Happy 4th of July to all you Pirates fans. Here are a few links and notes to catch you up on what's going on throughout Pirate Nation (yes...I just said "Pirate Nation").- The Bucs continued their dominance of the 1st place Florida Marlins with a 7-4 win over the Fish. Charlie Morton had crazy-nasty stuff and carried a no hitter into the 5th inning. He ended up pitching 6 scoreless frames for his 1st win as a Pirate. Power also came today for the Bucs from 2 unlikely sources. Brandon Moss hit his 2nd homer of the season and Ramon Vazquez launched his 1st of the season. Andrew McCutchen went 2-5 with an RBI double, 2 runs scored and his 5th stolen base of the season. The win moved the Bucs' record to 4-0 against the Marlins this year.
- Ryan Doumit started his rehab assignment today for the GCL Pirates. He went 0 for 2 with a walk and a strikeout. He caught 5 innings. Doumit will now be moved to AAA-Indianapolis and will most likely stay there until he is ready to join the club.
- Garrett Jones may have been a single short of the cycle on Thursday, but Charlie from Bucs Dugout reminds us not to get too carried away.
- For those that care, Manny Ramirez made his return from a 50-game suspension to Major League Baseball in a 6-3 Dodger win. Manny went 0 for 3 with a walk.
- The Braves played the Nationals today. Nate McLouth led off for Atlanta and Nyjer Morgan led off for Washington. Combined they were 1 for 10 with a walk, a run scored, a SB, and 3 strikeouts. Another interesting fact...the Nationals used 7 pitchers...4 were ex-Pirates (Sean Burnett, Ron Villone, Joe Beimel, and Julian Tavarez). The Nationals have the worst record in baseball, by the way.
- This is the first time I have heard of this...but the Pirates are giving fans a free ticket to any game they want for their birthday. They don't even have to have a game on your birthday...you get to pick when to go. Even if your birthday has already happened or happens when the season is over, you still get a ticket. So basically, they are giving everyone one free ticket...considering everyone has a birthday. Click here to get your birthday ticket!
