THE BULLPEN

     Make baseball fun again! Our Pittsburgh Pirates open up their final homestand of the regular season with a 3-game set against the Washington Nationals that begins tonight at PNC Park. These are your keys for tonight's game. 1)Lower it. The Pirates took 1 step forward and now 2 steps back with last night's 3-1 loss to finish out the road trip in Milwaukee. The Bucs bats went silent, producing just 1 run on 5 hits. That's not going to get it. For sure, you've got to Hit, Run & Score! 2)The Pirates are just 3-13 in their last 16 at home. Is PNC Park the un-friendly confines? To add insult to injury, the last time the Black-N-Gold faced the Nats, Washington whitewashed the Bucs in 2 outta 3. The only win came in an 18-inning affair when LF Starling Marte ran into a pitch that produced the game winner.  Right the ship! 3)Washington will start LH Gio Gonzalez, 11-10, 4.83 ERA. The Buccos go with RH Jameson Taillon, 4-4, 3.39 ERA. Gonzalez is the kind of junk-ball pitcher that gives the Bucs bats fits. The Pirates are 76-76 and 4.5 back in the Wild Card with just 10 games left. Find the win column. Keep calm and raise the Jolly Roger! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!