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What was your overall record for August?

Pirates August In Review


The Pirates got through their worst month of the season in August with a 13-14 record. At one point they were the best team in the majors but have fallen after starting off 35-20, they have been 41-38 which is about mediocre but they still have the top spot in the NL Central by 4 games over Milwaukee and 5 games over the 2010 NL Central champion Cardinal. They have been 42-26 but their main struggles come on the road at 34-32 which still isn't too bad but their main weakness is their offense that scored 97 runs in August and they only the Astros have less runs than us as we have 599 but the Pirates have the best ERA in the majors at 3.62. The Pirates got great outings from Aaron Cook this month but Tyler Yates mainly was the bullpen problem, his ERA rose to 5.11. The Pirates offensive problems have been odd, the only real weakness in this lineup is Cedeno who is only hitting around .240 and got only his first 2 homeruns of the season in August, otherwise the offense is looking good with Ikari looking at a possible 30 homerun, 100 RBI season and good campaigns for Werth and Jones on the power end. As for the September schedule, the Pirates have 9 games against the MLB worst Astros, 3 against the Cubs and then 3 with the NL West worst Giants. The fun comes in the end though with a 6 game home stand hosting the Brewers and Cardinals and then they got to Milwaukee and then Cincinnati to end their season.


September Call-Ups and Postseason Roster Cuts
It's that time of year again with September call-ups but also for Postseason roster cuts. The Pirates have decided to keep C/1B Jeff Clement as the backup catcher for the postseason(the Pirates have to make it of course) and in another suprise move, the Pirates are going to have 1B/CF Jeff Salazar on the bench. Salazar has yet to play yet and Delwyn Young is not going to be on the roster after hitting .200 with no homeruns or RBI's in his chance. "

Here are the September Call-Ups

1B/CF - Jeff Salazar
C - Robinzon Diaz
2B - Luis Rivas
P - Kevin Hart
P - Ross Glanville
P - Phil Dumatrait
P - Evan Meek
P - Homer Bailey



National League Central Standings


Pittsburgh Pirates : 76-58

Milwaukee Brewers : 72-62

St Louis Cardinals : 71-63

Chicago Cubs : 62-72

Cincinatti Reds : 61-73

Houston Astros : 49-85



Major League Baseball Division Leaders



















AL Wild Card





















NL Wild Card

Houston Astros(50-93)
Pittsburgh Pirates(84-59)





Rodriguez Walk-Off Caps Astros Rally




September 8 -- The Pirates have turned back into the Pirates of old in September with a 6-1 record so far but they took a tough loss tonite in a game that was very winnable. The Pirates scored 3 runs in the game, the 29th homerun by Ikari made it 1-0 in the 6th and RBI singles by McCutchen and Jones later on made it 3-0. In the 8th with Zach Duke on the mound and dominating, the lefty let up a 2-run single to Hunter Pence on a catchable ball that McCutchen was fooled on and it was all of a sudden 3-2. Huston Street allowed a baserunner on to begin the bottom of the 9th and Ivan Rodriguez was the hero for Houston with a walk-off 2 run homerun that disappeared in the close left field fence.




3 - 4




WP: Villareal (3-1) | LP: Street (4-4)
HR: Rodriguez(6) Ikari(29)






Ikari: 1-3, HR
McCutchen: 2-4, RBI
Salazar: 1-1, PH 2B
Duke: 8 IP, 8 K, 2 R



Rodriguez: 1-4, Walk-Off 2-R HR
Pence: 2-4, 2 RBI
Backe: 6 IP, 4 K, 2 R

Dang. Tough loss.

I know, it was one of those things where the field robbed me. In any other ballpark it would be caught

and he hit it wicked hard too, it was in the air for like a few seconds then the train starting going off and it was over

Pittsburgh Pirates(84-61)
Chicago Cubs(70-75)





Werth Help Fuels Another Late win At Wrigley




September 13 -- The Pirates have had troubles in Wrigley Field in the past but when they do win it's usually late and it was no different tonite. It was a tight game between Maholm and Dempster which started with an RBI single by Garrett Jones in the 1st inning and the game would later be tied in the 6th with a homerun by Reed Johnson. Former Pirates closer Matt Capps came in to pitch the 9th inning with the score tied at 1 and Jayson Werth came up big with a leadoff homerun to left center field for the 2-1 lwad in the 9th. Huston Street had no trouble getting his league leading 37th save to make the Pirates magic number to clinch the NL Central down to 10.




2 - 1





WP: Yates (6-6) | LP: Capps (2-5) | SV: Street (37)
HR: Johnson(8) Werth(22)





Werth: 2-4, HR
Jones: 1-4, RBI
Maholm: 6 1/3 IP, 2 K, 1 R



Johnson: 1-3, HR
Bradley: 2-3
Dempster: 7 IP, 4 K, 1 R

St Louis Cardinals(82-74)
Pittsburgh Pirates(89-69)




Salazar's Pinch Hit Walk-Off Sends Pirates Flying High




September 25 -- It took just one swing from Jeff Salazar to turn the momentum from the fall-apart from 2009 to flying high in Pittsburgh. The Pirates were close to being swept by St. Louis and falling to 1-5 on this last home stand of the season but they were able to come back. St. Louis led 3-0 after a 2-run homerun by Colby Rasmus and an RBI single by Albert Pujols in the 5th inning against Maholm. The Pirates came back in the 7th inning when down 3-1, they got a 2-run homerun from Garrett Jones to tie the game at 3. This set the stage in the 10th inning for Salazar. He was pinch hitting and sent everyone home happy with a walk-off 2-run homerun to right field off of Enrique Gonzalez to go to Milwaukee up by 4 games instead of 3 if the Pirates had lost.




3 - 5




WP: E.Gonzalez (0-1) | LP: Gregg (1-2)
HR: Rasmus(22) Jones(27) Salazar(1)




Rasmus: 2-4, 2-R HR
Pujols: 1-5, RBI
Wainwright: 6 1/3 IP, 7 K, 2 R



Salazar: 1-1, PH Walk-Off HR
Jones: 2-5, 2-R HR
Fontenot: 0-4, SF
Maholm: 6 IP, 4 K, 3 R

Pittsburgh Pirates(90-69)
Milwaukee Brewers(86-73)




Braun's Walk-Off Puts Champagne on Hold




September 26 -- For the second straight night, the Pirates were involved in a walk-off homerun, but on the other side this time. The Pirates came in with a chance to win the division title and couldn't do so tonight. It was a pitchers duel but it started to look like a bad day for Cook as he gave up a homerun to Rickie Weeks on the first pitch for him to make it 1-0 and the game would be tied later in the 7th inning with an RBI single by Jones. The score was knotted at one until the bottom of the 9th where Ryan Braun delivered an opposite field homerun to right to win the game for the Brewers. And with this walk-off homerun, the Brewers are still 3 games behind but the Pirates can still clinch tomorrow with a win.



1 - 2





WP: Riske (3-1) | LP: Gregg (1-3)
HR: Weeks(28) Braun(39)





McCutchen: 2-4, 3B
Jones: 1-4, RBI
Pearce: 2-4, 3B
Cook: 7 IP, 4 K, 1 R



Braun: 1-4, Walk-Off HR
Weeks: 2-4, HR
Hardy: 2-4
Gallardo: 7 1/3 IP, 8 K, 1 R

Pittsburgh Pirates(90-68)
Milwaukee Brewers(87-71)




Pirates Win First Division Title Since '92




September 27 -- The Pirates didn't mind waiting a second day to win the division but they have won their first NL Central Division Crown since 1992. Michael Barrett and Corey Hart hit RBI singles in the 2nd inning to put Milwaukee up 2-0 but the Pirates came scorching back in the 6th inning with a game tying 2-run double for Susumu Ikari and a 2-run homerun for Ryan Doumit gave Pittsburgh the 4-2 lead which would be enough to win the division as Corey Hart flew out to Jayson Werth in left field to end the game. With this win they have officially eliminated the Brewers from an NL Central Chance. The postseason brackets are tough for the Pirates, they need a better record than the Mets(92-69) while the Pirates are one game behind them for the best record in the National League. If the season ended today then the Pirates would play the Diamondbacks but if the Pirates end up with the better record, then they would play the wild card winner which could be either the Brewers or Marlins, if the Brewers win then we can't play them because they are in the same division so the Marlins or Diamondbacks are our NLDS opponents depending on what happens in the next 3 games.



4 - 2





WP: Karstens (9-8) | LP: LP: Arteaga (2-5) | SV: Street (39)
HR: Doumit(20)





Doumit: 3-4, 2-R HR
Ikari: 2-3, 2-R 2B
McCutchen: 2-5, R
Karstens: 5 IP, 7 K, 2 R (W)



Hart: 1-4, RBI 2B
Barrett: 1-3, RBI
Arteaga: 5 1/3 IP, 2 K, 4 R (L)




Pirates Win First Division Title Since 1992




Despite being in Milwaukee, Pirates Faithful went out to Celebrate with Bucs in Miller Park

Yay! Congratulations! Can't wait until the playoffs.

well it's official that I'm playing Arizona(should be a good series)

But the Brewers and Marlins are tied for first with this last game that I'm in the middle of. there were just so many teams tied for first in the wild card or anywhere in the NL this year

The Phillies, Dodgers, Padres, cardinals, Nationals, Athletics, Indians, Rays and Rangers were all either in first or close to first place for either the division and wild card and they all got eliminated pretty fast this month..

Well the Marlins end up winning the wild card and for a second I wondered why I was playing the lowest seed when the Mets had the best NL record but then I remembered that the Marlins and Mets are in the same division so I play them, they have a heavy offense

I'll do the brackets and then preview after