Sunday 7/8 | News, Notes, and Links

• Andrew McCutchen was named the replacement for Giancarlo Stanton for Monday's home run derby last night. That should be interesting to watch.
• I did some serious research and writing last night as I tried to figure out what the home run derby has done to its participants in terms of their second half performance against their first half performance. You can read it here and argue with me by tweeting me here.
• The Pirates evened the series with the Giants on Sunday with a 3-1 win. James McDonald pitched seven innings allowing just one run and striking out ten while not walking anybody. He was the first Pirate pitcher since Jason Schmidt to do that. Here's the recap, and here are McDonald's pitch F/X from the outstanding outing.
• Ryan Vogelsong inspired me to make a list of players that improved once they left Pittsburgh - here's that list.
• Indianapolis had another offensive outburst last night. Starling Marte had two hits and Jeff Clement had three. The full recap of the Saturday minor league action is here.
• The Pirates look to finish their first half on a winning note as A.J. Burnett takes on Tim Lincecum at 1:35 today.