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Pirates Morning Report: WOW!!!!!!!

Final Score: Pirates 7 Astros 4

Why The Pirates Won: I really don’t know. This will be looked upon as one of the great wins of this season, but the Pirates really did not play that well. In fact, Ji Hwan Bae epitomized the entire game. In the 4 previous appearances, he had lousy at bats swinging at more balls than strikes, striking out twice, flying out once to short left field, and grounding out. He didn’t look that great in the final at bat until he got a low inside the plate change up and bombed it into the right center field stands to win the game in the bottom of the 9th. All this drama would not have been necessary if it were not for an error by Rodolfo Castro that later, allowed the Astros to tie the game on a double by Chas McCormick in the top of the 9th. The Pirates took the lead in the bottom of the 6th when Ji Man Choi hit his 2nd home run in as many nights. Later in the inning, Pirates manufactured another run when Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled and stole third. Then Canann Smith-Njigba who also did not have a good night at the plate, came through when it mattered and hit a fly ball to left, deep enough to score Hayes easily. Keller, not quite as sharp as his last outing, still pitched a solid 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 2 solo homers. He had few other balls that were scary deep, but the outfield corralled them to turn them into nothing but long outs. It was a great win over the defending champs and the Pirates are now 7-4.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates were down 2-0 going into the bottom of the 2nd, and other than the Ji Man Choi’s 2 out double, had not done much in the 1st. The 2nd started out quietly with a ground out by Hayes and a strikeout by Smith-Njigba. Then Rodolfo (Don’t Worry I Am Not Going To Make An Error Every Game) Castro got hit on the foot by the pitch. While the Pirate announcers were discussing how long it takes for the pain to go away, Jack Suwinski took a 1-0 fastball and crushed it over the right field stands to tie the game 2-2. This homer put the fire back into this team and was just what the doctor had ordered. Despite making numerous mistakes and bad at bats, the Pirates went on to win, and the season is back on again.

Next Game: This afternoon Astros, in Pittsburgh. Rich ( I Can’t Be This Bad) Hill will take the mound for the Pirates in another rubber match. Hill may have some success tomorrow, because the Astros could be overconfident and laughing too hard in the batter’s box to be able to make decent contact. This was a huge win last night and it insured that this was not going to be an Astro sweep. After this, it does not get easier as we go to St. Louis for a 4 game series. Every win is important, but this one may have saved the season.

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Pirates Morning Report: No More Cruz Control

Final Score: Pirates 2 Astros 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Another poor performance by a Pirate starter, this time Roansy Contreras. It was by far the worst start of his young career. From the outset you could tell he just did not have it. In 3.1 innings he gave up 7 runs, 9 hits, and walked 4. I am surprised that they even let him come out for the 4th inning. The bats weren’t much better getting only 3 hits, but the hitters did manage to get 5 walks. It was a lackluster performance, probably triggered by the Oneil Cruz injury. They will need to move on, because things are not going to get any easier.

Key Moment Of The Game: As bad as Contreras was, if he could have just gotten the 3rd out in the first three innings, the score would have been tied 1-1, instead of 5-1 Astros. The Astros got 4 out of the 5 runs after 2 were out. In fact, in the top of the 3rd inning, there was 2 out nobody on, when they added another run, getting 3 straight singles. Then the top of the 4th was a total melt down for Contreras. Some pitchers get off to a slow start, then all of a sudden something clicks, and they pitch a very good game. This was not the case for Contreras last night. Nobody on the Pirates bench seemed to notice this. It was just one of those nights for the young right hander. Hopefully he will be able to shake it off and come back strong his next outing.

Next Game: Tonight, Astros in Pittsburgh. The Astros are throwing another strong starter, Cristian Javier at the Pirates tonight. The Pirates will counter with Mitch Keller who had a great start the last time out. It is way too early in the season to look at any game as being critical, but the Pirates need to have a good game as a Cruzless team. It does not have to be a win, but they need to get back to being competitive. The Pirates brought up Mark Mathias to replace Cruz, who made an uneventful debut last night. Pretty much, a safe move by management, saying this season is over already. Maybe the players will prove them wrong.

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Golf Diary:

The Round: Played Rolling Green Score 77 Greens In Reg: 8 Putts: 27

The Good: The putter was smoking today and kept the score barely respectable. Had 9 one putt greens and not too many gimmes. Many par saves and a couple of nice 5 to 8 foot birdie putts that I canned. No 3 putt greens today. The iron game continued to improve and the short game was passable, but it probably seemed better, because I almost made every putt.

The Bad: Had the worst driving day of the year and it was a good thing this course was pretty wide open. I still managed to find trouble and it cost me a double bogey on one hole. Working on something new, and I improved during the round. The weather was gorgeous, so all in all a pretty good day.

The Luck Of The Round: Really not much of a factor today. Can’t say that I had any good or bad breaks. Certainly, no bad luck on the greens today.

Next Round: Somewhat unknown at the moment but should have 2 rounds in by the end of the week.

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Pirates Morning Report: Devastating Win

Final Score: Pirates 1 White Sox 0

Why The Pirates Won: It was a surprising game in that both teams scored a combined 38 runs in the first two games of the series. Then boom, the pitchers took over the game yesterday and the Pirate pitchers were just a little bit better. Johan Oviedo pitched a strong 6 and 2/3rds innings giving up 0 runs, 5 hits, and did not walk a batter. The bullpen came on strong again to complete the shutout and the Pirates had another series win and improved to 6-3.

Key Moment Of The Game: You could say this may be the key moment of the season, the Oneil Cruz injury in the bottom of the 6th. It was the perfect example of indecision causing the most severe outcome. I don’t think he knew whether to come in head first or make a hard slide, resulting in him making an awkward move, with a broken ankle as the result. All fractured ankles are not created equal, so until more is known he could be back at the All Star break(no pun intended) or miss the entire season. It will be interesting to see who the Pirates bring up and how they will do. As the title says this was a devastating win.

Next Game: Who cares the season is over. Just kidding, we play the Astros in Pittsburgh tonight. This team’s resiliency is going to be tested early. The blog feels gloomy this morning. Roansy Contreras will get the start tonight and I do feel he will be up to the task of facing the mighty Astros.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played at South Park. Score: 81 Greens in Reg: 8 Putts: 34

The Good: Putting on the back nine (14) Iron play improved somewhat. Drove the ball at times really well but that was off some today as well.

The Bad: Putting on the front nine (20). The short game was mediocre all day as I could not get the ball close on chips and pitches. The difference between the nines was I had 4 one putt greens. A 2 footer on 10 for a birdie, a 10 footer on 11 to save bogey, 4 footer on 12 to save par and a 10 footer on 15 to save another par. I finished with 4 straight pars as my iron game improved as I hit the last 3 greens in regulation.

Luck Of The Round: Coming off a 3 putt double bogey on 9, I hit a duck hook on the easy par 5 10th hole. I had an opening through the trees to get back in play and I hit driver off the deck to keep it low. I missed it right and the ball just missed two trees and rolled out to the fairway 105 yards from the pin. I hit the gap wedge in about 2 feet and made birdie. The biggest problem was that my bad shots were really bad.

Next Round: Tomorrow Rolling Green Golf Course. Some improvement but will see if can continue on a fairly easy course.

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Pirates Morning Report: Velasquez, I Was Just Kidding

Final Score: Pirates 5 White Sox 11

Why The Pirates Lost: Another horrendous performance by a free agent Pirate pitcher. Vince Velasquez was only able to go 2 and 2/3rds innings and got racked up for 5 runs, 6 hits, and 4 walks. Near the end it appeared that he might have some kind of physical problem. We can only hope. I was only kidding when I said he hoped the Pirates would score 13 runs again because he was going to need them. The bullpen got touched up pretty good too, as all was right in the world again, with DUJ giving up for 2 runs on 3 hits in just 2/3rds of an inning. All in all, not a good day for the Pirate pitching staff, giving up 11 runs on 14 hits and 6 walks, while only striking out 6. The Pirate bats did not have all that bad of a day getting 5 runs on 10 hits and 3 walks. Rodolfo Castro came out of his funk somewhat getting 2 hits in 3 at bats. In 2 games the Pirates have given up 20 runs but are 1-1.

Key Moment Of The Game: The bottom of the third and the score was 2-1 in favor of the White Sox, but 2 were out, with a runner on second. Then Velasquez went viral. Walk, Walk, Wild Pitch to let a run in. A single to center field scored 2 more runs and before you knew it was 5-1 White Sox. Velasquez gave up another walk and he was off to the showers. Bryce Wilson where are you? The Pirates got as close as 6-4 but then the bullpen got lit up in the 7th for 5 more runs and it was over baby, with the Pirates falling to 5-3

Next Game: This Afternoon, White Sox, in Pittsburgh. It will be a rubber match with Johan Oviedo making his second start of the year. The Pirate bats seem to be coming alive and now the pitching has gone south a little bit, but most of that has been from the free agent pitchers Rich Hill and Velasquez. It is early in the season, but I have a lot more confidence that Hill will right the ship. Velasquez is a whole different story, as I do not know if there is any ship there to begin with. With the Astros coming to town, it sure would be nice to get the win today.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played Mt Lebanon Score: 85 Greens In Reg: 3 Putts 32

The Good: Absolutely nothing. Did not drive the ball bad but that was about it.

The Bad: Hitting 3 greens in regulation shows the iron game was very poor and then compound that with mediocre to poor chipping. The putting had too much stress put on it to call it poor, but it did not bail me out at all. Just chalk it up to one of those rounds. I thought I was swinging quite well but little or nothing to show for it.

Luck Of The Round: Anytime you shoot a round like this you are not going to get a lot of breaks. I had many awkward and bad lies and the putts would not drop at all. It was pretty cold out but a least it was not that windy, and the sun was out much of the time. I guess you could say that was lucky.

Next Round: Tomorrow at South Park. Hopefully this was just an anomaly, but we will soon find out. Will be glad to get the taste of this one out of my mouth.

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Pirates Morning Report: 19 Hits Will Do It Every Time

Final Score: Pirates 13 White Sox 9

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirate bats really came alive to easily overcome a very poor performance by Rich Hill. The Pirates had 3 doubles, a triple, and 2 home runs to put 13 runs on the board. Bryan Reynolds had a huge game going 3 for 5, with a double, triple, and a home run, driving in 6 runs. Six Pirates had 2 or more hits. It was simply a hitters and bullpen win. I am sure you would have to go back a long way to find the last team that scored 9 runs against the Pirates but lost the game.

Key Moment Of The Game: After 4 and a half innings the score was tied 7-7 in a back and forth slugfest. Then after one out in the bottom of the 5th the Pirates started. Double by Conner Joe, Ji Hwan Bae singles, Jason( I’m pounding the ball), Delay singles, Joe scores, Oneil Cruz walks, and then Bryan Reynolds laces a ball down in the right field corner for a triple, driving in 3 runs and then scoring himself on a throwing error. This made the score 12-7 and you really felt the Pirates had finally taken over the game. The bullpen came through with Will Crowe pitching the last 3 innings, having a shaky ninth but sealed the deal and the Pirates are now 5-2.

Next Game: Tonight, White Sox, in Pittsburgh. The other free agent pitcher Vince( I hope they score 13 runs for me because I am going to need them) Velaquez will make his second start of the year. Hopefully he will fair a little better than Hill did yesterday. Not much negative you can say about this team right now. There are some individuals who are struggling right now but it makes all that struggling a lot easier to take when you are winning. 5 and 2 feels real good.

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Pirates Morning Report: DUJ Gets The Save

Final Score: Pirates 4 Red Sox 1

Why The Pirates Won: Another great starting pitching performance, this time by Mitch Keller. He pitched 7 innings giving up only 1 run on 2 hits, striking out 7 and walking 2. The foul ball home run made things tense for a moment. I always like the fact that the home crowd boos a call that goes against them, even though it is obviously correct. The Pirates offense put up 4 runs again, with Carlos Santana providing a home run and an RBI double. Bryan Reynolds got a double and an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in the other run on a beautiful push bunt up the first base line. The bullpen was strong again and Pirates swept the Boston Red Sox right in Fenway Park.

Key Moment Of The Game: It was the bottom of the 9th when DUJ took the mound. I could feel the dread going through my body. The first batter got a base hit and now you knew that this was going to be a disastrous inning. Then two pitches later DUJ induced a double play ball, that Castro and Bae executed nicely and quickly 2 were down. One pitch later a big lazy pop up ended the game and the Pirates are 4-2. DUJ did the job for the 2nd consecutive time, on only 5 pitches. If this guy is getting outs, then maybe this really is going to be our year. It makes you wonder when Robert Stephenson is ready to come back who will be sent down. I always figured it would be good old DUJ. Now I wonder if it could be Crowe or De Jong. They have been conspicuous by their absence. Their next outing could be critical if they are going to stay in Pittsburgh. Like in a lot of cases the mysterious injury could crop up too.

Next Game: Tomorrow afternoon, White Sox, Opening Day in Pittsburgh. Rich Hill will take the hill (can’t help myself), for the Pirates home opener. Let’s hope that he makes a comeback start much like Keller did last night. The Pirates now sit at 4-2 and you would have to call this a very successful road trip. I know it is early, but this team seems to have a different vibe to it already. To paraphrase Muhammad Ali, this team may SHOCK THE WORLD!

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Golf Diary:

The Round: Played at Mt. Lebanon Score 77 Greens In Reg. 7 Putt 30

The Good: Really not much. The weirdest part of the round was that I hit some good shots off of some really odd lies. Made some nice short game moves on the last 2 holes to save pars. Think I am a little golfed out. Played 3 consecutive days and was really tired for the early 7:20 tee time. Did make some really tough 3 to 4 foot putts.

The Bad: My longer putts were horrible. The greens were a little slow but that is no excuse. I never hit a good putt over 10 feet. My iron game was a little better but not enough to call it good.

Luck Of The Round: Did have some bad breaks. Hit a real good drive on 3 but wound up with the ball way of above my feet because it did not roll all the way down into a grass bunker. But I hit a really good shot about 15 feet right of the pin but the putt was lousy. Looking forward to a non golf day tomorrow

Next Round: Most likely finish up on Saturday. I’m taking a nap.