Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 too start season!

After a tough (1-0) loss on opening day to the Philadelphia Phillies and their Cy Young winning pitcher Roy Halladay, the Pirates showed exactly what their manager Clint Hurdle wants this year. That is "finish". Clint Hurdle told his team this spring training that he wanted the players to finish every at bat, every pitch, and every play.

The task didn't get any easier on Saturday 4/7/12 when the Pirates had to face the Phillies premier left handed phenom Cliff Lee. The Pirates tied the game in the sixth inning thanks to a Cliff Lee wild pitch. Neither the Pirates nor Phillies had much to show on offense throughout the night. But in the bottom of the tenth, Pirates up and coming left fielder Alex Presley beat out an infield single to drive in the winning run lifting the Pirates to a 2-1 victory in walk off fashion.

But the fireworks weren't over yet. The Pirates had some more excitement for their fans the following day! On Easter day the Pirates showed their most impressive game thus far on this young season. Trailing the Phillies 4-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh the Pirates offense finally showed some life. They rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh to make the game 4-3. The Pirates bullpen kept the Phillies scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings. The Pirates tied the game 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth and the stage was set. With two outs Andrew McCutchen hit a 3-2 pitch off the centerfield wall to drive in the winning run, once again in walk off fashion!

Neither team showed much offense, the Phillies only scored six runs and the Pirates only mustard seven runs. The real story of this series was the Pirates pitching. The starting rotation and bullpen have been more than just impressive to start off this season. The Pirates team ERA (Earned Run Average) is an outstanding 1.29 in their first three games this season. Good for second in the league thus far. The stat that isn't very good is the Pirates team batting average. The team is only batting .257 which is ranked 25th in the league. If the Pirates can start swinging the bats with more consistency and the piching stays consistent all season, the Pirates will have a exciting season, possibly win the division and most likely be over .500 for the first time in a long time.