Game 75: Blue Jays at Pirates

Paul Maholm vs. former Rays' batboy Jesse Litsch starting soon. Nady's not on the DL, as Salas was sent down. Dirty Doug gets the start in RF.

Game 74: Blue Jays at Pirates

Duke vs. Halladay at seven. The Post-Gazette reports that Nyjer Morgan (.559 OPS at Indy) has been called up, presumably because Nady (.886 OPS) is going on the DL. Win meter: broken.

Game 73: Pirates at White Sox

Dumatrait vs. Floyd at two. Breakout vs. Even Bigger Breakout. Fourth place vs. first place. 7 runs vs. 24 runs. Pistol-whippee vs. pistol-whipper. Beer vs. beer. Jolly Roger: proudly unfurled vs. shamefully concealed.

Game 72: Pirates at White Sox

Gorzelanny vs. Buehrle at eight. Despite yesterday's pistol-whipping, Bay's stomach virus, and Gorzo's 35K:46BB ratio, victory is imminent as Iowa Pirate braves floods and a beating to fly the Jolly Roger.

Game 71: Pirates at White Sox

Ian Snell vs. Javier Vazquez at eight as interleague play continues. Although Nady is out with the acromioclavicular joint* sprain and Vazquez has eaten more innings than the entire Bucs rotation, Snell is coming off two decent starts and ALR is hypnotically descending from the treestand, so victory is imminent (if J-Mike wills it to be so).

* the acromioclavicular joint, or AC joint, is the connection between the clavicle and scapula.

Off day

Nady vs. MRI at eight.

Game 70: Pirates at Orioles

Maholm and Cabrera in half an hour.