Category: sports

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: We Now Need To Pray For Rain

Final Score: Pirates 9 Cubs 3

Why The Pirates Won: Two words, Paul Skenes. It does not get better than this, 6 innings, no runs, no hits, 1 walk, and 11 strikeouts. The Cubs only put 7 balls in play. Only one of those made it to the outfield. Back in the late 40’s and early 50’s the Boston Braves had this dynamic pitching duo of Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. In 1948 they won 39 games. In 1950 they won 41 games. During that time frame the phrase was coined, Spahn and Sain and then pray for rain. Even though it does not rhyme Pirate fans better start thinking the same way. Jones and Skenes and then pray for rain. Yes, the Pirates bats did come alive and scored 9 runs, which was more than enough, even with the B squad bullpen shakily finishing up. Connor Joe led the way getting 3 hits, with both Jared Triolo and Yasmani Grandal having 3 RBIs apiece. Tellez did get a couple of hits and hit the ball hard his last at bat, but he still stinks. Same for Suwinski. Overall, a great day for the Pirates, winning the first two games of the series and improving to 21-25.

The Key Moment Of The Game: It was that first inning, baby. First batter 4 pitch strike out the last pitch 100 MPH four-seam fastball. Second batter 6 pitch strike out the last pitch 100 MPH four-seam fastball. Third batter 3 pitch strike out the last pitch 100 MPH four-seam fastball. After that inning you knew it was going to be the Pirates’ day. The Pirate broadcast booths were wetting their pants. Joe Block on the radio side said that this was Skenes’s 2nd major league start 248 times. Greg Brown on the television side was almost dumb founded because he did not have to make up stuff to come up with something positive to say about the Pirates. It was just flat out a great day for Pirates baseball. Enjoy it because today……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Chicago. Today the Pirates may be facing the best pitcher in baseball, Shota Imanaga. At the moment, he leads all of baseball in ERA+ with a whopping 429 and FIP at 2.28. He is left-handed which means there is a good chance that both Suwinski and Tellez will be on the bench. The man faced with the challenge of going head-to-head with this guy will be Barry (No Luck) Falter. Can the left-handed journeyman defeat the left-handed ace. If that happens it could be considered the win of the year. Of course, there is always the possibility it could rain. Excuse me, while I go pray.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Send Down Suwinski, DFA Tellez PLEASE

Final Score: Pirates 5 Cubs 4

Why The Pirates Won: A battling start by Jared Jones as he struggled through 6 innings giving up 3 runs, 7 hits, walking 0, striking out 7 while throwing 91 pitches. There were only two 3 up 3 down innings, but when he needed an out Jones was able to persevere. The Cubs were only 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position. The bullpen did the job, with very encouraging performances by Aroldis Chapman and David Bednar. Chapman threw 17 pitches, with 12 being strikes in a clean 7th inning. Bednar had a 3 up 3 down 9th with not even a loud foul being hit off of him. The Pirates offense thanks to a misplay in right field had just enough to pull out this tight win. What was not encouraging was the performances of Rowdy (They Are Putting Me In For Defensive Purposes?) Tellez and Jack (6 Swings And Misses, 3 Called Strikes, 3 Foul Balls) Suwinski. By the way that adds up to 4 strike outs in 4 at bats. Neither one should be playing in the majors at the moment. It is hard to win games with only 11 position players. Somehow the Pirates managed to pull out this game to improve their record to 20-25.

Key Moment Of The Game: Going into the bottom of the 8th the Pirates were leading 5-3 when Colin Holderman took the mound. The first pitch he hit the batter. Cody Bellinger on an 0-2 pitch hit a little dribbler in front of the plate. Yasmani Grandal’s throw was not good, but our defensive specialist Mr. Tellez made a half ass effort on trying to catch the ball. It got past him allowing the Cubs to have runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Holderman got the next batter to hit a sacrifice fly and the score was 5-4. From the Pirates point of view, Holderman miraculously struck out Ian Happ who crushes Pirate pitching. Just to make things interesting he walked the next batter and fell behind 2-0 on Nick Madrigal. He got 2 strikes and then Madrigal hit a weak ground ball up the middle that Alika Williams made a nice play on to end the inning. The Cubs scored a run without getting a hit, but it could have been much worse. Bednar pitched the magnificent 8 pitch 9th and the Pirates escaped with the win.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Chicago. Paul Skenes makes his 2nd start and hopefully will be able to lead the Pirates to the 2nd win of the series. Last night was a huge win for the Pirates but can they keep the momentum going in of all places Chicago. It will be hard, especially when you have only 11 major league players to choose from to start the game.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Giving Up The Gopher Ball

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 10

Why The Pirates Lost: About 2-3 starts ago Martin Perez was described as a pitcher who knows how to keep the ball in the ballpark on the opening of a Pirates broadcast. I guess they will have to come up with a new description of Perez. He gave up 5 home runs yesterday and the stats were amazing. Home Run No. 1 350 feet at 103 MPH. Home Run No. 2 370 feet at 104 MPH. Home Run No. 3 380 feet at 100 MPH. Home Run No. 4 425 feet at 106 MPH. Home No. 5 the grand finale, 441 feet at 108 MPH. Each one was hit longer was hit 100 MPH or harder. The last one, the crack of the bat was heard in Chicago. Nine runs on five home runs making the game a blast for the Brewers. Compare that with the last out of the game. Rowdy Tellez, 227 feet at 86 MPH. Statcast said that there was one little league park in Guam where that would have been a home run. The Pirates were not up to the task yesterday and fell to 19-25.

The Key Moment Of The Game: Any time Perez threw a pitch. In fact, things got so bad that the umpires were thinking of allowing Perez to use some kind of foreign substance to help him out. The Pirate broadcast booth was saying what a big game this was even though it was only May. Certainly, the Pirates didn’t feel that way, the way they played. The booth couldn’t get over the fact that Conner Jo leads the team in RBI’s despite playing so little. They must not realize how much the rest of the team stinks. Jo’s RBI total puts him around 60th in the league. After a promising start the road trip is now 1-2.

Next Game: Tonight, the Cubs in Chicago. For the next 2 nights, the big guns are going for the Pirates, Jones and Skenes. Could this start the turn around? Will Rowdy Tellez start all 4 games and extend his hitless streak to 0 for 35. I know he can do it if given the opportunity. He still has a long way to go to get to the 0 for 54 streak of Chris Davis. There is not much left to play for, so let Tellez go at.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: The Total Priester Package

Final Score: Pirates 3 Brewers 4

Why The Pirates Lost: Quinn Priester pitched 5 strong innings giving up 0 runs, 3 hits, walking 2 and striking out 5. Unfortunately he pitched 6 innings. In the bottom of the 2nd he gave up 4 runs, 6 hits, including a home run and a double. You could say we saw the complete inconsistent Priester all wrapped up in one outing. Same thing could be said about the Pirates’ bats. Six of the nine players did not get a hit or a walk. They scored 3 runs on a double, home run and a home run. That was all the hits they got. They struck out 13 times. It was a tough loss that this team could not afford.

Key Moment Of The Game: The bottom of the 2nd when Priester could not shut it down. He got out of a 1st and 3rd nobody out jam in the bottom of the first and you thought there might be hope. After one out in the bottom of 2nd these hopes were dashed. BOOM, double, home run, single, single, single, and before you could say Rawhide Rowdy Tellez, it was 3-0 Brewers. A pop out and a single later it was 4-0. It only took 16 pitches to do this. At least Priester was efficient while getting blasted.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Milwaukee. Michael Perez goes for the Pirates today and he as not been that great his last couple of outings. The good news is the Brewers are going with a lefty so Tellez might as well stay in the hotel room. That way Shelton won’t be tempted to use him as a pinch hitter. Can the Pirates win this series, miracles do happen.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Surviving A Disastrous 8th inning For Big Win

Final Score: Pirates 8 Brewers 6

Why The Pirates Won: For the second time in the last three games the Pirates bats came alive. Led by Bryan Reynolds’ 5 for 5 night, the Pirates put 8 runs on the board. The long ball accounted for 5 of the 8 runs. Suwinski a 2 run homer, Grandal a 2 run homer and Reynolds hit the big solo shot in the top of the 9th to give the Pirates that 2 run cushion. Keller had an uneven but solid 6 innings of work, shutting out the Brewers, but danced through the raindrops giving up 8 hits, walking no one, while striking out 7. The bullpen, which is becoming a real liability for this team, gave up 6 runs in 2 innings. Bednar who pitched his best 9th inning in a long time and Holderman are the only two that seem to be able to get anybody out. The bad news is that guys that either were up this year or did well last year are struggling at the AAA level. Jose Hernandez ERA 9.00, Ryder Ryan ERA 3.86, which is not too bad, and Carmen Mlodzinski, who pitched well for the Pirates last year out of the bullpen, is having trouble with an ERA of 6.43. Will management do anything in this area to help shore things up? The short answer is no. Let’s enjoy last night’s big win which sent the Pirates to 19-23 and 5.5 games out of first place.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates ability to keep adding on is what won this game. They scored in 5 of the nine innings, including 5 in the last 3 innings. The one big play came in the bottom of the 7th with two out. Josh Fleming, who did not look good for 40 pitches, gave up a 2 out double to Willie Adamas that scored the first two runs of the game for the Brewers. For some strange reason Adamas tried to go to third and Oneil (The One Hop Relay Man) Cruz nailed him at third base and the inning was over. The bonehead play may have cost the Brewers the game.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. Quinn (Who Is Going To Show Up Tonight) Priester is going to start tonight for the Pirates. The best way to sum up Priester’s major league career is to say this year he has become inconsistent, which is quite an improvement. Are we going to see the quality start Priester or will we see the run an inning Priester? This should determine the outcome of tonight’s game.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: A Game They Should Have Won

Pirates Morning Report: Pirates 4 Cubs 5 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates could not come through when it mattered the most. This was a close, hard fought, well-played game. The Pirates had the game right in their grasp in the bottom of the 9th and failed. There was a lot to like about this game. It was the Pirates best defensive game of the year. They made no errors and made many spectacular plays that kept the Cubs off the board. If this would have been a win, the top of the 7th would have been the key moment of the game. Jack Suwinski and Oneil Cruz made great plays back-to-back to keep the game tied at 2-2. Barry (You Know What You Are Going To Get) Falter pitched his standard 81 pitch 6 innings just giving up a 2-run homer in the 1st inning. Even though his 6th inning looked pretty good, he was taken out again after a low pitch count. It is strange because right now the worst part of this team according to WAR is the bullpen. The Pirate bullpen ranks 26th and the four teams behind them are all in last place in their respective divisions. It is time to set the record straight here. The offense no question is abysmal, but this idea that the pitching is great is false. At the moment this is just an average pitching staff. In the three big categories, run prevention, true outcome results and ERA+, they are just a little above or a little below league average. Certainly, they are doing better than the hitters but this is far from some kind of an elite staff.

Key Moment Of The Game: This is really painful. The Pirates loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th with 1 out and the score tied 2-2. Shortstop Nico Hoerner made a spectacular play on a ground ball to keep the winning run from scoring from second that saved the game. None the less, eventually, the Pirates loaded the bases with one out. Bryan Reynolds swung at the first pitch that was halfway between his big toe and knee just dribbling it out in front of the plate. They forced out the runner at home and almost threw Reynolds out at first. His mother was seen vomiting in the aisle. Oneil Cruz was able to work the count to 3-1, but then tried to pull a pitch on the outer third of the plate and flew out to right field. The Cubs scored 3 in the top of the 10th and the Pirates countered with a 2-run homer by Connor Joe, but it was not enough as the Pirates fell to 18 and 23.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. This road trip of 7 games, may determine if this team has any hope of having a successful season. I not sure if even 3-4 will be good enough, but anything worse will certainly put the Pirates in a hole they may never get out. In the last 25 games the Pirates have scored over 4 runs just three times. The sad thing is, they lost one of those games, thanks to tonight’s starting pitcher Mitch Keller. He did have one great outing last time and he will probably need to do again if the Pirates are going to have any chance. How much longer are we going to have to watch Rawhide Rowdy Rally Killing Tellez. His last 7 games he is hitting .063. Steve Blass had a lifetime batting average of .177. Get the point.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: No More Bottom Fodder

Final Score: Pirates 2 Cubs 7

Why The Pirates Lost: Admittedly some hard luck on the field but again the bats failed miserably once again. They were able to score 2 runs in the first on one hit thanks to an error and 2 walks. Rally killing Rowdy Tellez was in the middle of 3 potential run scoring innings and did not do well. In the first with runners on first and second and one out he walked. That’s fine. In the third with a runner on second and no outs he flied to left field failing to move the runner over. Bad. In the fifth with runners on 1st and 2nd with one out he popped out, infield fly rule. Worse. That’s right analytics department put a struggling .194 hitter who has had 3 hits in his last 17 at bats, “slugging” .235 and put him batting cleanup. Please show me the numbers that says that is a good move. This guy should not be playing at all let alone batting FOURTH. Jarred Jones did not have his best outing but still managed to have a quality start going 6 innings giving up 2 earned runs, 7 hits, walking 2, while striking out 4, throwing 87 pitches. Hunter Stratton came in the 7th and had one of those innings. There was one hard hit ball but everything else just found the hole, putting the Pirates down 7-2, and this game was over. I have a new game for the fans at the stadium. Guess what inning the Pirates are going to score all of their runs. If you guess right, you get 2 free tickets. I wonder if anybody would play.

Key Moment Of The Game: Going into the top of the 5th the Pirates were still clinging to that 2-1 lead. With one out Nico ( I Spell My Last Name Funny) Hoerner single sharply to left field. The next batter flew out to left field. Cody Bellinger hit a line drive into the right field corner. Reynolds quickly got it out of the corner and threw a strike to Oneil Cruz who ran all the way over to the right field foul line to take the throw. He threw a perfect one hop strike to the plate that beat the runner by at least 10 feet. For whatever reason, Yasmani Grandal decided to sweep his glove across the runner rather than just hold it there or even use a two hand tag. When the glove continued to go across Grandal’s body out came the ball. At that very moment the air simply went out of this ball club. It was the perfect play ruined by a careless tag. That’s the best I can do because I really don’t know what to call it. From that point on it was just the Cubs game. Some spectacular free agent signings there Cherrington. Grandal, Tellez, and Gonzales, who Cherrington feels will definitely pitch again before he turns 40.

Next Game: Tonight, the Cubs, in Pittsburgh. Does anyone know who is starting for the Pirates tonight. I haven’t been able to find anything anywhere. I don’t think it will make a difference anyway. The Pirates won’t score that much. I’m not sure I’m going to watch. Even though Pirate management seems unphased, I just can’t take it anymore.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: One Big Inning Not Enough This Time

Final Score: Pirates 4 Angels 5

Why The Pirates Lost: Even though it was not a grand slam, Oneil Cruz cleared the bases with a two out double and Connor Joe followed with a single to score Cruz, giving the Pirates a 4-run 5th inning. This time it was not enough. The other 8 innings they got 3 hits, no walks, and struck out 13 times. Thirteen out of 24 outs were strikeouts. The right fielder of the Angels was seen nodding off a couple of times. Here are the 12 position players batting averages over the last 15 games. Grandal has only batted 9 times with an .111 average. Get ready to be amazed. From 1st to worst: Cruz .327 Jo .292 Williams .239 Reynolds and Hayes .211 Bart .197 Tellez .189 Triolo .188 McCutchen .180 Suwinski .167 Olivares .143 Taylor .111. Eight of the 13 position players are not hitting over .200 over the last 15 games. It is a wonder that the Pirates have won any games over the last 2 weeks. Perez yesterday was not sharp and was charged with 4 runs on 8 hits in 5+ innings. Luis Ortiz came in and quickly got racked to turn a 4-2 lead into a 5-4 deficit that these anemic bats could not overcome. The Pirates are 17-21 with the Cubs and the Brewers on the horizon.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates had just taken a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 5th. The Angels had the big break back inning, and it was not cheap. A 90MPH ground ball that just got through the infield started the inning. A 102 MPH liner to left put runners on 1st and 2nd knocking Perez out of the game. Shelton called on Luis Ortiz. In the past, this has been a good move considering the contrast in styles and Ortiz being a right hander. Like most things recently this was not the case this time. Pitch 2 a 107 MPH single to left, score 4-3 Pirates. Pitch 3 a 106 MPH double to left, score tied 4-4. Pitch 8 a 98 MPH 370 feet sacrifice fly, score 5-4 Angels. In the blink of an eye the Angels broke back, and the Pirates never challenged that lead.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Cubs in Pittsburgh. The Pirates announced yesterday that Paul Skenes is going to pitch Saturday. Big whoop. What’s he going to do, pitch 6 scoreless innings so the game will be 0-0 after 6. Unless the Pirates find a way to start scoring runs they could have 4 Hall of Famers pitching and they would lose. Three players should be off this team come 6:40 Friday night. It won’t happen but the season most likely will be over if management does not get some new blood on this team to get this offense going. What a 38 game disaster so far.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Priester And Batters Back To Normal

Final Score: Pirates 0 Angels 9

Why The Pirates Lost: Quinn Priester reverted back to giving up his obligatory 1 run per inning and Pirates got back to not scoring at all. It is hard to say who was worse. At least Quinn Priester is just one person. The Pirates only had 3 hits and a walk. They had 2 at bats with runners in scoring position. You’ve heard of groupthink. This was groupstink. Priester started out fine, pitching the first 3 innings like his previous 2 starts. He gave up one hit no walks, mostly getting soft contact. Then the top of the 4th came.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The 4th inning started off innocently enough. A ground ball that found a hole on the right side of the infield and a weak fly out to right field. In a blink of an eye everything went to hell. There was a stolen base, but the next batter walked on 4 straight pitches. Priester for lack of a better term went into the twilight zone. With runners on 1st and 2nd, up stepped 35 year old, I’ve seen better days, Kevin Pillar. This led to the strangest pitch sequence I saw all year. The first pitch Grandal set up outside but as Priester started his pitch he moved quickly inside and Priester missed inside. OK. The next pitch Grandal set up outside, stayed there, and Priester missed inside again. ? The third pitch Grandal did the same thing, set the target up outside. This time Priester put the pitch on the inner part of the plate about thigh high and it was blasted into the left field seats. Did he even look at the catcher? The next inning his brain fog continued as he butchered a play on a comebacker to the mound where they had a runner dead to rights between 2nd and 3rd. Either that or Rawhide Rowdy had been working with him showing how not to do it.

The Next Game: This afternoon, Angels in Pittsburgh. The Pirates need a win tonight to be able to go 4-2 against the Angels and the Rockies who have won a combined 21 games. I honestly think that with this current group, the bats are never going to come alive. Right now, no one is really hitting. There will be a day off tomorrow and then the Pirates start a 10 game stretch where they play 7 against the Cubs and 3 against the Brewers with 7 of those games on the road. This stretch of games could determine how the rest of season is going to go. It would be the perfect time to turn this thing around. If they don’t and lose 8 out of 10 with the continued non hitting, the season could be over early. Will management make any moves on Thursday or Friday. Only The Shelton knows.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: KCG+OGS=Win

Final Score: Pirates 4 Angels 1

Why The Pirates Won: No deep analysis here, Mitch Keller pitched a complete game (KCG) and Edward Olivares hit a grand slam (OGS) to send them to their 3rd win in a row. Keller went the distance, giving up 1 run on 5hits, walking 1, while striking out 5. He did have some problems, as we will see when we get to key moments of the game but the good news here is, he seemed to get stronger as the game wore on. He struck out 2 in the 9th and his fastball touched 97 MPH. Without question his best start of the year by a long shot. It was nice to see Olivares come out of his funk with a double and the home run. Bryan Reynolds had a double and a single hitting the ball hard, at least 95MPH, all 4 at bats. Make no mistake though, the Pirates as a whole are still in a hitting funk. After the grand slam, thanks to a caught stealing, the Pirates only sent 3 men to the plate 4 of the last 5 innings and really never threatened to score another run. Maybe today will be the day.

Key Moments Of The Game: No question the grand slam was the big hit of the game. The Pirates had the 4-0 lead going into the top of the 4th and right off the bat Keller gave up a lead off single. Mickey Moniak scorched a drive into right center field and the runner from first tried to score. Oneil Cruz threw a one hop bullet from short right field that nailed the non-sliding runner at the plate by a half of step. This at least kept the Angels from having that break back inning. These were the first two hits that Keller had given up in the game and the score quickly could have become 4-1 with a runner on second with no outs. There was another sharply hit ball but right at Bryan Reynolds for the 2nd out. In the top of the 7th with the score 4-1 the Angels opened the inning with a double. Keller was almost as quick as Jared Jones getting out of a jam, as he induced 3 straight ground ball outs in 7 pitches. From that point on Keller mowed them down to pitch the complete game.

Next Game: Tonight, Angels in Pittsburgh. Quinn Priester takes the hill for the Pirates tonight looking to get his 3rd straight quality start. The Angels are starting Patrick Sandoval who has a career record of 18-42 but with an ERA of 3.98. He has not been quite that good this year but let’s hope his hard luck continues. The good news here is he is left handed so all 270 lbs. of Rawhide Rowdy should be on the bench. The Pirates are .001 ahead of the Reds and moved into 3rd place just 4 games behind the Cubs and Brewers. Can we make it 4 in a row. The Shadow Shelton is looking at that lineup card right now thinking how can I screw this up. Would he dare put Tellez in against a left hander? Only The Shelton knows.