Bucs Beat Phils 5-3, Dark Horses Stay In the Race...

The season Opener is just around the bend...

• Pittsburgh rallied to beat the Phils 5-3 today to run their Grapefruit record to 12-9-1. The Buccos drew 8,566 to the game, a McKechnie Field record and the fourth consecutive sellout at Bradenton. Loud crowd, too - AJ had words with a heckler as he left the park. The Pirates visit the Orioles tomorrow afternoon.
• Some Buc longshots are stayin' alive. Travis Ishikawa homered off Brad Lincoln to continue his late push for the first base spot as Andrew Lambo (.095 and with options) falters. In the outfield, both Chris Dickerson and Travis Snider banged out a pair of hits, and their showing is why JT is expendable (well, that and Greg Polanco). The bullpen still has more arms than spots available. Only the starters seem set. The last week of camp should prove to be interesting.
• At Pirate City yesterday, Charlie Morton tossed seven scoreless innings with 7 K's against the Yankees High A team.
• Hey, welcome to CBS' Eye on Baseball's Bucco day. Mike Axisa has the Pirate 2014 preview while Dayne Perry adds his team likes and dislikes and his over/unders.