The Pirates are 1-0 at Miller Park this season and look to go two games over .500 for the first time this year. Erik Bedard takes the hill for Los PIiatas, Shaun Marcum for Los Cerveceros.
It's Cerveceros Day in Milwaukee so the teams will be wearing Spanish-language jerseys, but you won't be able to see them if you are in Pittsburgh because the game will not be televised. Yeah, MLB, FOX and the blackout rules. You know the story. The national games are generally at 7:00 this year rather than 4:00, so tonight you can't watch Piratas baseball in Pittsburgh.
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As I speculated yesterday, Brad Lincoln will join the rotation. He'll get the start on Tuesday. Michael Sanserino tweets that it's possible Lincoln will make two starts. Hurdle has said Jeff Karstens will make one more rehab start, so barring anything unforseen, I think you can bank on two starts from Lincoln. And I'll go so far as to suggest that if they both go well he will be difficult to remove from the rotation.
Tom Singer tweets that Hurdle also said when Tabata "eases up," he isn't "loafing" down the line. He pulls up when he feels tightness in that left leg. Apparently the discomfort has not completely subsided. I ripped Tabata yesterday for dogging it, so I'll back off from that comment. I was going to take another shot at him today for not being on third on the ball that went over Nyjer Morgan's head. Doesn't it make sense to rest the guy for a couple days so he can go 100 percent without fear of injury? Tabata does have some history of leg injuries so having him play and have to gauge his effort on every play makes zero sense to me.
UPDATE: I just remembered Tabata STOLE a base last night. What's the deal? I feel like I'm getting played.
Barmes back in, Jones to the two hole tonight:
Jose Tabata 7
Garrett Jones 9
Andrew McCutchen 8
Pedro Alvarez 5
Neil Walker 4
Matt Hague 3
Clint Barmes 6
Michael McKenry 2
Erik Bedard 1
Ryan Braun is still banged up and not in the lineup tonight. The Pirates have trotted out some terrible lineups this year. This one for the Brewers gives them a run for their money:
Carlos Gomez 8
Norichika Aoki 7
Corey Hart 9
Aramis Ramirez 5
Richie Weeks 4
Cody Ransom 6
Brooks Conrad 3
Martin Maldonado 2
Shaun Marcum 1
If you are a Rule 4 Draft fan, do yourself a favor and listen to Jim Callis of Baseball America and our own Vlad on the lastest edition of The Bucs Dugout Podcast which Charlie will post around 6 p.m. today. Great stuff from both of them.