July Update

While my mojo for blogging about baseball has hit yet another valley, my love for this team has done anything but.  While I'm spending less time typing into blogger, I'm spending more time on mlb.tv, and starting to believe that this team might just be for real.

There's a whole lot of good to report.  Cutch is a legitimate MVP candidate, JMac is slowly turning into an ace.  The AJ Experiment is going very well.  Pedro is heating up again.  The rest of the Pirates are actually starting to hit the ball, and with good pitching, the Bucs are starting to look like a balanced club.  A potential game changing X-Factor, rumors of Starling Marte's ascension could mean a struggling Tabata might be sent to Indianapolis.  Jose is terribly wrong right now, and this team could use him straightened out by a September pennant race.

You have to wonder what GM Neal is thinking right now.  The conventional wisdom early in the year was to trade from the MLB pitching surplus for some positional help.  Could he even be entertaining Ken Rosenthal's notion of going all in for guys like Hamels or Greinke?  I think that would be terribly short sighted, as any trade tools found in Indianapolis NOT named Marte, Morris or Sanchez should be fair game for flipping for a legit OF corner.  Here are the three guys I'd like to choose from:  If the Rockies go into sell mode, Michael Cuddyer.  The Twins are probably looking to move Josh Willingham.  And if the Phillies really have a fire sale, I want nothing to do with Hunter Pence, and everything to do with Shane Victorino.

Last month I picked the Bucs to go 14-13, ending at 39-38.  They actually went 17-10 to end at 42-35!  Whooohooo, I love being wrong!  July looks very promising, and I'm feeling very optimistic:

1 @ STL (loss, posted too late to pick)

4 vs HOU (3 wins, 1 loss)

3 vs SF (2 wins, 1 loss)

3 @ MIL (1 win, 2 losses)

3 @ COL (2 wins, 1 loss)

3 vs MIA (1 win, 2 losses)

3 vs CHC (3 wins, 0 losses)

4 @ HOU (2 wins, 2 losses)

2 @ CHC (1 win, 1 loss)

Total month pick 15-10, ending record 57-46, and in first place!

Beat Em, Bucs!