THE BULLPEN

     Pennant fever, catch it! Your Pittsburgh Pirates live to fight another day as they clash with the Chicago Cubs in Wednesday night's Wild Card game at PNC Park. Someone get Steve Bartman and tell him to bring a billy goat because the Bucs are going to blackout the 'Burgh again. The Pirates will face 22-game winner Jake Arrieta. The Pirates pitcher is no slouch, either. 19-game winner Gerrit Cole will look to help the Bucs steamroll into the division series with St Louie. Mrs. Black-N-Gold brings you her Wild Card preview. Since this is the Bucs 3rd trip to the Wild Card, she'll give 3 you key points.

1)Of course there is the pitching matchup. Arrieta is expected to win the NL Cy Young Award. Cole came into his own this season to become the Pirates ace. Cole needs to come out firing with first-pitch strikes and avoid giving up free passes. The Bucs need to make Arrieta battle, working deep counts. The sooner than can up his pitch count, the quicker he can exit the game. Be patient and don't swing at any junk. If it comes down to a battle of the bullpens, Mrs. Black-N-Gold feels that the Buccos win out.

2)Play it smart. The Pirates can ill afford any mental errors in this matchup. That means play a clean baseball game. Don't give an opportunistic team like the Cubs any chances to get on the scoreboard. Play good, solid defense in the field and don't run yourselves out of innings on the basepaths.

3)Both teams have impressive firepower in their lineups. Of course the Cubs have MVP-candidate Anthony Rizzo, favored NL Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant as well as Jorge Soler, Kyle Schwarber and several others. It's not like the Pirates cupboard is bare in the power department. Pedro Alvarez, Aramis Ramirez, Starling Marte and Neil Walker are all capable to taking a pitcher deep. So is our own MVP, Andrew McCutchen, who has had the most success against Arrieta. Cutch is also due to get off the schneid in the playoffs. In his postseason career, Cutch has zero home runs and zero RBIs. The Bucs go as Cutch goes. It's important for him to get off to a good start and take the team with him.

There you have it. Mrs. Black-N-Gold will have more thoughts on the Wild Card game tomorrow with her keys to the game. Meanwhile, does anyone know where we can find a billy goat? Let's Go Bucs!!!!!