Are the Pittsburgh Pirates Over Their Chicago Jinx?

All right, the Pirates didn't do so well against the White Sox. But they still improved over last year by winning one game out of three. And that was interleague play, so the Pirates won't be seeing them for the rest of the season.

More to the point, the Pirates won against the Cubs last night, albeit in the "worst" way, a free-for-all, against a team whose "dirty secret,"  as fellow writer Marino Eccher pointed out, is their aging players and resulting lack of endurance. And last night's victory points the way to at least one, possibly two, more in the series.

The bad news is that the Pirates have trouble winning consistently, especially low scoring games. The good news is that the Pirates are good at the come from behind free-for-alls in late innings.

No lead in any inning, including the ninth  is safe against them.  Just ask the Colorado Rockies, who lost a 4-1 lead against them in a 10-run seventh inning, or the White Sox whose 3-1 lead was overturned in the eighth and ninth innings (against a well-regarded closer who has been scored against only three times all season). Last night's 10-8 win was another case in point.

Paul Maholm, normally the ace, had his worst outing of the season. But so did Ryan Dempster. Each left after four innings, and 93-94 pitches.

So it became the battle of the bullpens. Pirate relievers threw 75 pitches. But the Cub bullpen threw 109 pitches, as many as in a normal game.

Tonight, the Cubs' starter Sean Marshall, has a low ERA. But he has lasted only five innings in three of his six starts. The Pirates should do their best to make sure this happens tonight.

He's not a huge walker but people get on base against him nevertheless, because he gives up base hits and even home runs. Against a ground ball pitcher, the sometimes-speedy Pirates should try to hit long slow grounders that will tire out the infielders, that they might beat out.

Base-stealing attempts will command a premium; the more throws to first, the fewer pitches. If the Pirates can knock out Marshall after five, no matter what the score, they will face a tired bullpen for four innings, which will also weaken them for tomorrow night's game as well.

The Pirates' bullpen isn't nearly in as bad a shape. They have a relatively (on the season) "fresh" reliever in Tom Gorzelanny. And if Matt Capps may be have been hurt last night, it may give the Pirates a chance to find out what Sean Burnett can do.

The Cubs are on the ropes. The Pirates would do well not let them off. And if they succeed, they will have overcome the Chicago jinx after all, leaving only Milwaukee.