THE BULLPEN

The crack of the bat, the thrill of the hit! Your first-place Pittsburgh Pirates open up a 4-game series tonight against the San Diego Padres at PNC Park. These are your keys to tonight's game. 1)The Pirates have won 6 of their last 7. Some butter get me some butter 'cause these guys are on a roll! 2)With yesterday's 3-2 victory, the Pirates are 2nd in the NL with 28 one-run wins. They're 18-7 at home in one-run games. As long as we're in the "W" column, I'm cool with that! 3)OF Marlon Byrd is most definitely the word. Since coming over to the Pirates, Byrd is flying high with a .333 batting average, 22 for 66, with 7 doubles and 8 runs scored. Bryd needs to spread his wings and share the Hit, Run, & Score! Woop, woop, woop! Standings Alert: Both the Pirates and St Louie won yesterday and remain tied atop the NL Central. Cincy lost so they fall to 3.5 games back. 13 games left in the regular season. Keep it up, Bucs! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!