Sinking Ship

The Pirates are struggling right now. They have not played very good baseball all year long, but it has been especially bad the last 5 games. They have lost 5 in a row and have been outscored by a ridiculous count of 45-6 in those games. They have been shut out 3 times this year and haven't scored more than 5 runs in a game since April 14th. The Pirates are dead last in the National League in batting average, and 2nd to last league-wide, ahead of just the Cleveland Indians. There are only 2 teams that have scored fewer runs than the Pirates, and there are no teams that have given up more runs. The Pirates are also last in the league in ERA (6.99). It has not been an encouraging start to the season, although somehow the Pirates find themselves at 7-10. However, if the Pirates don't start playing better baseball they are going to find themselves a lot worse off than that with 3 games coming up against the Brewers and 4 against the Dodgers before returning home to face the Cubs.

The Pirates have not had a solid start from a pitcher in this 5 game losing streak, and that is unlikely to change today with Charlie Morton taking the hill. Morton has probably been the worst performing Pirate this season, which is really saying something. He has 16.55 ERA after 3 starts and has compiled only 10.1 innings in those 3 starts. That is not what you want from a starter. He will try to get it together today against the Astros, who have been hot lately, winning 7 of their last 9 games. Here's the details and liveblog:


Pittsburgh Pirates (7-10) vs. Houston Astros (7-10)

2:05 PM, Minute Maid Park

Charlie Morton (0-3, 16.55) vs. Brett Myers (0-1, 4.05)

Pirates Lineup
1. Akinori Iwamura, 2B
2. Andrew McCutchen, CF
3. Lastings Milledge, LF
4. Garrett Jones, RF
5. Ryan Doumit, C
6. Jeff Clement, 1B
7. Andy LaRoche, 3B
8. Charlie Morton, SP
9. Ronny Cedeno, SS

Astros Lineup
1. Michael Bourn, CF
2. Jeff Keppinger, 2B
3. Carlos Lee, LF
4. Lance Berkman, 1B
5. Hunter Pence, RF
6. Pedro Feliz, 3B
7. J.R. Towles, C
8. Tommy Manzella, SS
9. Brett Myers, SP

Pirates Batters vs. Brett Myers
Ryan Church: 3/18, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 10 K
Lastings Milledge: 5/14, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K
Ronny Cedeno: 0/7, 1 BB, 5 K
Ryan Doumit: 1/7, 1 K

Astros Batters vs. Charlie Morton
Michael Bourn: 3/9, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 2 K
Carlos Lee: 3/9, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 0 K
Hunter Pence: 1/6, 1 BB, 0 K
Kazuo Matsui: 3/5, 1 RBI, 1 K
Pedro Feliz: 0/4, 2 K
Geoff Blum: 1/2, 0 K