The Pirates staged a nice little comeback that fell just short yesterday.
It might be time for Jimmy Anderson to stage a nice little comeback, too. And not fall just short.
Anderson, who has exhibited flashes of promise throughout his 75 starts with the Pirates, tried his manager's patience again yesterday in a 9-8 loss to the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park.
Had Anderson been able to pitch through an error by third baseman Rob Mackowiak, yesterday's game might have wound up as a victory.
The key inning for Anderson was the third, moments after the Pirates had rallied to tie the score, 2-2, in the second.
A one-out walk to Sammy Sosa and a single by Moises Alou put runners on first and second. Anderson got a bouncer from Todd Hundley that might have been an inning-ending double play.
But Mackowiak muffed the ball, and the error loaded the bases.
That brought up Mark Bellhorn, who was hitting .225. Another ground ball and the inning could have been over.
Instead, Bellhorn drove a 1-1 pitch into the left-center field seats for his first career grand slam. For good measure, two pitches later, Alex Gonzalez, hitting .235, sent a home run over the center-field wall.
It was 7-2 Cubs, and the Pirates had to fight from behind the rest of the sultry afternoon.
Anderson pitched only three innings. The Pirates are 0-14 when their starting pitcher works fewer than five innings in a game.
McClendon remains mystified by Anderson's inconsistency and penchant for having one bad inning that messes up a game.
"He's certainly the one who keeps me the most puzzled. He has the stuff to win in this league. I hope he gets it together soon."
Meaning Anderson could be headed for the bullpen?
"As of right now, no," McClendon said.
So patience, patience, patience, eh?
"As long as it takes," he said.
That might not turn out to be the case, though. Anderson is scheduled to start Tuesday night in Montreal. However, it's conceivable Sean Lowe or Ron Villone could start that night instead.
"Jimmy didn't have much [yesterday]," McClendon said. "He got his arm up. It was not a good outing."
"I thought most of my pitches were down," Anderson said. "For the most part, I was ahead of the hitters. It was just unfortunate. It's definitely frustrating. If I have one bad game, well, everybody has one. But I've had two in a row now. I definitely have to have a good game my next time out."
The Cubs made it 9-2 on Chris Stynes' two-run home run off Lowe in the fourth.
"We could have packed it in," McClendon said. "Kerry Wood on the mound ... the stuff he has. But we certainly battled back and made it very interesting in the end."
Had the Pirates been more resourceful in the bottom of the fourth, they could have made it more than very interesting in the end.
A leadoff walk to Brian Giles and a two-base error by Stynes on Kevin Young's hard ground ball put runners at second and third with no outs.
But the Pirates didn't score.
Mackowiak struck out. Craig Wilson looked at a third strike. Adrian Brown flied to center.
Undaunted, the Pirates scored three times in the sixth.
Young's one-out double, Mackowiak's single to left and a walk to Wilson loaded the bases. Brown singled to right to cut the deficit to 9-4. And a pinch-hit, run-scoring single by Aramis Ramirez, who was 1 for 12 lifetime against Wood, made it 9-5 and finished the Chicago starter.
Giles' 13th home run in the seventh brought the Pirates within three runs.
In the eighth, Wilson had a leadoff single through the middle. Brown hit a ground ball back to the mound, and Juan Cruz boxed it around, then zipped his throw past first base. Wilson scored and Brown sprinted to third.
Cruz defused the rally quickly, getting Abraham Nunez to bounce into a double play as Brown scored the final run of the game.
In the Pirates ninth, it was three up, three down. And two out.
Jason Kendall was ejected by plate umpire Matt Hollowell for commenting on a called strike. Hollowell then tossed McClendon, who came out to discuss Kendall's ejection.
"The umpire and I exchanged pleasantries and I left," McClendon said. "I'm not going to talk about the umpires. I'm in enough trouble as it is. I'm trying to be a good boy."
Kendall was upset about the second strike called on him in his at-bat in the ninth. On the next pitch, he tapped to the pitcher. As he ran back toward the dugout, Kendall said something to Hollowell and continued toward the dugout. Before he got there, Kendall learned he had been ejected.
What did Kendall say?
"Not enough to get kicked out," he said. "Not nearly enough to get kicked out."
The pitch in question?
"[Catcher Joe Girardi] caught it above his mask," Kendall said. "He called it a strike."
Young, still trying to find it at the plate, had two doubles in five at-bats yesterday.
The past month, McClendon has rested Young in back-to-back games a few times.
"We're trying to get Kevin back to the point where he's a productive offensive player," said McClendon, referring to himself and hitting instructor Dave Clark. "He has flaws, and Dave's been working with him.
"And we've rested him more. In the long run, I think that will help Kevin. And it gives [Wilson] a chance to show what he can do.
"If Kevin Young can hit .250 or .260 with 20 to 22 home runs and 75 to 80 RBIs, we can live with that," McClendon said.
Since May 1 of last season, Young has batted only .216 with 14 home runs and 67 RBIs in 519 at-bats.
"This is something new I'm going through -- something this extensive," Young said. "But it's something I have to overcome. It's all about obstacles and overcoming. That's the way I look at it.
"I've made some minor adjustments, but you can't keep trying things over and over. You lose your starting point. Right now, the big thing is to get some good pitches to hit and stay on the fastball."
Anderson roughed up again; Cubs stop Pirates' rally, 9-8 
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