Beating the Phils is always good (7-11)

Saturday the Pirates lost as Malholm was awful. He has been so solid most of the year, he was due a bad game. 8 runs in three innings (7 earned) is a bad game. The good news was Alvarez hit his first homerun and had his first mulit-hit game.

Sunday July 4th was better. Karstens gave up a lead that Tabata, Walker, Jones (RBI ground out), and Alvarez (RBI basehit) got him. It was the third inning when they went down 4-2. Karsten would give up a homer in the 7th and that would bring in Meek who got three ground outs. Then the fun started with Alvarez's second home run. It included a big pinch hit by Dwelven Young, and ended with Tabata knocking Young home and now the Pirates were up 8-5. Hanrahan and Dotel made sure it stayed that way.

The only bad news is that McCutchen is in a mini-slump as he went 0-4 to drop his average to .295.

The Pirates are ready to take off. If they add in Pearce this team could be great.