Blogs

Donnie Veal is on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to yesterday) with a strained right groin. Veal was injured while pitching Friday night. The Pirates will make a corresponding roster move tomorrow — perhaps an opportunity to get a look at recently acquired righty Eric Hacker.
• Those Nate McLouth bobblehead dolls from a couple of [...]

Give this to the Pirates — they keep you guessing.
One day after being shackled by a 37-year-old right-hander who allows nearly a run an inning, the Pirates knocked around the pitcher with the second-best ERA in baseball.
Go figure.
The Pirates held off a late scare and beat the Astros and 1.71-ERA-toting Wandy Rodriguez, 7-4, on [...]

• Manager John Russell said a day off might help slumping Nate McLouth, mired in a 1 for 25 skid. McLouth’s average has dipped to .250 after being as high as .306 earlier in the month. A .286 career hitter against Astros left-hander Wandy Rodriguez, McLouth, perhaps trying to shake the slump with a new [...]

Nate McLouth, Brandon Moss and Adam LaRoche are out of the starting lineup against left-hander Wandy Rodriguez, and Andy LaRoche — hitting .435 in his past 13 games — is batting second for the first time this season, as the Pirates play the Astros at 7:05 p.m. at PNC Park in a Skyblast game.
Craig Monroe [...]

Brian Moehler pitched his first complete game in nearly nine years and the Pirates fell to the Astros, 6-1, on Friday night at PNC Park
Rookie Edwin Maysonet went 4 for 4 with four RBI, as the Astros, mired in a slump that reportedly had manager Cecil Cooper’s job in jeopardy, amassed 15 hits against four [...]

&#149 Closer Matt Capps is cleared to pitch tonight, four days after being struck in the right elbow with a line drive at Wrigley Field. Capps threw a side session Thursday. Russell said he won’t hesitate to call on him tonight.
“He’s good to go,” Russell said. “It was a scary moment, but it [...]

Here are the starting lineups for the Astros-Pirates game tonight at PNC Park, as the teams open a three-game series at 7:05 p.m.
ASTROS — 1. Michael Bourn cf, 2. Migeul Tejara ss, 3. Lance Berkman 1b, 4. Carlos Lee lf, 5. Hunter Pence rf, 6. Ivan Rodriguez c, 7. Jeff Keppinger 3b, 8. Edwin Maysonet [...]

CHICAGO — A final decision won’t be made until tomorrow or Friday, but it seems safe to say Matt Capps will not go on the disabled list.
Capps was struck by a line drive on his right elbow Monday night. This morning, he threw long toss — about 25 throws from 120 feet — at Wrigley [...]

CHICAGO — Matt Capps pulled out his cell phone and called up a picture. It was taken in a mirror and showed Capps’ red, swollen right elbow … clearly bearing the imprint of a major-league baseball.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Capps said.
After being stuck by Geovany Soto’s line drive, Capps said his elbow [...]

CHICAGO — A laundry list of injury updates:
… “We dodged a bullet,” was how GM Neal Huntington described Matt Capps’ elbow injury after he was struck by a line drive last night. X-rays were negative and Capps will be re-evaluated this afternoon by doctors. No word yet on whether Capps will go back on the [...]