The Brewers had a remarkable twelve extra-base hits today, and the Bucs piled three errors on top of all that, so maybe we're lucky Milwaukee only scored eleven runs. The first four innings were just exhausting; the Brewers hit a bunch of balls very hard, and even the ones they didn't seemed to land in places in which the nearest Pirate was a football field away. 

And so Zach Duke and Denny Bautista couldn't get anyone out, but what happened after that terrible twosome was put to bed was pretty interesting -- Sean Burnett, John Grabow and T.J. Beam combined for 4.2 innings, one run and nine strikeouts.

The Pirates' pitching is obviously a complete mess, and we'll probably endure several more eleven-run games before the year's over, but the silver lining is that we're pretty likely to get a dependable and cheap reliever out of the deal. All these innings the Pirates have to hand out are a problem, but they're also an opportunity, and at least one reliever is likely to succeed, if only because there are so many getting opportunities. If I have I have to guess, I'll pick Beam, who pitched well today and has a very good minor league profile.

By the way, Major League Baseball announced today that Nate McLouth will be an NL All-Star.