Discuss “Pirates will rely on pitching”

With an offense that will struggle to score runs consistently, the Pirates will have to rely on strong pitching to win games. Youth is being served as this year the Bucs? pitching staff is led by 24-year-old Oliver Perez and backed by a rotation that is just 28 years old on average. Conversely, the Yankees? youngest starter is 29, and the average age of their big guns is over 35 years old. Here is a quick rundown of the young arms who?ll be taking the mound for Pittsburgh in 2005.

Starter Oliver Perez ? Perez, acquired in the trade that sent Brian Giles to San Diego, emerged as the staff?s ace last year after a mediocre 2003. He had an earned run average of just 2.98 and struck out nearly

11 batters for every nine innings he pitched. However,...