Bucs Win! Bucs Win!

Monday night's game against the Cardinals was a perfect example of Jim Tracy managing in development mode.

Winning didn't matter.. changing the confidence of his players did.

Ian Snell has always been labeled a six-inning/80-pitch pitcher and this game started off no different.

Pitching a one-hit shutout through six, Snell started to come apart at the seams around the 75th pitch in the seventh as he watched a sharp ground ball go between Jose Bautista at third and Jack Wilson at short into left field for a single.

After fouling a pitch off his ankle, Jim Edmonds then struck out for the first out and Snell walked Scott Spiezio on the 85th pitch to put men at first and second.

Up to the plate came Adam Kennedy who quickly deposited a Snell curve ball into right field to score one and leaving runners at first and second.

Jim Colborn made his obligatory trip to the mound and you could see Snell seemingly pleading to be left in the game as Colborn approached.

But Jim Colborn had no intention of taking Snell out of the game this night.. no matter what. Some could say it was old school baseball leaving Snell in, as it was his game to win.

Jim Colborn and Jim Tracy would probably call it changing a mindset.

No sooner than Colborn left the mound did Snell walk Molina to load the bases, perhaps testing the faith of the Pirates pitching coach even more.

Yet, Jim Colborn was unmoved.

Schumaker popped out after a couple of pitches and then Eckstein came to the plate with two outs.

As Pirate skipper Jim Tracy paced back and forth, Snell's 96th pitch to David Eckstein was hammered down the third base line, but foul.. by about a foot.

Tracy grabbed a rag and wiped his forehead and Colborn sat emotionless.. cool as a cucumber.

Sensing the batters urgency, Snell threw a little hook that broke down sharply and Eckstein topped it for a little ground ball to short and the inning was over.

Ian Snell walked off the mound with a slight smile on his face and a little skip in his walk.

Part II of the Tracy development play came in the 9th inning when he sent Salomon Torres to the mound to try and close out a one-run game against the very team who had beaten him the last two times he faced him.

As the Baseball God's turned their backs on the Pirates, Adam Kennedy led off and hit a little grounder to Adam LaRoche who couldn't find the handle and Kennedy was safe. It was LaRoche's first error in 49 consecutive games.

After Molina put down a sacrifice bunt to move Kennedy to second, Miles hit a grounder to Bautista at third but the ball hit the bag and careened over his head allowing Kennedy to take third base.

Runners on the corner and still only one out, a Torres fastball in tight runs into Eckstein and the bases are now full.

Jim Tracy starts talking to Jim Colborn as if Tracy might want Torres removed and Colborn just smiled. Tracy walks away pacing the dugout again until Duncan makes the second out.

Up to the plate comes Albert Pujols with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Pirates still up by one run. On a 1-0 pitch, Torres ran a heater right into his breadbasket - the kind of pitch Pujols normally would go yard on when he is healthy, and he popped it up in foul territory to end the game.

And the Pirates won.

As I said earlier, this game wasn't about winning - it was about developing.

Not only did Ian Snell and Salomon Torres walk away with new found confidence, but the entire team walked off that field pumping high-fives knowing it was only their 5th win in St. Louis in their last 17 games and they did it beating the World Champs on their own turf.

When the Pirates take the field 14 hours from now to play the final game in this series, you just might see a completely different team on the field.

I sure saw one walking off the field.. even the Manager looked different.

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Snell's one hit allowed thru six was actually a groundball hit to Sanchez that went off his glove into right field. Sanchez wasn't called on the error..  Sanchez tripled in the 3rd and came home on a Bay grounder to Rolen at third with a drawn in infield and was called out, but the replay seems to show he was safe.. the Pirates had two triples with less than two outs and failed to score one run from them.. Bautista K'd three times but missed the Golden Sombraro award with a single in the 9th.. LaRoche continues to hammer the ball, but right at someone.. Jack Wilson failed to move base runners again, but when the bases were empty, he tripled.