THE BULLPEN

All hands on deck! Your Pittsburgh Pirates finish out the regular season today in Cincy as they battle the Reds one more time. These are your keys to today's game. 1)The Bucs lost a heartbreaker in extra innings yesterday, 10-6. That put division-leading St Louie's magic# at 1. Luckily, St Louie couldn't seal the deal in Arizona last night. The Pirates need to win today and St Louie to lose later to finish in a tie for the NL Central. Then they will travel to St Louie for game# 163 tomorrow night. Win the division and they don't have to play until the NLDS begins Friday night. Otherwise, they play San Fran at PNC in the Wild Card on Wednesday. The Pirates have shown an innate ability to bounce back all season long. Today they need to exhibit that ability again. Hoist the colors and win the division. Never say die! 2)The Pirates are supposed to start RH Gerrit Cole, 11-5, 3.78 ERA. I say "supposed" because the Cole Train's status was still up in the air this morning. Start him to try to win the division, or save him for a wild card game. In Cole's last 13 starts, the Pirates have gone 11-2 with Cole winning his last 4 straight. #5 would be great! 3)The Bucs will face Cincy RH Johnny Cueto, 19-9, 2.29 ERA. Cue-to is 4-0 with a 1.89 ERA vs the Pirates this season as he goes for win #20. Hit him early, hit him often, hit him HARD with lots o' Hit, Run, & Score! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!