Cole Comes To Town; Wandy To DL, McDonald Traded,

The Bucs must be expecting a rowdy crowd for Gerrit Cole's debut; they're gonna start wanding everyone (actually, it's part of a new security protocol that kicks in tonight, spurred by the Boston Marathon bombing). He goes against Tim Lincecum (4-5, 4.75), so hopefully the crowd will get to their seats by the fifth inning. The matchup between the spirit of Christmas future and the ghost of Christmas past should generate a little Bucco buzz.

You know all about Cole already, we'd guess. The 22-year-old right-hander from UCLA was the first overall selection in the 2011 draft and received an $8M bonus. He went 5-3/ 2.91 in 12 starts with Indy, and the last two have been shutouts.

He's not facing the old, vintage Lincecum; Tim hasn't made a quality start in five road outings this year. His road ERA is 5.67, and he's struggled at PNC Park, where he's 0-1 with a 5.19 ERA in three career starts. Of course, the Bucco bats have made a lot of guys' ERAs shrink lately, and Lincecum was sharp against the Toronto Blue Jays in his last start at home. Over seven innings, he allowed just one run on three hits and struck out six. So...

The game starts at 7:05 and will be aired by the MLB Network, Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan. And don't worry about the weather if you want to take in the game; the rain is supposed to go away this afternoon.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Travis Snider RF, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones 1B, Russell Martin C, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Neil Walker 2B, Clint Barmes (R)and Gerrit Cole P.

The Pirates have scored two runs or fewer eight times over their last 12 contests, yet won seven of those dozen contests.

Giants lineup: Gregor Blanco CF, Marco Scutaro 2B, Buster Posey C, Hunter Pence RF, Brandon Belt 1B, Andres Torres LF, Brandon Crawford SS, Joaquin Arias 3B and Tim Lincecum P.

Pablo Sandoval has a strained left foot and a trip to the DL is possible.The G-men, who were in a bit of a hitting funk, scored 16 runs in the past two games against the D-Backs.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/11/3444911/san-francisco-giants-33-29-at.html#storylink=cpy

• Marc Hulet of Fangraphs has a post on Cole's debut.
• The Pirates have traded infielder John McDonald to Cleveland for a player to be named or cash. It keeps Jordy Mercer in Pittsburgh and also provides the secondary benefit of clearing a 40-man spot for Cole, although not an active roster spot.That would be vacated by Wandy, who was placed on the 14-day DL. We'll get to repeat the shuffle again on Thursday for Charlie Morton.
• James McDonald gets a start at Indy today, while Stolmy Pimentel, who went from red hot to ice cold, is on the bump at Altoona after a promising outing last time he hit the hill.
• Bob Cohn of the Tribune Review has a piece on OF Andrew Lambo, who has regained some of his shine and promoted to Indy.
• Dave Driver of MLB.com has a post on Altoona's B/OF prospect Alex Dickerson.
• Nick Kingham, who has been rising with a bullet at Bradenton, was promoted to Altoona according to Tim Williams at Pirates Prospects. The 6'5" righty is 6-3/3.09 in 67 IP, and has racked up 71 K with a 1.000 WHIP. 
• If you like a little Bucco history, Michael Sanserino of the Post Gazette has a piece on the Pirates, Alleghenys, American Association, National league and 10,000 wins.