Author: vet4golfing51

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Win Despite Themselves.

Final Score: Pirates 5 Rockies 3

Why The Pirates Won: Despite playing Jack Suwinski and Rowdy(Rawhide) Tellez, and running the bases like little leaguers the Pirates were able to score 5 runs. The bullpen had their best game in a long time pitching the last 3 and 2/3 innings giving up only 1 hit and a walk. Oneil Cruz had the big day with a double and home run, driving in the go ahead runs in the bottom of the 6th with a 2 run shot. Yes, both Suwinski and Tellez did contribute to the win yesterday, but they still should not be on the field, especially Rowdy. Barry Feltner, I mean Falter, went 5 and 1/3 innings getting touched up for 2 home runs which accounted for all of the Rockies runs. The Pirates made some nice plays in the field and for the third straight game did not commit an error, at least in the field. Which brings us to the key moments of the game

Key Moments Of The Game. The Pirates made two base running gaffes and got away with both. The first was in the bottom of the fourth. With one out Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a little 69 MPH blooper into right field for a base hit. Oneil Cruz hit a ball that a seeing eye dog would have known was not going to be caught that hit the top of the Clemente wall. However, Ke’Bryan Hayes couldn’t tell that and did not look at his 3rd base coach for help. Even though Hayes was late arriving at 3rd base, the coach sent him home anyway. Cruz, who was just admiring his drive because he thought it was a home run, was late trying to go to second. Either one of them would have been out except Jacob Stallings dropped the ball twice enabling Hayes to get back to third and Cruz to second. Rawhide Rowdy then hit a mammoth 65 MPH ground ball that was so weak it could score the run and move Cruz to third. The Rockies should have gotten Hayes at third and Pirates would have not scored. In the big 6th inning after Cruz’s home run, Rawhide Rowdy hit a towering fly ball to deep right field, admiring it all the way and it was only a huge ricochet off the Clemente Wall that enabled him to get to second. Even with his speed if he would have run from the beginning, he would have had a triple. Suwinski hit a 73 MPH line drive to left. The third base coach, teaching Rowdy a lesson, sent him home. He rumbled, stumbled, bumbled his way home and just beat the throw, to give the Pirates that often-needed insurance run. If Suwinski’s hit had been 75 MPH he would have been out. The Pirates have won, count them, 2 in a row. They are 16-19 and vaulted over the Cardinals into 4th place.

Next Game: Tonight, Angels in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller will take the hill for the Pirates tonight against the Troutless Angels. Will Keller ever pitch another good game? Only The Shelton knows. The Pirates have a little momentum finally. Will they be able to keep it going against the Angels. Only The Shelton knows. He can’t wait to fill out that lineup card with his buddies Jack and Rowdy penciled in. Oh, I think a lefty is going so we have hope.

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Pirates Morning Report: Great Pitching Performance And A Miracle

Final Score: Pirates 1 Rockies 0

Why The Pirates Won: Jared Jones had a spectacular outing going 7 innings, giving up just 1 hit, striking out 10, walking none, while throwing 96 pitches. I guess the Pirates aren’t saving him for the playoffs anymore. Three weeks ago, he could throw no more than 59 pitches. It is amazing what desperation can do to a team’s thinking. The miracle was Jack Suwinski snapping an 0 for 12 slump by getting the walk off hit. Holy Moses, he even went to the opposite field. Again, another retched offensive performance by these pathetic Pirates as they could only manage 4 hits through the first 8 innings, while walking 3 times. They did only strike out 7 times. The unexpected high number of balls in play must have exhausted the Rockies in the field. Maybe that is why they got only one hit. Bednar pitched a clean but shaky 9th inning, giving up a deep drive to left center field that only the wind kept in the park. The inning ended with a line drive that was snared by a diving Edward Olivares. The Pirates stopped the losing streak and have a chance at a series win. That is really scary. Another day when they may come out of the slump.

Key Moments Of The Game: The walk off hit by Suwinski was miraculous and was the big play of the game. The Rockies did not get a hit until the top of the 5th when Elias Diaz, the former Pirate catcher hitting .301, led off the inning with a double. Jones got out of the inning on just 6 pitches, getting a strike out on 3 pitches, a pop out on 2 pitches, and a ground out on 1 pitch. Talk about putting out the fire in a hurry. The Rockies never got a man on base the rest of the game.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rockies in Pittsburgh. The Pirates needed the best pitched game of the year and a miracle walk off to beat one of the worst teams in the league. Barry (There Is No Way I Am Pitching That Good) Falter will take the hill for the Pirates going against, are you ready, Ryan (I Have Never Felt Better) Feltner. Feltner vs. Falter, while I have always feltner that Falter is better that Feltner, however if Feltner loses tomorrow, it will not be his falter. After this game I definitely feel a trade between the Pirates and the Rockies. Falter going to the Rockies for a player to be named later. The Rockies really want Falter and Feltner pitching back to back. I do not fault them for this. I would have felt the same way. I could go on and on, but I am a merciful writer. Could we just please score some runs today.

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Pirates Morning Report: It’s Time For Replacements.

Final Score: Pirates 2 Rockies 3

Why The Pirates Lost: You’re kidding right. The Pirates made the no brainer move, pun intended, sending down Henry Davis and recalling Yasmani Grandal. It is time for this management team to get some testicles and shake up this team. The replacements are ready and are hitting. Check out these slash lines and this is not a misprint. Ji Hwan Bae .414/.516/.577, Nick Gonzales .358/.420/.575 and Jake Lamb .394/.483/.606. Now I know this is AAA but all of these players are slugging well over .500 and Bae is getting on base more than he is making outs. Who would these guys replace. Try ANYBODY. For now, I will take Jack Suwinski, Jared Triolo, and Rowdy (Rawhide) Tellez. Last nights game had some mind boggling stats. Six innings the Pirates went 3 up 3 down. Six innings they failed to get a hit. Their hitting coach said it is all about the process. WELL, THEIR PROCESS STINKS DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Their problems can be summed up by one pitch in the bottom of the ninth to Ke’Bryan Hayes. The first pitch was right down the middle. It couldn’t have been more down the middle and Hayes just looked at it for a called strike. That is one great process. The Pirates are now 14-19 losing their last 5 games. Here is the real scary thing. In the last three series, the Pirates have faced teams with worst records than theirs, when each series started. Their record is 1-6. Can’t wait to play the Dodgers and the Braves.

Key Moments Of The Game: Anytime a Pirate came to the plate. When the Rockies scored their first run on a home run you knew the game was over. Cruz did hit a home run in the bottom of 9th to make it close, but you knew they were going to lose.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rockies in Pittsburgh. Jared Jones will start for the Pirates. Jones is debating whether or not to fake an illness. He was seen in the locker room staring at 2-day old Sushi. He might have been thinking why are Suwinski and Tellez playing. What is the thinking here. I do not think there are going to be any miracles. There are 3 solid options in AAA. This team needs help. How about giving them some management.

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Pirates Morning Report: Thirty Two Games In

The Pirates stand at 14 wins and 18 losses. Talk about a tale of two halves. First 16 games 11-5, the last 16 games 3-13. I will take a look at the offense, defense and pitching. With all the stats and analytics today, it still boils down to three things when it comes to batting and pitching. Batting you have to get on base, score runs and then compare how you are doing with the rest of the league. The comparison stat is OPS+ with 100 being league average. This stat compares a batter with the rest of league based on the ballpark, competition and a variety of other factors. With pitching you have to be good at what you can control, home runs, walks and strikeouts. This is Fielding Independent Pitching known as FIP. As a pitcher you have to prevent runs and the comparison stat here is ERA+, again with 100 being league average. I always use Baseball References Defensive Efficiency to evaluate how a team is fielding. This takes in all aspects of fielding not just errors. Let us see how the Pirates shake out.

The Hitting: They are 15th in on base percentage, 21st in runs scored and 24th in OPS+. Quite frankly I thought they would be worse. All the runs they scored in the beginning of the season must have helped them score more runs than 9 other teams in baseball. These stats show that they are not that bad about getting on base but have not been able to take advantage. Right now, the Pirates have 5 players hitting above league average. A very small sample size Joey Bart (154), Connor Joe (140), the surprising Alika Williams (120) Bryan Reynold (115) and Ke’Bryan Hayes (101). On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have Henry Davis (44) Jack Suwinski (55), Jared Triolo and Rowdy Tellez each at 61. This means they are performing 39 to 56% below the major league average hitter. In my view all of these players are disappointing if not surprising. The biggest surprise here is Triolo. I thought he would have to perform like he did the last 2 months of the season for the Pirates to have success and he has not come close. As a whole the team has lacked power which was supposed to be a plus. There are only 4 teams that have hit less home runs than the Pirates. Ke’Bryan Hayes has been one of the disappointments here. The last 2 months of the season he slugged .501. So far this year it’s .345.

Pitching: The Pirate staff is 17th in FIP, 15th in runs allowed and 12th in ERA+. This time I thought the Pirates might be better. The rotation did get off to a slow start and the hitting bailed them out in the first 10 games or so. The Pirates are right in the middle of the pack with these key pitching stats. This has not been good enough to overcome the horrible hitting over the last 2 weeks. The Pirates have 3 starters that are above average, Martin Perez (144), Jared Jones (126), and Quinn Priester (122). Out of the bullpen, we have small sample size Colin Holderman (317), Josh Fleming (184), Hunter Stratton (136), Luis Ortiz (131), and Roansy Contreras (100). What is amazing that 2 pitchers with ERA+ well above 100 are in the minors, Ryder Ryan and Jose Hernandez. Missing from the list is Mitch Keller, Aroldis Chapman and David Bednar. Despite all the hype about Mitch Keller being the Pirate ace and what a great year he had last year, the truth is 2022 and 2023 were the same. His ERA+ was 104 for both years. This computes to being 4% better than the average starter in baseball. Nice, but not someone you want to pitch in game one of a playoff series. If this team is going to do anything Bednar and Chapman better get their act together even if they start to hit again.

Fielding: The Pirates are 12th in Defensive Efficiency. I thought they would do better, but this is still one of their highest positions. Part of the reason I don’t think they are better is because they have not played Michael Taylor enough. I know this team needs offense, but this is a premier centerfielder, and you need to play him, bat him 9th and take your lumps. He is not really doing that bad at the plate when you compare him to Tellez, Davis and Suwinski and they are either terrible or below average fielders. This is one aspect of the Pirates that needs to get better even though it is tied for the highest ranking of any phase of Pirate baseball at the moment.

What’s Next: I was going to speculate on what some of moves the Pirates might make. Trying to predict what this management team might or might not do is just about impossible. First of all, their bizarre batting orders and line ups are enough to drive you crazy. That could be an entire blog but let me give a couple of examples. When Andrew McCutchen is put in the lineup he should bat in one spot and one spot only, lead off. HE IS NOT A CLEAN UP HITTER. The opening game against the Giants they started Oneil Cruz against a left hander. The next night against a fire balling right hander he is on the bench. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? Like everybody else I will just wait until later today to see if the Pirates are going to make any personnel changes. Looking ahead there is good news and there is bad news. The bad news is the Cubs, Brewers, and Reds are looking like they are going to make this a 3 team dog fight. That could be the good news too, if they keep knocking each other off. All three, unlike the Pirates, are looking like very good baseball teams. The good news is the Pirates cannot be this offensively inept all season or can they? Can Hayes get his power back? Can the whole team get their power back? Will Triolo start to hit? Will they start to get more both offensively and defensively out of the catcher’s spot. Will management start playing players that are performing and not players who are projected to perform? Will the bullpen mainstays Bednar and Chapman turn it around? Finally, what if any changes are going to come today? Only The Shelton knows. All the preceding questions need to be answered with a yes if this team is going to contend.

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Pirates Morning Report: Swept By The A’s

Final Score: Pirates 0 A’s 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The offensive woes continue to get worse. The A’s tried to help the Pirates score a run or two by committing 3 errors and walking 4, but the Pirates were even more incompetent. The Pirates could only muster 4 hits, one double and three singles. Pirates did hit some hard balls, but they were not deep enough or right at someone. This was a game that you typically see when a team is going bad. The Pirates are now 3 and 13 in their last 16 games. In their first 16 games they were 11-5. Quinn Priester had a quality start giving up 3 runs but one was unearned. When you get shutout, it means you are either going to lose or play forever. The Pirates are not playing as I am writing this. The Pirates have a must needed day off and it will be interesting to see if they make any moves. I am not going to speculate but you have to figure they have to do something. You cannot help but feel the season is slipping away, but it is early and after all is said and done, they are only 4 games below .500.

The Key Moments Of The Game: It was all on the Pirates side of the ball. In the 2nd, first and second with 2 out, in the 3rd, runner on 2nd 2 out, in the 4th, runner on 3rd one out and then 1st and 3rd with 2 out, in the 7th, bases loaded 2 out, and finally in the 8th, 1st and 2nd 2 out. The Pirates could not score. They left 10 men on base and were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. The road trip came to a merciful end at 1-5. The Pirates record now stands at 14 and 18, last in the division. They are heading home for a 9 game homestand.

Next Game: Tomorrow, Rockies in Pittsburgh. One of the reasons I said it will be interesting to see what if any moves the Pirates make on their off day is they may stand pat because they are playing 2 teams that are probably worse than them in the Rockies and the Troutless Angels. Tomorrow will be the 32 game report and it will be rather sad.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Baseball Version Of Groundhog Day.

Final Score: Pirates 2 A’s 5

Why The Pirates Lost: Just ask Bill Murray. No hitting, mediocre pitching, all add up to another loss for the Pirates. The top of the 8th put this all in perspective. The last 2 batters in the inning were Jack ( I Shouldn’t Be In The Majors) Suwinski and Joey ( I Don’t Want To Make Henry Davis Look Too Bad) Bart. Together they were thrown 4 pitches each. They both struck out. They did not take a full swing at any pitches. Gee, I wonder what the problem could be that the Pirates do not get any hits. I wonder if they take pitches during batting practice. Mitch Keller had another mediocre start but here is another head scratcher. J J Bleday had 2 home runs, one off of Keller and the other off lefty Josh Fleming. Both pitches were almost in exactly the same spot. Unlike the Pirate hitter he swung at the ball and hit it out of the park, twice. Can I please read the scouting report on this guy? Wow, that is all I can write.

Key Moment Of The Game: The 2nd homer by Bleday in the bottom of the 7th to give the A’s a 5-2 lead and you knew the game was over. The Pirates sealed the deal by striking out their last 5 at bats of the game. They made it. They are in last place. From first to worst in 30 days in 5 easy lessons.

The Next Game: This afternoon, the A’s in Oakland. If the Pirates score a run in the first inning just turn the game off. You are really watching Groundhog Day, baseball style. Fans in the stands have to put themselves through it, along with the players but you don’t.

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I Hate Them All

Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?
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At first, I thought this was a repeat prompt and I was not going to answer it. I went back through the prompts, and the question was how do you celebrate the holidays? That is when I went on a rant about holidays in general. I will write about the holidays I hate the most. There are two by classification. First there are the fake holidays. Ones that are created for the sole purpose of making money. In no particular order they are Halloween, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and St. Patrick’s Day. The winner here hands down is Halloween. It is basically a disgusting and evil holiday that causes kids to eat loads of candy to help rot their teeth and brains. It causes older kids to destroy property and get into trouble. It is based on witch hunting and Pagen beliefs that caused people to be burned at the stake. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Of the real holidays, those holidays where the vast majority of people have the day off and we all know which ones they are the one I detest and hate the most is New Years Day and Eve. This holiday brings out every bad trait of the human population. First on New Years Eve people drink to excess, make fools of themselves and do things that they may regret the rest of their lives. Then on New Years Day they make New Years resolutions that they are never going to keep and then just feel worse about themselves for having another perceived failure in their lives. Way to go the first frigging day of the year. Who gives a shit if it is the first day of the year. Even the football games are not as good on New Years Day anymore. Keep those holiday questions coming. I just love bashing the stupid holidays. Live your life like every day is special. You will be much better off. Screw Hallmark and every candy bar that was ever invented. Chew on this.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Art Of Scoring, Obviously Not The Pirates.

Final Score: Pirates 1 A’s 5

Why The Pirates Lost: Anybody want to guess why the Pirates lost? Here is one of many interesting things. For a team that is desperate to score runs, they had 3 guys on the bench with on base percentages of .303, .351, and .365, which is higher than 5 of the players that started. They put McCutchen in the clean up spot. Why? Jack Suwinski, Rowdy Tellez, and Henry Davis are on the team. Why? On the other side of the coin the A’s showed the Pirates what to do. They did hit a home run to get their first run, but 3 of the runs scored on sacrifice flies. Do the Pirates have 3 sacrifice flies this year? Don’t know, don’t care. That is way the way you manufacture runs. Barry Falter did not have a good game giving up 5 runs on 6 hits after 5 innings. Contreras and Kyle Nicolas finished up the game giving up no runs, but they tried to let the A’s score by giving up 4 walks, 2 hits while throwing 71 pitches. Why didn’t they send Chapman out for an inning to see if he can straighten himself out a little? So what if he walked a couple of runs in, this game was over. Oh yeah, I forgot they are probably saving him for the playoffs. Could this be the low point of the season? I don’t know but I hope so.

Key Moment Of The Game: The game was tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the 4th when the A” led off the inning with a single and a double. The next 2 hitters hit sacrifice flies and the score was 3-1 A’s. Second and third with no outs, the A’s scored 2 runs without getting a hit. Something the Pirates haven’t been able to do for 3 weeks. The A’s added 2 more in 5th with one of those runs scoring on a sacrifice fly.

Next Game: Tonight, the A’s in Oakland. Starting for the Pirates tonight will be Mitch(I Got The Most Run Support In Three Weeks And Still Couldn’t Win) Keller. It would be something if both he and the Pirates bats would come out of their funk at the same time and win something like 6-0. After tomorrow’s game I will have the Pirate 32 game report on Friday evaluating the team 1/5th of the way through the season. The best the Pirates will be is at .500, but right now that seems like it will take a miracle.

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Pirate Morning Report: Despite Embarrassing Offense Pirates Split 2 Games

Final Scores: Saturday Pirates 4 Giants 3 in 10 innings

Sunday Pirates 2 Giants 3

Why The Pirates Split: They were able to pull out one game because of a big 10th inning where Bryan Reynolds hit a 2-run homer, followed by Ke’Bryan Hayes’ first home run of the season to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead, that they barely held on to, winning 4-3. The Pirates “played” 18 innings of baseball and put up these offensive (as in stinks) numbers, 3 runs, 14 hits, 11 of them singles, 4 walks, 20 strikeouts, leaving 15 men on base. They were 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position. What is amazing about this decrepit, anemic hitting is that they just keep doing the same thing over and over again. They take strikes and swing at balls. Henry Davis is the leader in this group. Right now, he does not look like he can hit Little League pitching he looks so lost. Why is he playing? The Pirates are very fortunate to be only one game below .500 at this point of the season.

Key Moment Of The Games: On Saturday, the back to back home runs in the top of the 10th the Pirates hit that accounted for 3 of the 6 runs that they scored all weekend. This gave them the much needed victory. On Sunday, in the top of the 5th, the Pirates had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out and could only score 1 run. Of course, you can’t expect the Pirates to do situational hitting when they cannot hit at all.

Next Game: Tonight, the A’s in Oakland. Barry (It’s The Batting Coach’s) Falter is taking the mound for the Pirates. Will this offense ever hit again? They have lost 10 of their last 13 games. With the exception of one loss, the offense has been responsible. Their next 9 games are against teams that have a record of 29-56. It’s early but this could be the key to the season. I think 3 series wins is essential.

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Productive

Daily writing prompt
When do you feel most productive?
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Productive is defined as producing or able to produce large amounts of goods, crops, or other commodities. By that definition, I would say that I never feel productive. I haven’t produced a lot of crops in a long time. I can say the same thing about goods and commodities. I haven’t had a cold for a long time either, so I haven’t even been able to have a productive cough. I still feel productive when I’m doing something. I feel productive right now typing out this stupid prompt. My best time to be productive is in the morning. I am a morning person. In fact, other than preparing dinner I do very little after 4:00 PM. Despite this definition of productive, I feel productive most of the time. I feel I am always doing something to keep my mind sharp and making my life better. I am usually up at around 5 in the morning. I feel I am rather productive throughout the day until around 7:00 PM. Then I feel I go into vegetable mode until I go to bed. I guess vegetable mode could be considered crops and from 7 to 10 to be in vegetable mode some people would consider that a large amount of crops. The bottom line is, according to the way I feel about production, I am productive 16 to 18 hours every friggin day. I am special.