Week 15

Record: 56-38, .596, 0 games back
Position: 1st place (5 games ahead of Chicago)
Runs Scored: 466 (3rd in NL)
Runs Allowed: 384 (3rd in NL)
Defense: .695 (3rd in NL)
Power Ranking: 111.2 (3rd in ML)
Owner Mood: Ecstatic, Fan Interest: 69/100 (+1)
Last Week (4-2): 1-1 vs. OAK, 3-1 vs. CHI

• 7/15: OAK 1, PIT 15 - Lincecum held the Oakland hitters to 1 ER over 7 IP as we pounded the A's pitcher for 11 runs on 19 hits. McCutchen had a 3 run HR and Marte chipped in with a 3 run triple.
• 7/16: OAK 3, PIT 2 - Liriano labored through a quality start (6.1 IP 3 ER) throwing 131 pitches. Brett Anderson pitched very well (7 IP 1 ER) before Sean Doolittle shut us down for his ML leading 28th save.
• Wandy Rodriguez was activated from the 15 day DL and Jason Grilli was optioned to AAA. Grilli was stellar for the 1st month and half of the season but since has fallen apart so hopefully he can get himself back together at Indianapolis and be some help to us for the stretch run.
• 7/18: CHC 2, PIT 6 - Burnett earned his 4th win of the season going 6 innings and giving up 2 ER. Jed Lowrie came up big on the offensive side going 2-4 with an RBI and 2 RS. The win puts us 4 up on the Cubs.
• 7/19: CHC 3, PIT 2 - Wandy was shaky in his first start since returning from the DL (5 IP 2 ER 7 H 2 BB 2 K's) but the pen kept us in it until Snider tied it with a solo HR in the 8th. Herrera came in for the 10th and gave up the go ahead run on a triple by Starlin Castro. Fujikawa would strike out the side in the bottom half of the inning to secure the W.
• 7/20: CHC 4, PIT 5 - Simon Castro battled through 7 innings allowing 4 ER with his only real mistake being a hanging curve ball that Starlin Castro deposited into the seats for a 3 run HR in the 6th. The bullpen was effective and we were able to tie the score in the 8th with RBI singles from both Crawford and Marte. Ogando worked the 8th and 9th to earn his first W as a Pirate and Jed Lowrie hit a walk-off solo HR in the bottom of the 10th. Surely a sweet victory to put us 4 games up in the division.
• 7/21: CHC 4, PIT 14 - Good start by Lincecum (7 IP 3 ER) to earn his 6th win and we terrorized the Cubs pitching for 14 runs on 17 hits with Marte leading the way going 4-4 with a HR 2 RBI and 3 RS.
• Tony Watson was activated from the 15 day DL and was optioned to Indianapolis. We are going to go with Downs as our lefty specialist for now but Watson could return if Downs falters.
• Jose Tabata was activated from the 15 day DL and Jerry Sands was optioned to AAA Indianapolis.

Great series win versus the Cubs that puts us 5 games up heading into the AS break. I will include the mid-season recap in one of the following posts.
We have offered 30 year old SS Jed Lowrie a 3 year extension with an annual salary of $7.5 mil. The 3rd year is a team option with a $750K buy out. We really like Lowrie's defense as he's just as good at 2B as he is at SS. We may have overpaid for the great offensive year that he is having but we value defensive up the middle enough to make that committment.

Who's Hot: Starling Marte 9-25 1 HR 2 RBI 3 RS, Jed Lowrie 6-20 2 HR 5 RBI 5 RS, Jeff Locke 6 IP 0 ER 4 H 1 BB 3 K's
Who's Not: Pedro Alvarez 3-23 5 K's,

Next Week: 3 @ COL

News from around the league:

7/15: The Brewers have acquired 27 year old reliever Dan Jennings and 19 year old minor league 1B Ryan Tellez from the Marlins in exchange for 26 year old minor league 1B Stephen Parker.
7/17: The Twins have acquired 25 year old SP Wily Peralta from the Brewers in exchange for 20 year old minor league SP Stephen Gonsalves and 24 year old minor league C Bryan Santy.
7/18: Cory Gearrin (ATL) - Out 7 weeks with a strained shoulder.
7/21: The Angels have acquired 26 year old LF T.J. Mittelstaedt from the Brewers in exchange for 31 year old MR Sean Burnett and 22 year old SP Karsten Whitson.

AL Player of the Week: Nolan Reimold (BAL) 12-19 2 HR 5 RBI 5 RS
NL Player of the Week: Starlin Castro (CHC) 16-27 2 HR 7 RBI 5 RS