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The Pirates have dipped into their minor-league talent pool for two more players and will have outfielders J.J. Davis and Rob Mackowiak in uniform today for their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Nothing official was announced Monday, but Davis and Mackowiak officially will be called up from Class AAA Nashville today.

The Pirates were going to call up one player to replace Randall Simon on the roster, but a second was needed when catcher Humberto Cota was optioned to Nashville yesterday afternoon.

Neither Davis nor Mackowiak played Monday afternoon in Nashville's 2-1 loss at Tacoma.

In his first season at Triple-A, Davis was batting .280 with 24 homers and 63 RBI in 119 games. He was tied for second in the Pacific Coast League with 55 extra-base hits, tied for third in home runs and was batting .328 since July 1.

Davis, 24, was the Pirates' first-round pick in the 1997 draft.

Mackowiak, 27, rejoins the Pirates after spending about two months in Nashville. He was optioned to the minors in June after batting .183 with one homer and two RBI in 44 games with the Pirates. Mackowiak got off to a slow start at Nashville, but he batted .300 in his final 13 games with the Sounds.

In 59 games with Nashville, Mackowiak batted .230 with two homers and 23 RBI. He hasn't homered since June 22. Mackowiak had a career season in 2002 when he hit 16 homers and drove in 44 runs in 385 at-bats.

The moves could be a precursor to some more roster tweaking for the Pirates. The only way Davis would see playing time in right field would be if Reggie Sanders or Matt Stairs was traded. Sanders, who leads the Pirates with 27 homers, has drawn interest from teams, but it isn't certain whether he has cleared waivers.

If Sanders is traded, Davis could start against left-handed pitchers. He was batting .402 against left-handers before his promotion.

The Pirates also will need to make another roster move Thursday if pitcher Salomon Torres is activated from the 15-day disabled list.

The decision to send Cota to Nashville leaves Craig Wilson as the only reserve catcher. Cota made four appearances, including two starts, behind the plate for the Pirates since his July 21 recall from Nashville. He was 4 for 16 with one double and one RBI.

"Cota wasn't playing very much and, for a young guy, we hate to have him sit there and not get some at-bats," Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield said. "This also should give some more flexibility at other positions."

In 58 games with Nashville, Cota batted .201 with eight homers and 26 RBI.

ROLE PLAYING

Julian Tavarez, the closer du jour, is 2 for 2 in save opportunities, getting two-inning saves Friday and Sunday. Before that, Tavarez hadn't saved a game since April 2000 and he had only two career saves coming into the season.

Tavarez is ambilavent about his role. He doesn't care whether he pitches in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning.

"I like it that way," he said. "I like it when I don't know what my job is. I just think about being part of a win. I just go out, have fun and try to get guys out."

Tavarez's arm is such that he believes he can pitch two innings one night and bounce back for another two innings the next day and so forth. He hasn't pitched more than three days in success this year, but he said he could do six, if necessary.

"I will never say no when they ask me if I can pitch," he said. "They'll always get the same answer: I'm fine."

PLAYING TO WIN

The decision to win games at the expense of developing players in the final weeks of the season is a thin line to walk for a team that is under .500 such as the Pirates. Like other managers, Lloyd McClendon will let the schedule dictate which course he takes.

The Pirates play three games this week against the St. Louis Cardinals, who are one game out of the division lead. Count on McClendon fielding his best possible lineup against the Cardinals and other teams contending for playoff berths such as the Braves, Marlins, Phillies and Cubs.

"You have a responsibility not only to your organization but to baseball in general to try to win every game," McClendon said. "When we're in that position some day, we hope other teams do the same thing. Any team we play that's in the hunt, we're going to try to kick their butt. It's our responsibility."

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