Pirates vs. Braves

Greetings from another gorgeous spring day at McKechnie Field, where the Pittsburgh Pirates - now 2-0 after knocking off the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox - host the Atlanta Braves.

This is John Lembo, sports writer with The Bradenton Herald, and I will be blogging throughout today's rematch of the 1991 and 1992 National Leagye Championship Series - though don't expect to see Sid Bream sliding into home any time soon.

Here are the lineups:
Braves:
Josh Anderson, cf
Omar Infante, ss
Chipper Jones, 3b
Brian McCann, c
Jeff Francoeur, rf
Matt Diaz, lf
Freddie Freeman, 1b
Greg Norton, dh
Diory Hernandez, 2b
Kenshin Kawakami, p

McCann, Chipper and The Natural - not a bad haul from Orlando. And the Braves Outlandish Number - the amount of uniform numbers over 60 in any team's spring training lineup - is only two, which is very, very good, especially this early.

The undefeated Pirates:
Nate McLouth, cf
Jack Wilson, ss
Freddy Sanchez, 2b
Ryan Doumit, c
Adam LaRoche, 1b
Eric Hinske, dh
Jose Tabata, rf
Ramon Vazquez, 3b
jeff Salazar, lf
Tom Gorzelanny, p

Another slate of regulars for the Pirates. I am curious to see Tabata play - once the crown jewel of the Yankees' organization, Pittsburgh picked him up when they dealt Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to New York last summer. Also, curious to see if a leaner Gorzelanny means a better Gorzelanny.

We're less than four hours from game time, and it's Friday, folks. So play a little hooky and watch a ballgame. Beats working for a living, right?