Tag: baseball

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Pirates Morning Report: Surviving A Disastrous 8th inning For Big Win

Final Score: Pirates 8 Brewers 6

Why The Pirates Won: For the second time in the last three games the Pirates bats came alive. Led by Bryan Reynolds’ 5 for 5 night, the Pirates put 8 runs on the board. The long ball accounted for 5 of the 8 runs. Suwinski a 2 run homer, Grandal a 2 run homer and Reynolds hit the big solo shot in the top of the 9th to give the Pirates that 2 run cushion. Keller had an uneven but solid 6 innings of work, shutting out the Brewers, but danced through the raindrops giving up 8 hits, walking no one, while striking out 7. The bullpen, which is becoming a real liability for this team, gave up 6 runs in 2 innings. Bednar who pitched his best 9th inning in a long time and Holderman are the only two that seem to be able to get anybody out. The bad news is that guys that either were up this year or did well last year are struggling at the AAA level. Jose Hernandez ERA 9.00, Ryder Ryan ERA 3.86, which is not too bad, and Carmen Mlodzinski, who pitched well for the Pirates last year out of the bullpen, is having trouble with an ERA of 6.43. Will management do anything in this area to help shore things up? The short answer is no. Let’s enjoy last night’s big win which sent the Pirates to 19-23 and 5.5 games out of first place.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates ability to keep adding on is what won this game. They scored in 5 of the nine innings, including 5 in the last 3 innings. The one big play came in the bottom of the 7th with two out. Josh Fleming, who did not look good for 40 pitches, gave up a 2 out double to Willie Adamas that scored the first two runs of the game for the Brewers. For some strange reason Adamas tried to go to third and Oneil (The One Hop Relay Man) Cruz nailed him at third base and the inning was over. The bonehead play may have cost the Brewers the game.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. Quinn (Who Is Going To Show Up Tonight) Priester is going to start tonight for the Pirates. The best way to sum up Priester’s major league career is to say this year he has become inconsistent, which is quite an improvement. Are we going to see the quality start Priester or will we see the run an inning Priester? This should determine the outcome of tonight’s game.

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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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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: It’s Time For Replacements.

Final Score: Pirates 2 Rockies 3

Why The Pirates Lost: You’re kidding right. The Pirates made the no brainer move, pun intended, sending down Henry Davis and recalling Yasmani Grandal. It is time for this management team to get some testicles and shake up this team. The replacements are ready and are hitting. Check out these slash lines and this is not a misprint. Ji Hwan Bae .414/.516/.577, Nick Gonzales .358/.420/.575 and Jake Lamb .394/.483/.606. Now I know this is AAA but all of these players are slugging well over .500 and Bae is getting on base more than he is making outs. Who would these guys replace. Try ANYBODY. For now, I will take Jack Suwinski, Jared Triolo, and Rowdy (Rawhide) Tellez. Last nights game had some mind boggling stats. Six innings the Pirates went 3 up 3 down. Six innings they failed to get a hit. Their hitting coach said it is all about the process. WELL, THEIR PROCESS STINKS DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Their problems can be summed up by one pitch in the bottom of the ninth to Ke’Bryan Hayes. The first pitch was right down the middle. It couldn’t have been more down the middle and Hayes just looked at it for a called strike. That is one great process. The Pirates are now 14-19 losing their last 5 games. Here is the real scary thing. In the last three series, the Pirates have faced teams with worst records than theirs, when each series started. Their record is 1-6. Can’t wait to play the Dodgers and the Braves.

Key Moments Of The Game: Anytime a Pirate came to the plate. When the Rockies scored their first run on a home run you knew the game was over. Cruz did hit a home run in the bottom of 9th to make it close, but you knew they were going to lose.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rockies in Pittsburgh. Jared Jones will start for the Pirates. Jones is debating whether or not to fake an illness. He was seen in the locker room staring at 2-day old Sushi. He might have been thinking why are Suwinski and Tellez playing. What is the thinking here. I do not think there are going to be any miracles. There are 3 solid options in AAA. This team needs help. How about giving them some management.

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Pirates Morning Report: Thirty Two Games In

The Pirates stand at 14 wins and 18 losses. Talk about a tale of two halves. First 16 games 11-5, the last 16 games 3-13. I will take a look at the offense, defense and pitching. With all the stats and analytics today, it still boils down to three things when it comes to batting and pitching. Batting you have to get on base, score runs and then compare how you are doing with the rest of the league. The comparison stat is OPS+ with 100 being league average. This stat compares a batter with the rest of league based on the ballpark, competition and a variety of other factors. With pitching you have to be good at what you can control, home runs, walks and strikeouts. This is Fielding Independent Pitching known as FIP. As a pitcher you have to prevent runs and the comparison stat here is ERA+, again with 100 being league average. I always use Baseball References Defensive Efficiency to evaluate how a team is fielding. This takes in all aspects of fielding not just errors. Let us see how the Pirates shake out.

The Hitting: They are 15th in on base percentage, 21st in runs scored and 24th in OPS+. Quite frankly I thought they would be worse. All the runs they scored in the beginning of the season must have helped them score more runs than 9 other teams in baseball. These stats show that they are not that bad about getting on base but have not been able to take advantage. Right now, the Pirates have 5 players hitting above league average. A very small sample size Joey Bart (154), Connor Joe (140), the surprising Alika Williams (120) Bryan Reynold (115) and Ke’Bryan Hayes (101). On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have Henry Davis (44) Jack Suwinski (55), Jared Triolo and Rowdy Tellez each at 61. This means they are performing 39 to 56% below the major league average hitter. In my view all of these players are disappointing if not surprising. The biggest surprise here is Triolo. I thought he would have to perform like he did the last 2 months of the season for the Pirates to have success and he has not come close. As a whole the team has lacked power which was supposed to be a plus. There are only 4 teams that have hit less home runs than the Pirates. Ke’Bryan Hayes has been one of the disappointments here. The last 2 months of the season he slugged .501. So far this year it’s .345.

Pitching: The Pirate staff is 17th in FIP, 15th in runs allowed and 12th in ERA+. This time I thought the Pirates might be better. The rotation did get off to a slow start and the hitting bailed them out in the first 10 games or so. The Pirates are right in the middle of the pack with these key pitching stats. This has not been good enough to overcome the horrible hitting over the last 2 weeks. The Pirates have 3 starters that are above average, Martin Perez (144), Jared Jones (126), and Quinn Priester (122). Out of the bullpen, we have small sample size Colin Holderman (317), Josh Fleming (184), Hunter Stratton (136), Luis Ortiz (131), and Roansy Contreras (100). What is amazing that 2 pitchers with ERA+ well above 100 are in the minors, Ryder Ryan and Jose Hernandez. Missing from the list is Mitch Keller, Aroldis Chapman and David Bednar. Despite all the hype about Mitch Keller being the Pirate ace and what a great year he had last year, the truth is 2022 and 2023 were the same. His ERA+ was 104 for both years. This computes to being 4% better than the average starter in baseball. Nice, but not someone you want to pitch in game one of a playoff series. If this team is going to do anything Bednar and Chapman better get their act together even if they start to hit again.

Fielding: The Pirates are 12th in Defensive Efficiency. I thought they would do better, but this is still one of their highest positions. Part of the reason I don’t think they are better is because they have not played Michael Taylor enough. I know this team needs offense, but this is a premier centerfielder, and you need to play him, bat him 9th and take your lumps. He is not really doing that bad at the plate when you compare him to Tellez, Davis and Suwinski and they are either terrible or below average fielders. This is one aspect of the Pirates that needs to get better even though it is tied for the highest ranking of any phase of Pirate baseball at the moment.

What’s Next: I was going to speculate on what some of moves the Pirates might make. Trying to predict what this management team might or might not do is just about impossible. First of all, their bizarre batting orders and line ups are enough to drive you crazy. That could be an entire blog but let me give a couple of examples. When Andrew McCutchen is put in the lineup he should bat in one spot and one spot only, lead off. HE IS NOT A CLEAN UP HITTER. The opening game against the Giants they started Oneil Cruz against a left hander. The next night against a fire balling right hander he is on the bench. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? Like everybody else I will just wait until later today to see if the Pirates are going to make any personnel changes. Looking ahead there is good news and there is bad news. The bad news is the Cubs, Brewers, and Reds are looking like they are going to make this a 3 team dog fight. That could be the good news too, if they keep knocking each other off. All three, unlike the Pirates, are looking like very good baseball teams. The good news is the Pirates cannot be this offensively inept all season or can they? Can Hayes get his power back? Can the whole team get their power back? Will Triolo start to hit? Will they start to get more both offensively and defensively out of the catcher’s spot. Will management start playing players that are performing and not players who are projected to perform? Will the bullpen mainstays Bednar and Chapman turn it around? Finally, what if any changes are going to come today? Only The Shelton knows. All the preceding questions need to be answered with a yes if this team is going to contend.

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Pirates Morning Report: Swept By The A’s

Final Score: Pirates 0 A’s 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The offensive woes continue to get worse. The A’s tried to help the Pirates score a run or two by committing 3 errors and walking 4, but the Pirates were even more incompetent. The Pirates could only muster 4 hits, one double and three singles. Pirates did hit some hard balls, but they were not deep enough or right at someone. This was a game that you typically see when a team is going bad. The Pirates are now 3 and 13 in their last 16 games. In their first 16 games they were 11-5. Quinn Priester had a quality start giving up 3 runs but one was unearned. When you get shutout, it means you are either going to lose or play forever. The Pirates are not playing as I am writing this. The Pirates have a must needed day off and it will be interesting to see if they make any moves. I am not going to speculate but you have to figure they have to do something. You cannot help but feel the season is slipping away, but it is early and after all is said and done, they are only 4 games below .500.

The Key Moments Of The Game: It was all on the Pirates side of the ball. In the 2nd, first and second with 2 out, in the 3rd, runner on 2nd 2 out, in the 4th, runner on 3rd one out and then 1st and 3rd with 2 out, in the 7th, bases loaded 2 out, and finally in the 8th, 1st and 2nd 2 out. The Pirates could not score. They left 10 men on base and were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. The road trip came to a merciful end at 1-5. The Pirates record now stands at 14 and 18, last in the division. They are heading home for a 9 game homestand.

Next Game: Tomorrow, Rockies in Pittsburgh. One of the reasons I said it will be interesting to see what if any moves the Pirates make on their off day is they may stand pat because they are playing 2 teams that are probably worse than them in the Rockies and the Troutless Angels. Tomorrow will be the 32 game report and it will be rather sad.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Baseball Version Of Groundhog Day.

Final Score: Pirates 2 A’s 5

Why The Pirates Lost: Just ask Bill Murray. No hitting, mediocre pitching, all add up to another loss for the Pirates. The top of the 8th put this all in perspective. The last 2 batters in the inning were Jack ( I Shouldn’t Be In The Majors) Suwinski and Joey ( I Don’t Want To Make Henry Davis Look Too Bad) Bart. Together they were thrown 4 pitches each. They both struck out. They did not take a full swing at any pitches. Gee, I wonder what the problem could be that the Pirates do not get any hits. I wonder if they take pitches during batting practice. Mitch Keller had another mediocre start but here is another head scratcher. J J Bleday had 2 home runs, one off of Keller and the other off lefty Josh Fleming. Both pitches were almost in exactly the same spot. Unlike the Pirate hitter he swung at the ball and hit it out of the park, twice. Can I please read the scouting report on this guy? Wow, that is all I can write.

Key Moment Of The Game: The 2nd homer by Bleday in the bottom of the 7th to give the A’s a 5-2 lead and you knew the game was over. The Pirates sealed the deal by striking out their last 5 at bats of the game. They made it. They are in last place. From first to worst in 30 days in 5 easy lessons.

The Next Game: This afternoon, the A’s in Oakland. If the Pirates score a run in the first inning just turn the game off. You are really watching Groundhog Day, baseball style. Fans in the stands have to put themselves through it, along with the players but you don’t.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Art Of Scoring, Obviously Not The Pirates.

Final Score: Pirates 1 A’s 5

Why The Pirates Lost: Anybody want to guess why the Pirates lost? Here is one of many interesting things. For a team that is desperate to score runs, they had 3 guys on the bench with on base percentages of .303, .351, and .365, which is higher than 5 of the players that started. They put McCutchen in the clean up spot. Why? Jack Suwinski, Rowdy Tellez, and Henry Davis are on the team. Why? On the other side of the coin the A’s showed the Pirates what to do. They did hit a home run to get their first run, but 3 of the runs scored on sacrifice flies. Do the Pirates have 3 sacrifice flies this year? Don’t know, don’t care. That is way the way you manufacture runs. Barry Falter did not have a good game giving up 5 runs on 6 hits after 5 innings. Contreras and Kyle Nicolas finished up the game giving up no runs, but they tried to let the A’s score by giving up 4 walks, 2 hits while throwing 71 pitches. Why didn’t they send Chapman out for an inning to see if he can straighten himself out a little? So what if he walked a couple of runs in, this game was over. Oh yeah, I forgot they are probably saving him for the playoffs. Could this be the low point of the season? I don’t know but I hope so.

Key Moment Of The Game: The game was tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the 4th when the A” led off the inning with a single and a double. The next 2 hitters hit sacrifice flies and the score was 3-1 A’s. Second and third with no outs, the A’s scored 2 runs without getting a hit. Something the Pirates haven’t been able to do for 3 weeks. The A’s added 2 more in 5th with one of those runs scoring on a sacrifice fly.

Next Game: Tonight, the A’s in Oakland. Starting for the Pirates tonight will be Mitch(I Got The Most Run Support In Three Weeks And Still Couldn’t Win) Keller. It would be something if both he and the Pirates bats would come out of their funk at the same time and win something like 6-0. After tomorrow’s game I will have the Pirate 32 game report on Friday evaluating the team 1/5th of the way through the season. The best the Pirates will be is at .500, but right now that seems like it will take a miracle.

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Pirate Morning Report: Despite Embarrassing Offense Pirates Split 2 Games

Final Scores: Saturday Pirates 4 Giants 3 in 10 innings

Sunday Pirates 2 Giants 3

Why The Pirates Split: They were able to pull out one game because of a big 10th inning where Bryan Reynolds hit a 2-run homer, followed by Ke’Bryan Hayes’ first home run of the season to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead, that they barely held on to, winning 4-3. The Pirates “played” 18 innings of baseball and put up these offensive (as in stinks) numbers, 3 runs, 14 hits, 11 of them singles, 4 walks, 20 strikeouts, leaving 15 men on base. They were 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position. What is amazing about this decrepit, anemic hitting is that they just keep doing the same thing over and over again. They take strikes and swing at balls. Henry Davis is the leader in this group. Right now, he does not look like he can hit Little League pitching he looks so lost. Why is he playing? The Pirates are very fortunate to be only one game below .500 at this point of the season.

Key Moment Of The Games: On Saturday, the back to back home runs in the top of the 10th the Pirates hit that accounted for 3 of the 6 runs that they scored all weekend. This gave them the much needed victory. On Sunday, in the top of the 5th, the Pirates had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out and could only score 1 run. Of course, you can’t expect the Pirates to do situational hitting when they cannot hit at all.

Next Game: Tonight, the A’s in Oakland. Barry (It’s The Batting Coach’s) Falter is taking the mound for the Pirates. Will this offense ever hit again? They have lost 10 of their last 13 games. With the exception of one loss, the offense has been responsible. Their next 9 games are against teams that have a record of 29-56. It’s early but this could be the key to the season. I think 3 series wins is essential.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pitching Debacle

Final Score: Pirates 5 Brewers 7

Why The Pirates Lost: The pitching staff won the 2nd game of the series but lost this game handily. The pitchers did have some hard luck, but they dug themselves into a hole by walking 5 and they only had one 3 up and 3 down inning. Nobody seemed to have command of their pitches, especially Mitch Keller. He either threw the ball way out of the strike zone or right down the middle. He was not alone, with the staff giving up 7 runs on 12 hits including 2 home runs. The Pirate defense, although did not make an error, did not come up with plays they should have made. The offense put 5 runs on the board with 8 hits and even walked more than the Brewers, with 7. Joey Bart hit a 3-run homer in the first to get them off and winging. They had runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs in the 7th and a runner on 2nd with no outs in the 8th and could not score either time. They did score 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th after 2 were out, which had been their MO in the first 11 games of the season. This is the way things go for a team that is still in the down mode. They again stand at .500 with a record of 13-13. A disappointing end to a disappointing home stand.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the top of the 3rd with Pirates leading 3-1, Keller starts the inning by walking the first 2 batters. He strikes out the next batter but gives up a single to the .176 batting Jake Bauers to make the score 3-2. The Pirates have the runner trapped between 2nd and 3rd. Unfortunately, the cut off throw was caught by Rowdy Tellez. For some reason he hesitated was out of balance, made a weak throw to third and the runner was safe. Boo Tellez, Boo Boo Tellez, Boo Boo Boo Tellez. If he makes the play, even if Bryan Reynold does not make the play he should have made, the Brewers would have scored only 1 run instead of tying the game. Boo Boo Boo Boo Tellez. Then in the top of the 8th with the Pirates now leading 5-4. Aroldis Chapman came in and looked pretty good through the first 3 batters. He gave up a swinging bunt single down the third base line but got the next 2 batters on a ground out and strike out with the runner moving to 2nd base on a wild pitch. He had pinch hitter Gary Sanchez down 1 ball 2 strikes, when Chapman threw a high hard one 102 MPH. It was outside the strike zone, but Sanchez went with the pitch and parked it in the right field seats to give the Brewers a 6-5 lead. Contreras pitched the 9th and gave up a run just to round out a spectacular day for the pitching staff.

Next Game: Tonight, Giants in San Francisco. This will start a 6 game west coast road trip where the Pirates face the Giants and the A’s 3 games each. Both teams are under .500, the Giants 2 and the A’s 6. The offense did perk up in the last game. A winning road trip would wash out the bad taste of the last 10 games. Quinn Priester will start tonight. Let’s hope he turns things around, or this could be the second bad game in a row for the pitching staff.