Pittsburgh Pirates Update

The first two weeks of the season are now in the books. The Pirates are sitting at a modest 6-9 record and are getting ready to start a three game series with the Colorado Rockies. To this point of the season the Pirates have fared very well against what most people believe is the toughest April Schedule in the NL, by facing just one team so far with a losing record in 2011. However, the offense that plague them so many times last season is once again a major concern. To this day the pirates have not scored more than 5 runs in a game (they also haven't given up more than 5 runs). Which is a huge area of concern because this team was supposed to have upgraded in the offense over the off season. Pickups like Clint Barmes, Rod Barajas and Nate McClouth have done very little season for the pirates and are starting to be questioned as every day starters. If the pirates had even average batting during the first two weeks of the season we could be looking at a team with a record like 10-5 instead of 6-9, because of how well the pitching has been, (4th best ERA in the MLB). The schedule gets easier down the road so it is too soon to write this team off as the 20th straight losing season.

Pirates offseason pickup AJ Burnett went 7 innings on Saturday giving up 0 runs and striking out 7 batters to improve and already solid starting rotation.