28-year old righty starting pitcher Ross Ohlendorf has been the Pirates’ best starting pitcher so far this season. He has started 20 games for the Pirates and he is 1-10 with a 3.90 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. His record is awful for as well as he has pitched for the Pirates this year. Ohlendorf has now pitched in 54 games (all starts) in his three years with the Pirates and he is 12-23 with a 4.10 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. Hopefully the Pirates start scoring some runs for Ohlendorf because he deserves to win some games.

UPDATE: (8/24/2010) - Ross Ohlendorf will likely miss the rest of the 2010 season due to a damaged muscle in the back of his right shoulder. His season likely ends with 21 starts in which he was 1-11 with a 4.07 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are 30-52 on the season as they are in last place in the N.L. Central, 16.5 games behind the Reds. But you can’t blame Evan Meek for the fact that the Pirates suck. The 27-year old righty reliever has pitched in 38 games (0 starts) for the Pirates so far this season and he is 4-2 with 1 save, a 0.96 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP. Meek has only given up 29 hits in 47 innings this season for the Pirates while whiffing 42 batters showing how dominating he has been. This will be Meek’s first All-Star appearance and he could be the Pirates’ closer by the end of the year if they decide to trade Octavio Dotel.

32-year old lefty Javier Lopez was given a invitation to spring training with no guarantees. He pitched well enough in spring training to win a job in the Pirates’ pen and he has been solid for them so far. Lopez has pitched in 17 games (0 starts) for the Pirates so far this season and he is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. Lopez has only given up 11 hits in 16 innings pitched this season but he has walked 7 batters and that is too many. Lopez could be a trade chip if the Pirates fall out of contention or he could be a asset to the pen if they somehow contend for a playoff spot (very unlikely).

29-year old lefty starter/reliever Brian Burres has pitching pitching decent ball for the Pirates so far this season. Burres has pitched in 6 games (3 starts) for the Pirates so far this year and he is 2-1 with a 3.91 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. Burres has walked 14 batters in 23 innings and he will need to tighten his control if he’s going to stay with the Pirates. I have my doubts that Burres is going to maintain his current level of pitching as his career tells a much different story about his abilities. Burres has pitched in 87 games (44 starts) in his major league career and he is 15-21 with a 5.91 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP.

27-year old righty reliever Evan Meek was decent for the Pirates last season but he is really stepping up his game so far this year. Meek has played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Pirates so far this season and he is 1-0 with 1 save, a 0.60 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He has whiffed 15 batters in 15 innings so far this season showing that his stuff has been pretty good so far. He has also only allowed 11 hits and he has only walked 4 batters. The important number with Meek is the walks as his control was out of whack most of last year for the Pirates.