THE BULLPEN

     Hit the ball and touch 'em all! Our Pittsburgh Pirates close out their series with the San Fran Giants this afternoon at PNC Park. These are your keys for today's game. 1)The saying goes that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. That is the best way to sum up what is turning into a woeful Pirates season. Maybe Mrs. Black-N-Gold is the one that is crazy for thinking that this team may actually break out of this funk and find the win column. The Bucs keep lugging the same arms out of the bullpen and they get the same results. The latest victim was RH Jared Hughes who has not looked like his ground ball inducing-self at all this year. The Buccos powered their way to a 6-1 lead last night only to see starting LH Francisco Liriano start to give it away. Hughes came in with the Pirates up 6-4 only to depart with them down 7-6. It was a blow from which they still haven't recovered. The Bucs will try to salvage a split with San Fran in today's finale. The Pirates better get a fresh perspective and some fresh arms soon or this June swoon will continue into the rest of the summer. Right the ship real quick! 2)The poor offense, they finally get a lead just to see it slip away and ultimately handed over to San Fran. It's not like they didn't have more opportunities. They just failed to capitalize on them. With this club, they need to score every chance they get. More, more, more Hit, Run, & Score! 3)Say the planets do align like they did way back on Monday night. The pitching was good and there was just enough hitting for the win. Then Pirates fans have to hope that they don't get "Hurdled" into the loss column. Yes, win it rains, it pours, even on the manager. He doesn't have many options to push the right buttons these days but Clint has got to make the right moves to put this team in the win column. Use your head, that's the lump 3 feet above your ass! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!