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Pirates Morning Report: What Is Derek Shelton Thinking?

Final Score: Pirates 4 Blue Jays 5

Why The Pirates Lost: This loss goes right on Derek Shelton, starting with the bizarre decisions he made in the bottom of the 5th inning, and continuing the rest of the game concerning the bullpen. More on that in the key moment of the game segment. The Pirate offense collected 11 hits and walked 4 times but could only score 4 runs. They left 13 men on base and were 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position. Rowdy (Of All People) Tellez had the big game driving in all 4 runs going 3 for 4 with a walk, to raise his average to .194. Is it an omen, that despite Tellez having his game of season, that the Pirates still lost. This lost left the Pirates with a record of 27-32, 9 games out of first place. When the Pirates had a chance to win a big series on the road, their manager played it like the season was over, and the Pirates were just playing out the string. Maybe that’s the way management looks at this team now. It is the only explanation for what happened in the bottom of the 5th inning.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates had just taken the lead in the top of the 5th, 3-1 on a double by Rawhide Rowdy. In the bottom of the inning Quinn Priester gave up 2 singles to start the inning. He managed to get a pop out but gave up another single, making the score 3-2 Pirates, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Priester then got a big strikeout on Bo Bichette for the 2nd out. That’s when the Pirates headed into the Shelton Zone. Even with Priester’s history of really going south quickly, you could argue that he could have been left in to see if he could get out of the jam. Let’s give that the benefit of the doubt. I really did not have a big problem with lifting him. To bring in Hunter Stratton was totally asinine. The entire bullpen except for Luis Ortiz had not pitched since Friday. David Vogelbach was the batter. He is downright horrible against left hand pitching. We had at least, to my knowledge, two left handers in the bullpen. Aroldis Chapman and unless he has some unknown injury, Jose Hernandez, who has not pitched since May 23rd. Besides the fact that Hunter Stratton has been mostly ineffective, of all the relievers that were used in the 14 inning debacle he threw the 2nd most pitches. If a lefty would have been brought in, the Blue Jays might have pinched hit for Vogelbach. Would that have been so bad considering how Vogelbach has been hitting the Pirates. Needless to say, The Turtle rips a double to center field on a 1-2 pitch that was thrown right down the middle to score the tying and go ahead runs. Despite the fact the entire bullpen was well rested, Shelton allows Stratton to come out for the next inning to ensure that the Blue Jays score an insurance run. Then he brings in Carmen Mlodzinski who threw the most pitches of any member of the bullpen on Friday. For the 8th he brings in the most ineffective member of the bullpen Kyle Nicholas just to give the Blue Jays even more of a chance. The A team of the bullpen just sat on their behinds and won’t pitch until at least Tuesday with the Pirates off today. Rod Serling must have been smiling down from above to see his television show right on the baseball field. Cue the music please.

Next Game: Tuesday, Dodgers, in Pittsburgh. I am almost hoping for a Dodger blow out so Bednar can pitch the 9th so he won’t get rusty. Rowdy Tellez should still be DFA, over and out.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Bounce Back For Solid Win

Final Score: Pirates 8 Blue Jays 1

Why The Pirates Won: Even though it took him 106 pitches, Mitch Keller pitched another solid 6 innings. He gave up 1 run on 5 hits, 1 walk, while striking out 8. Then Luis Ortiz piggy backed him with 3 very strong innings only allowing 1 hit, no walks, striking out 3 while throwing only 36 pitches. The bats came alive right in the 1st inning, highlighted by a Ke’Bryan Hayes 2 run homer to take a 3-0 lead right off the get go. The Pirates continued to add on, finishing strong by scoring 5 runs in the last 5 innings and collecting 11 hits for the game. It was hard to believe that this was the same team that played the night before. The Pirates will have a chance for a series win today.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the bottom of the 1st with Pirates just getting that 3-0 lead, Keller gave up a one out triple to Daulton Varsho. He walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on 5 pitches and the Blue Jays had 1st and 3rd with one out. Keller struck out Bo Bichette on 3 pitches. This brought up Daniel (The Turtle) Vogelbach, the famous Pirate leadoff hitter. Can you believe that the Pirates had this guy leading off to start the 2022 season. Typical for The Turtle he did not swing at the first 5 pitches to work the count to 3-2. Unbelievably he swung at the 6th pitch which was out of the strike zone to strike out. If he had taken it in the usual Vogelbach fashion, the Blue Jays would have loaded the bases. Instead, Keller got out of the inning with no runs scoring. Keller did give up a run in the bottom of the 6th but by then the score was 6-0 Pirates.

Next Game: This afternoon, Blue Jays in Toronto. This will wrap up this brief road trip and determine if it will be a winning or losing road trip. The Pirates in their own goofy way still have not announced the starting pitcher. I almost don’t want to know. The Sunday goofy lineup may be at its peak today. Well, I just looked on the website and they say it will be Quinn Priester. Who is going down? Only the Shelton knows for sure. I wish I could just understand their thinking. Tuesday starts a homestand against the Dodgers and the Twins. They need to get their act together now.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates More Inept Than Blue Jays

Final Score: Pirates 3 Blue Jays 5 in 14 innings.

Why The Pirates Lost: From the bottom of the 9th on there were 11 times that a team had a runner on 2nd base with nobody out and they failed to score 6 times. The Pirates did not get a hit the last 8 innings of the game. The fundamental of situational hitting went out the window for both teams. Inept hitting was pretty much equal, although the Blue Jays did get a huge 2 out hit in the bottom of the 11th to tie the game 2-2. Of course, baseball fans would not have been put through such an appalling performance by both teams stretching out for 14 innings if Ji Hwan Bae had not lost a big high lazy fly ball in God knows what by none other than Daniel “The Turtle” Vogelbach, that tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the 7th. All of this wasted another solid performance by Bailey (It Was Shelton’s) Falter again. Over 6 innings he gave up 2hits and 2 walks throwing only 81 pitches. Shelton then decides to take him out for a bullpen that stinks. Sure enough, the combination of Colin Holderman and Ji Hwan (Blind As A Bat) Bae gave the Blue Jays their tying run. Five of the Pirate starters hung big O for collars led by Connor Joe going 0 for 6. Grandal and Reynolds were next going 0 for 5. Stop the presses Rawhide Rowdy did get a hit.

Key Moments Of The Game: If you count ineptness there were about 25 key moments to this game. No question the big hit by George Springer in the bottom of the 11th with 2outs to tie the game 2-2 kept the Blue Jays alive to play another mediocre 3 innings. What really hurt was it was on a 1-2 count. Hunter Strickland decided to throw a four-seam fastball right out over the plate. This was the 21st inept moment. The walk off homer to win the game again with 2 outs was huge, if for no other reason it put the fans out of their misery. The Pirates lost another game to a floundering team to put their record at a floundering 26-31

Next Game: This afternoon, Blue Jays in Toronto. Mitch Keller starts today and has looked great his last 4 outings. The interest is high for this game to see how many innings the Pirates can go without getting a hit. Right now, it stands at 8. The Blue Jays are throwing a lefty so it will be unlikely that Tellez will get 2 starts in a row, but with Shelton you never know. This guy rolls the dice like managing is gambling in Vegas, and not a thought out skill. He has the record to prove it too.

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Pirates Morning Report: Getting The Split

Final Scores: Game 1 Pirates 0 Tigers 8

Game 2 Pirates 10 Tigers 2

Why The Pirates Split: The Pirates could not do anything in game 1. Jared Jones looked lethargic and admitted as much post-game. By far his worst outing of the season. He did not have much help as the Pirates made two errors behind him in the first 5 innings. Both errors contributed heavily to the Tigers scoring. The Pirates bats could only manage 3 hits and a walk in the disastrous 1st game. Going into game 2 you felt the Pirates had to win this game with Paul Skenes pitching and for whatever reason the Tigers deciding to go with a AAA pitcher. The Pirates fell behind early 1-0 when the Tigers scratched out a run in the bottom of the 2nd. Even though no error was charged Oneil Cruz essentially misplayed a ball that led to the run. The Pirates looked like they weren’t going to be able to hit AAA pitching as they went 6 up and 6 down in the first two inning. Andrew McCutchen unloaded a 3 run bomb in the top of the 3rd and Pirates never looked back scoring 7 more runs over the final 6 innings. Nick Gonzales had a big game, going 3 for 5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. The Pirates avoided disaster yesterday by gaining a much needed split in Detroit.

Key Moments Of The Day: In game 1 Jared Jones after the shaky 1st inning was able to get through the next 3 inning unscathed. He got the first out in the bottom of the 5th. Then he walked a batter and then Nick Gonzales messed up a tag play on a ground ball for an error and the Tigers had 1st and 2nd with one out. Matt Vierling took a hanging slider right down the middle and put it into the left field seats to blow the game open 6-0. The game was over. In game 2 in the third inning the Pirates caught a big break when a 1-2 change up that was well inside the strike zone was called a ball with Ji Hwan Bae batting. He promptly singled on the next pitch putting runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out. Andrew McCutchen’s 3 run homer would have been a 2 run homer if the ump knew what he was doing. It was a big extra run at the time for the struggling Pirates. Skenes pitched a solid 6 innings giving up 2 runs on only 3 hits walking 1, while striking out 9. The Pirates scored 6 runs in the last 4 innings making the bullpen’s job easy to gain the split.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Blue Jays in Toronto. The Pirates have not officially named any starting pitchers for the series. Regardless, the Blue Jays have recently played the White Sox 6 times winning 5 to pull themselves up 3 games below .500. The Pirates desperately need to take 2 out of 3.

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Just Depends

Daily writing prompt
Do you practice religion?
View all responses

Religion can have a lot of definitions. The dictionary simply says the belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods. You could get into more depth like Wikipedia does by describing religion as a range of social–cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements. Wow! After reading that I am so happy I was never baptized. Then there is the adverb religiously, which can have nothing to do with religion. This means doing something habitually or without fail. That I can get into. I play golf religiously every day if possible. I watch the Pittsburgh Pirates religiously. I stay away from organized religion. Throughout history when organized religion has been the ruling body of a state or country the people have always lived in filth and poverty. Organized religion wants to keep their constituents ignorant and fearful. Follow our rules and you will go to heaven. Don’t follow our rules and you will go to hell. Religion uses guilt as one of their main weapons. The man at the pulpit uses guilt as a method to get more people to go to their institution when the attendance is high, like on Christmas and Easter. Obviously, this does not work as the very next week the institution is lucky to be half filled. I do not know if this would classify as religion, but I do believe in a higher power and I do meditate. I don’t know if this higher power knows what the hell he or she is doing, but there has to be something out there that is controlling or causing things to happen for whatever the reason. Maybe just before we die, we are told what the hell is really going on and then we become whatever we become after death. So yes, I practice but I practice alone.

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Pirates Morning Report: No Investigation Necessary

Final Score: Pirates 1 Braves 8

Why The Pirates Lost: This would have been a shocking win considering it was Chris Sale vs. Martin Perez. It would become even more shocking when it became Chris Sale vs. the Pirate bullpen. Perez suffered a groin injury in the 3rd inning. He was able to finish the inning but could not come out for the fourth. The Pirate bullpen of Carmen Mlodzinski, Aroldis Chapman, Kyle Nicolas distinguished themselves by giving up 7 runs, on 9 hits in 4 innings of work. Hunter Stratton did pitch 2 innings of scoreless ball, proving once again if your 3 or more runs behind he is your man to hold the other team in check. It really did not make any difference how pathetic the bullpen pitched, with Chis Sale keeping the offense in check as expected. The Pirates did manage to end his scoreless pitching streak in the second by scoring their only run. The Pirates are 25-29 as they head out for a 5 game road trip beginning in Detroit on Tuesday.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the bottom of the 6th the Braves were leading 4-1 and I guess you could say it was still a game. The Pirates had 2 singles putting runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. Nick Gonzales came to bat, who is swinging a hot bat right now and as they like to say in the Pirate broadcast booth, he is an RBI machine. He was no match for Sale on this at bat, striking out on 3 pitches that were all in the strike zone. You have to give him some credit, he swung at two of them. Edward Olivares battled for 6 pitches but popped out to the first baseman to end the inning. The Chapman-Nicolas show plated 4 more runs for the Braves and the game was a blow out. The only good news here is that Chapman did not walk or kill anybody.

Next Game: Tomorrow, the Tigers in Detroit. The Pirates play 2 games in Detroit and 3 in Toronto. Neither team is above .500. The Pirates are 7-6 over their last 13 games. Not a great record but respectable. A 3-2 road trip I feel is a must. Jared (Mr. Six Inning Three Run) Jones is starting tomorrow against the Tigers. We are heading into the dog days of summer. Can the Pirates get hot as we head into June? Only The Shelton knows.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Solid Win

Final Score: Pirates 4 Braves 1

Why The Pirates Won: It was another solid start from Mitch Keller, with the 2-man bullpen holding the Braves to just 1 run on 9 hits, without allowing a walk. Keller pitched 6 and 2/3 innings giving up the run and allowing 6 hits. Colin Holderman and David Bednar finished up the game strongly to give the Pirates their 2nd win over the Braves. The Braves did come close a few times on hitting the ball out of the park, but as we all know close is only good in horseshoes. The offense did just enough to push 4 runs across and with the strong pitching performance, it was more than enough to get the win. It was a surprise that Rawhide Rowdy did not start considering that Chis Sale is going today for the Braves who is one of the toughest left handers in baseball.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The Braves had just tied the game 1-1 in the top of the 4th getting two 2 out singles to plate the run. It could have been worse had it not been for a spectacular catch by Ji Hwan Bae of a line drive off the bat of Marcell Ozuna to start the inning. Oneil Cruz started the bottom of the 4th with a walk. Nick Gonzales hit a ball off the Clemente wall that Ronald Acuna Jr. could not handle cleanly that allowed Gonzales to go to third. This was a critical error because this allowed Gonzales to score on a line drive out to the left fielder and the Pirates had a 2-run cushion 3-1. They added a run in the 7th which made things a lot easier in the 9th when Bednar gave up a double and a single with 2 outs. He was able to get Acuna Jr. to ground out to end the game.

The Next Game: This afternoon, the Braves in Pittsburgh. The Pirates go for the series sweep today but it is going to be a tall order. As mentioned before, Chis Sale is starting for the Braves. In his last 20 innings of work, he has not allowed a run, striking out 28 with one walk. The Pirates are sending out Martin (I Will Never Pitch That Good) Perez who in his last 14 innings of work has given up 15 runs, 24 hits, walking 4, while striking out 13. Anyone seen the movie, Rocky? Maybe the Pirates will start Tellez today just to make him look really bad just so they can DFA him. This has to be one of the biggest mismatches of the season. If the Pirates win today there might be an investigation.

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Pirates Morning Report: Looks Like 11 Runs Are Enough.

Final Score: Pirates 11 Braves 5

Why The Pirates Won: The offense lit up the sky with 11 runs on 14 hits, and 2 walks. Nick Gonzales with 2 hits and 4 RBIs and Edward Olivares with 3 hits and 2 RBIs led the way. The disappointing surprise, Jarod Triolo added a 2-run homer. Barry Falter, without a doubt has been the pleasant surprise of the season, pitched shutout ball over the first 7 innings only giving up 4 hits. He got touched up for 3 runs in the top of the 8th, thanks to a 3 run homer by Ronald Acuna Jr. Luis Ortiz came in after that and continued the bullpens pitiful performance. He walked 2 even though the Pirates had an 11-3 lead. That led to 2 more runs when Travis d’Arnaud doubled. After that Ortiz did settle down getting the next 4 batters out, securing the win for the Pirates.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates got two big 2 out hits early in the game, that accounted for 4 or their first 5 runs. In the first, Nick Gonzales ripped a single to center to drive in the first 2 runs of the game. With 2 out in the 3rd Yasmani Grandal hit a double to right field that scored 2 more runs for the Pirates giving them a 5-0 lead. The Pirate offense did add on in this game to get the run total to 11, which put my confidence level at about 7 that the Pirate bullpen would hold the lead. They did, to give the Pirates a surprisingly easy win against the Braves.

Next Game: Late Afternoon, Braves in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller takes the mound for the Pirates today and he has been very effective in his last 3 starts. Unfortunately, the Braves are throwing a right hander, which means that we will probably see Rowdy (Rawhide) Tellez, especially after the ringing endorsement that Ben Cherrington gave him the other day. It is rather sad when a GM doesn’t admit his mistake and just say I wasted over 3 million dollars. For you youngsters out there I call Tellez, Rawhide because that was the name of the character that Clint Eastwood played in the TV series Rawhide, Rowdy Yates. If Tellez had played that character only 1 out of 15 cows would have been branded.

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Pirates Morning Report: Ground Hog Day Returns, Just Shorter Version

Final Score: Pirates 6 Giants 7

Why The Pirates Lost: A repeat performance by the Pirates, even hitting the grand slam home run in the same inning. They did hit better after the grand slam, getting 6 hits and a home run to put 6 runs on the board. Paul Skenes pitched a solid if not dominate 6 innings giving up 1 run on 6 hits, walking 1 while only striking out 3 batters. Then the bullpen and Derek Shelton blew another one. He allowed Hunter Stratton to get racked up for 5 runs on 5 hits without getting an out before the game was tied. He should have had someone warming up at the very least after the second single. He waited until Matt Chapman hit a home run to make it 6-5 and then another double by Jorge Soler until finally Chapman started loosening up. You could have argued that the bullpen should have been throwing at the start of the inning. Why not warm up Bednar and bring him in a high leverage situation. Who knows he might have gotten out of the inning with only a few pitches. When Bednar finally got in to pitch the 9th, he only threw 10 pitches to send the Giants down in order. Luis Ortiz had not pitched since Tuesday should have been another alternative. Nobody was warming up in time and Shelton does what he does best. sitting on his hands in crucial situations. The Braves are coming to town, this could get even uglier.

Key Moment Of The Game: Aroldis Chapman came in the game with a runner on 1st, one out, and the scored tied in the top of the 8th. He struck out Patrick Bailey. This turned out to be one of the most productive strike outs in the history of baseball, Chapman wild pitched the runner to second, then Joey Bart failed to catch a ball that was right down the middle, sending the runner to third. Say what? Chapman had the next batter Brett Wisely down in the count 0-2. Chapman must have thought that this guy must fall asleep like his manager, because he tried to sneak a 97 MPH fastball past him, throwing it right down the middle. Wisely was wide awake, because you could see his eyes get as wide as saucers, as he ripped the ball 101 MPH into center field to knock in the go ahead and deciding run. The inept Pirates did not really threaten, as the movie Ground Hog Day ended early. By the way, Rowdy (I Am Really Trying) Tellez went 0 for 4 hitting 2 pop ups at the top exit velo of 92 MPH and striking out twice. Making matters worse he had to face lefties twice which should not have been unexpected since this was a bullpen game for the Giants. Way to go Shelton, again.

Next Game: Tonight, Braves in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have started this 36 game stretch and home stand 1-2 after having a respectable road trip. The last two games have been indescribable. A total managerial and bullpen failure. There are only two bullpens worse than the Pirates right now, the Rockies and the Blue Jays. There have been some real low moments in this season already, but this feels like the lowest, so far. I know that they can and probably will get even lower than this.

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Pirates Morning Report: Mind Boggling Last 6 Innings

Final Score: Pirates 5 Giants 9 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: Bryan Reynolds hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the 4th to give the Pirates a 5-0 lead. From that moment on, the Pirates got one more hit, 2 walks, struck out 10 times and made 15 consecutive outs at one point. They did not get a hit from the 5th to the end of the game. Jared Jones pitched what I consider his standard outing now, 6 innings, 3 runs, with at least one home run. A good outing but certainly not phenom like. The bullpen thought they would get into the act by giving up 6 runs, 6 hits, but “only” 5 walks in 4 innings of work. In that 6 inning span the Pirates went from a team looking like they were going to win 3 in a row to a team that looks in total disarray. I don’t know what is worse, seeing them fill the bases and never scoring, or never getting on base period for a protracted period of time.

Key Moment Of The Game: Despite the horrible batting over 4 and 2/3 innings, the Pirates were clinging to a 5-4 lead going into the top of the 9th. Colin Holderman had limited the damage in the 8th when Aroldis Chapman walked the bases loaded to start the inning. Holderman allowed only one run to score which made the score 5-4. He got the first 2 outs in the top of the 9th. The count went to 2-2 to Luis Matos. He threw two sweepers in a row and Matos hit the 2nd one to left field for a base hit. Holderman opened the at bat by throwing a 99 MPH sinker. Reynolds booted the ball and Matos was able to make it to second. Holderman threw 3 straight sweepers to LaMonte Wade Jr. He ripped the third one to right field for a base hit to tie the game. Holderman threw a lot of sweepers in the 8th too, but when you have a 98+ MPH sinker why are you throwing the sweeper that much. Regardless, once the game was tied you knew it was over. The 10th was a disaster and the Pirates fell to 23-27. What a team!

The Next Game: This afternoon, the Giants in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes goes today for the Pirates and hopefully they can secure a series win. The big bad Atlanta Brave are coming to town. They haven’t been that big or bad lately winning only 8 of their last 17 games. I don’t know if that is good or bad. Are they due to come out of this mild funk? Let’s hope not. That’s what makes last night lost sting even more.