Blogs

The question made Brendan Donnelly laugh, but only for a moment. Was today’s 11-5 rout of the Dodgers this afternoon a fine way to shout down the critics who expect the Pirates to fail for the 18th season in a row?

Opening Day. The sun is shining over PNC Park. ‘Nuff said. Here we go … Lineups for today’s season opener: Dodgers (0-0) — 1. Rafael Furcal ss, 2. Russell Martin c, 3. Andre Ethier rf, 4. Manny Ramirez lf, 5. Matt Kemp cf, 6. James Loney 1b, 7. Casey Blake 3b, 8. Blake DeWitt 2b, [...]

The Pirates traded right-hander Virgil Vasquez to the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later. That clears a spot in the starting rotation at Triple-A Indianapolis — creating at least the possibility that both Kevin Hart and Daniel McCutchen eventually could pitch at Indy and give recent acquisition Hayden Penn a chance [...]

Daniel McCutchen faced what it arguably the best lineup in the NL, and turned in a pretty good start in today’s 4-2 loss to the Phillies.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — This afternoon, Hayden Penn will pitch in his first major league spring game for the Pirates. Two days ago, as manager John Russell looked on, Penn tossed one quick inning against minor leaguers at Pirate City. “It was a short look because he got through it pretty easy,” Russell said. “The velocity’s [...]