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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.

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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.

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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.

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Gee, Let Me Think

Daily writing prompt
What public figure do you disagree with the most?
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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.

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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.

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Pirates Morning Report: Priester And Batters Back To Normal

Final Score: Pirates 0 Angels 9

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

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

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

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Pirates Morning Report: KCG+OGS=Win

Final Score: Pirates 4 Angels 1

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

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

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

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Be The Czar Of Baseball

Daily writing prompt
What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?
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For one day I would love to be the Czar of baseball. I would have complete autonomy over the game and make the following changes. Add two more teams immediately making a 32 team league, forming four 8 team Divisions. The first year I would do it by geography. There would be no American and National League. The schedule would be entirely within the division. Each team would play each other 22 times going back to a 154 game schedule. With each team playing each other that many times a true division champ should be crowned. The divisions would be named Aaron, Ruth, Robinson and Clemente. At the end of the season the division winners would play each other in an eleven game series. The series would run 3, 3, 2, and 2. If after 10 games the series was tied then the team that scored the most runs in the series would have the home field advantage for game 11. If the runs are tied, then there would be other tiebreakers to determine home field. The World Series would be 11 games with the same format. The next year, the teams that finished 1, 3, 5, and 7 in the Aaron division would move over to the Ruth division. The teams that finished 2, 4, 6, and 8 in the Ruth division would move over to the Aaron Division. You would do the same thing in the Robinson and Clemente division. That would guarantee a new division winner in two of the divisions. The fans in each city would get to see four new teams. The following year the Aaron and the Robinson division would make the switch, along with the Ruth and Clemente. Third year Clemente-Aaron, and Ruth-Robinson would be making the switch. Fans would get to see different teams every year. This would put back more significance to the regular season with only 4 teams advancing to the playoffs. It is abundantly clear that baseball is not really a playoff sport with such a long season. For two straight seasons the National League has sent the 6th seed to the World Series. I can envision those tremendous 11 game series right now and crowning a true and deserving champion.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Win Despite Themselves.

Final Score: Pirates 5 Rockies 3

Why The Pirates Won: Despite playing Jack Suwinski and Rowdy(Rawhide) Tellez, and running the bases like little leaguers the Pirates were able to score 5 runs. The bullpen had their best game in a long time pitching the last 3 and 2/3 innings giving up only 1 hit and a walk. Oneil Cruz had the big day with a double and home run, driving in the go ahead runs in the bottom of the 6th with a 2 run shot. Yes, both Suwinski and Tellez did contribute to the win yesterday, but they still should not be on the field, especially Rowdy. Barry Feltner, I mean Falter, went 5 and 1/3 innings getting touched up for 2 home runs which accounted for all of the Rockies runs. The Pirates made some nice plays in the field and for the third straight game did not commit an error, at least in the field. Which brings us to the key moments of the game

Key Moments Of The Game. The Pirates made two base running gaffes and got away with both. The first was in the bottom of the fourth. With one out Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a little 69 MPH blooper into right field for a base hit. Oneil Cruz hit a ball that a seeing eye dog would have known was not going to be caught that hit the top of the Clemente wall. However, Ke’Bryan Hayes couldn’t tell that and did not look at his 3rd base coach for help. Even though Hayes was late arriving at 3rd base, the coach sent him home anyway. Cruz, who was just admiring his drive because he thought it was a home run, was late trying to go to second. Either one of them would have been out except Jacob Stallings dropped the ball twice enabling Hayes to get back to third and Cruz to second. Rawhide Rowdy then hit a mammoth 65 MPH ground ball that was so weak it could score the run and move Cruz to third. The Rockies should have gotten Hayes at third and Pirates would have not scored. In the big 6th inning after Cruz’s home run, Rawhide Rowdy hit a towering fly ball to deep right field, admiring it all the way and it was only a huge ricochet off the Clemente Wall that enabled him to get to second. Even with his speed if he would have run from the beginning, he would have had a triple. Suwinski hit a 73 MPH line drive to left. The third base coach, teaching Rowdy a lesson, sent him home. He rumbled, stumbled, bumbled his way home and just beat the throw, to give the Pirates that often-needed insurance run. If Suwinski’s hit had been 75 MPH he would have been out. The Pirates have won, count them, 2 in a row. They are 16-19 and vaulted over the Cardinals into 4th place.

Next Game: Tonight, Angels in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller will take the hill for the Pirates tonight against the Troutless Angels. Will Keller ever pitch another good game? Only The Shelton knows. The Pirates have a little momentum finally. Will they be able to keep it going against the Angels. Only The Shelton knows. He can’t wait to fill out that lineup card with his buddies Jack and Rowdy penciled in. Oh, I think a lefty is going so we have hope.

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Pirates Morning Report: Great Pitching Performance And A Miracle

Final Score: Pirates 1 Rockies 0

Why The Pirates Won: Jared Jones had a spectacular outing going 7 innings, giving up just 1 hit, striking out 10, walking none, while throwing 96 pitches. I guess the Pirates aren’t saving him for the playoffs anymore. Three weeks ago, he could throw no more than 59 pitches. It is amazing what desperation can do to a team’s thinking. The miracle was Jack Suwinski snapping an 0 for 12 slump by getting the walk off hit. Holy Moses, he even went to the opposite field. Again, another retched offensive performance by these pathetic Pirates as they could only manage 4 hits through the first 8 innings, while walking 3 times. They did only strike out 7 times. The unexpected high number of balls in play must have exhausted the Rockies in the field. Maybe that is why they got only one hit. Bednar pitched a clean but shaky 9th inning, giving up a deep drive to left center field that only the wind kept in the park. The inning ended with a line drive that was snared by a diving Edward Olivares. The Pirates stopped the losing streak and have a chance at a series win. That is really scary. Another day when they may come out of the slump.

Key Moments Of The Game: The walk off hit by Suwinski was miraculous and was the big play of the game. The Rockies did not get a hit until the top of the 5th when Elias Diaz, the former Pirate catcher hitting .301, led off the inning with a double. Jones got out of the inning on just 6 pitches, getting a strike out on 3 pitches, a pop out on 2 pitches, and a ground out on 1 pitch. Talk about putting out the fire in a hurry. The Rockies never got a man on base the rest of the game.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rockies in Pittsburgh. The Pirates needed the best pitched game of the year and a miracle walk off to beat one of the worst teams in the league. Barry (There Is No Way I Am Pitching That Good) Falter will take the hill for the Pirates going against, are you ready, Ryan (I Have Never Felt Better) Feltner. Feltner vs. Falter, while I have always feltner that Falter is better that Feltner, however if Feltner loses tomorrow, it will not be his falter. After this game I definitely feel a trade between the Pirates and the Rockies. Falter going to the Rockies for a player to be named later. The Rockies really want Falter and Feltner pitching back to back. I do not fault them for this. I would have felt the same way. I could go on and on, but I am a merciful writer. Could we just please score some runs today.