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Pirates Morning Report: What The Hell Is Going On? Even Triolo Got Two Hits

Final Score: Pirates 10 Diamondbacks 1

Why The Pirates Won: The offense came alive in a big way. They scored 10 runs on 11 hits and 3 walks. Every member of the starting lineup either got a hit, drove in a run or scored a run. Even Jared Triolo had two hits to raise his average above the Triolo line to .152. The Pirates had 4 extra base hits including Oneil Cruz’s 12th home run that put icing on the cake in the top of the 8th. All of this was more than enough to give Paul Skenes an easy win. He was his usual brilliant self going 6 and 2/3 innings. He gave up no runs, 4 hits, no walks, while striking out 7. This lowered his ERA to 2.15. More on Paul Skenes tomorrow. Two rare days in a row. A big comeback win on Tuesday, followed by a blowout win yesterday. There may be hope for this team after all.

Key Moments Of The Game: After 4 innings the Pirates led 1-0. This looked like it was going to be another close low scoring game for Paul Skenes. In the top of the 5th the Pirates loaded the bases with no outs and Cruz was coming to the plate. Cruz grounded to second. The Diamondbacks completely botched the play allowing the Pirates to score 2 runs. The Pirates had 2nd and 3rd with no outs leading 3-0. The Pirates went back into their old ways and could not score any more runs. Any good feeling the Diamondbacks may have had was squelched by Skenes. He retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning. The Pirates buried them in the 6th by scoring 5 runs. Isiah Kiner-Falefa got the big hit, doubling in 2 runs. The Pirates head to San Diego on a high note. They have a good chance to have a .500 road trip or even better.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Padres in San Diego. For once the Pirates take some momentum into a series. Tomorrow’s blog will discuss Paul Skenes and some interesting decisions the Pirates will eventually have to make. One was delayed because Joey Bart got hit in the head. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Rally From 6 Run Deficit, Not Fake News

Final Score: Pirates 9 Diamondbacks 6

Why The Pirates Won: The offense shockingly woke up in the top of the 8th scoring 7 runs. The bullpen shut down the vaunted Diamondbacks offense by retiring the last 17 batters in a row. Bryan Reynolds came out of his slump big time. He went 4 for 4 with a walk. He had a home run, a double, driving in 3 runs and scoring 2. Isiah Kiner-Falefa only had one hit. It was a big one. His bases loaded double in the top of 8th scored 3 runs to tie the game. Reynolds followed that up 1 batter later with a 3 run homer to give the Pirates a 9-6 lead. Henry Davis who replaced the head injured Joey Bart hit a 2 run homer in the top of the 6th to get the ball rolling. At the time it made the score 6-2. To say that this was an unexpected win is a huge understatement. The one hundred club is down to one member, Jared Triolo. However, Spencer Horwitz is looking to join. Davis and Tommy Pham inched above .200 with each getting 2 hits.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the top of the 4th Mike Burrows was cruising along having given up 1 run on a Corbin Carroll home run to lead off the game. He got the first out of the inning. He gave up a triple and a single to make the score 2-0. Then Burrows became his own worse enemy. He walked the next batter. He muffed an easy ground ball by Carroll that loaded the bases. In came Joey Wentz and his luck got even worse. He gave up 3 singles in a row none of which were hit very hard. Before you could say this game is over the score was quickly 6-0. But it wasn’t over. Wentz got the next 2 batters. The Diamondbacks did not get a hit the rest of the game. Without Joey Bart getting hit in the head with a bat Henry Davis would have never been in the game. The Pirates finally got some big hits and pulled out an amazing win.

Next game: This afternoon Diamondbacks in Phoenix. Today is the unexpected rubber match with Paul Skenes going for the Pirates. Obviously it’s not been a given just because Skenes is pitching that the Pirates will win. There is always hope that a big comeback win will give the Pirates some momentum. Certainly if that is true then they must win today. The lineup should be pretty straight forward with McCutchen back as DH and Davis behind the plate. I hope Triolo is not given a start. We don’t have that much momentum.

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Pirates Morning Report: Shut Out For The Ninth Time

Final Score: Pirates 0 Diamondbacks 5

Why The Pirates Lost: Another offensive debacle. No runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. They were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. It really wouldn’t have made any difference but Andrew Heaney had a bad outing. In 5 innings he gave up 5 runs, 8 hits and walked 3. The one bright spot Braxton Ashcroft came in and pitched a nice 3 innings giving up no runs. But enough of this already. This is just too good to pass up. Going into the off season both the Pirates and Diamondbacks had obvious needs at first base. The Diamondbacks traded for Josh Naylor. They gave up one pitcher for him. His current stats; slash line .287/.348/.444 for an OPS+ 122. The Pirates traded for Spencer Horwitz or as Greg Brown calls him Hor-A-Witz. They gave up 3 players including Luis Ortiz. Horwitz was damaged goods and had to have wrist surgery. Small sample size, but his slash line is .200/.263/.348 for an OPS+ 68. We all know what the big difference is between these players. Horwitz makes around $800,000 and won’t be a free agent until 2031. Naylor is 10.9 million and will be a free agent next year. The Pirates spent close to that much on Pham, Frazier and Heaney. Even if you want to give Frazier and Heaney a little love did they really need them with the young players they have. Absolutely not. This little scenario explains why these teams are where they are. One fighting like hell for a playoff spot. The other trying to avoid another 100 loss season.

The Key Moment Of The Game: Before I get into that the blog will be coming from San Diego this week so it will be mid to late morning. I watched the Padres last night. Again it was such a pleasure to listen to true professional baseball announcers. They make the game so much better of an experience. When you boil it right down there were no truly key moments. The Pirates were never in this one. Yeah I know they had the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the 8th. Really did anyone think they were going to score. Be honest.

Next Game: Tonight Diamondbacks in Phoenix. Corbin Burnes is going for the Diamondbacks. The Pirates have had some success against him but it would be shocking if they have any tonight. Mike Burrows is going for the Pirates. This looks like such a mismatch. Many times you will get surprised. That sure would be nice.

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Pirates Morning Report: Wham Bam Thank You Pham

Final Score: Pirates 5 Brewers 6

Why The Pirates Lost: Tommy Pham is a gifted player. He is one of the few players in the major leagues that can go 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI but be the main reason you lost a game. Ryan Borucki did groove a sweeper right down the middle in the top of the 8th on an 0-2 count. Chase Shugart did the same thing the game before. He got away with it as the batter flied out to rather deep left field. Borucki would have gotten away with it too if Pham knew how to judge a fly ball. This was a fly ball that hit about 12 inches before the wall in left field. Any competent left fielder would have caught the ball. Then we come to the bottom of the 8th. Pham led off with a single. He immediately gets balked to second base. Jared Triolo and his .136 batting average are at the plate. The situation was screaming for a pinch hitter. Triolo was allowed to bat. He could not catch up with any fastball, with two being right down the middle. He was an easy strike out. Oneil Cruz was intentionally walked. Pham, who was thinking I probably should have caught that ball, was picked off 2nd base for the 2nd out. This all ruined a nice comeback by the Pirates. The Brewers scored 3 runs in the first, but the Pirates pecked away. Oneil Cruz hit the hardest home run of the season at 122.9 MPH in the third. The Pirates added 2 runs in the 6th and 7th to take a 5-3 lead. Then came the disastrous 8th.

Key Moments Of The Game: Bailey Falter had another shaky first inning. This time, he could not get out of it unscathed. A bad throw by Oneil Cruz allowed the 3rd run to score. The Pirates loaded the bases in the bottom of the 2nd but could not score. Triolo was the big out as his blooper was caught by Jackson Chourio, making a nice running catch. The Pirates scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th and had a runner on 1st with 1 out. Jared Triolo then bunted. Do the Pirates understand anything about baseball? He should have done that later in the game. We had a runner on second with no one out in the bottom of the 8th. Of course, Tommy Pham would have been picked off third instead of second. The Pirates out-hit the Brewers 12 to 7. The Pirates had 4 walks to the Brewers’ 5. This game was pretty much gift-wrapped for the Brewers. Everybody deserved better. However, when you play Tommy Pham and don’t pinch-hit for Jared Triolo in a key situation, you get what you deserve. It was a great opportunity lost.

Next Game: Tonight Diamondbacks in Phoenix. They do not have an off day today but must travel and play in Arizona. At least 4 of the players should be well rested since they did not do anything yesterday. I never thought I would say this, but it’s time for the Pirates to split the catching duties between Bart and Davis. Bart has been looking so bad at the plate for the last 2 weeks that a little in-season competition needs to take place. Davis needs one final shot to avoid being a huge bust as an overall no. 1 draft pick. There is nothing to lose at this point. Cherington today said that the Pirates still feel they can make a drive for the playoffs. What should happen is Pham and Triolo should be made to drive to Arizona. I do not think it is a big deal if they arrive by Wednesday.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Win Another Close One.

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 1

Why The Pirates Won: This was the kind of game you would expect from two of the worst run-producing teams in the league. Mitch Keller and former Pirate pitcher Quinn Priester matched each other almost pitch for pitch over the first 6 innings. Keller gave up 1 run on 7 hits. He struck out 7, walking none. Priester gave up 1 run on 6 hits. He struck out 7 and walked one. It was the Brewers’ bullpen that finally cracked in the crucial 7th inning. Each offense put a lot of traffic on the base paths but produced little from it. The Brewers collected 11 hits but scored only 1 run. The Pirates had 9 hits to go along with one walk. They were able to manage a 2nd run, which was the difference in the ballgame.

Key Moments Of The Game: The 7th turned out to be the crucial inning of the game. Caleb Ferguson came in to pitch in relief of Keller. He gave up two weakly hit singles to put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. On another weak contact, Jake Bauers grounded into a force out at second. Ferguson hit Joey Ortiz on a 1-2 pitch to load the bases. The Pirates had to bring the infield in. Brice Turang hit a ground ball just to the left of Adam Frazier. He made a nice stop, spun around, and threw a perfect strike to Henry Davis to get the force at home. Don Kelly decided to bring in Chase Shugart to face Jackson Chourio. Shugart fell behind 2 balls and no strikes. On a 91 MPH cutter right down the middle, Chourio hit a fly ball. It traveled 302 ft. to Bryan Reynolds. The Pirates were fortunate that he did not get all of it. With one out in the bottom of the 7th, Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled to left field. Henry Davis lined out to 3rd for the 2nd out. IKF was balked to 2nd base. Lefty Tyler Alexander was pitching for the Brewers. Oneil Cruz has not done well against lefties so far this year. This time, he ripped a low middle-in sweeper 114 MPH into the right center field gap to easily score IKF. Cruz legged it into third for his first triple of the season. Dennis Santana and David Bednar protected the lead. Bednar put runners on first and second with one out in the top of the 9th. He managed to get Turang to hit into a game-ending double play. The Pirates pulled one out 2-1.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Pittsburgh. No matter what happens today, the Pirates will have a winning home stand. It would be nice to see them go 5-2. Bailey Falter will go for the Pirates today. He has been one of their most consistent pitchers this year. The Pirates head out west this week to play the Diamondbacks and the Padres. This will be a tough road to hoe. Winning this one could give them a little momentum. Oneil Cruz looks like he may be ready to go on an offensive run. It would be nice to see someone do it.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Win A Wild One

Final Score: Pirates 6 Brewers 5 10 innings.

Why The Pirates Won. The Pirates started a new streak by scoring more than 4 runs for 2 games in a row. This time it was enough to pull out an extra-inning win 6-5. Oneil Cruz hit 2 home runs in a game for the first time in his career. They were both solo shots. This meant that the Pirates had to get 10 hits, 5 walks, and a catcher’s interference to score the other 4 runs. Jeez. They left 10 men on base. They continued their trend of single-digit strikeouts, this time with 8. Paul Skenes pitched another solid game. He went 6 innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits. He walked 2 while striking out 8. He threw 101 pitches to get through the 6 innings. The score was 2-1 when he left the game. The bullpen gave up 3 runs in the final 3 innings of regulation. They got pounded for 6 hits and walked 4. There were some in the bullpen who performed well; they were not named Bednar and Rainey. All is forgiven when you win. The Pirates still have a chance for that 5-2 homestand.

The Key Moments Of The Game: The score was 2-1 going into the top of the 7th when Tanner (Why Don’t They Know That I Can’t Pitch) Rainey entered the game. He did get one out. Then he gave up a walk and 2 singles. The Brewers tied the game and had 1st and 3rd with one out. Dennis Santana came in, giving up a single to put the Brewers out in front 3-2. Santana struck out the next 2 batters to end the inning. In the bottom of the 7th, the Pirates quickly tied it. Andrew McCutchen hit a one-out double. Bryan Reynolds drove him home with a single to center. Caleb Ferguson got out of a big jam in the top of the 8th to keep the score 3-3. William Contreras homered in the top of the 9th. Oneil Cruz homered in the bottom of the 9th. If Cruz stares at his homers any longer and trots around the bases any slower, MLB will have to put a home run trot clock in the game. Each team got their ghost runner home in the 10th inning. The Pirates had 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Joey Bart was at the plate. He has had recent struggles at the plate. The Brewers took care of all that by wild pitching in the winning run. God bless them.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller will be going for the Pirates today. The Pirates played their normal frustrating game last night with one exception. They won. Paul Skenes could not pick up a win. For a change, the team did win when he pitched. I thought Canario might be rejoining the 100 club. However, a 10th-inning bloop single that tied the game kept him above .200. Will the Pirates be able to pull out the next 2 games? Maybe they will finally get some momentum.

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Pirates Morning Report: At Least They Scored More Than Four Runs.

Final Score: Pirates 5 Brewers 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Two of the worst hitting teams in baseball produced a combined 13 runs. Unfortunately for the Pirates, they only scored 5 of those 13 runs. Mike Burrows made his first Major League start. He was done in by the long ball. The big blow was by the slumping Christian Yelich. In the top of the first, he hit a 3-run home run to the opposite field that barely got over the glove of Tommy (Maybe A Better Outfielder Would Have Made The Catch) Pham. In the top of the 2nd, Burrows gave up a solo shot by Joey Ortiz to account for the 4 runs he gave up. He pitched 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, walking 2, and striking out 3. It was not that bad of a performance. He was done in by giving up home runs to hitters batting under .200. The bullpen gave up the other 4 runs over the last 4 innings. A rare bad day for the pitching staff. The Pirates put the not scoring more than 4 runs streak to rest by scoring 5. The only problem was they should have scored 10. They had 9 hits along with 7 walks. They struck out 6 times. They were 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position. They left 10 men on base. They grounded into 2 double plays to be tied at the top spot with 49 for the season. In a game where the pitching faltered, the offense could have made this game closer but did not. The Pirates are now 2-2 on the homestand.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Brewers had the 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the 1st. The Pirates looked like they were going to get right back in the game. They loaded the bases with nobody out. Joey Bart grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat. A run scored, but Spencer Horwitz struck out to end the inning. The Brewers got the run right back with another home run in the top of the 2nd. Yelich hit another home run in the top of the 6th to make it 5-2. The Pirates had 2-out lightning in the bottom of the 6th when IKF and Cruz had back-to-back doubles. McCutchen walked, during which Cruz was wild-pitched to third. Then the rains came. Reynolds struck out when the game resumed. In the top of the 7th, the Brewers scored 3 runs. They were helped by the fact that Adam Frazier is too old to move and bend over. A ground ball that went under his glove drove in the final two runs. The Pirates were able to tack on 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th. They did not break the Major League record, just tied it. This really wasn’t a key moment, but I could not let this go unnoticed. Tommy Pham struck out in the bottom of the 2nd on 5 pitches. He did not swing at one pitch. Daniel (The Turtle) Vogelbach’s philosophy of hitting is having its impact on the Pirates’ players. Pham has a long way to go to get to Vogelbach. Once, while playing for the Pirates, he took 6 pitches to strike out. Then he took 5 more in his next at-bat to make the count 3-2. He did hit the next pitch out for a home run. He took 11 pitches in a row, with 5 being strikes. At least Pham has something to shoot for. He will probably do it now that he is getting to play more again.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes will start tonight for the Pirates. That means that his “personal” catcher Henry Davis will start also. Henry Davis played like a major leaguer in his last start. The way some fans and media acted, you would have thought that he should have gotten the Player of the Week award. In his career, he has had 425 plate appearances. His slash line is .190/.277/.262, for an OPS+ of 61. Most of that came during his rookie season when he hit 7 of his 9 home runs. His Defensive Runs Saved as a catcher is negative 4. If he has another good game tonight, I will be shocked. Even if he does, that does not make up for 114 games of awfulness. Some people seem to think so.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Pitchers Win Another One

Final Score: Pirates 3 Reds 1

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates pitching staff shut down the Reds for the 2nd straight game. Andrew Heaney took 97 pitches to get through 5 innings. He allowed the run on 3 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 4. The bullpen took over the game in the last 4 innings. Chase Shugart, Caleb Ferguson, Tanner Rainey, and Dennis Santana gave up only 1 hit, walked one, and hit a batter. This was the game where the AAA and DFA squad came through. Henry Davis went 2 for 2 with a walk and an RBI. This raised his average to .190. Tommy Pham went 2 for 4 to raise his average to .193. They both contributed to big plays out in the field. Adam Frazier went 2 for 4 with an RBI. He raised his average to .228. Does this change my mind about any of these players? Absolutely not. They should not be on the team. It was nice to see them have a good game, but I will be shocked if any of that trend continues. The offense overall was pretty bad. They had 9 hits and 4 walks, scoring only 3 runs. This time it was enough as the pitchers came through again.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Reds had a lot of traffic on the base paths in the 2nd and 3rd innings but could only score 1 run. Heaney seemed to settle down. He retired the side in order in the 4th and 5th. In the top of the 6th, Chase Shugart came in to pitch. He retired the first two batters. After getting ahead of Spencer Steer 0 and 2, he threw 4 straight balls to walk him. Tyler Stephenson, on the 2nd pitch of the at-bat, ripped a ball down the left field line. Tommy Pham lumbered over to get it. He made a good relay throw to IKF. IKF did likewise with his throw to the plate. For once, Henry Davis made a tag and held on to the ball. The runner was out at the plate by 6 inches. It was pretty much a miracle day for the minor league Pirates. That’s what it takes for the Pirates to win a game 3-1.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Tonight opens a 4-game series against the Brewers. They are a couple of games below .500. If the Pirates could ever find some offense, there is a real chance they could go 5-2 on this homestand. Mike Burrows is going to start for the Pirates tonight. Carmen Mlodzinski was optioned to AAA. You have to wonder if that was not at his request. Apparently, he came to the Pirates wanting to become a starting pitcher. The obvious move would have been to move him to the bullpen and send down Rainey or Wentz. Maybe Carmen is not aware of how much relievers are making on the free-agent market. Maybe he will develop, but not a great career move in my opinion. We will see if the Pirates can get a little momentum in these last 4 games of the homestand.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Shut Out Reds, The Only Way They Can Win

Final Score: Pirates 1 Reds 0

Why The Pirates Won: It sure as hell was not the offense. The Pirates have won 2 of their last 8 games. In both wins, the Pirates have shut out their opponent. This time it was Bailey Falter, Dennis Santana, and David Bednar who combined for the shutout. Falter pitched a strong 7 innings. He gave up 4 hits, walked none, and struck out 5. He threw only 79 pitches. I thought he would come out for the 8th inning. He did not. Dennis Santana pitched a clean 8th inning. I thought he was going to get a 2-inning save. He did not. David (Smiling) Bednar came in to get the save. He started out by giving up a leadoff single. I thought here comes another blown save. He got Santiago Espinal to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. This brought Elly De La Cruz to the plate. I thought he might hit a home run. He did not. He hit a big high fly ball down the left field line. Alexander Canario managed to turn this into a slipping, sliding acrobatic catch to end the game. The four-game losing streak was somehow over. The offense was its normal embarrassing self, but there were a few positives. They only struck out 4 times. They had 6 hits and 4 walks. They could only produce 1 run with all of that base traffic. Part of the problem: the Pirates grounded into 3 double plays to lead the league at 47. I wonder what that record is.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the first inning, Falter gave up a leadoff triple to T.J. Friedl. He was able to get out of the inning with the Reds not scoring. The second out was the big out, striking out De La Cruz. He retired the next six batters in a row over the next two innings. In the top of the fourth, Espinal led off with a double. He retired the 3, 4, and 5 hitters easily. There was not a ball hit over 80 MPH, and he struck out the last batter to end the inning. He only gave up two more hits. He faced one batter over the minimum thanks to a double play ball. Bryan Reynolds got the big hit in the bottom of the sixth to drive in the only run of the game.

Next Game: This afternoon, Reds in Pittsburgh. Last night, the starting lineup brought back memories of Derek Shelton. No IKF and no Nick Solak. Not playing Solak is the Pirates developmental departments policy of learning by observation. How has that been working out? Instead, we had Jared (The Dead Tree) Triolo and Adam (Playing For The Pirates Makes Me Look Good) Frazier. David Bednar closed the game rather than Santana, who has not blown a save yet. We can only hope that there may be some showcasing involved. The Phillies need a bullpen guy with closing experience. At one point this year, the Pirates had 6 players that had OPS+ over 100, which is above league average. Now, they have only 2. Joey Bart is right at 100. Oneil Cruz, who was once at 154, is now down to 116. Even though it is obvious this team needs help, there looks like there is none on the way. In a way, it is too bad they won last night. This offense is so awful. The Pirates have players in AAA that are better. One thing is for sure; they could not do any worse. Let’s give Gorski a chance. For the sake of humanity, trade him.

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Pirates Morning Report: It Was Not A Coincidence

Final Score: Pirates 1 Reds 7

Why The Pirates Lost: It would not have made much of a difference, but it was another bullpen implosion. Namely the Bobbsey Twins, Holderman and Bednar. Bednar came in the 8th and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits. He struck out 2 and walked none in 2/3 innings of work. This raised his ERA to 5.40. Holderman came in the 8th and got the final out. He came back out for the 9th and got blasted. He gave up 3 runs on 3 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 1 because the umpire felt sorry for him. He left the field with a sparkling ERA of 9.00. It was not a coincidence that the Pirate bullpen had their best run when Bednar was in AAA and Holderman was on the IL. I had so much hope for Holderman but not anymore. The Pirates need to do what they have to do and get them off the team. Of course, they won’t. I wrote at the outset that it really did not make any difference because the Pirate offense is horrific. They are in the process of rewriting the record books—all in a negative way. This pathetic effort saw them get 1 run on 5 hits. They were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and left 5 men on base. For the 2nd consecutive game, they got worse as the game went on. In the last 5 innings, they sent the minimum number of batters to the plate. Their only hit was erased immediately by a double play ball. They only sent 3 balls to the outfield. They were able to keep their strikeouts to single digits at 8. They have now lost 4 in a row.

Key Moment Of The Game; It was simply when the Reds scored their 4th run. You knew right then that the game was over. The Pirates have not scored over 4 runs all month. In their last 24 games, they have scored 4 runs 6 times, 3 runs 7 times, 2 runs 3 times, 1 run 4 times, and they have been shut out 4 times. The Pirates do nothing about it. No one is held accountable for such an awful performance. Other than the manager, the coaches are the same, and the players are the same. We have played 30% of the season. If the Pirates continue at this pace, their record would be 50-112. Who would have thunk it?

Next Game: Does anybody really care? It’s tonight against the Reds, a matchup that, on the surface, seems less than thrilling. Fans are left wondering if any changes will be made to the lineup or strategy, but I doubt it. The hitless wonders will just continue their dismal performance, dragging on and on without any signs of improvement. It’s truly disappointing to witness such a team struggle so deeply, leading to an utterly deplorable situation that has fans shaking their heads in disbelief. The air is thick with frustration and uncertainty as we anticipate yet another lackluster effort on the field. This is setting up to be the worst season in Pirate history. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been playing baseball since 1891. They have had 10 one hundred loss seasons. Five of them have been since 1985. Four of them this century. The worst team in Pirate history during the modern era was the 1952 Pirates. The won only 42 out of 154 games and finished 54 and 1/2 games out of first place. This team can do it. It would be the true Bob Nutting legacy.