Lineup Card: Rockies @ Pirates

Four keys to victory.

1. Fundamentals.  
2. Execution.  
3. Don't overswing.  
4. Be better than Pittsburgh.

Pre-Game Notes

Aaron Cook to the DL with the phantom toe injury.  That'll make room in the rotation for Jhoulys Chacin to start on Sunday.  Until then, Chris Nelson will provide an extra body on the bench until Melvin Mora is ready to play again.  He's day-to-day with the knee bruise.  

Remember how the Rockies claimed Wes Hodges from the Indians the other day?  The Indians reclaimed Hodges today.  So that's your Wes Hodges era in Colorado.  48 hours.  

More good info on tonight's game comes courtesy of @kristpie and her entertaining Pirates/baseball blog. 

Rockies Lineup (56-51)

1. LF  Smith
2. 2B  Barmes
3. CF  Gonzalez
4. SS  Tulowitzki
5. 1B  Giambi
6. C    Olivo
7. RF  Hawpe
8. 3B  Stewart
9. P    Francis

Pirates Lineup (37-70)

1. CF  McCutchen
2. LF  Tabata
3. 2B  Walker
4. 1B  Jones
5. 3B  Alvarez
6. RF  Milledge
7. C    Snyder
8. SS  Cedeno
9. P    McDonald

The Pirates have added a couple former NL West enemies since we saw them last week.  Actually they added more than a couple in their separate deals with LA, San Francisco and Arizona -- but the two you'll notice tonight are Chris Snyder and James McDonald.  

Neither really stood out as a Rockies killer in the past, so not too concerned seeing either tonight.  From the Pirates perspective, I think Snyder helps them more than McDonald because he's good at handling pitchers.  McDonald fills a nice role though as a SP/long reliever type.