August 21 @ Atlanta Braves

Jason Bay had two outfield assists in Monday night's 3-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves; if he had been able to make another top-tier defensive play, a sprint-and-slide catch of a ball in foul territory, I might be talking about a Pirates win instead of another road loss.  Unfortunately, Martin Prado's pop up dropped, and with his second chance the rookie second baseman stung a two-run double that increased the Braves lead to three runs, effectively putting the game out of reach with a brilliant John Smoltz on the mound.

Smoltz and Zach Duke locked horns in a pitcher's duel that took less than two hours to complete; Smoltz held the Pirates to three hits in eight innings of work and struck out ten, and Duke's line read 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER.  Britt Reames tossed a scoreless mop-up inning, and Bob Wickman earned his 24th save of the season.

Jim Tracy ran out his "crafty veteran lineup", with Jeromy Burnitz playing RF and batting fifth and Joe Randa playing 3B in the seventh hole.  Ronny Paulino dropped from sixth to eighth, and Jose Castillo was removed from the starting nine.  The usual-but-questionable Duffy-Wilson-Sanchez-Bay foursome filled out the top of the lineup, and Xavier Nady rounded out the starters in the sixth spot (where I think he fits nicely).  Maybe Littlefield's shopping our vets with the hope of unloading them to a contender (Jamie Moyer, Neifi Perez, and Guillermo Mota moved in the past week), or maybe Tracy's just trying to mix things up.  I'm really a fan of the idea of trading JB to the Mets for a minor leaguer; it'd be fantastic if Omar Minaya is, too.

Tonight, Shawn Chacon squares off against reliever-turned starter Oscar Villarreal, who sports a 9-1 record despite his 4.13 ERA.  In his last outing--his first start of the year--Villarreal allowed only one base hit in five innings of work.  Chacon takes the hill in a spot start to give Tom Gorzelanny an extra couple of days to rest a stiff elbow.  Tracy denies that this is the beginning of a six-man rotation--I don't believe him.

As a minor league aside, Jonah Bayliss earned his 23rd save of the year for Indianapolis last night (lowering his era to 1.74 in the process).  I know that Reames is up to do his best Vogelsong, innings-eater impersonation, but isn't it about time to get Jonah back in the 'burgh?  Just a thought, because

It's A New Pirates Generation, everybody shout "Let's Go Bucs!"