THE BULLPEN

Root, root, root for the home team! Your Pittsburgh Pirates begin their final home series of the regular season tonight against the Cincy Reds. These are your keys to tonight's game. 1)The Pirates lead the season series 7-6 and have won 4 of 6 at the friendly confines of PNC Park. Nothing beats home cooking! 2)The Pirates start lefty Francisco Liriano, 16-7, 2.92 ERA. For the season, Frankie is 0-3 with a 4.41 ERA versus Cincy. Of course his teammates have only scored 1 run in his starts against the Reds. Don't let Frankie go 0-4, bring a big case of Hit, Run, & Score! 3)Frankie does like pitching in front of the home crowd, where he's 8-1 with a 1.37 ERA. There's no place like home! We have a bonus key today. Manager Clint Hurdle has rested C Russell Martin the past 2 games to get him ready for this series. The Reds have speedster Billy Hamilton in their back pocket. Break out the rifle on this kid, Frenchy and gun him down! Woop, woop, woop! Standings Alert! Thanks to the Pirates 10-1 victory yesterday and St Louie's 15-inning loss, the Pirates are now 1 game back in the NL Central race. Cincy was idle and are 2 games out. The Gnats are 5 back in the wild card. This is a HUGE series so play it like you want it! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!