Delwyn Young homered Saturday night and is batting .346 when he's in the lineup. Brandon Moss hit safely in five of his past six games and is power threat against right-handed pitchers.
So when it came time to choose a starting right fielder Sunday against Kansas City Royals righty Zack Greinke, Pirates manager John Russell chose ... Eric Hinske.
"Put 'em in a hat, pull one out and see how it works,"
Russell said with a chuckle.
The decision-making process, of course, is not nearly as simple as that. It's difficult, too, considering the recent success by Young and Moss and the presence of Hinske and Steve Pearce.
"It's a nice problem to have," Russell said.
Before making his choice, Russell huddles in his office with hitting coach Don Long and bench coach Gary Varsho.
"We talk about what might be the best matchup that night," Russell said. "We look at the time between starts, matchups, gut feelings sometimes."
Last week, Moss made three straight starts in right after showing signs of life at the plate. To stay sharp, Young played Saturday.
"We really like the way Delwyn and Brandon are playing," Russell said. "Eric gives us veteran leadership, and he needs to play every once in a while as well."
Hinske went 0-for-4, but he contributed a nifty defensive play. In the seventh inning, Hinske dove to snag Mitch Maier's blooper in shallow right.
The odd man out is Pearce, a natural first baseman who was called up June 21 after Craig Monroe was designated for assignment.
"We put Steve in a tough spot by dropping him back into right field for just two games before he came up," general manager Neal Huntington said. "Young and Moss are better right fielders. Hinske could arguably be a better right fielder than Steve. So there may not be many at-bats for Steve."
Huntington said Russell has done a great job of mixing and matching right fielders. But Huntington would prefer that it didn't have to happen.
"We love for one of those guys to just go bananas for a month, never look back, take the job and keep it for the next 10 years," Huntington said. "But until that point, (Young and Moss) both deserve opportunities out there. They've both shown enough that intrigues us."
The Pirates are happy with the veteran leadership Eric Hinske has provided this season.
Michael Jackson Autopsy Photo - As days have passed since the death of the King of Pop, many people on the Internet are starting to look for a picture of Michael Jackson’s autopsy. This is mostly generated because of the “leaked autopsy report” that was in fact a hoax.
The fake report, which among other things stated
that Michael Jackson was found with pills on the stomach, broken ribs, needle injuries and scarring from numerous surgeries, was called false by official sources.
If you happen to be one of the thousands of people scouring the internet in search of Michael Jackson’s autopsy photo, then you’re out of luck sicko. There isn’t one.
Since the “leak” of the fake autopsy results hit the internet, people have been clamoring to see a photo that disproves that the King of Pop was nearly bald. Sickos, he just died. Freaking vultures.
Wearing powder blue pants and a plaid fedora, 84-year-old Orval "Hoppy" Ray arrived fashionably late to a celebration in Picher, Oklahoma, a vacated mining town at the center of one of the nation's largest and most
polluted toxic-waste sites.
Former residents, bought out by the government because their town was deemed so dangerous, gathered in Picher's elementary school to say farewell to a place where kids suffered lead poisoning, where homes built atop underground mines plunged into the Earth and where the local creek coughs up orange water, laced with heavy metals.
A toothpick dangling out of the corner of his chapped mouth, Ray greeted several old friends as if he were in any other small town in America.
"Hello there, Hoppy! How the hell are ya?" one called out.
Gray mountains of toxic gravel loomed behind the school, just out of sight, as Hoppy hobbled past a bundle of balloons and through the front doors, cane in hand. He tipped his hat as he entered.
"Looks like a good crowd," he said. "Everybody seems to be havin' a good time. That's the main thing."
In a town this tragic and for a person as stubborn as Hoppy, that's a big statement.
As his abandoned town fades to dust, Hoppy has gone into the business of memories. He wants to remind townspeople, and the world, that a person's home should always be loved -- no matter how toxic. The death toll from a chain-reaction accident on an Oklahoma turnpike this weekend has risen to 10.Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Mo., said Sunday that 35-year-old Shelby Hayes of Frisco, Texas, had died. She had been in critical condition with head, internal and external injuries after Friday's crash.Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., said Sunday that the condition of 12-year-old Andrea Reyes, of Phoenix, Ariz., was upgraded from critical to serious
