@ Padres (2-1)
@ Giants (2-2)
I was hoping for a bit of a winning streak against some lighter opponents, but this'll do. As the Pirates limped into Petco Park, and the fans gritted their teeth with memories of last year's San Disaster in their minds, Liriano took the mound in game 1 and shut the Pads down. He threw 7 scoreless and struck out 13. There's been some debate on whether or not Liriano is an "ace" but that's one of the things an ace would do, for sure. Pirates win 3-1.
The Pirates blew out the Padres the next night behind a great start by A.J. Burnett and a 5-run 7th inning. Also, weirdly the Pirates hit 3 triples that night, one each by Pedro Alvarez (!), Andrew McCutchen, and Josh Harrison. The last two occurring in that 7th inning. Burnett's only failing was giving up a solo shot to Jedd Gyorko. Pirates win 8-1.
The Pirates couldn't get the sweep though as Cole had another of his shaky-holding-it-together-bend-but-don't-break type starts, giving up 2 runs on 10 hits (9 singles and a double) over 6 innings, walking none and striking out 5. The score was 2-1. The offense couldn't get anything going against Ian Kennedy which was disappointing, because it was certainly a winnable game given the pitching performance. Most of us were fine with the loss though and were happy to sail up the coast to SF on the back of a series win.
I didn't have the opportunity to watch too much of the Giants series because, ironically, I was on a trip to San Francisco. I did get to see the second game of the series though with some of my old college friends which was a treat! Both to hang out with them and take in my 2nd Bucco game of the year (after the one in Seattle in June). Plus AT&T Park is beautiful.
The Bucs won game 1 10-5 on the back of an offensive explosion, which was due in part to Matt Cain being hit on his pitching arm by a line drive and getting knocked out early (Cain would head to the DL, though I from my understanding that has more to do with the Giants being precautionary with one of their best pitchers while they are out of contention than Cain being really seriously hurt). This outburst helped erase another poor start from Jeff Locke who only made it through 4 innings. Again, he gave up many hits and walks and isn't showing many signs of improving. I continue to hold my opinion last I espoused it, which is that he needs some extended rest and has the ability to be a quality mid rotation guy.
Game 2 was the game I went to, and it was a fun, if a bit understated game. The moment of the game was no doubt Barmes 3 run home run to left that just made it over the wall. On replays you see that Barmes managed to somehow dig out a tough down and in slider from Madison Bumgarner and pop it over the fence. It wasn't quite as crazy as the Inge HR I saw in Seattle in terms of insanity in a vacuum, but the timing could not have been better. Morton pitched very well in this game, scattering 7 hits and a walk to give up just one run over 7 2/3 innings. The Pirates won 3-1.
In game 3 Liriano had an uncharacteristically bad start, throwing just 4 innings, his first bad start since that awful game in Coors Field. The Pirates put up a bit of a fight to get back in it but couldn't make up the difference against Tim Lincecum and the Giant bullpen, as the Bucs fell 6-3. The Cardinals also caught up to the Pirates to gain a share of 1st in the Central on this night.
Game 4 saw the Pirates get shutout by Ryan Vogelsong over 8 innings, who's been awful this year. They lost 4-0. Andrew Lambo (who's been underwhelming, it's too early to pass any word on him in terms of ML stats, but so far he's been a disappointment), Andrew McCutchen, and Felix Pie (really?) got the only hits of the afternoon. Burnett was fine through 7 innings, but the Giants got to him in the 8th to put the game out of reach of the Bucs' impotent offense.
Series split. A middle of the road road performance, could've gone better of course, but while Marte is on the DL and Grilli is working his way back, the Pirates job is to "avoid the Grand Canyon", and as I've said before, playing 0.500 ball on the road is fine. It's not giving you any cushion of course, but it's fine. Let's head back to da Burgh to host our good buddies the Brewers.
A couple other notes. On Tuesday before the Brewers series started the Bucs made a move trading one of their young middle infield prospects Dilson Herrera and a PTBNL to acquire Marlon Byrd from the Mets after they claimed him off waivers (which was surprising in its own right, you'd think someone like the Reds would've blocked the Bucs). The Pirates also got John Buck to bolster their catching depth, freeing up Tony Sanchez for some pinch hit appearances.
This is a good trade in my mind. Byrd is having a spectacular year at age 36 (due in part to his 0.350 BABIP, counteracting his 26% K rate), though that's not why I like it. At this point just having another quality player is a good thing, as the depth will really help the Bucs. And that's not to mention that Byrd's a great right handed bats against lefties, and the Pirates have sorely been needing more firepower against LHP. Hererra's a good prospect but he's very young and the Pirates have fantastic depth in the minors. This is the kind of trade that needed to happen, because if there's a chance Byrd can help the big league club now while the Bucs are knocking on the playoff door, it's worth the probability that Hererra will pan out to give yourself that opportunity. In some ways this is like what a Nate Schierholtz-y deadline trade could have been, just a bit lower stakes (later in the season, with lower leverage players being involved).
The Pirates don't play a team that is not the Brewers or Cardinals until September 9th, when they head to Arlington for their last interleague matchup of the year.
Bring on the Crew. We're a 1/2 game out of the lead but that could easily change tonight. The Cardinals are facing the Reds after winning the first game of their set in St. Louis last night.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Pirates drop 2 of 3 to the DBacks, now heading to the west coast
Being a Pirates fan is like having a girlfriend who hates you. You have certainly had some good times but your relationship is colored by sadness and heartbreak.
Wait, this isn't the most constructive line of reasoning. Let's try this again...
Being a major league baseball player has got to be exhausting. I get tired when I have to walk back home from the diner up the street after a late dinner. But to be city hopping, playing/practicing an athletic sport for hours and then do more city hopping. Yeesh, I can't imagine how draining that must be.
This is a relevant point in a few ways. First, the Pirates last off day was this past Monday the 12th. Their next one isn't until a week from this Monday, Monday the 26th. In that time span the Pirates will play in 4 different cities! And these cities aren't exactly near one another either: St. Louis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco. People like to talk about bullpen usage, and during extended stretches without off days how the bullpen is often in grave danger of being overworked, especially in close games like those that the Pirates tend to play in. However, it also applies to every single player on the damn team (maybe with a couple of rare exceptions like Gerrit Cole who has exceeded his innings from last year and is having his starts spaced out - there's also a good chance he goes to the bullpen in September). The point is that this can take a huge toll on a team, especially at this point in the season, and the win-loss record has a significant chance of suffering as a result.
Second point: the Pirates have now played 3 extra inning games in the past week: 14 inning loss to the Cards, 12 inning loss to the Cards, and a 16 inning loss to the Diamondbacks. That's some extra wear and tear that the Pirates absolutely do not need at this point. The fact that they were all losses hurts, but is honestly beside the point at hand. As I've said before I don't believe in "momentum"
Third: This is scarily similar to the set up of last year's collapse, where the 19 inning victory over the Cards set up a series loss in San Diego against a terrible Padres team, which at the time I had a feeling was in large part due to fatigue. If I recall correctly, those San Diego games were pretty close and heartbreaking as well. Not many fond memories in Petco Park for me (although, I have to say I think it is one of the most beautiful stadiums in the game). This year we have a 16 inning loss preceding a trip to San Diego. I hope we can reverse this fate and pull off a couple of series wins.
About the specific games in this series:
16 August - Diamondbacks 4 Pirates 6 - The Pirates gave Gerrit Cole a 2-0 lead which he immediately relinquished to make it 2-2. But when the Pirates jumped to 4-2, Cole made that one stick. He pitched good but not great in his first start in 8 days: 6 IP 2 ER 5 H 2 BB 5 K's.
Great relief efforts by Jeanmar Gomez and Mark Melancon sealed the deal. Marte, McCutchen, Tabata, and Alvarez all had fine days offensively.
17 August - Diamondbacks 15 Pirates 5 - Yikes. The DBacks just started hitting Jeff Locke and would not stop, including a horrifying 7 straight 2 out hits in the 3rd inning which knocked Locke out of the game. As far as I could tell on my crappy feed (fuck you FOX/MLB for not letting me watch the game in HD using the service that I payed for and also not giving me the option to watch this game in any manner whatsoever) Locke's curveball was just not working for him. It was flat and just hung in the middle of the zone. He threw it in many 2 strike counts and each time it would inevitably wind up a base hit (and in the Prado case, a HR). Locke is a fastball-change-curve finesse pitcher who needs all his pitches to be working for him to be effective. And one of his pitches being that bad meant that he had no hope at all. I also think Hurdle left him in a couple batters too many, he was just getting more and more tired and he was not about to find things. He should have been removed before the deficit reached 8 runs.
The Pirates made a valiant attempt at a comeback, closing to within 4 when a 3rd inning Pedro Alvarez 3 run HR made the score 8-4. In the 6th they made it 8-5.
The Pirates didn't have enough fire power to continue the assault however despite threating a couple more times, and the DBacks made it a laugher in some late inning garbage time.
Another word about Locke. Things have not looked good for the kid since the All-Star Break. A big part of this was regression at work. Locke's peripheral numbers were not matching up with his results. However I posited earlier in the year that Locke had a knack for keeping his BABIP below league average due to changing speeds and having good location. That is a very difficult thing to keep going, especially for a young pitcher, but I still believe that to be the case. I think Locke is a fine pitcher, and totally has the ability to be a mid-rotation guy. He just has to get his control and his pitches working on a more consistent basis, and fend off the fatigue fairies that always plague the Bucs. I still have a lot of confidence in him, but maybe he could use a week off?
18 August - Diamondbacks 4 Pirates 2 F/16 - Blrglrglrglrglrgl. How does this keep happening.
This game was actually pretty different than the last two marathon games. The extra innings kinda flew by as very little offense was on display by both sides in this game.
Charlie Morton pitched one of his better games of the year, too many hits and walks but the 7 inning 2 run outing was certainly appreciated. Morton was touched up in the 6th but managed to escape without giving the DBacks the lead.
Morton also danced a tightrope in the 7th but managed to get out unscathed. He also lucked out a bit on a line drive straight to Pedro with the bases loaded to make the 2nd out, and got the benefit of some close calls en route to a strikeout of the dangerous Paul Goldschmidt.
The Pirate offense was anemic again despite a good early showing against the formidable Wade Miley. Martin double in the 1st and a Mercer double in the 3rd accounted for the runs batted in for the Bucs.
In the 8th, Starling Marte reached on a bunt single. He was sacrificed to 2nd by Jordy Mercer as Clint Hurdle once again decided he wanted to take the bat out of the hands of his best hitter when McCutchen was intentionally walked. Hurdle is a decent manager, and he doesn't manage all that differently from many managers in the league, but this is the most unforgivable thing he does routinely. Your offense is struggling mightily you just cannot repeatedly deny your far-and-away best hitter to swing the bat!
The subsequent situation was runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out with your cleanup hitter Russell Martin at the plate. Martin worked the count to 2-2, but struck out on the next pitch. On that pitch Marte ran to third and was thrown out easily. Inning over. One of our best chances to score in this game and we really only gave one batter a chance to drive in runs. Just plain terrible.
Tony Watson (who's turned into Superman in relief lately, it's crazy) turned in 2 scoreless innings. Melancon was brought in to the game to pitch the 10th and was also very effective, as usual.
In the top of the 11th, Hurdle called on rookie Kris Johnson to make his MLB debut in a tied extra inning game in the middle of a pennant race. No sweat. Johnson was utterly amazing. Inning after inning flew by as Johnson used his fastball and slider (I think it was a slider? It was mid/low 80s and he threw it low and got a lot of strikes) extremely effectively. By the end of it he had pitched 6 innings, his final line: 6 IP 2 ER 5 H 2 BB 5 K's (holy shit I just realized this is the exact same as Cole's start from Friday, crazy). If it were just about any other team Johnson was pitching for, he would have gotten an extra inning W before he would have had a chance to give up his 2 runs in the 16th.
Also of note was that Marte made a great sliding catch in one of the extra innings, a bit of redemption for him, though it sadly did not matter.
The Pirates offense was still terrible in extras. Besides a good opportunity in the 12th, when Martin popped out with the bases loaded to end the inning (Cutch was intentionally walked in this inning as well, not because of a sac bunt though, still he didn't have a chance to score the winning run for us).
The Pirates lost when rookie Adam Eaton doubled in 2 runs on a sinking liner that dove in front of McCutchen (he had a chance to catch it but it would have been a fantastic play). They made a small effort to tie the game in the bottom of the 16th but with runners at 1st and 2nd and the pitcher Kris Johnson's spot up, Hurdle had no one to put in (of note, Tony Sanchez was used in the 9th to bat for Tony Watson and just took 3 straight strikes from Heath Bell, a frustrating at bat to watch). Maybe it would have been worth a shot to give Cole an at bat there?
Johnson put in a valiant effort (better than T. Sanchez at least) and worked the count to 2-2 before striking out by swinging at a high pitch to end the game.
The Pirates are 3-7 in their last 10 and their NL Central lead has shrunk to 1 game ahead of the Cardinals (who just took 2 of 3 from the poor Cubs). The Reds also hang a disconcerting 2.5 games back. This division has a good chance of being a dogfight well into September. I'm getting a bit nervous (tensions are rising as we get later in the season, and the shrinking division lead is not easing fears - damn it, I really want this division title!), but I realize there still is a lot in store for us come these final 39 games. The Pirates are playing better than their recent record indicates, and I think they have a good chance of turning things around. A little win streak would help a lot, more than words ever could.
Wait, this isn't the most constructive line of reasoning. Let's try this again...
Being a major league baseball player has got to be exhausting. I get tired when I have to walk back home from the diner up the street after a late dinner. But to be city hopping, playing/practicing an athletic sport for hours and then do more city hopping. Yeesh, I can't imagine how draining that must be.
This is a relevant point in a few ways. First, the Pirates last off day was this past Monday the 12th. Their next one isn't until a week from this Monday, Monday the 26th. In that time span the Pirates will play in 4 different cities! And these cities aren't exactly near one another either: St. Louis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco. People like to talk about bullpen usage, and during extended stretches without off days how the bullpen is often in grave danger of being overworked, especially in close games like those that the Pirates tend to play in. However, it also applies to every single player on the damn team (maybe with a couple of rare exceptions like Gerrit Cole who has exceeded his innings from last year and is having his starts spaced out - there's also a good chance he goes to the bullpen in September). The point is that this can take a huge toll on a team, especially at this point in the season, and the win-loss record has a significant chance of suffering as a result.
Second point: the Pirates have now played 3 extra inning games in the past week: 14 inning loss to the Cards, 12 inning loss to the Cards, and a 16 inning loss to the Diamondbacks. That's some extra wear and tear that the Pirates absolutely do not need at this point. The fact that they were all losses hurts, but is honestly beside the point at hand. As I've said before I don't believe in "momentum"
Third: This is scarily similar to the set up of last year's collapse, where the 19 inning victory over the Cards set up a series loss in San Diego against a terrible Padres team, which at the time I had a feeling was in large part due to fatigue. If I recall correctly, those San Diego games were pretty close and heartbreaking as well. Not many fond memories in Petco Park for me (although, I have to say I think it is one of the most beautiful stadiums in the game). This year we have a 16 inning loss preceding a trip to San Diego. I hope we can reverse this fate and pull off a couple of series wins.
About the specific games in this series:
16 August - Diamondbacks 4 Pirates 6 - The Pirates gave Gerrit Cole a 2-0 lead which he immediately relinquished to make it 2-2. But when the Pirates jumped to 4-2, Cole made that one stick. He pitched good but not great in his first start in 8 days: 6 IP 2 ER 5 H 2 BB 5 K's.
Great relief efforts by Jeanmar Gomez and Mark Melancon sealed the deal. Marte, McCutchen, Tabata, and Alvarez all had fine days offensively.
17 August - Diamondbacks 15 Pirates 5 - Yikes. The DBacks just started hitting Jeff Locke and would not stop, including a horrifying 7 straight 2 out hits in the 3rd inning which knocked Locke out of the game. As far as I could tell on my crappy feed (fuck you FOX/MLB for not letting me watch the game in HD using the service that I payed for and also not giving me the option to watch this game in any manner whatsoever) Locke's curveball was just not working for him. It was flat and just hung in the middle of the zone. He threw it in many 2 strike counts and each time it would inevitably wind up a base hit (and in the Prado case, a HR). Locke is a fastball-change-curve finesse pitcher who needs all his pitches to be working for him to be effective. And one of his pitches being that bad meant that he had no hope at all. I also think Hurdle left him in a couple batters too many, he was just getting more and more tired and he was not about to find things. He should have been removed before the deficit reached 8 runs.
The Pirates made a valiant attempt at a comeback, closing to within 4 when a 3rd inning Pedro Alvarez 3 run HR made the score 8-4. In the 6th they made it 8-5.
The Pirates didn't have enough fire power to continue the assault however despite threating a couple more times, and the DBacks made it a laugher in some late inning garbage time.
Another word about Locke. Things have not looked good for the kid since the All-Star Break. A big part of this was regression at work. Locke's peripheral numbers were not matching up with his results. However I posited earlier in the year that Locke had a knack for keeping his BABIP below league average due to changing speeds and having good location. That is a very difficult thing to keep going, especially for a young pitcher, but I still believe that to be the case. I think Locke is a fine pitcher, and totally has the ability to be a mid-rotation guy. He just has to get his control and his pitches working on a more consistent basis, and fend off the fatigue fairies that always plague the Bucs. I still have a lot of confidence in him, but maybe he could use a week off?
18 August - Diamondbacks 4 Pirates 2 F/16 - Blrglrglrglrglrgl. How does this keep happening.
This game was actually pretty different than the last two marathon games. The extra innings kinda flew by as very little offense was on display by both sides in this game.
Charlie Morton pitched one of his better games of the year, too many hits and walks but the 7 inning 2 run outing was certainly appreciated. Morton was touched up in the 6th but managed to escape without giving the DBacks the lead.
Morton also danced a tightrope in the 7th but managed to get out unscathed. He also lucked out a bit on a line drive straight to Pedro with the bases loaded to make the 2nd out, and got the benefit of some close calls en route to a strikeout of the dangerous Paul Goldschmidt.
The Pirate offense was anemic again despite a good early showing against the formidable Wade Miley. Martin double in the 1st and a Mercer double in the 3rd accounted for the runs batted in for the Bucs.
In the 8th, Starling Marte reached on a bunt single. He was sacrificed to 2nd by Jordy Mercer as Clint Hurdle once again decided he wanted to take the bat out of the hands of his best hitter when McCutchen was intentionally walked. Hurdle is a decent manager, and he doesn't manage all that differently from many managers in the league, but this is the most unforgivable thing he does routinely. Your offense is struggling mightily you just cannot repeatedly deny your far-and-away best hitter to swing the bat!
The subsequent situation was runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out with your cleanup hitter Russell Martin at the plate. Martin worked the count to 2-2, but struck out on the next pitch. On that pitch Marte ran to third and was thrown out easily. Inning over. One of our best chances to score in this game and we really only gave one batter a chance to drive in runs. Just plain terrible.
Tony Watson (who's turned into Superman in relief lately, it's crazy) turned in 2 scoreless innings. Melancon was brought in to the game to pitch the 10th and was also very effective, as usual.
In the top of the 11th, Hurdle called on rookie Kris Johnson to make his MLB debut in a tied extra inning game in the middle of a pennant race. No sweat. Johnson was utterly amazing. Inning after inning flew by as Johnson used his fastball and slider (I think it was a slider? It was mid/low 80s and he threw it low and got a lot of strikes) extremely effectively. By the end of it he had pitched 6 innings, his final line: 6 IP 2 ER 5 H 2 BB 5 K's (holy shit I just realized this is the exact same as Cole's start from Friday, crazy). If it were just about any other team Johnson was pitching for, he would have gotten an extra inning W before he would have had a chance to give up his 2 runs in the 16th.
Also of note was that Marte made a great sliding catch in one of the extra innings, a bit of redemption for him, though it sadly did not matter.
The Pirates offense was still terrible in extras. Besides a good opportunity in the 12th, when Martin popped out with the bases loaded to end the inning (Cutch was intentionally walked in this inning as well, not because of a sac bunt though, still he didn't have a chance to score the winning run for us).
The Pirates lost when rookie Adam Eaton doubled in 2 runs on a sinking liner that dove in front of McCutchen (he had a chance to catch it but it would have been a fantastic play). They made a small effort to tie the game in the bottom of the 16th but with runners at 1st and 2nd and the pitcher Kris Johnson's spot up, Hurdle had no one to put in (of note, Tony Sanchez was used in the 9th to bat for Tony Watson and just took 3 straight strikes from Heath Bell, a frustrating at bat to watch). Maybe it would have been worth a shot to give Cole an at bat there?
Johnson put in a valiant effort (better than T. Sanchez at least) and worked the count to 2-2 before striking out by swinging at a high pitch to end the game.
The Pirates are 3-7 in their last 10 and their NL Central lead has shrunk to 1 game ahead of the Cardinals (who just took 2 of 3 from the poor Cubs). The Reds also hang a disconcerting 2.5 games back. This division has a good chance of being a dogfight well into September. I'm getting a bit nervous (tensions are rising as we get later in the season, and the shrinking division lead is not easing fears - damn it, I really want this division title!), but I realize there still is a lot in store for us come these final 39 games. The Pirates are playing better than their recent record indicates, and I think they have a good chance of turning things around. A little win streak would help a lot, more than words ever could.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
The series that the Pirates almost swept but instead lost 1-2
Difficult series to stomach. I think it portends good things for the Bucs in the future. The won one game definitively, and lost the other two on what amounted to a couple of plays (Game 1: Marte dropped fly OR McCutchen baserunning blunder at 3rd in the 13th - the latter being a play that I changed my mind on since I first saw, he definitely could've taken more space at 3rd and run home on Kozma's throw. Game 3: Marte getting called to bunt instead of swinging away in the 7th, taking an at bat from Cutch who was IBBed OR Questionable strike calls going against the Bucs all day).
The second game was a thing to behold though. Liriano's CG near-shutout (Cardinals scored their only run on a fielder's choice in the 9th) was fantastic. Efficient, too. The Cardinals struggle to hit anything hard all night even though Franky was pounding the zone (painting is probably a more accurate term, he was pitching quality strikes).
Nice little offensive showing in that game too, nice to see Pedro and Jones pick things up with homers, if only for a night. Jones has been struggling for the better part of the season, and Pedro has hit a very rough patch recently. It's not the dearth of HRs that worries me, it's the complete lack of contact. His strikeout rate is through the roof, even for him, and it seems like forever since I've seen him go to left field. I think he'll work things out, but it does worry me.
As mentioned above the Pirates had numerous opportunities to take Game 3 but nothing really went their way. Another good showing from the pen, especially Tony Watson who managed 3 innings of one hit ball, very helpful in a game where A.J. couldn't make it out of the fifth.
This series exhausted me, and definitely exhausted the Pirate players. Alas, no time to rest. The Bucs immediate fly back to host the Diamondbacks for 3 games and then go on their last west coast swing of the year (at San Diego then at San Fran).
No game is a must win at this point, but it would portend very well for the future if the Pirates can pick themselves up and win 2 of 3 at home against a medium-to-good team in the Diamondbacks.
The second game was a thing to behold though. Liriano's CG near-shutout (Cardinals scored their only run on a fielder's choice in the 9th) was fantastic. Efficient, too. The Cardinals struggle to hit anything hard all night even though Franky was pounding the zone (painting is probably a more accurate term, he was pitching quality strikes).
Nice little offensive showing in that game too, nice to see Pedro and Jones pick things up with homers, if only for a night. Jones has been struggling for the better part of the season, and Pedro has hit a very rough patch recently. It's not the dearth of HRs that worries me, it's the complete lack of contact. His strikeout rate is through the roof, even for him, and it seems like forever since I've seen him go to left field. I think he'll work things out, but it does worry me.
As mentioned above the Pirates had numerous opportunities to take Game 3 but nothing really went their way. Another good showing from the pen, especially Tony Watson who managed 3 innings of one hit ball, very helpful in a game where A.J. couldn't make it out of the fifth.
This series exhausted me, and definitely exhausted the Pirate players. Alas, no time to rest. The Bucs immediate fly back to host the Diamondbacks for 3 games and then go on their last west coast swing of the year (at San Diego then at San Fran).
No game is a must win at this point, but it would portend very well for the future if the Pirates can pick themselves up and win 2 of 3 at home against a medium-to-good team in the Diamondbacks.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
13 August 2013 - It wasn't 19 innings, but it had that feel to it
Pirates 3 Cardinals 4 F/14
Man.
Just wow. I'm speechless.
But at the same time I need to post this while the wound is still fresh.
First, let me be clear. Even though the Pirates have lost 4 in a row, they are still in fantastic shape. 2 games up on the Cards, and they have the 3rd best record in baseball (Atlanta 73-47; Boston 72-49; Pittsburgh 70-48).
But did that loss ever hurt. Not in a standings sort of way but it was an emotional blow.
Pirates never trailed until the end, but you could sense it teetering on the edge of disaster even in the early going.
It's hard to remember all the way back to Morton and Wainwright, but both starting pitchers were alright. It would've been nice to see Morton go deeper than 6 innings, but I don't have too many complaints about his line: 6 IP, 2 ER, 7H, 2 BB, 3 K's. Especially considering that those two runs were both on ground balls the snuck through the holes in the 6th, so at least Morton was playing his own game.
After the McCutchen and Mercer HRs made it 3-0, it seemed like the top halves of the innings were in fast forward. Granted there were a couple good at bats and some batters did work some counts (Mercer started off the game great in the batter's box), but it seemed like every time there was a runner on they'd be erased by a double play or it wouldn't matter because the batter would hit a weak grounder at the second baseman.
The Bucs hung by a thread heading into the 8th, up 3-2. John Jay hit a 2 out single off Bryan Morris to put runners at the corners. Then on one of the most unbelievable plays I've ever seen, Matt Adams hit a hard liner to right. The instant he hit it, your heart dropped, you knew the game was tied and you had little hope of the Pirates getting a fourth run.
Then the camera switches and you see Neil Walker leap up. Your brain tries to process why he's so far back on the outfield grass and before you know it there's 3 outs and the Pirates are running toward the dugout.
A brilliant shift. Hurdle placed Walker perfectly. And with Mark Melancon readying for the 9th, you were confident.
The top of the 9th went by so fucking fast you'd barely know it ever happened if you weren't paying close attention.
Melancon's in. Pete Kozma, the soft hitting SS is up. Two pitches, ground out to second baseman Walker (again, in the right spot, haha).
Then the turning point. A 1-0 pitch to Daniel Descalso was skied to left. A soft fly ball. Marte, who always catches balls with one hand (as does McCutchen and so many other OFs) booted it. The ball bounded off the heel of his glove, and Descalso advanced to 2nd.
You're in awe of that, for sure. But Melancon's on the mound. Melancon is so calm and cool, he had no reaction to that at all. I love that about him. He just goes about his business.
Matt Carpenter swings and misses at a 2-2 pitch. Two out. Melancon was painting. Seriously, go back and look at this at bat. 5 pitches, all low and in if I recall. It was a thing of beauty.
Now, the real problem with the Marte error was that he allowed the tying run to get into scoring position, but another horrible result of it was it meant that Melancon would have to face either Carlos Beltran (who's killed the Bucs in the past and is just a flat out good hitter) or Allen Craig (who is an absolute beast with RISP - whether you buy into stats with RISP as a valuable metric for predictive purposes - 0.464 BA w/ RISP this year is pretty incredible).
On a 1-1 pitch, a finely placed pitch low and away off the plate, Craig hits a single to right, tying the game. 3-3. It's a brand new ballgame. Beltran gets caught between 2nd and 3rd to immediately send the game to extras.
Now these extra innings, one after the other, holy crap were they rollercoasters. Made that much more extreme by the events leading up to extras and the relative placements of the Bucs and Cards in the standings.
Top of the 10th - Bucs get G. Sanchez to 3rd with 2 outs. (Marte bunted him over, on a well executed play that I can't agree with, even though 9/10 managers call the bunt in that situation - though I wonder if it had been more of a fair fight whether to bunt or not I wonder if Marte's emotional state after the dropped fly ball would've played a part - you could see him visibly stewing in left after the play) Unfortunately, we can't knock him in.
Bottom of the 10th - Mazzaro walks Holliday. Rob Johnson bunts a ball hard at Gaby Sanchez, who makes the brave choice to throw to second base. Unfortunately the throw is wide and pulls Mercer off the bag. 2 on no out. Jay sacrifices to make it 2nd and 3rd 1 out. After an IBB (there would be many more of these), Mazarro strikes out Kozma and gets Descalso to fly out to left center, a ball that McCutchen loudly calls for. You could see Cutch rib Marte a bit as they ran to the dugout. Nice to see Marte's spirit lifted. I love this team.
Top of the 11th - Bucs get runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. But fail to cash in when Mercer strikes out. Barmes was the pinch hitter for the pitcher's spot this inning which didn't help things.
Bottom of the 11th - Gomez relieves Mazzaro. A single then a wild pitch made a runner on 2nd with no out. Then a ground out, and a IBB to get to the pitcher Maness. I didn't realize this until after the game but Harrison was pulled in from right to act as a 5th infielder in this situation. Gomez induced the ground ball to Barmes, who was apparently a bit confused (as I was) who was covering 2nd. Harrison - the RF - covered and took a poor feed from Barmes for the double play to end the inning. A 6-9-3 double play. Wow, crazy crazy.
Top of the 12th - G. Sanchez, Marte, Walker out 1-2-3.
Bottom of the 12th - Gomez replied with a 1-2-3 of his own. First such bottom inning since the 5th.
Top of the 13th - The most heartbreaking inning of the bunch. By a wide margin too. Cutch single. Wild Pitch. Alvarez infield single. 1st and 3rd nobody out. Alright, this is our chance. Russell Martin (who has got to be exhausted by the way, though no excuses) grounds to short. Kozma makes a nice play and McCutchen holds at 3rd. I don't think McCutchen could have scored on that play, Kozma was too shallow. Barmes was intentionally walked. Then on an 0-1 pitch Harrison grounded to Descalso at third (he replaced Freese) who stepped on 3rd for the force and threw to 1st, inning over.
At first I was happy because I didn't see Descalso step on 3rd, so I thought the run scored, but I quickly realized what really happened. Man, what a let down that whole thing was.
Bottom of the 13th - With 2 outs Matt Carpenter hit a double. And then something I don't think I've ever seen before occurred. Two straight intentional walks to load the bases and get to the pitcher Sean Maness. Maness struck out. Great job by Gomez.
Top of the 14th - Groundout, flyout, walk, K.
Bottom of the 14th - Jared Hughes enters, who still has not regained my trust since last year when he and Chris Resop (who I will never speak ill of, despite his struggles he bailed the Bucs out of some tough times during his tenure) were manning the middle relief situations in the pen. After striking out Rob Johnson, Hughes gave up a single to John Jay. Jay stole second, and then scored on a surpisingly close play at the plate on the single by Adron Chambers. (The play itself looked startlingly similar to the Sid Bream play, but that's not something I'm gonna say out loud.)
Bucs lose 4-3.
A tough loss. That's an understatement. But the war is still raging and we're still on the winning side, for now.
I want the Pirates to win this division so badly. I think they can do it.
Let's go Bucs!
Man.
Just wow. I'm speechless.
But at the same time I need to post this while the wound is still fresh.
First, let me be clear. Even though the Pirates have lost 4 in a row, they are still in fantastic shape. 2 games up on the Cards, and they have the 3rd best record in baseball (Atlanta 73-47; Boston 72-49; Pittsburgh 70-48).
But did that loss ever hurt. Not in a standings sort of way but it was an emotional blow.
Pirates never trailed until the end, but you could sense it teetering on the edge of disaster even in the early going.
It's hard to remember all the way back to Morton and Wainwright, but both starting pitchers were alright. It would've been nice to see Morton go deeper than 6 innings, but I don't have too many complaints about his line: 6 IP, 2 ER, 7H, 2 BB, 3 K's. Especially considering that those two runs were both on ground balls the snuck through the holes in the 6th, so at least Morton was playing his own game.
After the McCutchen and Mercer HRs made it 3-0, it seemed like the top halves of the innings were in fast forward. Granted there were a couple good at bats and some batters did work some counts (Mercer started off the game great in the batter's box), but it seemed like every time there was a runner on they'd be erased by a double play or it wouldn't matter because the batter would hit a weak grounder at the second baseman.
The Bucs hung by a thread heading into the 8th, up 3-2. John Jay hit a 2 out single off Bryan Morris to put runners at the corners. Then on one of the most unbelievable plays I've ever seen, Matt Adams hit a hard liner to right. The instant he hit it, your heart dropped, you knew the game was tied and you had little hope of the Pirates getting a fourth run.
Then the camera switches and you see Neil Walker leap up. Your brain tries to process why he's so far back on the outfield grass and before you know it there's 3 outs and the Pirates are running toward the dugout.
A brilliant shift. Hurdle placed Walker perfectly. And with Mark Melancon readying for the 9th, you were confident.
The top of the 9th went by so fucking fast you'd barely know it ever happened if you weren't paying close attention.
Melancon's in. Pete Kozma, the soft hitting SS is up. Two pitches, ground out to second baseman Walker (again, in the right spot, haha).
Then the turning point. A 1-0 pitch to Daniel Descalso was skied to left. A soft fly ball. Marte, who always catches balls with one hand (as does McCutchen and so many other OFs) booted it. The ball bounded off the heel of his glove, and Descalso advanced to 2nd.
You're in awe of that, for sure. But Melancon's on the mound. Melancon is so calm and cool, he had no reaction to that at all. I love that about him. He just goes about his business.
Matt Carpenter swings and misses at a 2-2 pitch. Two out. Melancon was painting. Seriously, go back and look at this at bat. 5 pitches, all low and in if I recall. It was a thing of beauty.
Now, the real problem with the Marte error was that he allowed the tying run to get into scoring position, but another horrible result of it was it meant that Melancon would have to face either Carlos Beltran (who's killed the Bucs in the past and is just a flat out good hitter) or Allen Craig (who is an absolute beast with RISP - whether you buy into stats with RISP as a valuable metric for predictive purposes - 0.464 BA w/ RISP this year is pretty incredible).
On a 1-1 pitch, a finely placed pitch low and away off the plate, Craig hits a single to right, tying the game. 3-3. It's a brand new ballgame. Beltran gets caught between 2nd and 3rd to immediately send the game to extras.
Now these extra innings, one after the other, holy crap were they rollercoasters. Made that much more extreme by the events leading up to extras and the relative placements of the Bucs and Cards in the standings.
Top of the 10th - Bucs get G. Sanchez to 3rd with 2 outs. (Marte bunted him over, on a well executed play that I can't agree with, even though 9/10 managers call the bunt in that situation - though I wonder if it had been more of a fair fight whether to bunt or not I wonder if Marte's emotional state after the dropped fly ball would've played a part - you could see him visibly stewing in left after the play) Unfortunately, we can't knock him in.
Bottom of the 10th - Mazzaro walks Holliday. Rob Johnson bunts a ball hard at Gaby Sanchez, who makes the brave choice to throw to second base. Unfortunately the throw is wide and pulls Mercer off the bag. 2 on no out. Jay sacrifices to make it 2nd and 3rd 1 out. After an IBB (there would be many more of these), Mazarro strikes out Kozma and gets Descalso to fly out to left center, a ball that McCutchen loudly calls for. You could see Cutch rib Marte a bit as they ran to the dugout. Nice to see Marte's spirit lifted. I love this team.
Top of the 11th - Bucs get runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. But fail to cash in when Mercer strikes out. Barmes was the pinch hitter for the pitcher's spot this inning which didn't help things.
Bottom of the 11th - Gomez relieves Mazzaro. A single then a wild pitch made a runner on 2nd with no out. Then a ground out, and a IBB to get to the pitcher Maness. I didn't realize this until after the game but Harrison was pulled in from right to act as a 5th infielder in this situation. Gomez induced the ground ball to Barmes, who was apparently a bit confused (as I was) who was covering 2nd. Harrison - the RF - covered and took a poor feed from Barmes for the double play to end the inning. A 6-9-3 double play. Wow, crazy crazy.
Top of the 12th - G. Sanchez, Marte, Walker out 1-2-3.
Bottom of the 12th - Gomez replied with a 1-2-3 of his own. First such bottom inning since the 5th.
Top of the 13th - The most heartbreaking inning of the bunch. By a wide margin too. Cutch single. Wild Pitch. Alvarez infield single. 1st and 3rd nobody out. Alright, this is our chance. Russell Martin (who has got to be exhausted by the way, though no excuses) grounds to short. Kozma makes a nice play and McCutchen holds at 3rd. I don't think McCutchen could have scored on that play, Kozma was too shallow. Barmes was intentionally walked. Then on an 0-1 pitch Harrison grounded to Descalso at third (he replaced Freese) who stepped on 3rd for the force and threw to 1st, inning over.
At first I was happy because I didn't see Descalso step on 3rd, so I thought the run scored, but I quickly realized what really happened. Man, what a let down that whole thing was.
Bottom of the 13th - With 2 outs Matt Carpenter hit a double. And then something I don't think I've ever seen before occurred. Two straight intentional walks to load the bases and get to the pitcher Sean Maness. Maness struck out. Great job by Gomez.
Top of the 14th - Groundout, flyout, walk, K.
Bottom of the 14th - Jared Hughes enters, who still has not regained my trust since last year when he and Chris Resop (who I will never speak ill of, despite his struggles he bailed the Bucs out of some tough times during his tenure) were manning the middle relief situations in the pen. After striking out Rob Johnson, Hughes gave up a single to John Jay. Jay stole second, and then scored on a surpisingly close play at the plate on the single by Adron Chambers. (The play itself looked startlingly similar to the Sid Bream play, but that's not something I'm gonna say out loud.)
Bucs lose 4-3.
A tough loss. That's an understatement. But the war is still raging and we're still on the winning side, for now.
I want the Pirates to win this division so badly. I think they can do it.
Let's go Bucs!
Sunday, August 11, 2013
I hope you like playing the Marlins and Rockies! (Cause we play them a lot)
We're in the middle of a very strange stretch of opponent matchups (the bold ones covered in this post):
@ Marlins (1-2)
vs. Cardinals (4-1)
vs. Rockies (2-1)
vs. Marlins (3-0)
@ Marlins (1-2)
vs. Cardinals (4-1)
vs. Rockies (2-1)
vs. Marlins (3-0)
@ Rockies (0-3)
@ Cardinals (???)
I know don't know if I've ever seen a schedule bunch up the opponents like that (especially considering that those series against the Rockies and Marlins are the only ones all year).
After taking 4 of 5 in the big Cards series, the Pirates had the pleasure of hosting 2 not-so-great teams. I'm not gonna say terrible (the Marlins especially have come on of late, I think they're playing over .500 ball in their past 2 months or something) but these teams are certainly beatable, and it'd be great to put as much separation between us and the Cards before we head to Busch Stadium.
The Bucs ended up going 5-4 in this stretch, while the Cards went 4-6 against the likes of the Reds, the red-hot Dodgers, and the Cubs. Fine by me.
The Burnett compete game Sunday 4 August was pretty great. As were the 2 walk-off wins that bookended the Marlins series (Harrison's HR and Martin's RBI single). And let's not forget Charlie Morton's good start in the middle. That was a good series for the Bucs for sure, all comeback wins too!
Landmark Game: 8 August - Marlins 4 Pirates 5 F/10 Man, that game was awesome! To be down 4-0 and to comeback for the 3rd straight game was really cool. Martin seems to be some kind of walk-off machine.
On the tail of 5 straight wins the Bucs head to Coors Field. Now, let's just say that stadium does not play to the Bucs' strengths, which are pitching and defense. That was never more evident than during this series sweep at the hands of the Rox. In game one Liriano got obliterated. And how. Hit after hit after hit, the Pirates just could not get any outs at the beginning of that game.
It was really weird too, not just because the hits were all falling, but Liriano honestly didn't look that bad from the get go. I mean he obviously wore down as any pitcher would when no outs are gotten behind him, but when he was getting hit at the start he didn't look that bad. Once he gave up that HR then things were out of hand anyway.
Offensively, the Pirates got so close to breaking out but just could get anything done, leaving that bases loaded in both of the first two innings, only getting 1 run on a sacrifice fly in the 2nd. And not only we're they getting on base early, but they were tatooing the balls to left (and when I say to left, I mean only to left, one weird thing was that every single the Bucs hit in those first two inning was a line drive to left field - just when they would load the bases the offense would lock up though).
Oh well.
The 2nd game. Another loss, but the bigger story was that Marte was removed from the game with and injury to his left hand. Ouch. Marte's had his ups an downs, but there is no question the Pirates are way better when he's in the lineup and playing well.
Burnett was pitching well until the 6th, when he just couldn't get out of the inning. The Rockies scored 5 and the Bucs were done after that.
Game 3 was the most heartbreaking of the lot. Locke, who's struggled in his past 3ish starts got things mostly back on track, though he was a bit wild. 5 2/3 IP, 1 ER (2 R), 3 H, 4 BB, 3 K's.
Locke was called for a balk on a questionable call in the 3rd, which allowed Charlie Blackmon to advance from 2nd to 3rd with 1 out. He would score on a sac fly, making the score 2-1. In the 6th, the Rockies tied it on Pedro Alvarez's throwing error (but he hit a solo jack earlier in the game so at worst he was a neutral effect on the game). Then the big blow, a 2 out double in the 7th by Arenado to score Rosario from 1st. 3-2 Rockies.
As if the way they lost the lead wasn't tough enough. The Pirates clawed back to the brink in the 9th. Walker led off with a single. Martin struck out. Then Tony Sanchez hit a double. If there had been two outs, Walker scores no problem, but with 1 out he had to hold up to see if the ball was caught before he could run, and he advanced to 3rd on the play. The Pirates then failed to knock him in that last 90ft, Mercer lining out to third and Presley popping out to third. Damn.
The Bucs head to St. Louis and hope to get the wind back in their sails after a slightly deflating trip. You gotta keep looking at the big picture though! The Bucs are 3 games up on the Cards, and at worst will emerge from this series tied for 1st in the division. Let's hope that's not the actual result. I'm crossing my fingers for 2 of 3. Let's go Bucs!
I know don't know if I've ever seen a schedule bunch up the opponents like that (especially considering that those series against the Rockies and Marlins are the only ones all year).
After taking 4 of 5 in the big Cards series, the Pirates had the pleasure of hosting 2 not-so-great teams. I'm not gonna say terrible (the Marlins especially have come on of late, I think they're playing over .500 ball in their past 2 months or something) but these teams are certainly beatable, and it'd be great to put as much separation between us and the Cards before we head to Busch Stadium.
The Bucs ended up going 5-4 in this stretch, while the Cards went 4-6 against the likes of the Reds, the red-hot Dodgers, and the Cubs. Fine by me.
The Burnett compete game Sunday 4 August was pretty great. As were the 2 walk-off wins that bookended the Marlins series (Harrison's HR and Martin's RBI single). And let's not forget Charlie Morton's good start in the middle. That was a good series for the Bucs for sure, all comeback wins too!
Landmark Game: 8 August - Marlins 4 Pirates 5 F/10 Man, that game was awesome! To be down 4-0 and to comeback for the 3rd straight game was really cool. Martin seems to be some kind of walk-off machine.
On the tail of 5 straight wins the Bucs head to Coors Field. Now, let's just say that stadium does not play to the Bucs' strengths, which are pitching and defense. That was never more evident than during this series sweep at the hands of the Rox. In game one Liriano got obliterated. And how. Hit after hit after hit, the Pirates just could not get any outs at the beginning of that game.
It was really weird too, not just because the hits were all falling, but Liriano honestly didn't look that bad from the get go. I mean he obviously wore down as any pitcher would when no outs are gotten behind him, but when he was getting hit at the start he didn't look that bad. Once he gave up that HR then things were out of hand anyway.
Offensively, the Pirates got so close to breaking out but just could get anything done, leaving that bases loaded in both of the first two innings, only getting 1 run on a sacrifice fly in the 2nd. And not only we're they getting on base early, but they were tatooing the balls to left (and when I say to left, I mean only to left, one weird thing was that every single the Bucs hit in those first two inning was a line drive to left field - just when they would load the bases the offense would lock up though).
Oh well.
The 2nd game. Another loss, but the bigger story was that Marte was removed from the game with and injury to his left hand. Ouch. Marte's had his ups an downs, but there is no question the Pirates are way better when he's in the lineup and playing well.
Burnett was pitching well until the 6th, when he just couldn't get out of the inning. The Rockies scored 5 and the Bucs were done after that.
Game 3 was the most heartbreaking of the lot. Locke, who's struggled in his past 3ish starts got things mostly back on track, though he was a bit wild. 5 2/3 IP, 1 ER (2 R), 3 H, 4 BB, 3 K's.
Locke was called for a balk on a questionable call in the 3rd, which allowed Charlie Blackmon to advance from 2nd to 3rd with 1 out. He would score on a sac fly, making the score 2-1. In the 6th, the Rockies tied it on Pedro Alvarez's throwing error (but he hit a solo jack earlier in the game so at worst he was a neutral effect on the game). Then the big blow, a 2 out double in the 7th by Arenado to score Rosario from 1st. 3-2 Rockies.
As if the way they lost the lead wasn't tough enough. The Pirates clawed back to the brink in the 9th. Walker led off with a single. Martin struck out. Then Tony Sanchez hit a double. If there had been two outs, Walker scores no problem, but with 1 out he had to hold up to see if the ball was caught before he could run, and he advanced to 3rd on the play. The Pirates then failed to knock him in that last 90ft, Mercer lining out to third and Presley popping out to third. Damn.
The Bucs head to St. Louis and hope to get the wind back in their sails after a slightly deflating trip. You gotta keep looking at the big picture though! The Bucs are 3 games up on the Cards, and at worst will emerge from this series tied for 1st in the division. Let's hope that's not the actual result. I'm crossing my fingers for 2 of 3. Let's go Bucs!
Saturday, August 3, 2013
5-gamer at home vs. the Cards (a.k.a. The Biggest Series in Pirates History™)
Wow, what a ride that series was. There's a lot of stuff surrounding this series that I want to talk about, including the games themselves, the trade deadline, and the dreaded month of August.
First the games. The great thing about this series was that each of these games was very different, they all had there own little feel to them. In fact I gave them all names!
1. Statement Game
2. Classic Game
3. Dominance Game
4. Regression Game
5. What Game?
29 July - Cardinals 2 Pirates 9 - "Statement Game." The Pirates returned back from their long road trip to host an even longer homestand (their first homestand since the All-Star Break) to face the team they were looking up at in the division. The question remained, how would the Bucs hold up against one of the best teams in the majors? Would they be struggling to hang on? I mean, they just dropped a series to the Marlins. Or would they stand tall at home? How would their offense fare against an extremely talented pitching staff?
This was the statement game because, while it obviously didn't decide anything, it was a signal that these Pirates damn well could hold their own against the best of the best. It was a big series, a big opponent, and a big spot, and the Pirates came through with flying colors. Also, for the Pirates to jump out ahead to a 4 run lead in the 1st the way they did, on an Alvarez 3 run bomb, that was cool. And it mirrored the 4 run lead they lost in the rain out against the Cards earlier this season that caused this to become a 5 game series, which was a neat coincidence.
Liriano was brilliant. Which is becoming the norm for him. He's only had a tiny hiccup or two and overall he's been excellent this year, far surpassing all expectations I had for him. Tonight his line was 7 IP 1 ER 4 H 2 BB 8 Ks.
And just when it looked like the Cards might start to creep back into it, the Cards run in the 6th was blown out of the water by a 5 run Bucco 7th. And they did it with all the things they were struggling with in recent months! There was a sacrifice fly (the broadcasts loved to mention how we haven't had a SF since June or whatever, and apparently that SF was to an infielder in foul ground, so they liked to mention that the last SF to an outfielder was in late May - sure a sacrifice fly is a fine way to score a run, but it did not need to be mentioned as often as it was - so thank you Gaby Sanchez for ending that), there were hits with runners in scoring position and 2 outs (another stat that gets quoted a bit too much for my liking - I mean, I don't mind it as a general fact being mentioned, but it was used to imply that the Pirates were a weak hitting offense in the "clutch", when a much more reasonable conclusion from that fact is that the Pirates bats would probably regress up in those situations).
It was great to see because all this stuff that was talked about so much never happening for the Bucs suddenly happened all at once.
Victor Black came in in the 9th to finish the job. He gave up a run but sealed the deal. Being a young pitcher on the mound in that atmosphere - the game really felt like a playoff game the way the fans and the players were in to it - must have been pretty cool for Vic.
And that was just game 1. There's a double header tomorrow, don't cha know?
30 July Game 1 - Cardinals 1 Pirates 2 - "Classic Game." Of the 4 Bucco wins this series I have to say this one was my favorite. It was a classic old fashioned pitcher's duel between A.J. Burnett and Lance Lynn, and later, the bullpens. In my 5 years of Pirates fandom this is how I've gotten accustomed to Pirate wins. Tough, grind-it-out, low scoring affairs that are decided late. That's why this is the classic game. This is the game that most represents my favorite memories watching the Pirates.
Burnett pitched great, 7 IP 1 ER 3 H 3 BB 9 Ks. Lynn pitched similarly great, 6 IP 1 ER 3 H 2 BB 7 Ks. There were a couple weird things in here that made this a bit of an unusual and special duel.
First things first. In the 1st inning, McCutchen decided to be superman. With 2 outs Burnett was trying to work out of a 1st and 2nd base jam, Carlos Beltran tatooed a ball to center-right-center. McCutchen had to fly to get to this ball, and pulled off a great diving catch, followed by the astute awareness to get up and throw the ball to first base, doubling up Matt Holliday.
In the bottom half, Cutch stepped up with 2 out and no one on and hit a hard double to left. Alvarez came up next and promptly hit a double to right. A quick 1-0 lead, in big part thanks to our best player.
The Pirates would not score for ten more innings.
The top of the 3rd got a little weird with St. Louis's worst hitting position player doubling to lead off the inning. Lynn was up, and everyone knew to expect a bunt. Lynn bunted it firmly to the third base side of the mound. It was clearly with in Burnett's reach, but he took an odd route around it, almost as if he expected Alvarez to charge in and get it. But Pedro wasn't there, as he was covering 3rd. So now instead of a runner on 3rd and 1 out, we were facing a runners on the corners no out situation.
Matt Carpenter, who is having an exceptional year, walked to load the bases. Then Burnett managed a strike out, a ground out scoring a run, and then a line out to retire Beltran ending the inning. Pretty tough stuff there.
The Pirates got a knock here and there and a couple walks but couldn't much more against Lynn. Then the top of the 6th happened.
The wildness that was the top of the 6th in this game will not show up in the box score. Here's what happened. John Jay led off the inning, and with an 0-2 count he swung and missed at a big sweeping curve that ended up bouncing off his back foot. The ball bounced away toward the 3rd base dugout and Jay started running to first.
Now the correct ruling there is a strike and a dead ball since Jay was hit by the pitch he missed. But the umpire, I assume, didn't see the ball bounce off Jay's foot and assumed the ball hit the ground and got away from Martin.
While Jay was trotting to first, Martin started to argue with Home Plate Umpire Eric Cooper even though, according to the umpire anyway, the ball was still in play! Jay alertly turned toward second and made it in easily, beating a late throw by Martin, which was only late because he was Chuck Knoblauching with the umpire.
The call was wrong, but it stood. Runner on 2nd, nobody out. Cards heart of the lineup (2-3-4, Holliday-Beltran-Adams) coming up.
On the very next pitch, a fastball near the low-away corner, Cooper called a ball, and Burnett, frustrated and justifiably so, raised his arms to question to call.
Well, to say Cooper took exception to that would be an understatement, since he immediately got up out of his umpire stance and started pointing and marching toward the mound, yelling. Martin pressed his glove against the umpire to separate the two. Burnett barked back.
Somehow, and I'm not quite sure how, nobody was ejected there.
One of the greatest pleasures as a Pirate fan these last couple years has been to watch Burnett mow people down when he's angry. Burnett just looks mean normally, but when he's actually angry, he's practically frothing. And somehow, he still pitches well like that! It's like he has an angry super power that gets unleashed occasionally.
Super-Bunett appears and he means business. After one more ball, Burnett goes, strike, strike, strike, and Holliday is out.
Beltran flies out. And on an 0-2 pitch Adams hits a bouncer that Burnett knocks down by swinging his left arm back around his body. He throws to first to end the inning.
Crazy, crazy stuff.
Burnett would come out after 7 innings, and the bullpen kept the score even. Again, a classic kind of Pirate game with the bullpen holding it down until maybe, just maybe the Bucs can squeak across a run.
And squeak they did. In the 11th, with young Kevin Siegrist pitching, Alex Presley came up to the plate after 2 straight walks and hit a ball, startlingly similar to the ball Adams hit, into the ground and bouncing off Siegrist's glove. Only instead of dropping down in front of the pitcher like it did with Burnett, it bounded to the 3rd base side, squeaking through the 5.5 hole.
Martin came around to score. Incredible game. I need a nap.
Oh man, there's another game in 30 minutes!
30 July Game 2 - Cardinals 0 Pirates 6 - "Dominance Game." I wasn't able to watch most of this game live, but it was a solid and certain victory. Brandon Cumpton exceeded all expectations by pitching 7 scoreless innings.
This was the dominant game because unlike the statement game where we did all the things we weren't supposed to be doing, here we seemed to beat our chest a bit. Shut out the opponent, and do so confidently and brashly.
For me, watching the hightlights and replays, the moment of this game was McCutchen's 2 run HR to left, which bounded off of Holliday's wrist on its way into the stands. I think the ball was going out anyway, but Holliday missed his chance to grab it, and the crowd was on his back the rest of the night, screaming "HOLL-I-DAY" at him when he batted.
And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention this gif. Besides being hilarious (he didn't even try to go after the ball, he just wanted to out-bro Holliday), it sort of represented how Bucco fans felt then. It was like, look, we are the only team who has never won this division, but that doesn't mean we can't be as cocky as any of you other guys.
Also of note, the 6th run of this night's game was scored on Tony Sanchez's sacrifice fly, extending the Pirates no-sacrifice-flies-by-a-player-not-name-Sanchez streak to a jillion games.
31 July - Cardinals 4 Pirates 5 - "Regression Game." This was the most exhausting game to watch/listen to. It was slow, there were tons of hits.
The Cardinals came into this game with an extremely low BABIP on the series. Locke came into this game with an extremely low BABIP on the season.
Regression bit hard in this one. The Cards tagged Locke for 10 hits and a walk and knocked him out after only 4 innings. He gave up 4 runs. Though he did K 6 batters. Honestly, I don't think Locke was particularly bad, a bit worse than usual, but I'd say the vast majority of this start was due to the fact that none of the batted balls were turning into outs for Locke - the error in there certainly didn't help and the balls were leaking through. Sometimes you just have one of those nights. Locke's been rolling dice all season, and I think he's good enough to bias toward 5's and 6's, but tonight he just got slammed with a bunch of snake eyes. It happens.
On the other side, the Pirates were nickeling and diming Adam Wainwright all night. A run here, a run there. Waino managed to escape the 7th having given up 4 runs. The teams were trading 1-spots all night. But it was great to see the Bucs claw their way back from a 4-2 deficit to tie it at 4.
Hard throwing Trevor Rosenthal was brought in to pitch the bottom of the 8th. Walker led off with a single. Cutch flew out.
Then with 1 out Pedro hit a deep fly ball to left. Holliday faded back to make the catch, but the ball was so deep that Walker was able to tag up and advance to 2nd base.
On a 0-1 pitch, Russell Martin hit a sharp grounder to the left of 2nd base. Walker skipped past the ball and dashed home to score the fifth Pirate run.
In the 9th, Mark Melancon did that Melancon thing he does when he pitches a 1-2-3 inning. I like when he does that.
Fuck you, regression. 4 straight wins.
1 August - Cardinals 13 Pirates 0 - "What Game?" I don't remember what happened in this game. I don't think anyone does.
It was a bad night obviously, but who cares if we lost 1-0, 13-0, or 26-0. A loss is a loss. We took 4 of 5 from highest-esteemed team in the National League. That's something to write home about.
I know this post is already the War and Peace of GOXN blog posts, but I want to say a few things about the trade deadline and the upcoming month.
The 31st of July was the trade deadline. Now, the Pirates could still get an addition through waivers after that day, but it's not the easiest thing to do. I would've really liked to have seen the Pirates add a bat. I would've been very happy with a Hunter Pence or a Nate Schierholtz. I wasn't as high on Alex Rios, who was spoken about a lot and never ended up going anywhere, but I admit he would've probably been a fine addition as well.
This Pirates team is in a fantastic position, it would've been fantastic to cement one of our most glaring weaknesses, the fact that we don't have a reliable bat in right field (or at first base, really).
I feel like this is a missed opportunity. I know Neal Huntington and the Pirates tried to make some moves, they definitely inquired about Giancarlo Stanton (who would've rightfully required a king's ransom to get - and apparently Jeffrey Loria wouldn't even take that, since he turned down every offer) and Mark Trumbo (another great bat, but would've been expensive as well).
My personal feelings are that the Bucs tried to make the big Blockbuster deal, but the other teams wanted too much, and all the deals fell through. I feel they could've gone after some good bats without breaking the bank, and still come out with a decent upgrade. And I'm not talking Derrick Lee/Ryan Ludwick marginal upgrade like they've done in the past (although, to be fair, those players did actually perform okay once they joined the Bucs, but they weren't really that different than the players we had at the time), I'm talking like 4 or 5 WAR/season difference between what we're getting at a certain position and what we could be getting. Schierholtz in RF would've done that. Oh well.
I obviously don't know what the trade talks were like - I wasn't there. As a bystander though, I came out of the deadline disappointed.
Finally, a word about August.
Here is an artists depiction of what the Pirate's record looked like last August:
Basically the Pirates were struggling a long, losing a few games here and there and nothing crazy for the first week or two. Then they won a marathon 19-inning game (not to be confused with the Jerry Meals disaster in Atlanta from 2011 that also ended in 19 inning), and followed it up by losing pretty much everything afterward. Some of it was regression, some of it was fatigue. A lot of it was terrible, terrible luck.
Why mention this? Well a couple reasons: 1) It's August now. The season is approximately 2/3 done. This may be a better team than last year and this team may be in a better position than last year at the same time. But it's not over. I've seen collapses of teams I love, and the team that collapsed didn't look all that different than the one right now. I'm not saying this 2013 Pirate team will collapse. What I am saying is that being in first place and winning game after game in late July/early August like you're the '27 Yankees is no guarantee of a playoff spot or a 0.500 record.
So when you hear commentators or sports anchors say, the Pirates are definitely making the playoffs. Don't believe them. Cause they might be right, but they're not definitely right.
Stay strong Buccos. The hardest part is not yet over. It's along season. And we're gonna have to make it through August to make this season famous instead of infamous.
Your 1st place Pirates, ladies and gentleman. Cherish it, but don't take anything for granted.
Let's go Bucs!
First the games. The great thing about this series was that each of these games was very different, they all had there own little feel to them. In fact I gave them all names!
1. Statement Game
2. Classic Game
3. Dominance Game
4. Regression Game
5. What Game?
29 July - Cardinals 2 Pirates 9 - "Statement Game." The Pirates returned back from their long road trip to host an even longer homestand (their first homestand since the All-Star Break) to face the team they were looking up at in the division. The question remained, how would the Bucs hold up against one of the best teams in the majors? Would they be struggling to hang on? I mean, they just dropped a series to the Marlins. Or would they stand tall at home? How would their offense fare against an extremely talented pitching staff?
This was the statement game because, while it obviously didn't decide anything, it was a signal that these Pirates damn well could hold their own against the best of the best. It was a big series, a big opponent, and a big spot, and the Pirates came through with flying colors. Also, for the Pirates to jump out ahead to a 4 run lead in the 1st the way they did, on an Alvarez 3 run bomb, that was cool. And it mirrored the 4 run lead they lost in the rain out against the Cards earlier this season that caused this to become a 5 game series, which was a neat coincidence.
Liriano was brilliant. Which is becoming the norm for him. He's only had a tiny hiccup or two and overall he's been excellent this year, far surpassing all expectations I had for him. Tonight his line was 7 IP 1 ER 4 H 2 BB 8 Ks.
And just when it looked like the Cards might start to creep back into it, the Cards run in the 6th was blown out of the water by a 5 run Bucco 7th. And they did it with all the things they were struggling with in recent months! There was a sacrifice fly (the broadcasts loved to mention how we haven't had a SF since June or whatever, and apparently that SF was to an infielder in foul ground, so they liked to mention that the last SF to an outfielder was in late May - sure a sacrifice fly is a fine way to score a run, but it did not need to be mentioned as often as it was - so thank you Gaby Sanchez for ending that), there were hits with runners in scoring position and 2 outs (another stat that gets quoted a bit too much for my liking - I mean, I don't mind it as a general fact being mentioned, but it was used to imply that the Pirates were a weak hitting offense in the "clutch", when a much more reasonable conclusion from that fact is that the Pirates bats would probably regress up in those situations).
It was great to see because all this stuff that was talked about so much never happening for the Bucs suddenly happened all at once.
Victor Black came in in the 9th to finish the job. He gave up a run but sealed the deal. Being a young pitcher on the mound in that atmosphere - the game really felt like a playoff game the way the fans and the players were in to it - must have been pretty cool for Vic.
And that was just game 1. There's a double header tomorrow, don't cha know?
30 July Game 1 - Cardinals 1 Pirates 2 - "Classic Game." Of the 4 Bucco wins this series I have to say this one was my favorite. It was a classic old fashioned pitcher's duel between A.J. Burnett and Lance Lynn, and later, the bullpens. In my 5 years of Pirates fandom this is how I've gotten accustomed to Pirate wins. Tough, grind-it-out, low scoring affairs that are decided late. That's why this is the classic game. This is the game that most represents my favorite memories watching the Pirates.
Burnett pitched great, 7 IP 1 ER 3 H 3 BB 9 Ks. Lynn pitched similarly great, 6 IP 1 ER 3 H 2 BB 7 Ks. There were a couple weird things in here that made this a bit of an unusual and special duel.
First things first. In the 1st inning, McCutchen decided to be superman. With 2 outs Burnett was trying to work out of a 1st and 2nd base jam, Carlos Beltran tatooed a ball to center-right-center. McCutchen had to fly to get to this ball, and pulled off a great diving catch, followed by the astute awareness to get up and throw the ball to first base, doubling up Matt Holliday.
In the bottom half, Cutch stepped up with 2 out and no one on and hit a hard double to left. Alvarez came up next and promptly hit a double to right. A quick 1-0 lead, in big part thanks to our best player.
The Pirates would not score for ten more innings.
The top of the 3rd got a little weird with St. Louis's worst hitting position player doubling to lead off the inning. Lynn was up, and everyone knew to expect a bunt. Lynn bunted it firmly to the third base side of the mound. It was clearly with in Burnett's reach, but he took an odd route around it, almost as if he expected Alvarez to charge in and get it. But Pedro wasn't there, as he was covering 3rd. So now instead of a runner on 3rd and 1 out, we were facing a runners on the corners no out situation.
Matt Carpenter, who is having an exceptional year, walked to load the bases. Then Burnett managed a strike out, a ground out scoring a run, and then a line out to retire Beltran ending the inning. Pretty tough stuff there.
The Pirates got a knock here and there and a couple walks but couldn't much more against Lynn. Then the top of the 6th happened.
The wildness that was the top of the 6th in this game will not show up in the box score. Here's what happened. John Jay led off the inning, and with an 0-2 count he swung and missed at a big sweeping curve that ended up bouncing off his back foot. The ball bounced away toward the 3rd base dugout and Jay started running to first.
Now the correct ruling there is a strike and a dead ball since Jay was hit by the pitch he missed. But the umpire, I assume, didn't see the ball bounce off Jay's foot and assumed the ball hit the ground and got away from Martin.
While Jay was trotting to first, Martin started to argue with Home Plate Umpire Eric Cooper even though, according to the umpire anyway, the ball was still in play! Jay alertly turned toward second and made it in easily, beating a late throw by Martin, which was only late because he was Chuck Knoblauching with the umpire.
The call was wrong, but it stood. Runner on 2nd, nobody out. Cards heart of the lineup (2-3-4, Holliday-Beltran-Adams) coming up.
On the very next pitch, a fastball near the low-away corner, Cooper called a ball, and Burnett, frustrated and justifiably so, raised his arms to question to call.
Well, to say Cooper took exception to that would be an understatement, since he immediately got up out of his umpire stance and started pointing and marching toward the mound, yelling. Martin pressed his glove against the umpire to separate the two. Burnett barked back.
Somehow, and I'm not quite sure how, nobody was ejected there.
One of the greatest pleasures as a Pirate fan these last couple years has been to watch Burnett mow people down when he's angry. Burnett just looks mean normally, but when he's actually angry, he's practically frothing. And somehow, he still pitches well like that! It's like he has an angry super power that gets unleashed occasionally.
Super-Bunett appears and he means business. After one more ball, Burnett goes, strike, strike, strike, and Holliday is out.
Beltran flies out. And on an 0-2 pitch Adams hits a bouncer that Burnett knocks down by swinging his left arm back around his body. He throws to first to end the inning.
Crazy, crazy stuff.
Burnett would come out after 7 innings, and the bullpen kept the score even. Again, a classic kind of Pirate game with the bullpen holding it down until maybe, just maybe the Bucs can squeak across a run.
And squeak they did. In the 11th, with young Kevin Siegrist pitching, Alex Presley came up to the plate after 2 straight walks and hit a ball, startlingly similar to the ball Adams hit, into the ground and bouncing off Siegrist's glove. Only instead of dropping down in front of the pitcher like it did with Burnett, it bounded to the 3rd base side, squeaking through the 5.5 hole.
Martin came around to score. Incredible game. I need a nap.
Oh man, there's another game in 30 minutes!
30 July Game 2 - Cardinals 0 Pirates 6 - "Dominance Game." I wasn't able to watch most of this game live, but it was a solid and certain victory. Brandon Cumpton exceeded all expectations by pitching 7 scoreless innings.
This was the dominant game because unlike the statement game where we did all the things we weren't supposed to be doing, here we seemed to beat our chest a bit. Shut out the opponent, and do so confidently and brashly.
For me, watching the hightlights and replays, the moment of this game was McCutchen's 2 run HR to left, which bounded off of Holliday's wrist on its way into the stands. I think the ball was going out anyway, but Holliday missed his chance to grab it, and the crowd was on his back the rest of the night, screaming "HOLL-I-DAY" at him when he batted.
And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention this gif. Besides being hilarious (he didn't even try to go after the ball, he just wanted to out-bro Holliday), it sort of represented how Bucco fans felt then. It was like, look, we are the only team who has never won this division, but that doesn't mean we can't be as cocky as any of you other guys.
Also of note, the 6th run of this night's game was scored on Tony Sanchez's sacrifice fly, extending the Pirates no-sacrifice-flies-by-a-player-not-name-Sanchez streak to a jillion games.
31 July - Cardinals 4 Pirates 5 - "Regression Game." This was the most exhausting game to watch/listen to. It was slow, there were tons of hits.
The Cardinals came into this game with an extremely low BABIP on the series. Locke came into this game with an extremely low BABIP on the season.
Regression bit hard in this one. The Cards tagged Locke for 10 hits and a walk and knocked him out after only 4 innings. He gave up 4 runs. Though he did K 6 batters. Honestly, I don't think Locke was particularly bad, a bit worse than usual, but I'd say the vast majority of this start was due to the fact that none of the batted balls were turning into outs for Locke - the error in there certainly didn't help and the balls were leaking through. Sometimes you just have one of those nights. Locke's been rolling dice all season, and I think he's good enough to bias toward 5's and 6's, but tonight he just got slammed with a bunch of snake eyes. It happens.
On the other side, the Pirates were nickeling and diming Adam Wainwright all night. A run here, a run there. Waino managed to escape the 7th having given up 4 runs. The teams were trading 1-spots all night. But it was great to see the Bucs claw their way back from a 4-2 deficit to tie it at 4.
Hard throwing Trevor Rosenthal was brought in to pitch the bottom of the 8th. Walker led off with a single. Cutch flew out.
Then with 1 out Pedro hit a deep fly ball to left. Holliday faded back to make the catch, but the ball was so deep that Walker was able to tag up and advance to 2nd base.
On a 0-1 pitch, Russell Martin hit a sharp grounder to the left of 2nd base. Walker skipped past the ball and dashed home to score the fifth Pirate run.
In the 9th, Mark Melancon did that Melancon thing he does when he pitches a 1-2-3 inning. I like when he does that.
Fuck you, regression. 4 straight wins.
1 August - Cardinals 13 Pirates 0 - "What Game?" I don't remember what happened in this game. I don't think anyone does.
It was a bad night obviously, but who cares if we lost 1-0, 13-0, or 26-0. A loss is a loss. We took 4 of 5 from highest-esteemed team in the National League. That's something to write home about.
I know this post is already the War and Peace of GOXN blog posts, but I want to say a few things about the trade deadline and the upcoming month.
The 31st of July was the trade deadline. Now, the Pirates could still get an addition through waivers after that day, but it's not the easiest thing to do. I would've really liked to have seen the Pirates add a bat. I would've been very happy with a Hunter Pence or a Nate Schierholtz. I wasn't as high on Alex Rios, who was spoken about a lot and never ended up going anywhere, but I admit he would've probably been a fine addition as well.
This Pirates team is in a fantastic position, it would've been fantastic to cement one of our most glaring weaknesses, the fact that we don't have a reliable bat in right field (or at first base, really).
I feel like this is a missed opportunity. I know Neal Huntington and the Pirates tried to make some moves, they definitely inquired about Giancarlo Stanton (who would've rightfully required a king's ransom to get - and apparently Jeffrey Loria wouldn't even take that, since he turned down every offer) and Mark Trumbo (another great bat, but would've been expensive as well).
My personal feelings are that the Bucs tried to make the big Blockbuster deal, but the other teams wanted too much, and all the deals fell through. I feel they could've gone after some good bats without breaking the bank, and still come out with a decent upgrade. And I'm not talking Derrick Lee/Ryan Ludwick marginal upgrade like they've done in the past (although, to be fair, those players did actually perform okay once they joined the Bucs, but they weren't really that different than the players we had at the time), I'm talking like 4 or 5 WAR/season difference between what we're getting at a certain position and what we could be getting. Schierholtz in RF would've done that. Oh well.
I obviously don't know what the trade talks were like - I wasn't there. As a bystander though, I came out of the deadline disappointed.
Finally, a word about August.
Here is an artists depiction of what the Pirate's record looked like last August:
Basically the Pirates were struggling a long, losing a few games here and there and nothing crazy for the first week or two. Then they won a marathon 19-inning game (not to be confused with the Jerry Meals disaster in Atlanta from 2011 that also ended in 19 inning), and followed it up by losing pretty much everything afterward. Some of it was regression, some of it was fatigue. A lot of it was terrible, terrible luck.
Why mention this? Well a couple reasons: 1) It's August now. The season is approximately 2/3 done. This may be a better team than last year and this team may be in a better position than last year at the same time. But it's not over. I've seen collapses of teams I love, and the team that collapsed didn't look all that different than the one right now. I'm not saying this 2013 Pirate team will collapse. What I am saying is that being in first place and winning game after game in late July/early August like you're the '27 Yankees is no guarantee of a playoff spot or a 0.500 record.
So when you hear commentators or sports anchors say, the Pirates are definitely making the playoffs. Don't believe them. Cause they might be right, but they're not definitely right.
Stay strong Buccos. The hardest part is not yet over. It's along season. And we're gonna have to make it through August to make this season famous instead of infamous.
Your 1st place Pirates, ladies and gentleman. Cherish it, but don't take anything for granted.
Let's go Bucs!
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