THE BULLPEN

     Batter up! Your Pittsburgh Pirates close out their series with the St Louie Cardinals tonight at PNC Park on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. These are your keys for tonight's game. 1)My, oh my! The Pirates have won 2 straight following last night's nail-biting walk-off victory thanks to CF Andrew McCutchen's 2-run homer in the bottom of the 14th. With that heroic home run, Cutch was able to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 18 games. Keep on CUTCHN and keep on BUCN! 2)It's a battle of lefties this evening. St Louie starts southpaw Tim Cooney, 0-0, 3.95 ERA. The Pirates will send lefty Francisco Liriano, 5-6, 2.99 ERA, to the hill. The Bucs ERA of 2.63 is the first time since 1968 that Pirates pitchers have posted an ERA under 3 at the All-Star break. Be filthy, Frankie and give 'em L! 3)At 3.5 games back of St Louie in the NL Central, this is our Buccos last chance to stick it to St Louie before the break. In last night's game, the Bucs not only had to battle their NL Central rivals, but the umps as well. Hit 'em early, hit 'em often, hit 'em HARD with a heavy load of Hit, Run, & Score! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!