MVN: Most Valuable Network

Paul Maholm was effective in winning for just the third time in his last 13 starts. He went six innings and gave up two runs on five singles, a double and a pair of walks.

The Pirates offense was kick started by Jack Wilson who blasted a two out homer in the third. Houston edge back into it against Maholm with single runs in the third and the sixth. But things went the Buccos way in the 7th. Brian Moehler who had retired the side in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth, allowed consecutive walks with one out in the 7th. He was pulled for Tim Byrdak who also gave up a BB to load 'em. Byrdak gave way to Chris Sampson. Jason Jaramillo's grounder to first baseman Lance Berkman was fielded cleanly. Berkman's throw home was a bad one, allowing a run to score and all to be safe. Delwyn Young (pinch hitting for Maholm), Andrew McCutchen and Wilson all followed with RBI hits to blow it open.

But it wasn't over yet. Joel Hanrahan was allowed to pitch in a game that was far from over and was charged with a run in the 7th after giving way to John Grabow. Houston loaded the bases with one out in the 8th before Grabow got Jeff Keppinger to hit into an inning ending DP. Matt Capps got three ground ball outs in the 9th to seal it.

Moehler went 6-1/3 and gave up three earned runs on three hits and two walks.

The Good

Bucs made the most of a few opportunities. Seven hits and six runs.

McCutchen, Wilson and Jones each had two hits.

Maholm was good.

Bucs turned three double plays.

The Bad

Why is Joel Hanrahan in a game in the 7th?

Freddy Sanchez was out again.

The Rest

Jones stole two bases. He had one swipe in the Show coming into the game (in 37 career ML games) and 54 career steals in 1,038 career minor league games.

Wilson's homer was his 10th in Houston, making it easily his favorite road homer park. Next closest is Great American in Cincy with 4. He also hit two in Cinergy/Riverfront.

This was the second time in July the Pirates scored six or more runs on fewer than 10 hits. Other time was July 3rd against Florida.

Barring an injury, McCutchen is set up to have the best debut season by a Pirate since Warren Morris (not rookie season as that would be Jason Bay, but debut season). No Pirate since Morris has had 50 runs and 50 RBIs in their debut season.

Mike Hampton has not lost to the Pirates this decade. That streak continued as Hampton allowed just one run, three hits and three walks in seven very effective innings.

Virgil Vasquez certainly was fine. He gave up a two run triple to Geoff Blum in the first and a two run double to Miguel Tejada in the fifth. He retired the side in order in three of his six innings.

The Pirates outburst came in the 7th. Garrett Jones led off with a double and Robinzon Diaz singled with two out to bring him in, getting thrown out at second in the process to end the inning.

The Good

Diaz had two of the three hits.

Evan Meek whiffed the side in the 8th. Jose Valverde returned the favor in the 9th.

The Bad

Daggone. The offense.

Freddy Sanchez was out again.

The Rest

Hampton's last loss to Pittsburgh was 5/30/99. Mike Benjamin (of all people) did the heavy lifting in that one with a bases clearing double in the second in support of Kris Benson. Since then Hampton has won all 10 of his starts against the Pirates, including four this year. In that span he allowed one run or fewer in eight of the 10 games.

No complaints about Diaz and Jason Jaramillo in the absence of Ryan Doumit. Thus far for 2009, Pirate catchers are third in the NL in RBI with 45 (tied with Atlanta and trailing the Mets and Giants).

Pirates are 37-46 just past the halfway point. Through 83 games last year the Pirates were 39-44 and 10.5 games out. In 2009 the Pirate trail St. Louis by 7 games.

Ricky Nolasco won his fourth straight appearance by tossing eight innings of shutout baseball. He whiffed 12. He gave up three singles and two walks.

Ross Ohlendorf gave up 9 hits and five runs in five innings. He gave up two runs in the third and fifth inning to put the Bucs into a whole from which they would not emerge.

Steven Jackson and Jeff Karstens mopped up. Leo Nunez tossed the 9th for Florida.

The Good

Two of the singles came from Andrew McCutchen.

Freddy Sanchez was named as a sub for the All-Star game. He hasn't started since July 1 due to back issues.

The Bad

Offense. Please?!

The Rest

Nunez was a former Pirate farmhand, traded all those years ago for Benito Santiago.

Nolasco's career mark for Ks is 13, accomplished 8-2-08 against the Stones.

Pirate hitters have whiffed in double digits 13 times now in 2009. The Pirates offense has reached double digits in runs 10 times.

Ohlendorf's only other appearance against Florida was a win back on 4/20/09.

The Marlins took the second game of the series behind Hanley Ramirez. He homered and drove in two runs in support of Andrew Miller. The Marlins scored two runs on double play ground outs and another run on a wild pitch.

Miller tossed 6-2/3 IP of three run ball to get the win. The Marlins did their damage off of Zach Duke who gave three earned runs in six innings. He struck out five. Andy LaRoche and Garrett Jones homered to pace the Pittsburgh attack. Dan Meyer tossed the 9th for the save.

The Good

Wow. Not much. Homers, I guess.

The Bad

How many times can I bemoan the lack of offense.

The Rest

Former Bucco backstop Ronny Paulino was 0-4.

Miller had lost in his only other appearance against the Bucs, back in April of this season.

Duke has never beaten the Marlins. Florida is the only NL team he has yet to beat in his career.

Charlie Morton tossed six shutout innings to earn his first win as a Pirate, allowing one single and four walks.

The Pirates offense gave him seven runs of support, which was nearly eventually needed as Florida scored four times late off the Pittsburgh bullpen. Brandon Moss and Ramon Vazquez both homered and knocked in two runs. Jack Wilson's two run double keyed a three run seventh inning at the expense of Chris Leroux. The Pirates got to Chris Volstad early as he gave up four runs in three innings on three hits. He didn't come back to the mound after a 45 minute rain delayed play.

Florida touched Joel Hanrahan and Jeff Karstens for two runs a piece, but it wasn't enough. Karstens gave up a two run tater to John Baker before closing out the game in the 9th.

The Good

Happy to see some offense.

Vazquez is filling in for a day-to-day Sanchez who has back issues.

The Bad

Joel Hanrahan continues to struggle. His ERA creeped toward eight.

The Rest

First time since June 14-15 that the offense totaled 15 runs or more in consecutive games.

Four players have picked up their first win as a Pirate this season - Morton, Ross Ohlendorf, Steven Jackson and Virgil Vazquez.

Andrew McCutchen has doubled in three straight contests.

From up five early to a 9th inning comeback against Francisco Rodriguez to losing it in the 10th, this one had it all. All except a Pirates win, that is. This one was delayed by rain and it was a make up for an earlier rain out. Striking an irony chord somewhere.

The Pirates jumped on Tim Redding early for five runs. Garrett Jones and Robinzon Diaz each had three hits and two RBI. However, Paul Maholm couldn't hold the lead as the Mets scored eight runs in the middle three frames.

The Pirates tied it up in the 9th off of Rodriguez when Adam LaRoche stroked a two run dinger. But, the Mets countered with a run in the 10th off Matt Capps as Ryan Church singled in Fernando Tatis, who had homered earlier in the game. Rodriguez tossed a perfect 10th to lock it down.

Maholm went 4-1/3 and gave up six runs and 11 hits. Redding gave up five runs and got just seven outs.

The Good

Garrett Jones was single short of the cycle.

The Bad

Delwyn Young was held hitless again and was tossed for arguing balls and strikes.

The Rest

Former Bucco Elmer Dessens made his 4th appearance of the year in relief for NYM.

This was the first time all year that Maholm gave up more than four runs in a home start. He has never been touched for more than six runs in a start at PNC.

The last Pirate to have a double, triple and homer in the same game before his 50th career game was Richie Hebner way back on 5-4-69. Garrett Jones did it today.

Tatis scored four times, establishing a single game high for his career.

Welcome Jeff Salazar. Bucs most recent recall from Louisville was 0-1 in a pinch hitting role in his Bucco debut.

Randy Wells continued his solid pitching effort and Derrek Lee hit a two run first inning homer as the Cubs took two of three at PNC.

Wells evened his record at 3-3 (he's won his last three starts) and lowered his ERA below 2.50. He went seven and allowed one run on six hits (five singles and a double) and one walk.

Lee's homer was all Wells would need. The Pirates only run came in the home half of the first as Andrew McCutchen came around on a Brandon Moss single.

Virgil Vasquez didn't do himself much disservice. He went six and gave up three runs - a Kosuke Fukudome tater in the sixth was the final tally off him. He gave up seven hits and three walks. He struck out a pair.

Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg finished up, with Gregg getting a save.

The Good

McCutchen had two hits.

As did Jason Jaramillo.

The Bad

Where did the offense go? Traded, perhaps? This will be an interesting month as I expect Jack Wilson to be practically given away. There is no chance the Pirates will pick up his 2010 option. So, why keep him? Adam LaRoche might also be gone.

The Rest

Garrett Jones made his Bucco debut and was hitless in four at bats. His last appearance in the Show was 9/30/07. Bet that seemed like an eternity for him.

Also making his debut for the Steel City Nine was Joel Hanrahan. He tossed one scoreless inning as the first man out of the pen.

This was Wells first appearance against the Pirates and Vasquez' first appearance against the Wriglies.

Coming into the night, Moss was one of 22 players with 200 PAs in 2009 with fewer than 20 RBIs. Of the other 21 players, 10 of them had double digits in steals. So, yes, the club has been getting leadoff hitter-like RBI production from the middle of the order.

Quite a bit has been made recently about Lastings Milledge being "cancer in the clubhouse." While this could be true, I think fans are dismissing him pretty quickly based entirely on reputation. It did not help that his arrival meant the departure of Nyjer Morgan, a favorite among fans and teammates (and virtually everyone else that has ever known him). Anyway, Dejan lists the known transgressions in Milledge's past in the PG's article on the trade. Let's take a look at them.

In 2007, Milledge performed on a profanity-laced rap album that prompted one New York city councilman to declare, "He's lost his mind."

Does anyone care about this? Is this the first time anyone has ever made a profane rap album? Has anyone ever listened to the vocabulary of an average major league player?

The previous year, he followed his first major league home run with a victory lap of high-fives with Shea Stadium fans.

From what I understand about this incident, he high-fived some fans on his way out to right field the next inning. It was not exactly a Cal Ripken type of victory lap. In fact, this action seems pretty Nyjer-ish.

Going back further, he was expelled from Northside Christian School in Florida amid allegations of inappropriate behavior with a 15-year-old girlfriend.

There does not seem to be much public information on this vague incident. Since I don't know much about it, I will not claim that it is not a big deal. It very well might be an extremely big deal. Or maybe a high school boy was caught making out with a high school girl in the stairwell. I just don't see any indication that this incident that occurred when Milledge was in high school will tear apart the clubhouse chemistry.

Milledge opened this season as the Nationals' leadoff man, but it took only seven games -- as well as a 4-for-24 slump and two missed team meetings -- to tick off manager Manny Acta. He was sent down to Class AAA Syracuse, with no return trip scheduled.

That 4-for-24 slump is totally irrelevant. I don't support a player skipping meetings, but if that is the worst thing Milledge has done, I think his attitude issues have been blown out of proportion.

Maybe Milledge will turn out to be a cancer in the clubhouse. I have no idea. What I do know is that I did some pretty stupid things in my early twenties. Most people have. Just because Milledge spent that part of his life as a celebrity in New York City does not automatically make him a bad person.

So why was this a momentous day? Two reasons:

1. The 100th anniversary of the opening of Forbes Field

2. For the second straight year the Pirates have traded away 2/3 of their starting outfield.

Ross Ohlendorf picked up his 7th win by tossing seven shutout innings to overshadow (at least temporarily) all of that. He allowed three singles, a double and no walks while striking out eight.

Freddy Sanchez played the role of a man picking up the empty pieces of an offense. He had a part in all three Pirate runs, driving in a pair and scoring the third. He also stole a base.

The Cubs didn't threaten until they put two on with none gone against John Grabow in the 8th. But Grabow held on, whiffing Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome before getting Derrek Lee to ground out. Matt Capps pitched the 9th for the save.

The Good

A winning June. First one since 1996. Unbelievable.

Nice job by Ohlendorf. Second on the staff in wins.

Need more of that from Sanchez.

I have to say I'm happy thus far on the return for Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett. Lastings Milledge seems to have been around for a while, but he just turned 24. The only member of the club younger than him is Andrew McCutchen.

Ted Lilly gave up all three runs to the Pirates. The first of which scored when Freddy Sanchez scored from second on a strike three when Geovany Soto's throw to Lilly covering home went through the pitcher's wickets.

The Bad

McCutchen is just 1-18. His first struggle at this level. Hopefully he works out of it soon.

Delwyn Young has two hits in his last 18 at bats.

The Rest

Ohlendorf established a single game mark for whiffs.

Welcome Garrett Jones who was brought up from Indy before the game. He didn't appear tonight. He spent the better part of the last four years in AAA averaging better than 20 homers a year.

Lilly was 3-0 in his career against the Pirates coming in.

After days of speculation, Nyjer Morgan is headed to the Nationals in exchange for Lastings Milledge. The Pirates also added Sean Burnett to the deal, and will receive reliever Joel Hanrahan. This is an excellent trade for Neal Huntington and the Pirates.

Nyjer has been solid this year, with most of his value coming from his defense. He is hitting .277/.351/.356 with 18 stolen bases and 10 caught stealings, good for a below average wOBA of .315. He has an excellent UZR of 14.3, which has done wonders for the Pirates' pitching staff. But the important thing to remember is that nearly all of Nyjer's value comes from his amazing speed. Not only does it lead to good defense, it also helps keep his BABIP consistently high. He needs that high BABIP to compensate for his extreme lack of power. The problem is that Nyjer, who turns 29 on Thursday, is approaching the age in which players generally begin losing a step. He will likely have little value remaining in another couple of years.

In Milledge, the Pirates receive an impressive talent. Last year, as a 23-year-old, Milledge hit a decent .268/.330/.402. He is clearly more gifted physically than Morgan is, and he also has loads more upside. He does come with some baggage. He is not very selective at the plate, chasing over 30% of pitches outside the zone in his career. That has led to poor walk rates that have hurt his value. He also has racked up some poor UZR numbers in center. For what it's worth, he has mostly rated as about average in corner outfield spots over his minor league career. As for Milledge's makeup issues, I think they are probably overblown a bit. That kind of thing can happen to a player in New York. Rob Neyer agrees with me on that.

As for the pitchers in this trade, the Pirates also got the better of the Nationals. Burnett has posted an ERA of 3.06 in 2009, but his peripherals are not nearly as impressive. He has only struck out 23 while walking 15 in 32.1 innings. He is currently living off a BABIP of .218 and a strand rate of 78.2%. Burnett's FIP is 4.50, indicating some regression in his future. Hanrahan is just the opposite. He has struck out 35 with 14 walks in 32.2 innings. His BABIP is an unheard of .451. Hanrahan's 3.56 FIP in no way matches his 7.71 ERA. Hanrahan also has much better raw stuff than Burnett does. This is a classic case of buying low, selling high by Huntington.

The Pirates took on some definite risk in this deal, but they also added major upside. And all they gave up was a couple of marginal players. This is a major win for Neal Huntington.

The Pirates have traded Eric Hinske to the Yankees for catcher/outfielder Eric Fryer and pitcher Casey Erickson. Both are 23, with Fryer in High-A and Erickson in Low-A. Garrett Jones will replace Hinske on the roster.

There are also rumors that the Nyjer Morgan for Lastings Milledge deal is nearly done. Keep an eye on Twitter for the most current news.

@MBandi

@Dejan_Kovacevic

@jperrotto

@RobBiertempfel

@RoccoDeMaro

@mlbtraderumors

This offense is likely to drive one to drink. Maybe not this one, but someone out there. Rich Harden gave up nine hits and one walk in seven innings, but the Pirates collected just one run off him. Harden started off strong, limiting the Pirates to just two base runners over the first four innings. However, the Pirates scored once in the fifth (despite four hits), had two hits in the sixth and two more hits in the seventh. But that lone run in the fifth was all she wrote.

Zach Duke deserved better. He also went seven and gave up all three Chicago runs. He gave up seven hits and a walk. Big blows were delivered by Ryan Theriot (solo tater) and Milton Bradley (RBI double).

Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg finished for Harden.

The Good

Duke seems like a different pitcher in 2009. And that is definitely good.

Nyjer Morgan had three singles.

Andrew McCutchen had his first hit in four games.

The Bad

Wicked hot Andy LaRoche was 0-4 with three whiffs.

The Rest

This was Harden's first career appearance against Pittsburgh.

After winning his first four career decisions against the Cubs, Duke has now lost six straight.

Zach Greinke was once again tough, allowing just two runs - split apart by an hour long rain delay - in 6-1/3 innings of work. The Bucs were trailing 2-0 heading into the bottom of the 7th. Adam LaRoche singled and after Andy LaRoche tripled him in, play was stopped. Jamey Wright took the thill following the delay. He allowed an RBI groundout to Jason Jaramillo as the Royals bullpen retired the final eight Pirate hitters to seal the deal.

David DeJesus homered and drove in two off of Charlie Morton who suffered his first setback on the year. He gave up three runs on seven hits in five innings.

The Good

The bullpen tossed four scoreless innings, giving up just one hit.

Jeff Karstens tossed another scoreless inning in relief.

The Bad

Andrew McCutchen was once again hitless, dropping his average below .300.

Offense still can't get going.

The Rest

Greinke picked up his 10th win.

The Pirates won consecutive series for the first time since taking 2 of 3 from Colorado and then 3 of 4 from Washington (5-15 to 5-20).

Adam LaRoche is hitting .365 for June.

Through 75 games last year, the Buccos were 36-39 and 11 games out. This year they are one game worse at 35-40 yet remain in striking distance, entering today's game at 5 out.

Paul Maholm allowed just four singles, a triple and two runs in seven innings to beat KC. He put the Pirates in a hole early as Billy Butler had RBI singles in the first and third innings. But Delwyn Young popped a three run homer in the fourth and added an insurance RBI in the 8th to pace the offense.

Bruce Chen was the loser. He made his way back from Tommy John surgery to make his first appearance since April 20, 2007.

John Grabow and Jeff Karstens finished up with an inning each of shutout relief.

The Good

Young continues to be a productive bat.

Maholm has scuffled a bit lately (4-6 with a 5.22 ERA in his last 10 starts). It'd be great to get him going.

The Bad

Andrew McCutchen failed to reach base for the first time since June 10 and had his first ever streak of consecutive hitless games.

The Rest

Chen's last start was 8/4/06. Chen's last appearance against Pittsburgh was 6/8/05 when he was beaten by the pitching of Kip Wells and four RBI from Rob Mackowiak.

Young established a career best in RBI.

Exit Ian Snell, enter Virgil Vasquez. The Pirates waiver wire acquisition who hadn't tossed in the Show since 2007 picked up his first career win with six solid innings. He allowed four hits and two runs, while whiffing seven. He took the roster spot of the struggling Ian Snell who was sent to Indianapolis to get straightened out.

The Pirates trailed 2-0 early but came back on the shoulders of three unlikely power sources. Jack Wilson, Nyjer Morgan and Jason Jaramillo each homered to hand the loss to Gil Meche.

Matt Capps finished up by allowing a home run in the 9th and putting the tying run on base.

The Good

Welcome Virgil Vasquez! More, please!

Andrew McCutchen had his hitting streak stopped but reached base on an HBP and BB and scored both times.

The Bad

The offense continues to just get by with enough runs in putting together a three game winning streak.

The Rest

Vasquez joins Steven Jackson as Pirates who notched their first career win in 2009.

Vasquez' seven K performance is second best on the team in June. He topped seven whiffs at AAA Indy this season just once.

Jack Wilson has raised his BA 20 points in the last 10 games by hitting safely in 9 of 10 contests and piling up four multi-hit games.