Marlins 5, Pirates 4

Well, the Pirates squeaked out two wins in Atlanta and got pelted in their one loss, so they probably had this coming. This wasn't an especially great game by Marlins starter Scott Olsen or Bucs pitcher Matt Morris. Morris basically had two settings for his pitches - "well outside the zone" and "right down the pike." He threw a ton of pitches in the first few innings and had to be removed early. Phil Dumatrait was surprisingly effective in a long outing in relief, which has to make John Russell and his exhausted bullpen happy. However, the Pirates couldn't muster any offense after Morris left, and Franquelis Osoria gave up a walk-off homer to Mike Jacobs.

To no one's surprise, Adam LaRoche and Jason Bay were both terrible, combining to go 0-for-8. Again, much of the Pirates' offense came from Xavier Nady, Ryan Doumit, and Nate McLouth, who between them had seven hits (two in which they were inexplicably thrown out trying to grab an extra base, including a double (by McLouth) and a homer (by Doumit). This team would've really struggled through these first few games if McLouth and Doumit hadn't won (or semi-won) starting jobs. Of course, we might have struggled with Steve Pearce in instead of Nady, too.