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Pirates Morning Report: All Star Break, Part One

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

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

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

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Pirates Morning Report: Getting To .500

Final Score: Pirates 9 White Sox 4

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

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

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

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Pirates Morning Report: All Gifts Accepted

Final Score: Pirates 6 White Sox 2

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

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

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

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Pirates Morning Report: Beating The White Sox

Final Score: Pirates 4 White Sox 1

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

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

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

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Pirates Morning Report: Making 2024 Bearable

Final Score: Pirates 1 Brewers 0

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

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

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

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Pirates Morning Report: Brewers Return The Favor

Final Score: Pirates 0 Brewers 9

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

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

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

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Pirates Morning Report: Breaking Open Another One.

Final Score: Pirates 12 Brewers 2

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

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

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

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Pirates Morning Report: Met’s Two Out NightMare

Final Score: Pirates 8 Mets 2

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

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

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

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Pirates Morning Report: Offense Back To Normal, Putrid

Final Score: Pirates 2 Mets 3

Why The Pirates Lost: Even though Oneil Cruz hit his home run in the game before against a left hand pitcher, the Pirate dumb trust decided to not play him today. They did put him in the bottom of the 7th, but without being in the flow of the game he struck out twice against right handed pitching. This offense is so bad that it is unbelievable. Yesterday they were amazing getting only 6 hits and one of those was a single that Joey Bart tried to stretch into a double and was thrown out. This all wasted another great performance by Luis Ortiz who went 6 innings giving up 0 runs on 4 hits, no walks while striking out 5. The way the Pirates think this will probably be his last appearance of the month. The bullpen gave up all the runs including 2 in the ninth after the Pirates managed to scrounge for 2 runs to take a 2-1 lead. The Pirates are five games below 500 which is the most since they were 6 games under on May 15. This is a club that is fading fast. I do not even know if the Chicago White Sox can help this team at the end of next week. The home stand is now 2-4 which is pretty sad. It’s hard to find anything positive to say about this team but I am sure the web site will.

Key Moment Of The Game. It was the top of the ninth, with the Pirates leading 2-1, when Aroldis Chapman came in and came very close to closing the game for Pirates but just couldn’t do it. He walked Francisco Alvarez on 8 pitches after being ahead 0-2. Harrison Bader singled on a 7 pitch at bat putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Miraculously Chapman struck out the next two batters on 9 pitches with 5 of the 6 pitches being called strikes including both 3rd strikes. During the two at bats, he wild pitched one runner to third. This brought to the plate the much traveled 34 year old Jose Iglesias to the plate. In a battle royale where again Chapman got ahead in the count 1-2, Iglesias battled off pitch after pitch to draw a walk after 8 pitches. Francisco Lindor took a 3rd pitch 1-1 slider and looped it into left field to drive in the 2 runs to give the Mets the lead 3-2. Chapman walked the next batter on 5 pitches and was done for the day. I would say it was valiant effort by Chapman, but he came up one strike short. Kyle Nicolos got the last out of the inning but it was too late. Naturally the Pirates did nothing in the 9th

Next Game: This afternoon, the Mets in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller will try and get the split to end this very disappointing homestand. Just when you think this team has had it, they do seem to come back, but I do not know about this time. These were games that were against teams that were slightly above them in the race and the Pirates failed miserably to gain some ground. One has to feel that this season is slipping away.

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Pirates Morning Report: Batting Order + B Squad= Defeat

Final Score: Pirates 2 Mets 5

Why The Pirates Lost: I thought the only way that management could mess up the lineup yesterday was to not play Cruz and Taylor. Boy was I wrong. First why would you bat Ke’Bryan Hayes, who in the last 15 games, has a slash line of .175/203/.246, third in the order. Nick Gonzales should have batted third, with Hayes moving down to 7th or even 8th. Why would you start Josh Palacios a left-hand batter who has seen very little left-hand pitching in his major league career. I know Edward Olivares has not done all that well lately, but that is why you got him to face left handers. If you are going with someone else, then use Suwinski who is starting to show some life. Greg Brown was happy, because Palacios brings so much energy. I have never heard a game end 2 energy to 1 energy. But since Brown is going to Wrigley Field before the All Star break maybe he has. Then the Pirates decided to go with the B squad bullpen despite the fact that this was supposed to be an important game and nobody on the A squad pitched yesterday. The score was 3-2 Mets going into the top of the 6th inning. No Holderman, Mlodzinski, Nicolas despite this being a close game. The Pirate’s bats went back to normal yesterday anyway, so it might not have made any difference.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates trailed 5-2 going into the bottom of the 7th when it looked like the Mets were about to gift the Pirates some runs. A bloop single by Rowdy Tellez and two walks loaded the bases with one out. Then Sleepy Shelton and the umpires decided not today Pittsburgh fans. This is where Shelton should have pitch hit for Ke’Bryan Hayes. Hayes had his typical at bat. Despite having the bases loaded, Hayes takes a pitch over the outer third of the plate that is belt high for a strike. He swings at the next pitch, while it was a strike, was on the outside corner at the knees breaking away. He hit a soft 73 MPH liner that Lindor made a nice play on for the 2nd out. Jack Suwinski pitch hit for Connor Joe, and it was right here that you had to figure that this was not going to be the Pirates day. In what I could only describe as the worst pitch calling I have ever seen, there were 5 pitches that were not even close to strike zone, Suwinski never swung at one, and yet the count was 3 balls and 2 strikes. It was so bad, even Sleepy Shelton realized it and was tossed from the game. Suwinski swung at the next pitch that was low, but who could blame him, ending the threat. The Pirates never came close again and the home stand is now 2-3.

Next Game: This afternoon, Mets in Pittsburgh. Luis Ortiz emerges from wherever he was since he last started. The Pirates, with all their wisdom, have allowed Ortiz to pitch only 2 innings since he had the great start on June 26th, 10 days ago. Who knows what they are thinking? Do you think he might be rusty? He was stretched out. Do you think he still is? Another injury waiting to happen. I hear Dennis Santana may be starting against the White Sox. How long can this management team be allowed to ruin a pretty good team?