I've been among those who have argued that we can't dismiss the Pirates out of hand. Folks may well be right that they'll fade; history alone suggests that. Then again each squad annually is different.
The weekend series between the Pirates and the Cards, frankly played out as I had hoped, particularly given that we didn't win yesterday. While the Pirates are in second and it's always good to put added room between yourself and that next team down, I wanted to add to our lead on the Cardinals. But yesterday, given that we were 3 1/2 up on the Redbirds, I then wanted them to win yesterday so no matter what we did, we'd still be on top.
I hate to see us lose games like yesterday, particularly in the manner we did (and I'm guessing Ludwick and Bruce would probably agree). Now I'd like to see us finish up to the break with a good streak of games.
Ultimately I think it will still be us and the Cardinals. But those Pirates are proving to be pesky probably just how we were in 2010.