One of the highlights of the Leyland years: Barry Bonds' second two-run homer of the night, this one off Lee Smith, gave the Bucs a 4-3 victory over the Cardinals in 11 innings. The link is the Post-Gazette story; the Pittsburgh Press also had coverage.

Another side of the erstwhile Bucco shortstop.

Mike Newman from Scouting The Sally wrote up a scouting report on Evan Chambers for Bucs Prospects. He quoted a scout as saying, "Chambers is a guy you want in your organization to just see what he can become," and referred to him as "a potential breakout candidate in 2011."

The Charleston paper provided a fairly extensive look at Victor Black's debut with the West Virginia Power.

Two years ago, singer/songwriters Steve Wynn and Scott McCaughey, joined by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck on bass, recorded an album of baseball-themed songs, "Frozen Ropes & Dying Quails," as The Baseball Project. The album included the song "Harvey Haddix," celebrating Haddix's 12 perfect innings against the Braves in 1959, bemoaning how major league baseball didn't officially credit Haddix with a perfect game, and listing, in the chorus, all of the pitchers who had thrown perfect games. The album received heavy airplay in my household; I think McCaughey, a long-time R.E.M. sideman and the leader of the Young Fresh Fellows and Minus 5, is one of the most underrated figures in rock music over the past quarter-century.

As this ESPN.com article indicates, Wynn, McCaughey & Co. are back in 2010. They're going to chronicle the season by recording one topical song each month and offering it as a free download on ESPN.com. The first number, "All Future and No Past," is about being optimistic at the beginning of the season, no matter how your team did the year before. It's a catchy start to the series, with McCaughey on vocals. As you might expect, they mention the Pirates, along with the Padres, Reds, Athletics, Royals, Orioles, Indians and 2008 Rays.

It's for $950K, with incentives that could increase it to $1.2 million. No word in the article about it being a minor league deal, as was reported by DK this morning.

Pedro Alvarez and Chase d'Arnaud were the two Lynchburg Hillcat selections on Baseball America's Top 20 Carolina League prospects. With an eight-team league, landing multiple prospects on this list isn't as difficult as it is in some other leagues--the 2006 Hillcats had three players (Neil Walker, Brett Lillibridge and Brian Bixler), and the 2004 Hillcats had four (Zach Duke, Tom Gorzelanny, Brad Eldred and Rajai Davis). Still, Alvarez and d'Arnaud are the first Hillcats to gain Top 20 recognition since Shelby Ford in 2007.

Baseball America included Rudy Owens (#11) and Tony Sanchez (#12) on its list of Top 20 South Atlantic League Prospects, released today. Unlike the short-season lists, this represents a departure from the recent past: the last Top 20 SAL appearance from a Pirate prospect was Andrew McCutchen's #1 in 2006. Neil Walker was #2 in 2005 (ahead of Ryan Braun, who was #5), and Tom Gorzelanny was #13 in 2004.

The organization has acquired several other SAL Top 20 alumni: Jeff Locke (#14 in 2008), Jose Tabata (#2 in 2006), Lastings Milledge (#3 in 2004), Andy LaRoche (#9 in '04) and Brandon Moss (#20 in '04).

BA's list of the Top 20 prospects from the NY-Penn League included one Spike: Victor Black, who had a 3.45 ERA in 31.1 innings pitched after being drafted 49th overall.

Other NY-Penn League Top 20 prospect alumni in the system: Chase d'Arnaud (#18 in 2008), Daniel Moskos (#4 in 2007), and Duke Welker (#14 in '07).

(h/t B.U.C.C.O. Fans)

BA released its list of the top 20 prospects in the GCL, the first in its annual series of lists of top prospects by league. Brooks Pounders made the list as #15, and Trent Stevenson showed up on a list of 2009 draftees who "played well in the GCL but didn't log enough playing time to qualify for our rankings."

Looking at previous lists for comparison, each of Huntington's drafts have yielded one GCL top prospect. Jarek Cunningham was #20 in 2008. No Pirates made it in 2003, 2006 and 2007 (although Gorkys Hernandez was #3 in '06), but Andrew McCutchen was #1 in '05 (and Jose Tabata #7 that year) and Neil Walker was #4 in '04.

Led by Bryan Morris' 6.2 innings of one-run pitching and Josh Harrison's four RBI, the Lynchburg Hillcats defeated Wilmington 5-2 to take the Northern Division Championship Series three games to two. They'll play the Salem Red Sox in a best of five for the championship, starting in Lynchburg on Monday night.

Lynchburg beat visiting Wilmington 1-0 tonight to even the best of five Carolina League Northern Division Championship Series at 1-1. Rudy Owens picked up with win with six scoreless innings (4 H/6 K/1 BB). Ronald Uviedo pitched the ninth for the save. Game Three is Friday night in Wilmington.

Lynchburg lost to Winston-Salem in 13 innings tonight, but Justin Wilson turned in another strong start. Six days after an 11 K/0 BB masterpiece, he allowed one earned run in six innings, allowing six hits, walking none and striking out six. In his last two starts -- 13 IP -- he has struck out 17 batters, walked none, and allowed only one earned run.

PSU Collegian article on Evan Chambers' steady improvement (333/444/533 in 36 PA this month) with the Spikes.