5 July - Pirates 6 Cubs 2 - You know that high ceiling that we all talked about when Liriano was acquired. Well, this wasn't quite it, but this was pretty damn close.
Liriano threw the first Pirate CG of the year. 9 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 7 K's. Liriano threw 111 pitches in this one, and man is it nice to have a pitcher like this in your rotation.
Jeff Samardzija doesn't seem to scare the Pirates (or more accurately, the Pirate fans) anymore, he was touched up for 5 runs in in 6 IP in what I believe is his 3rd start of the year against the Pirates (and we'll probably see him at least once more before the season is out).
6 July - Pirates 1 Cubs 4 - Man, this game was a frustrating one. Facing Edwin Jackson who, though he does have the ability to throw the occasional gem now and then, has been pretty bad this year.
The Pirates just could not get to him. Missed opportunity after missed opportunity. As we will see, ineptitude with runners in scoring position will become a theme.
Right off the bat in the top of the 1st, Marte singled, stole a base, then advanced on a wild pitch to make it to 2rd base with one out. McCutchen and Jones, 2 of our 3 main RBI guys, were unable to get him home.
I went back and counted and the Pirates had a runner in scoring position in 5 different innings this game and failed to get that runner in all 5 times.
Morton didn't pitch great. He gave up two two-run HRs to Alfonso Soriano that pretty much sealed the deal given the Pirates offensive woes. I think he got a tad unlucky in this one but overall it was just one of those games where nothing much went right.
7 July - Pirates 3 Cubs 4 F/11 - God damnit I really wanted this game. I started watching in the 10th, after Marte's 9th inning solo HR to tie the game.
This was A.J. Burnett's first start coming back from the DL, and the Pirates were quite happy to have him back. I mean, Cumpton was fine but Burnett is better. Way better. It would've been great to get a win in his return but it was not to be.
The Pirates could not get anything going offensively in extras, as they only were able to get one baserunner when Jones reached on Darwin Barney's error which led off the 10th.
This game was a heartbreaker because you really wanted to see the Pirates com back and take a series against a not-so-great Cubs team after dropping a tough series to the Phillies at home. Oh well.
8 July - Athletics 2 Pirates 1 - The Pirates coughed up another loss here, wasting a very good outing from Jeff Locke, who turned in a solid 7 Innings: 2 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 K's. I almost never pay attention to Pitcher Wins and Losses (and this is hard to do considering these stats are shown everywhere), but this was Locke's first loss in 17 starts. His only other loss this season game in his first start of the year during that unfortunate away sweep at the Dodgers. If nothing else, this is a testament to Locke's unbelievable consistency so far this year.
I've been a little tough on Locke, not from a personal standpoint though since I fucking love the guy - I rooted my head off for him this year when he started in Seattle against the M's. But from a statistical standpoint I've been very skeptical of him and his exceedingly low BABIP allowed.
Both he and Jeanmar Gomez have been great surprises this year, and I've heretofore posited that the vast majority of their success has been due to some fortunate aberrations in their favor on balls in play.
Basically, I've been thinking they're lucky.
Here's the thing about Locke though, the more I've watched him, the more I've been thinking that he has knack for inducing weak contact, which would explain how he's able to keep him BABIP down for longer that you'd originally think. He uses his Fastball-Curve-Change very intelligently (which may be a nod to the Pirates' catchers' nice pitch calling) and hitters just can't seem to hit the ball well off him.
Now this so far has been anecdotal evidence and a quick glance at his peripheral numbers still do not paint a pretty picture. 3.82 FIP, 4.26 xFIP, 4.56 SIERA (this number is especially scary). I still think he will regress substantially, but what he has shown me over this incredible run of his is that there is quite a bit of real skill backing up his current numbers. I've seen it with my own eyes, both in person and on TV. He just does not give hitters much to work with.
How much of that will change when the coin flips start biasing more against him? That remains to be seen. But my prediction is that while he will regress quite a bit, I think his skill will prevent him from crashing and burning like the advanced metrics predict. I see him ending the year with an ERA around 2.90 - which is still fantastic.
I would like to avoid prophecizing (is that a word?) further at this time, and I think I want to so a more in depth analysis of his performance another time. Maybe I'll find some time to do some research during the All-Star break. By the way, Locke will join his fellow Pirates Grilli, Alvarez, and McCutchen at
Oh yeah, I was talking about a game, right? Sorry.
Long story short the Pirates couldn't do much against Bartolo Colon and took another loss.
9 July - Athletics 2 Pirates 1 - A similar storyline to yesterday and another 2-1 loss. This makes 3 straight one-run losses and 4 straight losses total. You could feel the panic during this game.
Crazily enough, Cole pitched well. In fact, this could have been Cole's best start of his young career. 7 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K's. The only runs he gave up were on a Brandon Moss 2-run HR in the 4th. It was the first time Cole made it through 7 innings, and the most heartening thing about this game was that Cole bucked an unfortunate trend where he would pitch pretty well for most of the game, but then lose a bit of gas at the end and get taken out with a few runners on base. Instead, he induced a fly out-fly out-ground out 3 up 3 down top of the 7th to round out his night. This Oakland team is 12th in OPS in the MLB so far this year at .721, so certainly a formidable opponent. All in all, a good night for Cole.
And he took the loss (I told you W-L doesn't mean anything!). Straily pitched 6 1/3 innings and only gave up one run, a solo HR to Pedro Alvarez.
This sucks.
One run games are like coin flips in some ways, which is a big reason why a lot of people thought the Orioles' crazy run last year was all luck. Well, you're seeing what regressions look like here, folks. Those 1-0 and 2-1 victories that the Pirates were riding to the top of the MLB a week or two ago? Yeah, it's just as easy to lose those games.
Man, we need some offense, quick.
10 July - Athletics 0 Pirates 5 - Now the main reason this is a two series post instead of the usual one series post is that I was just too busy to do the write-up after the Cubs series. I made sure to keep track of my thoughts through these games though to keep these write-ups more of an immediate reaction rather than a delayed retrospective. This post probably has a bit more retrospective than most, but I believe that failing is vindicated a bit, as I get to bookend this post with dominant Liriano starts.
Fuck, you know I've been talking about luck quite a bit. But this is a different kind of luck, that Liriano was able to grasp some of that vintage Liriano magic just as he joined the Pirates.
7 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K's. 90 pitches. Wow.
The other great thing to see was the offense showing back up, as it has been known to do, after going AWOL for a handful of games. The 3 run 3rd inning was awesome. Alvarez went 2-4, McCutchen went 2-3, and Tabata, who's been a nice surprise since he returned from the DL, went 2-5.
We needed that.
Next up are the Mets. Last series before the All-Star break. Pedro Alvarez, who was not originally selected by captain David Wright has joined the NL HR Derby lineup in place of the injured Carlos Gonzalez. Good thing for Wright, because a Pedro-less Derby would mean he was going to get roasted by the Bucco faithful over the weekend.
Besides, Pedro deserves it.
Let's Go Bucs!
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