Last week it was a fatted calf in the back yard. The neighbors were very upset especially when we drank the blood. We only do this about once a month because I am very religious and follow the Bible to the letter. Last month it was a huge hog and boy was that a mess. Just kidding, right, or am I? When I played baseball, I bunted a lot and that is called a sacrifice so there’s that. I have to say that I have not made any sacrifices in my life. If you look up sacrifice in the dictionary, which obviously the writing prompt did not, it gives the biblical definition first. There is the definition of something given up or lost. The example used is sacrifices made by parents. I am sorry I never looked at it that way. Give me a gold star. I did everything voluntarily and felt I was sacrificing nothing. The loss of life during war is the ultimate sacrifice. A lot of the time this is not done voluntarily. Death is the end of life. Death is the only true sacrifice. Everything else is just a choice that most of the time gives more joy than sadness. How can that be called a sacrifice?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pirates Morning Report: Overcoming Ten Walks
Final Score: Pirates 10 (NOT A MISPRINT) Cubs 9
Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates brought the home run ball out of a long hibernation to hit 5 that accounted for all of the Pirate runs. Connor Joe, 3 run homer, Oneil Cruz, solo homer, Michael Taylor, 2 run homer, Yasmani Grandal, 3 run homer and last but certainly not least Andrew McCutchen solo home run, that was the deciding run in the game. Paul Skenes had a little bit of nerves in his opening major league start and who could blame him, but he showed enough to see that he is the real deal. His next start will most likely be on the road which I think will be a good thing. The Pirate bullpen blew a 6-1 lead by walking in 6 runs in the top of the 5th. All told they hit a batter, threw at one point 16 straight pitches out of the strike zone, walked 6 batters in the inning and all of this happened after there were 2 outs. This turned a 6-1 lead into an 8-6 deficit going into the bottom of the 5th.
Key Moments Of The Game: In the bottom of the 5th there was a runner on 2nd base with two outs and Nick Gonzales came to the plate. He fell behind in the count 1 and 2 then battled to a 3-2 count. On the 7th pitch of the at bat he took a ball that just barely missed outside. In my view the call could have gone either way but this time it went the Pirate’s way. Yasmani Grandal took a 94 MPH fastball on the inner third of the plate belt high and blasted it into the right field stands to quickly give the Pirates lead again 9-8. McCutchen got a solo blast in the 6th and bullpen somehow held on to that lead going into the top of the 9th. David Bednar quickly gave up a double and a single to put runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. A sacrifice fly, stolen base, and a ground out to the right side of the infield put a runner on 3rd with Cody Bellinger coming to bat. On a pitch that was very close to the same location that he hit the home run off Jared Jones the day before, he just got under it to fly it 337 feet to Jack Suwinski, to let the Pirates escape with a 10-9 much needed victory.
Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Pittsburgh. Was this the game that begins the turnaround for this anemic offense. Much maligned hitting coach Andy Haines was happy, but he did say he did not think McCutchen’s process was all that good on his game deciding home run. Can the Pirates win a series against a division contender? Who knows, only The Shelton knows. I can’t wait to see the goofy Sunday lineup. Will Tellez or Alika Williams bat clean up? Enquiring minds want to know. What aging veteran will get rested today, maybe Oneil Cruz, after all a right hander is pitching today. I can hardly wait.
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.
Gee, Let Me Think
That is the quote from the movie Ace Ventura Pet Detective, when certain payment options are offered to Ace. The bottom line is I refuse to write anything about you know who. If I was going to answer this prompt honestly then the answer would be I disagree with all public figures equally. Back in the 60’s and 70’s public figures that were running for office created and put forth ideas on how the government should be run for the people. Then they went out and tried to persuade their constituency that their ideas were better for the common good than their opponents. Today what public figures do is to take polls on how their constituency feel on certain issues and then spew that back to them when they are running for office. There is never an original idea. They never really answer any question that is directed toward them (listening Ms. Vice President) for fear of offending someone or causing irreputable damage to their career. It is reported that everyone is afraid of you know who. It would be more accurate to say that people in public office are afraid of everything. You could look at this question from another perspective. I could say that I do not disagree with any public figure, including you know who, because none of them do anything that you can disagree with. They may say some things that you disagree with but the fact that they rarely do anything, makes what they say meaningless. I guess what I disagree with the most is that they are getting paid a lot of money to do nothing. You think they would be happy with a job like that, but they do seem to be a bunch of sour pusses. The question is will we be able to survive with that do nothing attitude. I am feeling a little warm at the moment. Goodbye.
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.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 