to the public. It seems the Pirates have misplaced the Jolly Roger again and are having a hard time raising it with regularity. Our Buccos are sinking like a stone in the NL Central. Right the ship, find the win column and raise the Jolly Roger! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!