Pirates-Phillies, top of fourth

It's hard to believe the Pirates open the regular season in Atlanta in 11 days.
Are they going to be any better? Certainly, manager John Russell and his staff have carried through on their promise to establish a culture of accountability, stressing the attention to detail that makes a difference in a lot of games.
Chris Gomez singles with two outs.
I'm not sure where the offense is going to come from. The Pirates lack a 35-to-40 home run guy in the middle of the lineup (Jason Bay fans might disagree), and guys like Jose Bautista and Ronny Paulino need to become more consistent to scare anybody.
The rotation shows promise, but Morris' rocky outing Wednesday may develop into a bigger concern. Zach Duke is coming off an injury-plagued season and Paul Maholm did have a 5.02 ERA.
The building process, I suspect, will be long and gradual.