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Pirates Morning Report: Shocking Win, Almost Turned Into A Shocking Loss.

Final Score: Pirates 5 Orioles 4 in 11 innings

Why The Pirates Won: Before we get into that, Greg Brown open the game by stating that the Pirates are trying to win games. This was in response to the criticism made by many, including yours truly, of starting Barry (1 hit) Falter. After Brown made this statement, the Pirates did everything they could to try and lose this game but failed. Yesterday I stated, after I wrote that I did not understand why they would start Falter, that he would probably pitch a 1 hitter over 7 innings. He wound up pitching a one hitter over 6 innings and did not come out for the 7th, even though he had thrown only 78 pitches. The bullpen had a bad game for the 2nd time in a row when they could not protect a 3-0 lead over the last 3 innings. The Pirates offense scored 3 runs in the 2nd, with 2 of them scoring on Joey Bart’s home run on his first AB as a Pirate. I was right when I wrote they should give Henry Davis a rest. The Pirates had many other opportunities to add on in this game but did not. In a nutshell they were 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base. So, how in the hell did they win this game? First, Barry Falter did pitch a great game, against a very good lineup. Eleven of the 18 outs were either pop outs or fly outs. Even the hit he gave up was a pop up that should have been caught. He walked one and struck out one. After not wanting him to pitch at all, I had to wonder why they took him out after 6 innings. Luis Ortiz did another fantastic job in extra innings and Josh Fleming got his designated left-handed batter out to end the 11th inning. Oneil Cruz walked it off in the bottom of the 11th with a sharp single to right giving the Pirates a 5-4 thrilling win to set up the rubber match today.

The Key Moments Of The Game: There were all the Pirates missed scoring opportunities. Bottom of the 3rd, 1st and 2nd nobody out, did not score. Bottom of the 4th, 2nd and 3rd one out, did not score. Bottom of the 6th, 1st and 2nd with one out, did not score. Bottom of the 8th, 1st and 2nd, one out did not score. Bottom of the 10th, bases loaded nobody out, did not score. It’s a good thing the Pirates won this game. Another big moment of the game came in the top of the 6th. Falter had miraculously thrown a no-hitter through 5 innings. Jorge Mateo led off the 6th by hitting another big pop up out toward short centerfield and 2nd base. Suwinski and Alika Williams let the ball drop between them for a double. Right there you thought the flood gates might open. However, Falter buckled down and got the next 3 outs easily, 2 pop outs and a ground out. I thought he would be out for the 7th, but I also thought he should have not started at all. I was wrong on both counts. If the Pirates would have lost, it certainly would not have been Barry’s fault. See I just can’t help myself. Neither can the Pirates and they are 7-2

Next Game: This afternoon, the Orioles in Pittsburgh. Falter’s performance may be inspiration for the rest of the rotation figuring if he can do it anybody can do it. We will see how Marco Gonzales does this afternoon. This team could be easily 5-4 or even 4-5 but Greg Brown has assured us that the Pirates are trying to win games. I wonder if the other 29 teams are trying to win games also. Well, maybe not the Marlins. Maybe Brown should go announce for the Marlins so he can set them straight. It sure would be nice to win the series today.

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Pirates Morning Report: We’re Not In Miami Anymore

Final Score: Pirates 2 Orioles 5

Why The Pirates Lost: The two strongest parts of the team thus far fell flat on their face in the home opener. The offense for the 2nd time in 3 games could not do much. Only 3 of the 9 starters were able to get hits. Oneil Cruz had a big game going 3 for 4 with a home run. The Pirates scored their other run on a solo home run by Jared Triolo. The rest of the offense had a really bad day as Henry Davis struck out 3 times, with McCutchen, Tellez and Suwinski striking out twice each. It’s time to give Davis a rest. The bullpen chose to have its worse game of the year at the home opener. In 3 innings the bullpen gave up 3 runs on 6 hits. It was a shame because it wasted the second quality start in row, this time by Jared Jones. In 6 innings, he gave up two long balls, accounting for 2 runs on 6 hits, striking out 7, while issuing no walks. It was a very solid performance but with no offense and an ineffective bullpen Jones went down to his first loss of the year. The Pirates got a look at what a truly great team can do. Hopefully they took a lot of notes. You can’t play the Marlins all the time.

Key Moments Of The Game: They came in the bottom of the first and the bottom of the third. In the first the Pirates had 1st and 2nd with one out and in the 3rd, it was 1st and 3rd with one out. The Orioles had botched a tag play in the 3rd when Cruz should have not run from 2nd to 3rd on a roller along the third base line. The Oriole 3rd basement dropped the ball on the tag play and Cruz was safe at third. The Pirates failed to get any type of big hit in either inning. The culprits both times were Suwinski and McCutchen. In the 1st Suwinski struck out and McCutchen did hit the ball fairly hard but at the right fielder to end the first inning. In the 3rd when only a sacrifice fly was needed Suwinski popped out to 1st and McCutchen popped out to third. The Pirates really did not threaten the rest of the game. After the Triolo homer to lead off the 7th, the Pirates made 9 straight outs, including 6 strike outs. After the third inning the Pirates only had one base runner. Pittsburgh meet the best team in the American League.

Next Game: This afternoon, Orioles in Pittsburgh. Well, Barry Falter is starting today. This is so upsetting to me that I don’t even want to make fun of his last name. You have to wonder what management is thinking. This guy was not all that good last year, did not have a great spring training and in his first start got racked for 6 runs in 4 innings giving up 2 home runs. This against the Marlins to boot. There are plenty of other options on this team, that this guy should not be starting. It is just like giving away game 2 to the Orioles. After writing all of that, Falter will probably go out and throw a 1 hitter for 7 innings. That would be so nice if he did, but I will be shocked if that happens. The Pirates will have to score at least 8 runs to win this game. I would be absolutely thrilled to be wrong. We will know in less than 12 hours.

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I Think That Is Called Volunteering

Daily writing prompt
What job would you do for free?
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I know what the gist of this prompt is. A job that you love so much you would do it for free. That is not the way the world works. Second how would you know what job you would do for free. Think about that. How many jobs have you had. If you really never did a particular job, how would you know you would do it for free. Has everybody been lucky enough to find the job that they love so much that they would do it for free. I think not. Until you actually do a job, you never really know if you are going to like it, let alone love it. Many people when they retire do volunteer work. Some people that have jobs do volunteer work in other areas other than their job. Even if they are retired, they usually only volunteer for a few hours a week. Does that mean that if they would decide to do that as their job, they would do it for free. Doesn’t the word job imply that you are going to be compensated. The word volunteer means that you are doing it for free because you want to not because you have to. People have to work. I loved my career as a veterinarian, but I would have never done it for free. Why? Because it was too damn tough. There have been Presidents of the United States that did not take their salaries. They did that job for free. How does that seem to be working out. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately that is not the way the human psyche works. When you do something that is considered a job you want to get paid for it and many times damn well. Where you here about loving your job the most, is in the world of sports. You will hear an athlete say how much he or she loves the game they are playing. Because these are considered games and the word play is used often when talking about sports, they are not looked at as jobs. In reality they are jobs and the people that are doing these jobs are most of the time paid extremely well. What would be nice, is that we would all do our jobs for free and get equal shares of all the revenues that is created by our economy. Wow, I would have worked for free then. Gross national product divided by 350 million people. That is way too simple to work.

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Pirates Morning Report: Rotation Redemption

Final Score: Pirates 7 Nationals 4

Why The Pirates Won: They got off to a hot start scoring 4 runs in the 1st and 1 in the 2nd. Martin Perez gave the Pirates their first quality start of the season by going 6 and 2/3 innings giving up just 2 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, while striking out 6. It was the best start of the year by a Pirate pitcher. The Pirates added to their lead in the 5th when Connor (Maybe This Was A Good Signing) Joe hit a 2-run homer. The bullpen had a little hiccup as Luis Otiz had some control issues giving up 2 runs, 2 hits, and 2 walks in 1 inning of work. Fortunately, Chapman and Bednar shut down the side by striking out 3 of the last 4 National batters of the game. The Pirates head home with a nice 6-1 record. Granted the competition has not been that tough, but you can still lose to bad teams over the season. The bottom line is the Pirates did not look overwhelming winning 6 out of the first 7 games, but who cares. The offense perked up again last night scoring 7 runs on 11 hits and 7 walks. They also had a season low of 7 strikeouts. Hayes had another error and is in a mini slump going 1 for 13 for the series. There is no question the competition will get tougher when the homestand starts today, with the Orioles and Tigers coming to town. If the Pirates go 3-2 in this homestand I will be happy, especially with Falter still scheduled to start on Saturday. I am sure the Pirates will be happy to be home today. Let’s just hope that the momentum continues.

The Key Moments Of The Game: After being shut down for the first time this season, the Pirates started the game quickly, setting the table early by loading the bases with no one out. Jack Suwinski hit a sacrifice fly. Connor Joe walked and Rowdy (I’m Going To Prove You Wrong Too) Tellez hit a ground ball 75 MPH but it was perfectly placed to get into centerfield scoring runs 2 and 3, sending Connor Joe to third base. Henry Davis hit another sacrifice fly and the Pirates scratched out 4 runs in the inning. Reynolds singled in the 5th run in the top of the second and before you could say BEER HERE, the Pirates had a 5-0 lead that was never really threatened. It got a little interesting in the 8th, but Chapman and Bednar quickly shut it down and the Pirates are 6-1.

Next Game: This afternoon, Orioles in Pittsburgh if it doesn’t get snowed out. Jared Jones will make his second start before a fired-up opening day crowd. This will be a good test for these early season Buccos as Baltimore is one of the best teams in the American League, with many people picking them to make the World Series this year. If they can win 3 out of these next 5 home games, then I would say job well done.

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Pirates Morning Report: You Knew They Weren’t Going To Win Them All.

Final Score: Pirates 3 Nationals 5

Why The Pirates Loss: Another mediocre pitching performance by a Pirate starter, this time by Mitch Keller, led to this defeat. In 5 and 1/3 innings of “work” he gave up 5 runs on 8 hits, walking 2, striking out 5, while throwing 84 pitches. Of the 8 hits 5 were doubles and another one a home run. Not a lot of cheap hits in the bunch. There was catcher interference that made one of the runs unearned, but all in all another forgettable performance by a Pirates starter. This time the Pirates bats could not overcome the rotation ineffectiveness. In fact, they were pretty silent striking out 13 times and getting only 4 hits. There were only 3 players in the starting lineup that got hits. Lots of collars were worn in this game for the Pirate offense. Their last hit was the home run by Jack Suwinski in the top of the 6th, and they were retired in order 4 times during the game. The bullpen did well again, giving up no runs on just 2 hits and striking out 3 in 2 and 2/3 innings. The offense was pretty punchless the last 3 innings and really never threatened to cut into the Nationals 2 run lead. It looks like 162-0 is now just a pipe dream.

Key Moments Of The Game: It was the ability of the Nationals to bounce right back every time the Pirates did do something on offense. The Pirates got 2 runs in the top of the 2nd and the Nationals came right back lighting up Mitch Keller to score 4 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. The Pirates got within one in the top of the 6th and the Nationals got that run right back in the bottom of the 6th. Each time, it allowed the Nationals to either get momentum or maintain momentum.

Next Game: This afternoon, Nationals in D.C. Martin Perez will make his 2nd start of the season and maybe he can give the Pirates their first quality start of the season. It would be nice to see them take the series today because even though they are headed home they are going to go up against one of the best teams in the American League in the Baltimore Orioles, with the Detroit Tigers to follow. Looks like Jared Jones will be starting the home opener, and he certainly had the most dynamic start so far this season, even though it did not count as a quality start. The other reason that a win today would be nice, is believe or not the Pirates have Barry (I am at) Falter penciled in to start on Saturday. I see no guarantee that the Pirates are going to score 10 runs that day, which is what they will need if he really starts that game. Come on management.

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Post Covid

Daily writing prompt
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?
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During the pandemic there were many changes that happened. Staying home more, traveling being basically banned, trying to keep from getting sick and trying not to make anyone else sick. I tested positive for Covid on December 28th, 2021, and fortunately it was nothing more than having a cold, although not as severe as some colds I have had, persisted longer than most. I would say I did not feel fully recovered until day 25 or 26. I coughed and sneezed mostly and did not even get a sore throat. The biggest symptom I had was being very tired throughout the whole experience. Now that it is no longer a pandemic, life for us is pretty much back to normal. The one thing that we do not do anymore which we use to a lot, is go to the movies. Even before Covid, most movie theaters were pig sties. carrying all kinds of bugs and diseases. It does not take near as long for a movie to either hit a streaming service or a cable outlet as it did before Covid. We both feel it is not worth the risk to see a movie and come down with a second case of Covid. I have been vaccinated and have had 4 boosters and will be getting another one in the summer. Compared to the way things were during the pandemic and how things are now, I think we have adapted very well. I think overall I would say our main theme has been to err on the side of caution. We still grocery shop during low volume times when before Covid we would always go on Sunday, when it was much busier. I used to walk the Mall in the winter on cold days but now I just walk outdoors no matter how cold it is. Compared to some, I feel blessed and fortunate that Covid has had virtually no effect on me or my family. Hopefully our medical scientists will continue to produce vaccines that will be effective to help control and someday end this horrible disease. Quite frankly I have no desire to inject disinfectant in my ass.

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Pirates Morning Report: Lumber Company Revisited

Final Score: Pirates 8 Nationals 4

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirate offense scored 8 runs yesterday to fall one run short of averaging 8 runs per game over the first 5 games. Not only does that explain why they won yesterday, but why they are 5-0. The offense could “only” manage to score 3 runs when 2 were out yesterday. All the starters got at least one hit except for Olivares. Michael Taylor surprisingly led the way with 3 hits, 2 runs scored and an RBI. Taylor, a lifetime .240 hitter, right now is going at a .471 clip. Andrew McCutchen may have found a new way to come out of a horrendous slump. His first two plate appearances he struck out and did not look good doing it. Then he took a 90 MPH slider right on the knee. It looked like he might even come out of the game. He hung in there, stayed in, and in his next 3 AB’s he went double, single, walk and drove in a run. Five players got 2 hits each. For the game the Pirates scored 8 runs on 15 hits and walked 6 times. It’s a good thing the offense is on fire because for the 5th consecutive game the Pirate starter could not get through the 6th inning. Marco Gonzales did not have a bad line for 5 innings giving up 1 run on 4hits, walking 2, while striking out 2. In the top of the 6th, he could not get an out and a 13 pitch at bat by Lane Thomas seemed to take it out of him. The bullpen did give up the tying runs in the bottom of the 7th when Roansy Contreras gave up a 2-run homer to knot the score 3-3. Then the new Lumber Company took over and scored 3 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th to win going away.

Key Moments Of The Game: The first came in the bottom of the 6th when Marco Gonzales seemed to run out of gas after throwing 77 pitches. He gave up a single and a walk to put runners on first and second with no one out. In came Roansy Contreras to make his 2024 debut. He got out of the jam getting a strike out, ground out, and strike out on 11 pitches. Unfortunately, he gave up the tying runs on a 2-run homer the next inning. The Pirates bounced right back in the top of the 8th to score 3 runs with 2 of those coming with 2 outs. The big hits were a double by Conner Joe, and 2 out hits by Hayes and McCutchen. The bullpen really did not have to face a high leverage situation again and it was 5 in a row for the new Lumber Company.

Next Game: Wednesday, the Nationals in D.C. The rotation starts over with Mitch Keller taking the hill for the 2nd time this season. Maybe he will start a new trend for the rotation, like contributing to a win. We all know that hitting is a sometime thing. The most runs scored in the modern era is 1067 by the 1931 New York Yankees in a 154-game season. That is averaging almost 7 runs per game. The all-time record is 1220 runs by the Boston Beaneaters. I did hear that they stunk in the field or was that they stunk up the field. They set the record in 1894. I have a feeling that both records are safe. If the Pirates kept up their current pace, they would score about 1260 runs. I think Michael Taylor has a better chance of winning the batting title.

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Pirates Morning Report: OK Rotation, When Are You Going To Contribute.

Final Score: Pirates 9 Marlins 7 in 10 innings.

Why The Pirates Won: Again, it was the 2 out lightening of the offense, this time scoring 8 of their 9 runs after 2 were out. This offense, which is on fire, scored 9 runs on 11 hits and 7 walks. The hits were spread out pretty evenly with only Ke’Bryan Hayes and Jared Triolo getting 2 hits. The only starter to not get a hit was Jason Delay, but he walked and laid down the beautiful bunt that scored the go ahead run in the top of the 8th. It was another offensive win for the Pirates who scored 31 runs in the 4-game sweep. Barry Falter pretty much stunk getting touched up for 5 runs in the 1st inning including a grand slam home run. In his nifty 4 innings of work he gave up 6 runs on 4 hits, including 2 home runs while walking 3. Hopefully this will be the last time we see Falter starting for the Pirates. They should move Luis Ortiz into the starting rotation by the end of the week. I did hear that the Marlins may be interested in acquiring Falter so they can have 5 awful left-hand pitchers in the rotation. The Pirates did announce that Marco Gonzales will start against the Nationals today so he must be ok. The only weak link in this Pirate team has been the starting rotation. Jared Jones had the best start, but it was still not considered a quality start. The rest of the rotation has been pretty much terrible. The bullpen has been lights out, but this cannot go on forever. The team needs a starter to go 6 or 7 innings. The Pirates are miraculously 4-0 when they could easily be 2-2 or even 1-3. The Marlins looked lousy in this series, but it will be interesting to see where these teams are at the All-Star break.

Key Moment Of Game: The Pirates trailed 6-4 going into the top of the 7th and got the first two runners on base. Then Suwinski flied out and Triolo struck out to bring up Rowdy (Please Let Me See A Right-Handed Pitcher) Tellez. He had struck out 3 straight times against left-handed pitching but finally got to bat against a right hander, Vladimir Gutierrez. He battled for 8 pitches working the count to 3 and 2, fouling off the last 3 pitches. On the 9th pitch he lifted a towering drive to centerfield for a 3-run homer to give the Pirates the lead 7-6. A rusty Bednar gave up a tying home run in the bottom of the 9th to send the game into extra innings. The Marlins completely botched up 2 bunts and walked in another run to ensure that the Pirates would sweep the series. Hunter Stratton pitched a solid bottom of the 10th, getting a nice low-ball strike to end the game and seal the win.

Next Game: This afternoon, the Nationals in D. C. Marco Gonzales will pitch for the Pirates. Why he did not pitch yesterday I do not know. Maybe they did not want him to make his Pirate debut with the typical goofy Sunday lineup. Hopefully this does not affect his confidence that they made it look like Falter was the 4th starter over him. Let us hope that Falter can lead Indianapolis to a championship.

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Pirates Morning Report: Along Came Jones

Final Score: Pirates 9 Marlins 3

Why The Pirates Won: Jared Jones made his MLB debut and did a very nice job, not spectacular like the Pirate shill team claimed, but in 5 and 2/3 innings he was charged with 3 runs giving up 3 hits, 2 walks and impressively striking out 10 batters. There were only 7 outs made in the field. What was spectacular was the Pirate offense. The Pirates scored 9 runs on 16 hits, 5 of them doubles, and walking 4 times. What was most impressive is that the Pirates scored 7 of their 9 runs with 2 outs. It was indeed an offensive explosion. Conner (Keep proving me wrong) Jo led the way with 3 hits, 3 runs and 2 RBI’s. There is a rumor going around that his real name is Joe Conner, but I don’t think that it is true. Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Michael Taylor, Oneil Cruz and Jared Triolo all got 2hits each. The bullpen proved they can perform in non high leverage situations too, by shutting out the Marlins over the last 4 and 1/3 innings. It was nice to see David Bednar get out there in the 9th in an easy situation and perform well. The Pirate defense made another error, but they made no base running gaffes in this game. Another impressive win for the Pirates.

Key Moments Of The Game: While there was no big key moment in this game, it was the Pirates ability to put 7 runs on the board after 2 were out, that was the key to this win. Edward Olivares, Conner Joe, twice, Ke’Bryan Hays, Bryan Reynolds and Jack Suwinski all drove in runs with 2 out hits. The offense sent the Pirates to their 3rd win in a row, on the road, against a team that made the playoffs last year. I know the season is extremely young, but the Marlins look like they could be in big trouble.

Next Game: This afternoon, the Marlins in Miami. I am a little surprised to see Barry No Falter Insurance be placed into the 4th slot ahead of Marco (I had rare forearm surgery) Gonzales. In fact, he is not even officially listed to pitch in the 5th game of the season against the Nationals. Hopefully nothing is going on with Gonzales. This last game was the best game the Pirates have played so far in this short season. I admit I would have been happy with a split. Now the Pirates have a chance to sweep a 4 games series on the road. Hopefully Falter will be up to the task.

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Pirates Morning Report: Making It Look Easy Despite Misplays.

Final Score: Pirates 7 Marlins 2

Why The Pirates Won: Well, the bullpen did well again. Other than that, I don’t know why the Pirates won. They made enough mistakes to lose this game, but the Marlins managed to not even make this game close. The starting pitcher for the Marlins A. J. Puke, I’m sorry, Puk pitched so bad, that he made his manager puke. In 2 plus innings he gave up 4 runs on 3 hits while walking 6 batters. The Pirates should have scored more runs, but poor base running did them in for the second game in a row. After 3 innings it was 4-0 but you thought the Pirates may have blown it by not taking advantage of all the walks. However, the Marlins perfected the technique for hitting into double plays by hitting into 4 of them. They would have hit into more, but some bad hops tried to save them. Nothing could save the Marlins in this game. The Pirates added single runs in the 6th, 7th, and 8th inning, by getting a few hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly. Ke’Bryan Hayes made 2 errors but again the Marlins could not take advantage. The Pirates got another mediocre start, this time from Martin Perez, who could only go 4 and 1/3 innings giving up 1 run, 6 hits, 3 walks, while throwing 86 pitches. Ryder Ryan went 1 and 2/3 innings giving up no runs and Josh Fleming went the final 3 giving up 1 run on 2 hits and walk. One final note and I don’t know how much this contributed to the win, but the Pirate pitchers got the low-ball strike and the Marlin pitchers do not. Maybe the home plate umpire has some relatives that work at Disney.

Key Moment Of The Game: It came in the bottom of the 5th with score 4 to 1 Pirates. The Marlins had 1st and 3rd with one out when Ryder Ryan came into the game. The Pirates had really let the Marlins off the hook in the 2nd and 3rd by scoring only 4 runs. A big hit here would have gotten the Marlins right back in the game. Ryan shut down the rally by striking out 2 batters on 14 hard fought pitches. The Pirates started adding to their lead one run at a time beginning in the 6th inning to win going away. All Pirate fans should give a big shout out to A. J. Puke, damn it I mean Puk.

Next Game: This Afternoon, the Marlins in Miami. Jared Jones makes his Pirate debut today as the Pirates try to make it 3 in a row over the Marlins. I am not sure if the Marlins really know the regular season has started yet. The Pirates are 2-0 simply because the Marlins have played worse. It had to be challenging to play worse than the Pirates did last night. But hey, we will take it. Hopefully Jones will be able to do something the first two starters could not, give us some innings.