You know, I thought I wrote this up last night (meaning I did write this up last night), but I have no idea where the post went. It's clearly nowhere to be found on the internet. Anyways, some days, everything just clicks. Yesterday was one of those days for the Pirates. Before the game started, I wrote two things:

1. [Andy LaRoche] certainly looked like someone that's ready to break out a little bit last night.
2. Do you think someone will mention to John Russell that Monroe hit .138/.219/.230 against lefties last year in basically the same role that he's playing for us? I hope so.

So I'm hitting .500 with pre-game predictions. I think I can live with that, given Craig Monroe's six RBIs yesterday. Before his six RBI explosion in the sixth and seventh innings, Andy LaRoche doubled in the first run for the Pirates, then added another double, a single, and another nice play in the field. Does he actually have a switch that someone threw on Thursday? I think he might.

The story of yesterday's game was Ian Snell, though, because of the seven shutout innings he threw at a hobbled Braves' lineup. Sort of like Paul Maholm on Friday, Snell's final line didn't look great (just three strikeouts to go with three walks over seven innings), but it certainly got the job done as it kept the Pirates ahead until Craig Monroe decided to dial up 2004.

I know the Braves' lineup is pretty punchless without Chipper Jones and Yunel Escobar, but three shutouts in the first five home games? This is kind of weird.

Game 2 against the Braves starts at 12:35 this afternoon (which, incidentally, means you probably can't watch it if you're not in Pittsburgh because of MLB's awful blackout rules for FOX Saturday baseball, which doesn't start until 3:40) and Ian Snell and Jo-Jo Reyes will be on the mound. First off, I think every start for Snell is a big start. He looked better against Cincy last week, but he's still got work to do to be back to where he was in 2007. Second, I think Jo-Jo Reyes might be my favorite name in all of baseball. He's a lefty, so Craig Monroe gets the start in right. Do you think someone will mention to John Russell that Monroe hit .138/.219/.230 against lefties last year in basically the same role that he's playing for us? I hope so.

Gonna make last night's recap quick because the game is at 12:35 today, for whatever reason. First things first, Andy LaRoche had a huge game last night. In the second inning, he followed Brandon Moss's triple with what should've been a hard single up the middle, but was robbed of a hit by Kelly Johnson. He made a couple of really nice plays in the field, including a nice double play by spearing a liner and making the throw to first, and he did eventually add his second hit of the season and a walk to his line for the night. Before the game last night, Nate at Sixty Feet, Six Inches took a look at some batted ball data and sees a bounceback coming for LaRoche. He certainly looked like someone that's ready to break out a little bit last night.

The big story of the game, though, was Paul Maholm and his dance through the proverbial raindrops to toss seven shutout innings at the Braves. It looked like he was in troublein the first when he loaded the bases with no outs, but he got a pop-up and then a textbook 1-2-3 double play and was quickly out of things. His line wasn't great the rest of the way (3 walks and only 2 strikeouts), but he kept the Braves off of the scoreboard for seven innings and that was enough to get Grabow and Capps in to the game to nail down the win. Their job became much easier with Nate McLouth's two-run insurance homer in the eighth, and the Pirates get to spend another day at .500.

Quick note: Andy Phillips was traded to the White Sox for minor leaguer Michael Dubee. This was to make room for Luis Cruz in AAA, who was demoted to make room for Delwyn Young in Pittsburgh.

Tonight is kind of a big game for the Pirates, I think, even though it's mid-April and I don't know if any Pirate game can logically be classified as "big." After their big, emotional win on Monday, the team has kind of gone in to the tank in the last two games. I think endless, uninspired losing streaks are more or less the signature move of this franchise over the past 16+ years, and today they have a chance to really nip one in the bud. There's been a bit of discussion over whether Paul Maholm is a "real" ace or an "ace on the Pirates" ace, and while I generally fall in the latter category, I can say that in an abstract fashion, games like these are ones that "real" aces win.

Maholm gets a chance to play streak stopper against Jair Jurrjens and the Braves tonight at PNC Park, while most Pirate fans try to forget about how Dave Littlefield didn't make the Jurrjens/Jack Wilson trade, wonder what the score of the Penguins game is, and hope that the Pirates can win to avoid a protracted losing streak. What a charmed existence.

Updates from all over the Pirates' farm system.

Indianapolis

Neil Walker homered last night. After his hot start, his line is headed right towards where it was last year. He's currently at .243/.282/.486 with two homers. Brian Bixler was hitless last night, but is still zipping along at .333/.421/.545 in the two-slot, while Andrew McCutchen is only hitting .278, but he's got two doubles and three triples already to give him a .278/.350/.500 line. Shelby Ford and Steve Pearce are struggggling.

Altoona

Brad Lincoln tossed five scoreless innings last night, striking out six and walking one. He's got 12 strikeouts in 9 AA innings so far. Brian Friday is hitting .500/.604/.864 in six games. Most of the rest of the club is struggling, though Jared Hughes threw six no-hit innings in his debut and Jeff Sues (who recently promoted to the 40-man to protect him from the Rule 5) has had three good outings so far. Jose Tabata is off to a bit of a slow start at .222/.259/.323.

Lynchburg

Pedro Alvarez hit a walk-off three-run homer and had 6 RBIs last night, but he's still hitting just .214/.286/.484. 2008 fifth rounder Justin Wilson has a decent strikeout rate and WHIP, but he's walking a ton of batters, while other 2008 draftees Jordy Mercer and Matt Hague are off to decent starts at the plate, though Hague's is entirely driven by his early .364 batting average.

West Virginia

They inherited much of the State College mess from last year (they're already 1-6), but Robbie Grossman is hitting .280/.333/.400 and Chase D'Arnaud (who's probably playing a level low, likely because the club likes Jordy Mercer more and wants them both at short right now) is tearing it up, hitting .368/.391/.526. Last year's 12th round pick Calvin Anderson is also killing the ball.

You know what's a great way to douse hope after a promising start? Losing games started by Mike Hampton and Russ Ortiz.

There's not a whole lot to take away from today's game that's position besides Adam LaRoche and Nyjer Morgan continuing to hit. Jeff Karstens stunk, Andy LaRoche followed his first hit of 2009 with a rally-killing double play, and we were generally neutered by a bad pitching staff after the second inning today. Games like today's are games that make you just feel bad about being a Pirate fan.

Raise your hand if you forgot today was a 12:35 start! Jeff Karstens vs. Russ Ortiz. Who's ready for an improbable pitcher's duel?

I think we can officially issue recalls on Aaron Harang and Chris Carpenter's stellar outings tonight. Mike Hampton tossed six shut-out innings at the Pirates tonight, striking out eight and holding the Pirates to just four hits. When that's happening, well, I'm just embarrassed.

The second ugly part of tonight's game was Ross Ohlendorf. I missed his first start this year, but I know I watched him pitch last year and I was still surprised tonight, and not in a good way. He's a pretty huge guy (listed at 6'4" 235 lbs), but he really gets very little of that mass into his throwing motion. It's not to say that he's actually all arm or anything, but he was really only hitting the high 80s tonight and it seemed pretty obvious to me why. He was very hittable all night and I just wasn't very impressed at all with him.

So ... dominated by Mike Hampton and a disappointing outing from a Pirate starter. I hate to go all Eeyore here, but this is certainly more along the lines of what I expected from the Pirates this year.

There were also a couple moments in this game that illustrated why having everyone wear the same number at once is probably a bad idea. In the sixth inning, Luis Cruz dropped a pop-up behind third base and was mercilesly booed by Pirate fans while the Astros announcers groaned, until everyone realized that it wasn't Andy LaRoche any more. The Astros announcers then literally took about three minutes trying to figure out the Pirates' double switch and just sort of gave up in the end. Later on, they couldn't decide if a pinch hitter was Brandon Moss or Eric Hinske; all they really knew was that the hitter was a lefty.

Jackie Robinson Day is a great day. It's something that should be celebrated every year. When Ken Griffey Jr. came up with the idea to take 42 out of the mothballs for one day for any player that wanted to wear it, I thought it was a touching and fitting tribute to one of the most important men in baseball history. But issuing a league mandate that everyone has to wear the number? It's not only confusing to the point of distraction, but I think it's considerably less personal than players choosing to wear the number out of tribute and removing that part of it kind of misses the point, I think.  I guess I just think there are better ways to pay tribute to Robinson.

With the Penguins kicking their playoff season off tonight at Mellon Arena, the Pirates face the prospect of becoming completely anonymous in their own home town for the next few weeks/months. The baseball games, however, will march on and at least some of us will still be paying attention.

Tonight's a pretty important game for the Pirates in that Ross Ohlendorf is taking the mound tonight and I think he's a pretty important pitcher to their chances of relative success this year. He had a solid first outing against the Cardinals that was mostly attributed to his sinker, but I'd either like to see more strikeouts (he had just one in six innings) or more ground outs before I'm ready to agree with that. His mound opponent is Mike Hampton, who is lucky the Astros exist to give him a job this year. If he takes the mound and throws pitches, I feel like that has to be considered a small victory for Houston, no matter what happens on the field tonight.

And if you remember any of my previews from last year, you know that whenever I write a preview that slants heavily towards one way of thinking, the exact opposite takes place. So go ahead and write it down: Astros 11, Pirates 0. This one's already in the bank.