Pretty Pirates' Plays?

Seriously, the title of this post is not a joke. There were actually a couple of pretty plays in today's game that I wanted to note before the usual ugliness/ickiness/not even mediocre-level play makes the return I have trained myself to expect.

--The double play off the almost Pujols' hit. The one Sanchez began with a highlight reel play. Pretty, pretty, and very pretty. Must be nice to get some defensive help, right, Ian?

--Speaking of Ian, that single with the Cards' infielders playing for the bunt, was seriously a thing of beauty. Despite how much it pains me to agree with Jim Tracy, that hit wasn't just a "great play," it was fantastically fun, especially since Snell's batting average prior to that hit was less than .100. The only bad part about that hit is when I see such things from Snell, I wonder just how good he could be if he were ever as consistently mentally locked in as he was at that particular moment. But rather than obsess over musings that cause consternation and frustration, better just to (cough, sigh, gasp) concur with the manager and enjoy an awesome RBI single from the pitcher.

--I don't know if it qualifies as "pretty," but there's something wonderful about a triple and your first major league RBI. There's also something wonderful about showing the major league manager that you can hit in the big leagues (though beware, it did take last year's NL batting champion a couple of months before that particular light bulb went off) if only so I won't have to read more long-winded quotes pertaining to maintaining the "game's integrity."

--My own inane comment, as inspired by the current Bucco manager: Winning is just pretty. Snark Seriousness: Apparently some of the staff of the Indy Indians will be joining the Pirates. May I dream that they work some mental magic to get any of the players who dominated at the AAA level to translate dominating at that level to a level of play of "consistently good" to "consistently very good" at the MLB level? Pretty, pretty, pretty please?
(Oh, yeah, asking that last question, and prettiness aside, I'm obviously still delusional.)