Bucs stop Dodgers in battle of 1st place squads

9/2 - Dodgers Stadium
Blass (3-0) vs Perez (1-2)
Pirates 8, Dodgers 3

Steve Blass went the distance and limited the damage to just a David Ross 3 run homer in the bottom of the 2nd.  Ross is "THE" most explosive .170 hitter in the league as evidenced by the damage he did to the Bucs this series.  Despite Ross' 2 run shot the 2nd inning was quite kind to the Bucs, who scored 6 runs themselves off of embattled LA starter Odallis Perez (3 IP / 7 ER).  Manny Mota made the most of his rare starts by going 2 for 4 with a run scored and a run knocked in.  8 different Pirates scored a run as nobody scored more than once.  Jose Pagan had a 3 RBI day and Maz hit PIT's only homer.


9/3 - Forbes Field
Ishii vs Fryman
Dodgers 4, Pirates 3 (11 inn)

All squared at 3 apiece after 9 led to extra innings.  Neither team scored in the 10th, although Pittsburgh threatened.  With runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out Maz grounded into a fielder's choice and Pag's struck out.  LA took that momentum and with 2 out in the top of the 10th Dave Roberts, known more for his speed than bat, singled home Cesar Izturis to make it 4-3.  The man with the goggles, Eric Gagne, came on board in the bottom of the inning and blew away the Bucs with 2 k's and a scoreless inning to save the win for the visitors from SoCAL.

9/4 - Forbes Field
Lima (2-1) vs Law (2-2)
Pirates 10, Dodgers 6

With both starters pitching BP the lights on the scoreboard lit up like the lights on Broadway.  Lima departed in the middle of the 7th having given up 7 runs.  Law took his exit after completing 7 and giving up 6 (4 earned).  Law's value to his team seems to be as a batsman and not a hurler since his ERA (7.62) is higher than his average (.583).  With the game tied a 6-6 after 6 1/2 innings of play the Bucs offense erupted or 4 huge runs to take the lead.  Notice I didn't say, "to put the game away".  This is because NO LEAD is safe with Pittsburgh's pitching staff.  This is a team that has to score a ton of runs to keep winning.  Thankfully the Pirates have sinkerballer Pete Mikkelsen to go to out of the pen.  Mikkelsen, who has been the Bucs most dependable reliever pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief despite walking 4.  Both teams combined for 26 hits, with the Bucs accounting for 17 of them.  The first 4 hitters in the lineup for Pittsburgh had 2 hits.  Willie Stargell, who has been in a season long funk broke out with a 2 for 3 day, but injured his shoulder crashing into the left field wall on a long fly ball.  His replacement, Jerry Lynch, went 1 for 2 and scored a run.  Maz was 3 for 4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI's.