Lineup, Notes, News - Walker, Snider Back

LHP Wandy Rodriguez (10-13, 3.72) takes the bump against RHP Jason Berken (0-0, 18.00) this afternoon. Wandy has been solid in his past few outings, and the Bucs need someone to come up big. Berken was claimed off waivers from Baltimore on September 7th. He has a career 10-17/5.40 line in the show, and is taking Jeff Samardzija's place in the Chicago rotation. Berken went 5-6 with a 3.50 ERA over 26 starts with AAA Norfolk, but in his only big league appearance this year, he was tagged for seven runs (two earned) on six hits in one inning of relief during the Orioles' 14-3 loss to Texas on May 7th. The first pitch is at 1:05 and will be shown on Root Sports.

The lineup: Starling Marte LF, Travis Snider RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Clint Barmes SS, Rod Barajas C, Wandy Rodriguez P.

If the Pirates have one last hot streak left in them, this would be a good time to get it rolling; there are only 19 games left in 2012. Maybe Neil Walker will be the straw that stirs the drink. He's finally back in the lineup; the last game The Kid started was back on August 26th.

• Philly tied Pittsburgh in the wild card race yesterday; both teams are three games behind the Cards and one behind the Dodgers for the second spot. 
• Alex Presley is likely out for today after taking a pitch off the tootsie yesterday.
• Cutch leads the NL with 178 hits and is on pace for 202 this season. The last Pittsburgh player to lead the league in hits was Andy Van Slyke in 1992 with 199 while the last Bucco to collect 200 hits was Freddy Sanchez with exactly 200 in 2006.
• Gaby Sanchez has hit .280 with three HR and 10 RBI in 37 games as a Pirate.
• If you were wondering: Rod Barajas continues to get more starts behind the plate than Mike McKenry because he scores higher in the Pirates' proprietary defensive metrics, according to Pirates manager Clint Hurdle.