Tag: Helping other teams

I did not get in until late last night, so the Morning Report won’t be in full mode until tomorrow morning. Right now, the Pirates stand 9-6 in this stretch of games where they played all but 3 at home. The Pirates need a win today to reach 10-6, which would be much better than 9-7. Up until the All-Star break, the Pirates will have a stretch of about 6 games on the road and 6 at home. After the break, they face a 9-game road trip in August and a 9-game homestand in September. In these last 15 games, the Pirates have lost 3 by scores of 7-6, 8-7, and 8-7. Do you think the Pirates have a bullpen problem? Of course, Ben (Sit On My Hands) Cherington has done nothing about it; he replaced two starting pitchers in the bullpen with two proven non-performers. The hitters can’t be held totally blameless for the losses either. When the Rays intentionally walked Jake Mangum to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the 10th last night, the Pirates’ win probability jumped to 84%. We all know what happened after that. The defense has also struggled, ranking 21st in baseball. In this early going, the Pirates have lost 9 games, giving away 5 due to their own failings. You will have days where you get beat, but you cannot lose nearly half your games because you help the other team with poor defense, horrendous bullpen performances, and failing in situational hitting. It had better change soon, or this team will implode during the dog days of summer.