You can't watch today's Pirates game against the Cardinals on TV, so Colin Dunlap will keep you updated, live from PNC Park.

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3:48 p.m. -- Yes, the brooms. Get out the brooms.

The Bucs got swept in the three-game series by the Cardinals.

St. Louis held on for a 3-2 win at PNC Park in a game which saw a combined 24 runners left on base.

Simply put, there was a ton of missed opportunity.

It ain't been a good couple of days for Mr. Salomon Torres, who took the loss, pitching just one inning and giving up Duncan's bomb. Torres also struggled last night, as the Bucs lost by the same score in 12 innings.

As it stands, your Battlin' Bucs have dropped five of their past six games and are 4-5 on the young season.

It is safe to say tomorrow's day off is a good thing and present a solid opportunity for the Pirates to recharge.

Oh well, it has been fun (and cold, no where near 50 degrees). Time to go to the bar.

3:41 p.m. -- What they gotta do is simple:

One run extends the contest, two runs win it.

The Bucs are down, 3-2, as the Cardinals are trotting onto the field in the bottom of the ninth.

Due up for the Pirates are Sanchez, Bay and Nady.

If ever there was a spot in the order you'd want, this is it. Stay tuned.

3:36 p.m. -- Smoked.

That's really all you can say.

Los Cardinales just made it 3-2 in the top of the ninth when pinch hitter Chris Duncan flat-out annihilated a 2-2 count offering from Salomon Torres into the right-centerfield seat.

Seriously, Duncan knocked the snot out of it ... it was a no-doubter.

So as it stands, 3-2 RedBirds in the 9th.

Your Battlin Bucs could be in some trouble.

3:26 p.m. -- The rain is persisting, it is coming down a little heavier. And the wind is blowing harder.

The clamps were just put on a would-be Pirates rally as they just left their 12th runner on base today and we are headed to the 9th knotted at 2-2.

And in other news, Liverpool is tied with PSV Eindhoven, 0-0, at halftime of their UEFA Champions League Quarterfinal second leg. Yes, some Americans like soccer...I'm one of them, I'm a big Liverpool supporter.

3:13 p.m. -- And now the number we were all waiting for ... today's attendance.

Pirates PR-sensei Jim Trdinich just blared through the in-house microphone, "Today's paid attendance, 9,959."

I don't really feel one way or the other on it.

Are there 9.95 people here? No.

Can you blame the masses for not coming out on a day like today? No.

3:06 p.m. -- It was a Big Country, too big of a country out there and that was the problem.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 7th, Big Country Brad Eldred (do people still call him that? Or just me?) smoked a pitch to deep left-center into the North Side notch, that little cut-out section of the field leading into the bullpen. But, that real estate 410-feet from home plate was kind to the RedBirds, as So Taguchi tracked down the long fly ball for the third out, leaving the bases full.

And now two things:

1. Matt Capps has entered the game for the Bucs in the top of the 8th.

2. The rain has started. So, whomever set the over/under on time of precipitation at 3:06 was onto something.

2:59 p.m. -- That's the Freddy we all know and love.

Freddy Sanchez just hit a sac fly to center sending in Don Kelly to make it 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh. And the Bucs are still threatening....details to come.

And I ask you, please man upstairs, NO EXTRA INNINGS...it is freezing. Again, it is no where near 50 degrees.

2:50 p.m. -- Don Kelly takes one for the team, getting hit by a pitch in the upper-arm.

This is rally cap time, I feel it. Kelly is on first with no one out and Chris Duffy is stepping in.

2:45 p.m. -- The Cards leave a couple of runners on in the away half of the seventh and the Pirates are still trailing, 2-1.

With the pitcher's spot due up first in the bottom of the seventh, we'll see Mt. Lebanon High School and Point Park University (Point Park College, when he was there) product Don Kelly pinch hit and try to get something going.

2:36 p.m. -- They just took the person who got hit with the bat off in a wheelchair with a bandage wrapped around the head. Looks like the person will probably be OK. My guess is a couple stitches at AGH and the fan will be back in no time.

Back to the game: Cards 2, Los Buccos 1, top of the 7th.

2:30 p.m. -- A fan just above the Pirates' dugout was just drilled by a broken bat on the final out of the 6th inning and is being attended to by medical personnel.

It got the person good, it really did. I feel bad because they are definitely injured.

2:19 p.m. -- Just got another e-mail from my homey Justin Gatewood. He writes:

"I was watching the wonderful Discovery channel show Blue Planet last night and they showed the first ever footage of the elusive Red Panda. It's an endangered species only found in Mainland China. Its most defining characteristic is its long red tail, which helps stabilize it in the mountains and while climbing in trees. Then, I tuned in the Bucs game last night and, can you believe it, saw that Scott Spiezio had somehow attached a Red Panda tail to his lower lip. That's a real good look, Scott. Keep pushing the envelope in the guise of team spirit, Scotty."

Gatewood is clearly referring to Spiezio's red-dyed goatee little thingy...it is bad anywhere, and I mean anywhere.

In Los Angeles -- it looks bad.

In Tokyo -- it looks bad.

In London -- it looks bad.

In Hunker, Pa. -- it looks bad.

Oh, yeah, Jalapeno Hannah won the pierogie race edging Oliver Onion at the finish line in a race that was very drab by pierogie race standards. There were, simply put, no shenanigans. They just, um, ran.

Also by the way, Maholm has been replaced by Jonah Bayliss and the Bucs are still down, 2-1, as we head into the bottom of the 6th without any rain yet. Key word: yet.

2:12 p.m. -- In the words of Ray LaMontagne, "Trouble. Trouble, trouble, trouble."

The Cards have the bases loaded and just one out in the top of the 5th inning.

Paul Maholm does his best John Smiley impersonation, stepping up big and striking out Scott Spiezio swinging for the second out.

But then Preston Wilson comes through with the cheapest of cheap hits, a little dribbler down the third base line that chases home a run and puts the Redbirds up, 2-1.

Maholm bounces back to get Jim Edmonds to strikeout swinging (yes, the old forward K).

There is some damage done, though, as the Cards take a 2-1 advantage into the bottom of the fifth.

Ah, yeah, and by the way, "Glory Days" won that jukebox thing....That song might have about the only "speedball" reference I have ever heard of. "Speedball?"

Come on, The Boss, you should have just called it a "fastball."

1:54 p.m. -- If you've ever been to PNC Park, you know they do this whole "Pirates Jukebox" thing where they play snippets from three songs and, whichever receives the highest reading on the sound-o-meter gets played later in the game.

Our three choices today:

1. A virtual fireplace (kind of a funny thing, where it is simply a crackling fire)

2. "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen

3. "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Aaron Presley.

My vote: In a runaway, it should be Elvis. But given the temperature outside, I bet the crowd goes with the fireplace.

PS: St. Louis just tied it 1-1 when everyone's favorite little man David Eckstein shot an RBI single down the first base line in the top of the 5th.

1:48 p.m. -- Bucs 1, Los Cardinales 0, in the bottom of the fourth....just like that.

Humberto Cota (yes, he still plays for your hometown Buccos) just hit a single to left that chased home not-so-fleet of foot Brad Eldred who scored from second despite running like he was carrying a piano on his back.

1:43 p.m. -- Xavier Nady, the Pirates' rightfielder, is accompanied by the song 'Tom Sawyer' by Rush when he steps to the plate.

Rush is Canadian. That has to mean something for the Penguins tonight? Right. I mean, there is some cryptic omen in there somewhere. It could mean the Pens will beat Ottawa, it could mean Ottawa will beat the Pens, it could mean he likes Rush better than Cowboy Junkies or Barenaked Ladies (also Canadian bands).

Who knows, but I gotta believe it means something.

Nady, by the way, hit a sharp single to left to lead off the bottom of the fourth where we are, say it all together now, still scoreless.

1:37 p.m. -- Ah, the beauty of the Internet. And, more to the point, wireless Internet.

I just got an e-mail from my good friend Justin Gatewood, a guy I went to high school with. He told me to pay special attention to the third base coaching box in the top half of the innings today and, yes, I am seeing what he is seeing:

If there is ever a contest for the most weight gained after a professional athletic career is over, Cards third base coach Jose Oquendo is sitting pretty in the clubhouse. Actually, come to think about it Buster Douglas put on about 200 pounds when he stopped fighting, but Jose is in the upper echelon of this category, no doubt.

1:30 p.m. -- Jack Wilson softly pops up, Freddy Sanchez walks and then Jay-Bay grounds out as Duffy is left on third. End of 3 and still 0-0.

1:23 p.m. -- Now we're in bidness!!!!

Chris Duffy just drilled a one-out triple to dead center over the head of Cardinals centerfielder Jim Edmonds. For a moment, it looked as if Edmonds might pull off his patented move of running at full sprint with his back to the infield and catching the ball over his head. But, even Mr. Edmonds, master of the Willie Mays over the shoulder catch, couldn't reel this one in.

So, Duffy stands at third with one out...Can they get him home?

1:19 p.m. -- OK, we're rolling along, just a combined three hits thus far and the Bucs and Los Cardinales are still knotted at 0-0 heading into the bottom of the third. And while the radar looks a tad ominous, there has yet to be any rain here at the Cathedral Upon the Allegheny.

1:11 p.m. -- Somebody from Avonmore, Pa. (wherever that is) just won a Pac-Man lunch box in the Baseball Quiz crowd giveaway between the bottom of the second and top of the third.

That's Pac-Man the video game character, not Pac-Man the sometimes football player, all-the-time thug.

1:07 p.m. -- P-G columnist Gene Collier is sitting in front of me in the press box. He has gloves on...again, Mr. Jim Trdinich, it is no where near 50 degrees right now.

By the way, through one and a half innings, 0-0.

12:49 p.m. -- End of 1, tied at 0-0. The Bucs wasted a one-out double by Jack Wilson.

12:44 p.m. -- How bout them Battlin' Bucs! Faced with a first and third situation and one out in the top of the first, the Pirates force St. Louis' Scott Spiezio into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double-play to skirt any damage in the first....In the middle of the 1st, it is scoreless.

12:36 p.m. -- Paul Maholm throws today's first pitch to David Eckstein. Soon thereafter, Pirates PR guru Jim Trdinich announces the game time temperature is 50 degrees.

Yeah, right, Jimmy T, it is 50 degrees in Richmond, Va. or Knoxville, Tenn. maybe, but it feels more in the area of about 41-43 to me right now.

12:27 p.m. -- The obligatory, "Attention, ladies and gentlemen, please do not go onto the field " announcement was just made over the loudspeaker as we near gametime.

They should scrap that announcement each game and get right to the point, instead of beating around the bush.

You know what that announcement is code for, and what they should really say?

"Attention ladies and gentlemen, please do not go onto the field. If you do, some 6-foot-3, 258-pound City of Pittsburgh policeman is going to come onto the field, hunt you down and then drag you out, ensuring you'll never do it again."

12:18 p.m. -- Seems like the "stinking media" have figured things out. Imagine that.

With the impending weather moving into the area, just about all the writers have been looking on their laptops at some form of weather site or another, checking on the local radar. People are also trying to figure out exactly what time the foul weather will hit.

When pressed for a prediction, one longtime scribe just said to me, "It's Pittsburgh, it could hit anytime."

You know, he's onto something.

12:07 p.m. -- Adam LaRoche isn't in today's lineup, as Big Country Eldred is playing first base. Also, Humberto Cota is catching and hitting eighth.

Oh, heck...here's the whole lineup:

Duffy - CF

Wilson - SS

Sanchez - 2B

Bay - LF

Nady - RF

Eldred - 1B

Bautista - 3B

Cota - C

Maholm - P

11:47 a.m. -- Wow, the advertisement barrage has officially crossed the line...Sitting in the press box, I just looked down at the field and, get this, even the tarp covering the pitchers mound is now emblazoned with an advertisement. More to the point, the red tarp has a big yellow, arched "M" on it with the words "I'm lovin' it." underneath. They say the ad is for some fast food joint or something...hmmm.

There is a joke about former Pirates pitcher Jimmy Anderson in there somewhere, but I'm going to stay away from it.

11:43 a.m. -- Hey, Colin Dunlap here. I just made the short walk over from my place and am now situated inside PNC Park. I gotta say, there was, um, not a lot of traffic. And from the looks of it (and this is just an initial, unscientific observation) there are still PLENTY of good seats available for today's matchup between the Bucs and St. Louis, scheduled to get underway at 12:35 p.m.