Imagine building a huge deck-of-cards house with two levels, carefully putting the finishing card into place only to have the school bully come and shake the table. The whole house comes tumbling down. Now you have the idea of what it might have felt over there at PNC tonight. One night after riding the emotions of the sellout crowd to victory, the Pirates watched the Yankees systematically pick them apart.

Joba Chamberlain looked strong against the Bucs throwing 114 pitches in 6 and 2/3 innings, mixing in a curveball with his mid to upper 90’s fastball that kept the Pirates hitters off balance all night. His counterpart Zach Duke pitched well enough for 5 innings, but the 2 runs scoring on a missed doubleplay opportunity in the 1st, set the tone for the rest of the evening.

The offense scattered 8 hits on the night, Doumit with 2 and Jack Wilson went 3 for 3, but he committed the throwing error that allowed the Yankees to score those 2 runs in the 1st and then committed another throwing error later in the game. Even though Jack went 3 for 3 his error cost the Bucs, and if this was hockey he would have picked up a -2 on the night.

There really isn’t much more to say about this game other than T.J. Beam doesn’t appear to be able to get anyone out at the Major League level and the bullpen that was once the strength of the pitching staff is now starting to show signs of coming apart. The Pirates did complete a trade with the Detroit Tigers before tonights game, sending minor leaguer Kyle Pearson for relief pitcher Denny Bautista. That will probably guarantee the departure of Beam back to Indianapolis.