I am going to get my hopes up

I had protected myself by not getting my hopes up, but then they go and throw together this kind of west coast swing. 
The Pirates are only 2 games out of the wild card, and St. Louis has been losing and the Pirates just beat the Dodgers, the current wild card leaders, in a series.  They are making a come back even before getting the Polanco bump thanks mostly to better hitting by Jordy Mercer and Pedro Alvarez.  Mercer has been on fire and has raised his average to above .220.  He and Alvarez both hit homers the other day, and Alvarez might be on one of his hot streaks, which can carry the Pirates sometimes.  Add in Josh Harrison hitting over .300 and the Pirates all of a sudden have an offense up and down the line up. 

Harrison cannot stay this good.  His leadoff hitting has been important in setting up McCutchen, who pitchers are avoiding if they can as well as Walker who is having a great year and tied for the team lead in homers.  Marte is doing better down in the line up and becoming more productive over all with Mercer swinging a hot bat.  Alvarez is hitting now and you have to always be ware of Martin putting one over the wall even if his average is low.  Same goes for Sanchez and Ike Davis has held up his end of the platoon.  This offense might be enough to make it to Polanco, who could consistently do what Harrison is doing now without the adventurous outfield defense. 

Even a better sign is the pitching coming around.  Lirano is stabilizing and Volquez might be decent.  Grilli is back to being Grilli, which allows the entire bullpen to settle into normal roles again.  Our 7,8, and 9 innings look great.  But most importantly with regards to pitching is the emergence of Gerrit Cole as the ace.  He is ready to fill that role.  He outdueled Strassborg not long ago, and put the Padres in their place last night.  He is the rock that the rest of the starting rotation can depend upon and the batters can look forward to his turn.  He will end slides and continue win streaks.  Cole is the future and it looks like the future might be now. 

So as I fight against my hopes make sure you check out the draft starting tomorrow which just got a lot more interesting.  The Pirates picked up a pick in a trade dumping Bryan Morris.  Now the Pirates have two first rounders (or picks before the second round depending on how we label these picks).  It should be a good draft to get some real talent.  Will the Pirates go high school or for an established college player?  Check back in tomorrow.