The next winning Pirate team

Is on the field, mostly. So writes Brian O'Neill:

The sweetly unexpected Pirates victory Sunday in St. Louis, the kind of one-run nail-biter that the team had been losing most of the season, was a pretty good snapshot of what a winning Pirates team will look like.

Jason Bay drove in four of the five runs with two home runs. Then came the winning 10th-inning blast, a line-drive over the left-field fence by Jose Castillo. All around and in between, the Pirates turned six double plays.

This team is often misrepresented by the casual fan as having a lack of major-league players. In fact, nearly every Pirate would make nearly every team, though not necessarily the starting lineup. The Pirates' problem is having just one top-tier hitter in Bay, surrounded by four average hitters plus three below-average hitters at key defensive positions."

Either we get more up the middle, or we need to replace one of the average-for-his-position hitters with some kind of Albert Pujols. Either way, all the Bucs need is one or two more power hitters who contribute consistently and play every day.