THE BULLPEN

     There's no crying in baseball! Our Pittsburgh Pirates return home tonight to the friendly confines of PNC Park to open a 4-game series against the San Fran Giants. These are your keys for tonight's game. 1)There's good news from last night's latest L! After scoring just 3 runs in the first 2 games of the series with the Cubs, the Bucs put 5 on the board. The bad news is they allowed the Cubs to plate 10 runs. Pitching continues to be a problem with this club. Surrendering 5 home runs and allowing your opponent to go 4 for 9 with runner in scoring position is not going to win you ballgames. Tonight they look to LH Jeff Locke, 5-5, 5.92 ERA, to stop the bleeding. Locke up a win! 2)Meanwhile, our Buccos were 4 for 15 with runners in scoring position last evening. You can't leave Bucs on the pond. Bring 'em on home! 3)San Fran starts LH Madison Bumgarner, 8-2, 1.91 ERA. You may remember MadBum. He's a 3-time World Champion, a 3-time All-Star, and another pitcher who ended the Pirates playoff hopes in a Wild Card game. Hit him early, hit him often, hit him HARD with some Hit, Run, & Score! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!