Month: July 2024

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Pirates Morning Report: Couldn’t Lose Even Though They Tried.

Final Score: Pirates 8 Phillies 7

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates offense won this one because it sure as hell wasn’t the pitching. The offense was led by Reynolds, 3 hits, Cruz, 3hits, 3 RBI’s and Rawhide Rowdy Telles with 3 sacrifice flies. Management essentially forfeited the game. They had 5 choices to start the game, Perez, Gonzales, Priester, Keller, and Ortiz. They picked the worse pitcher of the bunch in Martin Perez, and you could say he came through. He pitched 3 and 2/3 innings giving up 6 runs on 7 hits, 2 of which left the park, walking 2 on 82 pitches. That is over 20 pitches per inning. Hopefully the next time we see Perez he will be coming out of the bullpen. Naturally with a break, the Phillies, who want to win every game, started one of their better pitchers in Aaron Nola. Surprisingly the Pirate offense came alive and lit him up for 4 runs on 6hits and 1 walk in just 5 innings. The Phillies bullpen is not quite as good as Bob Walk and Greg Brown made them out to be, but they are solid, ranked 8th in all of baseball. Of course, Walk said the Pirates have a good bullpen also. He must think being ranked 22nd out of 30 teams is good. None the less, last night the Pirate bullpen did out do the Phillies bullpen. The Pirates scored 4 runs over the last 4 innings to open the post All Star break with a win. Unbelievable.

The Key Moments Of The Game: It boiled down to the 9th inning. Going into the 9th the score was 7-6 Phillies. Carmen Mlodzinski came into pitch. The Phillies opened the inning with 2 singles to put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Mlodzinski got a pop out and fly out to right field moving the runner to third base. One pitch later the other runner stole 2nd to put runners on second and third with 2 out. Mlodzinski struck out Brandon Marsh on a beautiful 97 MPH fast ball on a 3-2 count. In the bottom of the ninth the Phillies brought in lefty Jose Alvarado. Connor Joe singled to left field followed by an Andrew McCutchen walk. Michael Taylor pinch ran for Connor Joe after his single. The Pirates then pulled off the double steal, with Taylor just making it to third base. This changed the dynamics of the inning and set the Pirates up for victory. Bryan Reynolds struck out, but Oneil Cruz hit a chopper over the mound that the Phillies tried to make a play at the plate on, that was a mistake. Instead of getting the 2nd out now the Pirates had first and third with one out and the infield had to play in again. Nick Gonzales drilled a ball to left field and the Pirates had an unexpected win.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Pittsburgh. The best thing about this win last night was that the Pirates are not getting swept. To win any game 8-7, let alone against the Phillies, makes you wonder if things are starting to go the Pirates way. Time will tell. Shelton did ask Martin Perez if he could start again tonight but Perez said no. It certainly was a miracle win last night.

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Pirates Morning Report: All Star Break, Part Two

The Pirate broadcast booth, some on social media, and the written media are just downright giddy over the Pirates 4 game winning streak and getting to .500 at the All Star break. Derek Shelton says that the Pirates are playing better. The cold hard facts do not show that. Beginning today the reality check will begin. The Pirates are going on a 24 game stretch where they play 6 games at home, 6 games on the road, 6 games at home and 6 games on the road. They will play 3 games each against 2 of the best teams in the National League, the Phillies at home and the Dodgers on the road. The other 18 games are going to be against teams that currently have better records than the Pirates. The Pirates’ home and road record is pretty much the same. There are 12 games before the trade deadline. Six at home against the Phillies and the Cardinals. Then they go on the road to face the Diamondbacks and the Astros. Losing something like 9 out of 12 is a distinct possibility with the team that they now have assembled. Shelton said recently that they are looking to add a bat. He did not say that there would be a player attached to that bat. Ben Cherrington said earlier that he felt the Pirates were going to fix their offensive issues from within the organization. The bottom line on all of this is, as usual, the Pirates will not be major players at the trade deadline. It will be a big surprise to me if they even make one trade. What is life if not to have some fun. Here is simply what I would do if I ran the Pirates.

Gone are Jack Suwinski and Jared Triolo to be replaced by Ji Hwan Bae and Liover Peguero. There are three blue chip names that are most likely on the trade block. Two of them for sure and the other one a definite maybe. Taking them in the order of most desirable for the Pirates. At the top of the list is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. His current OPS+ is 130 and that is after getting off to a very slow start. He would add a whole new dynamic to this team. He is under team control until 2025 and this guy stays on the field. The last 3 years he has played between 156 and 161 games. Next at a very close 2nd is A’s closer Mason Miller. This would bolster the bullpen which right now sits at 22nd in baseball. Finally, another Oakland A Brent Rooker. The problem with him is that he is basically a DH. McCutchen has not exactly been chop liver at that position, but to think that he can play the field on a regular basis may be stretching things a bit. When Rooker has been out in the field he has been horrible. The Pirates do seem to get along with a mediocre right fielder and there is no question his bat is elite. If I ran the Pirates, I would make sure that I got two out of three. If this team is going to make the playoffs they need some huge upgrades in certain areas. You are not making the playoffs with the worst centerfielder and a bottom third right fielder. This trade deadline is tricky to say the least. There are only about 6 teams that are definitely sellers. The Blue Jays are not one of those teams. They are a borderline team, and they may not be in the selling mode. Getting the other 2 Oakland players would be just fine. It would take some bold strokes to pull this off, so it is unlikely to happen. Which is the same thing you can say about this organization making the playoffs this year, very unlikely. The next 12 games and the Pirate activity at the trade deadline may change my mind.

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Pirates Morning Report: All Star Break, Part One

The Pirates made it to .500, 48-48 thanks to a finishing 4 game winning streak. The Pirates are 7-0 against the Marlins and the White Sox. I will never belittle those wins. The Marlins beat the Reds in the last game before the break. This does beg the question, did the Pirates really improve, or did they take advantage of poor competition. In the 3 phases of the game, hitting, pitching, and defense, let’s see what happened. They got a lot better pitching, stayed the same hitting, and surprisingly got worse on defense since we last took a look at the Pirates, 31 games ago. Let us look at the team numbers first. The offense continues to stink but at least they did not get worse. If you listen to the broadcast booth you would think this team is ready to become the 27′ Yankees. Dream away child. In runs scored they are still at 20th in the league at 4.19 runs per game. In on base percentage they have fallen to 27th from their lofty perch of 24th. In the comparison stat OPS+ there are now only 2 teams in all of baseball that hit worse than they do. There is no question their pitching has gotten them to .500. They showed vast improvement in every category. In runs allowed they went up to 14th from 19th. In fielding independent pitching, they had a huge improvement going up to 7th in baseball from 19th. In the comparison stat of ERA+ they went up two places to 12th. Going through each position and area according to WAR the Pirate rotation is hitting elite status as they are ranked 3rd in all of baseball. Too bad the rest of the team can’t even come close to that. The next highest ranked position is left field where Bryan Reynolds has played the most at 12th. Where the Pirates stink the most is centerfield (30th), pinch hitting (26th), catcher (25th), right field (22th), and the bullpen (22nd). Then we come to what I feel is the most disappointing part of this Pirate team the defense. In defense efficiency which takes in all aspects of a team’s defense not just errors, the Pirates now are 25th, falling 8 places. Essentially, they are one of the worst fielding teams in the league.

Looking at the individual players here are the culprits that are having horrible offensive seasons up to this point. OPS+ is the comparison stat on how a player compares with his constituents. It takes into consideration the run scoring environment, the competition and the ballpark the player plays in. It comes out simply a whole number with 100 being league average. Being a league average hitter is absolutely fine and if the Pirates had about 8-9 hitters at league average or above, they would probably be in first place. Here are the Pirate players that probably could not get a hit even if there were only 5 players on the field. Their OPS+ is in parenthesis. Yasmani Grandal (42), Ke’Bryan Hayes (74), Michael Taylor (53), Jared Triolo (59), Jack Suwinski (63), Henry Davis (45), and Alika Williams (48). With the exception of Hayes, these players are hitting at a rate of 37 to 48% worse than the league average. Even though I know this won’t happen, there is not one single reason that I can think of for these players to be on the team when play resumes after the break. More on that in part 2. Even with his hot 6 to 7 weeks Rawhide Rowdy Tellez sits at 92. What Rowdy are we going to see after the break. The April May Rowdy or the June July Rowdy. The other aspect of the Pirate game that will have to improve is the bullpen. You cannot be the 22nd best bullpen and make the playoffs. Hopefully the defense will improve just by the normal course of events.

Finally let’s set the record straight. This is not the second half of the season. The season is 60% over. The Pirates have played 96 games and there are 66 games to go. With the expanded playoffs the last two years, 87 and 84 wins have made the final playoff spot. Both years that final playoff spot made it to the World Series. Let’s compromise here and say it will take 86 wins to make the playoffs. The Pirates would need to go 38-28 to get to that point. I do not see that happening in the team’s current state. In my view the Pirates need 2 outfielders, a catcher, and at least on more bullpen arm. How they will go about that or even if they will go about that will dictate how this season will go. Part 2 on Friday.

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Pirates Morning Report: Getting To .500

Final Score: Pirates 9 White Sox 4

Why The Pirates Won: A total offensive performance against a very bad team gave the Pirates a very nice win. Everybody but Jack (Packing My Bags) Suwinski got on base at least once. Six players scored runs and 6 players had RBI’s. The team had 12 hits with 7 being extra base hits. They struck out 6 times. For whatever reason Mitch Keller only went 3 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, walking 3, while striking out 3. The bullpen gave up 2 runs on 6 hits, but stop the presses, Colin Holderman had a clean inning 3 up, 3 down in the 8th. Dennis Santana pitched the 9th again showing he may be the best low leverage pitcher in baseball.

Key Moments Of The Game: The White Sox did a great Pirate imitation going 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and leaving 10 men on base for the game. Joey Bart’s 3 run homer was huge in the top of the 4th but this was a close game 4-3 after 6 innings. In the top of the 7th, after one out, Bryan Reynolds walked and Oneil Cruz bounced a single to right field to put runners on 1st and 3rd. Nick Gonzales hit a line drive to left field that Andrew Benintendi made an awkward diving attempt to catch the ball. The ball got by him clearing the bases making the score 6-3. Gonzales wound up at third on an overturned call triple. The Pirates added 2 more on a sacrifice fly and back to back doubles by Ke’Bryan Hayes and I am still not writing his name down. The game was over and the Pirates had won 4 in a row.

Next Game: July 19, Phillies in Pittsburgh. The Pirates go from playing one of the worst teams in baseball to the team with the best record in the National League. There will be two Pirates Morning Reports during the break. One on how the Pirates have done so far and the second on what if anything the Pirates should do at the trade deadline, which could be a lot trickier than it would first appear.

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Pirates Morning Report: All Gifts Accepted

Final Score: Pirates 6 White Sox 2

Why The Pirates Won: The White Sox showed why they are one of the worst teams in baseball. They handed this game to the Pirates on a silver platter. Through both mental and physical errors the White Sox contributed to the Pirates scoring in all 3 innings the Pirates scored. Only one of the Pirates 6 runs were unearned but they really did not have to work much to score runs. The Pirates got 9 hits but only 4 of the Pirates got those hits, with Reynolds getting 4, and McCutchen and Hayes getting 2 each. I refuse to write the name down of the other Pirate that got a hit, I just can’t do it. Luis Ortiz had another strong outing giving up 1 run on 4 hits, walking 1, striking out 5, but he had to throw94 pitches to go 5 and 2/3 innings. The bullpen gave up another run in the 8th and the score was 3-2 Pirates going into the top of the 9th. Then the White Sox said Merry Christmas Pirates.

Key Moment Of The Game: Conner Joe started off the 9th with a 5 pitch walk. Yasmani Grandal hit a double play ball right to the first basemen but then he threw high to second and everybody was safe. Joey Bart walked on 4 pitches to load the bases. Bryan Reynolds wasted no time lining a single to right field on the second pitch to give the Pirates a 5-2 lead. Oneil Cruz hit a sacrifice fly to get his second RBI of the game without getting a hit to make it 6-2. The Pirates scored 3 runs on just one hit, thank you White Sox. The Pirates were so confident that they brought in Dennis Santana to pitch the 9th and he showed he was up to the task by retiring the White Sox in order.

Next Game: This afternoon, White Sox in Chicago. The Pirates have won 3 in a row. Hard to believe. If they win today they will be 48-48 at the All Star break. Hard to believe. The only question remains will the White Sox help us out again.

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Pirates Morning Report: Beating The White Sox

Final Score: Pirates 4 White Sox 1

Why The Pirates Won: Marco Gonzalez, doing his best Colin Holderman impression, scattered 7 hits over the first 4 innings only giving up 1 run. His friend was the double play ball as he induced the White Sox to ground into 2 of them to help get him out of jams. The bullpen took over in the 6th and shut the White Sox down, with the exception of Colin Holderman doing his best Colin Holderman impression, by allowing the first two batters to reach base in the bottom of the 8th. Again, the double play ball came to his rescue, and he got out of the inning with no runs scoring. The offense was able to put 2 good innings together so the Pirates could win the opening game of the series against the pathetic White Sox.

Key Moments Of The Game: Going into the top of 5th the Pirates had gotten just one hit. In the top of the 5th the bottom half of the order, be still my beating heart, manufactured 2 runs. Ke’Bryan Hayes singled to start the inning. Then Joey Bart got one of the most missed strike calls of the year. On a ball that was well inside the strike zone but was called a ball, that was completely lost in the action, because Hayes tried to steal 2nd on the 3-2 pitch. The ball was thrown into centerfield and Hayes advanced to third. Now Hayes would have scored on the Triolo (Another miracle) single, but the Michael Taylor sacrifice fly should have been the 3rd out of the inning. I guess this is what happens to you, when you are one of the worst teams in baseball. The Pirates added 2 more runs in the top of the 6th and the umpires didn’t help at all this time. In typical Pirate fashion they only got 2 hits in the last 3 innings. They still have a shot at the sweep.

Next Game: This afternoon, White Sox in Chicago. Rumor has it that Greg Brown was late getting to the radio booth because he went to Wrigley Field first but I can not confirm that. Luis Ortiz is taking the mound today for the Pirates and the poor bastard is pitching on only 5 days rest. I hope he will be able to hold up against such an elite lineup. I know the Pirate “brain trust” will be keeping a close eye on him in the early innings to see if he is showing signs of fatigue. The pressure is unbearable.

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Pirates Morning Report: Making 2024 Bearable

Final Score: Pirates 1 Brewers 0

Why The Pirates Won: Two words, Paul Skenes. He is making this disappointing season worth watching. In a remarkable performance Skenes went 7 innings, gave up 0 runs, 0 hits, walked 1, hit a batter, struck out 11, while throwing 99 pitches. What was amazing that after 3 innings he had thrown 62 pitches. At the time I thought he would be lucky to get through 5 innings. He made it through 7 in under a 100 pitches. Of course with this putrid offense the score was tied going into the 7th. We managed to get a run in the 7th and we held on to win and take the series.

Key Moment Of The Game: Colin (How In The Hell Does He Do It) Holderman came into the game in the top of the 8th. He ended the no hitter suspense right away giving up a single on his 2nd pitch of the inning. Holderman gave up another hit to put runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. He struck out Andruw Monastario on 4 pitches getting him to chase on two of them, thank you very much. He struck out Brad Perkins on 5 pitches. He walked Brice Turing on 7 pitches with only 2 being in the strike zone to load the bases. He got out of the inning by striking out William Contreras on 5 pitches with one of them in the strike zone. He faced 4 batters, struck out 3, walked 1 and only threw 6 pitches out of 21 in the strike zone. WOW! Aroldis Chapman pitched a clean 9th to pick up the save and someway, somehow the Pirates took the series from the 1st place Brewers.

Next Game: Tonight, White Sox, in Chicago. Greg Brown called the stadium to make sure the Pirates are playing the White Sox and not the Cubs. The White Sox are 27 and 68. How many ways will the Pirates find to lose 2 out of 3 to them. We will start counting tonight.

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Pirates Morning Report: Brewers Return The Favor

Final Score: Pirates 0 Brewers 9

Why The Pirates Lost: The offensive blues returned. The Pirates had 5 innings where they were retired in order. They were 1 for 3 with runners in scoring position and that was all in the same inning. They only left 4 men on base. They hit more home runs in the game before than they got hits in this one. On the pitching side Martin (The Hell With His Arm) Perez toiled for 4 and 2/3 innings giving up 5 runs on 9 hits walking 3, striking out 5 while throwing 107 pitches. His ERA is now over 5. The bullpen gave up 4 runs in 2 and 1/3 innings to round out a great game for the Pirates. At least they didn’t make any errors other than showing up at the ballpark.

Key Moments Of The Game: In a game like this there are not many key moments, but the Brewers scored their first 5 runs after 2 were out. They scored 2 in the first, 2 in the 4th, and 1 in the fifth. The Pirates made some noise in the top of the 7th when Rowdy (I Never Hit This Well In My Life) Tellez legged out a double to lead off. One out later Josh (We Have A Lot Of Energy When I’m In The Game) Polacios singled to left. According to Greg Brown, Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a sharp, but really only 75 MPH, ground ball that Rhys (What Kind Of Spelling Is That) Hoskins made a nice play on to turn it into an inning ending double play.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Milwaukee. Paul Skenes goes today, so we do have a legitimate shot at taking the series, but I am sure that Shelton is going to have a goofy lineup. Maybe lead off with Hayes and bat Grandal 2nd. I really do wish that they would just lose these last 4 games so they can sell and maybe find some good young hitters. However, if this organization was capable of finding good young hitters, then I guess they would have done so by now.

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Pirates Morning Report: Breaking Open Another One.

Final Score: Pirates 12 Brewers 2

Why The Pirates Won: For the second time in five games the Pirates brought out the long ball. They hit five home runs including a grand slam by Joey (Don’t Ever Say My Name Rhymes With Fart) Bart to break the game open in the top of the 6th inning. Quinn Priester pitched one of his better games of the year. Starting in the 2nd inning he gave up 2 runs, 1 earned, 4 hits, walking 2, striking out 8 in 6 innings of work. Four of those innings the game was close. The other thing the Pirates learned last night is if you have a 10 run lead to protect, Dennis Santana is your man. At least the Pirates won’t get swept.

Key Moments Of The Game: Josh Fleming survived a very shaky first inning as the opener. He threw 24 pitches and only 9 of them were for strikes. A double play helped and the final Brewer batter of the inning swung at a pitch way above the strike zone to pop out. Going into the top of the 6th inning the Pirates had gotten only 1 hit, the Bryan Reynolds home run to take a 2-0 lead at the time. Then they turned into the ‘27 Yankees. Reynolds single. Tellez single. Gonzales bad hop single, 3-2. Hayes single, bases loaded. Suwinski single, 4-2. The Brewers brought in Bryse (Love Milwaukee Beer) Wilson. Joey Bart lit up a 2-2 curve ball for a grand slam home run and this game was over. The Pirates had just gotten 6 hits in a row, where many times, they don’t get that many for an entire game. They added another 4 meaningless runs, on 3 more home runs, but I heard that Santana breathed a big sigh when the 12th run crossed the plate.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. Martin Perez will start tonight. Let’s hope he can replicate his last start. Looks like Oneil Cruz may be headed to the IL, but this would be a good time to rest the hamstring with the All Star break coming up. I am in California for the week. That is the reason these are like mid morning reports. Could it be possible that the Pirates will rattle off 7 wins a row to take them to the All Star break. I hear that Derek (The Shadow) Shelton is burning the midnight oil to make sure that does not happen.

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Pirates Morning Report: Met’s Two Out NightMare

Final Score: Pirates 8 Mets 2

Why The Pirates Won: Harkening back to the first two weeks of the season, the Pirates broke open a tie ballgame in the bottom of the 6th by scoring 5 runs, after there were 2 out and nobody on base. Mitch Keller pitched a solid 8 innings giving up 2 runs on 7 hits, walking no one, while striking out 6. It brought this disappointing home stand to a 3-4 end. The Pirates head to Milwaukee and Chicago to get to the All Star break. Hopefully someone has informed Greg Brown that the Pirates are playing the White Sox and not the Cubs. Reynolds and Skenes made the All Star team and if there are any injuries Keller may soon follow. He should be on it regardless.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Mets had just tied the game in the top of the 6th on a 2 run home run by Brandon (Yes Spellcheck Nimmo Is A Name) Nimmo. In the bottom of the 6th the Mets seemed to get a huge break when a hit by pitch on McCutchen was overturned, especially when he made the second out of the inning. Magically the calendar went back to late March and early April. First, the Mets decided to inexplicably make a pitching change and the nightmare began. Reynolds walked. Cruz singled to left. Tellez INFIELD HIT. 3-2. Another pitching change😀. Gonzales doubled. Jeff McNeill fumbled the ball so much that Rowdy (Big Train) Tellez scored all the way from first, 5-2. Wild Pitch, Gonzales scored 6-2. Last but certainly not least Josh (No I’m Not Related To Greg Brown) Palacios homered 7-2. The Mets finally get the third out.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. As I am writing this the Pirates have not announced a starting pitcher, but who cares. Yesterday was a nice win but this team almost has to win all 6 games on this trip for me to feel they have any chance of making the playoffs. My only other glimmer of hope would be if they fired Shelton at the All Star break and that ain’t gonna happen, for sure.