The Pittsburgh Pirates are now 1 loss away from being the first franchise in sports history to have 17 straight losing seasons. The Pirates suffered a tough loss to a Cardinals team that didn't even start Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, or Yadier Molina. All 3 of those guys got at bats in the 10th inning of this game, but Pujols' at bat was the only one that really mattered. The game headed for extras tied at 1 as the Pirates couldn't get the big hit they needed to win the game in the 9th. Albert Pujols pinch hit to lead off the inning and hit a 3-2 fastball over the centerfield wall to put the Cardinals on top. Albert dropped his bat and admired his shot, which you don't see from him very often. I was kind of upset with Albert there.

So I was at the Pirate game with my school yesterday... started talking about the Pirates with a couple of other kids in my class. One kid started talking about how the trades were awful and with this management the Pirates will never win. He went on to say that having an outfield or Jason Bay, Nate McLouth, and Andrew McCutchen, along with Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson would have made the Pirates a playoff team this year. I went on to remind him that without the trades they made they would have guys like Virgil Vasquez, John Van Benschoten and Ian Snell starting, which would result in nothing close to a playoff birth.