Important Start For Bedard

The Pirates have lost three of their first four games coming out of the All-Star break not exactly the way they wanted to start their second half against some very average teams. Unfortunately for Erik Bedard this is on the bottom the list on why he needs to pitch well tonight. Just to give you a look at how Bedard has pitched recently here's a quick look at his lines from his last five starts

7/6 vs. SFG. 3.2IP, 4H, 5R, 4ER, 1 HR, 1BB, 3SO


7/1 vs. STL. 4.2IP, 8H, 5R, 5ER, 2HR, 2BB, 5SO


6/26 vs. PHI. 6.0IP, 8H, 4R, 4ER, 1HR, 2BB, 3SO


6/20 vs. MIN. 6IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 0HR, 2BB, 7SO


6/14 vs. BAL. 3.1IP, 8H, 7R, 7 ER, 0HR, 2BB, 1SO


As you can see over Bedard's last five start he only has one solid line and that came at home against Minnesota, the worst of the five teams record wise. To say the least this is an important start for Bedard and the team. The Pirates are doing everything the can to help Bedard, giving him close to ten full days rest since his last start on July sixth. Bedard has said that this is the best he has felt in years so injury is not what we are dealing with when it comes to Bedard, which makes his case even less arguable for staying in the rotation. I don't want to get to much into this now but the Pirates do have some AAA pitchers they are very confident in, left-handers as well, so it could be a easy one for one switch if Bedard's struggles continue. I can't imagine the Pirates give Bedard more then one or two more bad starts before pulling the string but then again I said the same thing about Brad Lincoln.