The Pittsburgh Pirates are 3-0, which is their best start since 2003. And if this was not enough to get Pirates fans excited, they won these three games against the Astros, in Houston. This was the first time that the Pirates have swept the Astros since 1991; talk about an early season confidence boost!

Although the Astros may not be the best team in the league, they surely have enough talent to make a run at the playoffs. But for these three games it did not appear that they were better than the Pirates.

In the season opener the Pirates managed to stage a late game comeback to come away with a 4-2 victory in 10 innings.

The next night the Pirates once again turned it on late in the game and won 3-2.

The last game of the series resulted in them getting off to a better start, and holding off a late game rush for a 5-4 victory.

So how are the Pirates doing it? They do not have any secret for success in 2007. Simply put, they are relying on a young pitching staff as well as a solid core of hitters. They added Adam LaRoche in the off season, and of course, everybody knows about the power that Jason Bay has at the plate. And the great thing is that they have done all of this without last years NL batting champ, Freddy Sanchez.

A three game series with the Cincinnati Reds is up next for the Pirates. From there, they head back to Pittsburgh to play in front of the hometown fans!

Source: sports.yahoo.com, AP Photo/Pat Sullivan