Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Houston Astros: A Chance for the Bucs to Turn It Around

It's not often that a series against a cellar-dwelling team figures to be important. But in the case of the Pittsburgh Pirates, it could very well be.

First, a victory in this series would, BY ITSELF, bring the Pirates to .500 (assuming a 2-1 tally), or past it, if they go 3-0. Coming as it would in early May, that would be a milestone for a team that has had 18 straight losing seasons.

Second, Houston is in the National League Central division cellar. That's where Pittsburgh USED to be. The ability to beat the current cellar-dweller is an important criterion for being able to stay out of there.

Third, the Pirates have, for a change, been able to beat most National League Central opponents, having gone 2-1 so far against each of the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals.

These are teams against whom Pittsburgh plays the largest number of games. The one divisional opponent that they haven't beaten so far is the Milwaukee Brewers, who have historically given the Bucs a ton of trouble.

Cellar dweller or not, the other National League Central team that Pittsburgh finds hard to beat is the Houston Astros. In 2006 for instance, the Pirates went 3-13 against the Astros, during a year in which they went 67-95. Take away those 16 games, and their 3-12 record in Interleague Play (against American League teams) and the Bucs had a much more respectable 61-70 tally. A terrible 4-11 season against Houston was a major factor in last year's 105 loss season as well.

Here's why the Pirates can hope to win this series against the Astros.

First, they are playing at home, where young teams tend to do better. Second, the Pirates have started 2011 in better than usual form, the Astros, worse than usual, even for them. Third, after a poor season, the Bucs won the last 2010 series against the Astros 2-1, building a platform for 2011.

And Charlie Morton, who has historically pitched poorly against the Astros, especially at Minute Maid Park, has shown much better form overall, this year, and generally pitches well in PNC Park anyway, as does Paul Maholm.

In fact, it is teams like the Astros that offer the Pirates the best turnaround potential.In a match between two nearly equal teams with similar characteristics (in this case, decent pitching and weak hitting), the slightly stronger of the two wins a disproportionate number of games. The 2007 Bucs went 10-5 against the team that they lost to 3-13 in 2006.