Three Rivers, One Bad Baseball Team

Greetings from Pittsburgh! Home of the mullet, a river (Monongahela) with an even weirder name than Schuylkill, and the town where .38 Special is playing somewhere at all times. (For instance, we are jamming to "Hang On Loosely" in the park at the moment - turn up Freedom Rock!)

It's also the home of some ironic facts ... for instance, Andy Warhol was born and raised here. How in the Campbell Soup Can did that happen? And how do you have the best ballpark in the majors and the most hapless team playing in it? PNC Park is a treasure; the Pirates, however, are a shipwreck.

Ryan Howard almost took a seat Friday night against Tom Gorzelanny, who has been vicious against left-handed hitters (.190). Howard, meanwhile, has been very inconsistent at the plate since Chase Utley went down (.200, 4 HR, 32 K in 70 AB). He'll put a good swing on a ball once in a while and come up with a big hit, but Howard unquestionably has taken many, many more bad swings this season than he did in 2006. Howard told Charlie Manuel that he didn't want to sit a game out .... we'll see if he responds to the suggestion with better focus in the batter's box.

Shane Victorino is with the team. He believes the "grab" he felt in his injured calf during a rehab game for Reading was some scar tissue tearing. He had an MRI done that showed healing and no further damage, so he could make one or two more rehab appearances after the weekend and return to the Phils by mid-week.

Wow, they'll hand the keys to anyone

Yes, this is Dennis Deitch, live from Washington D.C., and the blog is open for business.

The first post will be short and sweet: Adam Eaton is out, via a 15-day D.L. stint for a sore shoulder that wouldn't be sore enough for the D.L. if he didn't have an ERA close to 9.00 since the All-Star break. He had a cortisone shot in the shoulder Sunday, the point of which is to give him a chance to pitch through the soreness. But that isn't happening. He'll throw on the side in Pittsburgh, make a minor-league "rehab" start sometime next week, then the Phillies will decide whether they want to welcome their $24.5 million investment back to start against the Mets (since he's 5-0, 1.89 ERA lifetime against them) in August's final week.

Shane Victorino is heading to Philly for an examination of the strained calf he aggravated Tuesday night in a rehab game. He's shelved for at least a few days. A better guess is that this will cost him another two weeks, if not more.

Check during the game for updates, thoughts and witticisms. And please feel free to leave comments and questions that I'll do my best to answer along the way.