Switching gears to the Bucs

OK, so Memphis left the door open with its lousy free-throw shooting and cost me the right pick on Monday night. The upside is my son, Adam, was on Kansas from Day 1 and always, always likes to rub it into the old man.

So let's switch gears:

At least the Pirates were entertaining. The worst thing they could have done, before another huge opening-day crowd, was lose, 7-0. At least they came back and created some excitement before losing to the Cubs 10-8 in 12. But what a win, had Bixler broken for the plate on the Bautista's suicide squeeze, that would have been.

*Between John Mehno's daily Insider and Ray Eckenrode's every-other-inning blog, keep it right here on altoonamirror.com for the best Pirate coverage east of Monroeville.