Pirates Lose 10th Straight, 7-3

Well, that's 10 straight. The Pirates' MVP today was ... well, the fans. When Brandon Wood hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to make it 7-3, giving the Pirates some fragment of a figment of a sliver of a chance of winning, the crowd was really, really into it, and I have to give it credit for that, because there were plenty of reasons to be pessimistic.

Kevin Correia kept the Pirates in it for five innings but didn't actually pitch all that well overall, running into huge problems in the sixth that led to three Padres runs. The Bucs' hitters yet again did an awful job controlling the strike zone, striking out eight times and walking once. Brad Lincoln pitched the seventh and eighth and wasn't very good. The Pirates' lineup did not include Andrew McCutchen (day off) or Ronny Cedeno (benched after his defensive misadventures yesterday). For some reason, Matt Diaz batted second against a righty. Joel Hanrahan pitched the ninth - you know, to get some work, after sitting out pretty much every relevant situation he could have pitched in the past 10 days.