Tag: sports

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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.

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Pirates Morning Report: Rough Trip From Philadelphia to New York.

Final Score: Pirates 3 Mets 6

Why The Pirates Lost: Oniel Cruz’s at bats summed up this lost. He struck out 3 times, He took 6 strikes, and all 3 swings were out of the strike zone. On his last at bat, again he took a strike, swung at a pitch out of the strike zone, but did manage to hit a ball to right field to end the game. Rowdy Tellez had one excellent at bat to start the top of the 8th. He took a strike, swung at a ball and took a called 3rd strike. Both pitches were well inside the strike zone, far from borderline. Even though they managed 3 runs the offense really stunk out the joint. They only got 3 hits. They walked 7 times but struck out 10. On the defensive side of the ball Henry Davis and Connor Joe excelled. Davis had trouble catching anything and made a lousy effort on a tag play at the plate. Just to go along with the offensive philosophy of the night, he took 3 called strikes in the top of the 9th, with all of them well within the strike zone. Connor Joe caught a ball and just had to toss it into the infield to keep the runners from moving up, but threw in the dirt toward the dugout, allowing the second Met run to score. The Pirates were ahead going into the bottom of the 6th and completely collapsed. The pitching staff gave up 3 runs in the 6th and 3 runs in the 8th as the Pirates lost 6-3 to send their record to 11-6. There can only be one explanation for such an all-round poorly played game. That trip from Philadelphia to New York must have been brutal with the time change and all. If it would have been possible, I am sure that Shelton would have rested anybody that played Sunday, after such a brutal travel day. This was by far their worst game of the year.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates had taken a 3-0 lead in the top of the sixth. Martin Perez had danced through some raindrops but was cruising along pretty well. Then the Mets opened the inning with 2 singles. Perez got Pete Alonzo to pop up in the infield one out. One more single loaded the bases and the Pirates started to crumble from bus lag. Perez walked in the first run. Then a pop up to short right field that Connor Joe managed to catch but then crapped his pants and threw the ball at the same time allowing the second run to score. Shelton then removed Perez in favor of Hunter (I Like To Throw The Ball Right Down The Middle In High Leverage Situations) Stratton. This type of pitching resulted in a double and the score was tied 3-3. Just for good measure he hit the next batter but did manage to get the third out, FINALLY. Then came the Henry Davis show in the bottom of the 8th that sealed the deal for Mets. Aroldis Chapman started the 8th and struck out the first batter. Then Jeff McNeil struck out on a ball low and away that was ruled a wild pitch, but Henry Davis made a half ass swipe at the ball and literally scooted the ball further to the left to allow McNeil to reach first base. It was the key play of the game. Chapman walked the next batter and both he and McNeil stole 2nd and 3rd. A double by Harrison Bader gave the Mets a 5-3 lead. They added another run thanks to the Davis I don’t know how to tag play.

Next Game: Tonight, the Mets in New York. Hopefully the Pirates will be well rested after such an exhausting trip. Jared Jones will take the hill for the Pirates’. The road trip stands at 2-3. I know it has been exhausting for me, just watching them play the way they did last night. I have nothing more to write except I hope there are better days ahead.

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Pirates Morning Report: Losing The Game Of Walks

Final Score: Pirates 3 Phillies 4

Why The Pirates Lost: For one of the few times this year the bullpen failed miserably. The offense was just plain offensive. Oneil Cruz did hit a 2-run homer to drive in 2 runs which at the time gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead in the top of the 5th with no one out. Bryan Reynolds walked and from that point on in the last 5 innings of the game, the Pirates sent 16 men to the plate getting one walk, erased on a double play and a single, striking out 7 times. To say they did not threaten the rest of the game would be an understatement. They were able to get 5 walks, but the Pirate staff outdid them by giving up 7. Chapman for the second straight game had control issues and this time it cost them the lead. Marco Gonzales got the quality start string going again by going 6 innings giving up 2 runs, on 6 hits, walking 3 while striking out 5. There is no question the bats have been in a funk and the pitching, while very good, has not been good enough to overcome it most of the time. The Pirates fell to 10-5 and remain in 2nd place.

Key Moment Of The Game: The bottom of the 9th with the game tied 3-3, Jose Hernandez quickly got ahead of Kyle Schwarber 0-2 but then threw a slider belt high toward the outside of the plate and Schwarber pulled it into right field for a base hit. Hernandez battled Trea Turner after falling behind 3-0 to get the count to 3-2, but after one foul ball, walked him to put runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. Even though he struck out Bryce Harper, his first pitch, ruled a wild pitch, got away from Henry Davis and the Phillies had runners on 2nd and 3rd with just one out. Roansy Contreras was brought on and after an intentional walk, the struggling Nick Castellanos, who had already driven in one run, lifted a fly ball over the drawn in outfield to win the game. It was the second tough loss within the last 7 days, and we will see if this team can bounce back.

Next game: This afternoon, the Phillies in Philadelphia. The Phillies will be sending out their big boy Zack Wheeler to the mound. Despite having an ERA of 1.89 he is 0-2. We can only hope that trend continues. This does not seem like it is going to be the day that the sick Pirate offense is going to get well. But then I thought starting Bailey Falter was like forfeiting the game. Mitch Keller will have to have his best start of the year if the Pirates are going to gain a split in the series. The road trip is now 1-2 with 3-4 seemingly slipping away.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Phillies Giving A Helping Hand.

Final Score: Pirates 5 Phillies 2

Why The Pirates Won: Thanks to the powers to be, it was a game the Pirates could not have lost, even if they tried. As we all know, thanks to Greg Brown, the Pirates are trying to win games. The Phillies, not the Pirates, had a big hand in the Pirates ability to score. In the 2nd inning the pitcher, Christopher Sanchez was totally responsible for the Pirates 1st run. A walk, an error by Sanchez on a routine come backer to the mound, and two more walks accounted for the run. In the top of the of the 4th Pirates got two good hits to put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Henry Davis struck out. Connor Joe hit a ground ball just to the right of Trea Turner, but as he went to field it, he slipped and fell with the ball hopping right over him into left field to make the score 2-0. In the top of 7th with runners on 1st and 3rd with one out, Ke’Bryan Hayes took a called third strike, but the Phillies catcher J. T. Realmuto was crossed up on the pitch, got hit in wrist and the ball got away allowing in the 3rd Pirate run. It wasn’t until the top of the 8th that the Pirates were able to score runs without the help of the Phillies. The Pirates went single, double, single to score 2 runs and stretch their lead to 5-1. Overall, the offense scored 5 runs on 9 hits and 5 walks. It was nice to see Henry Davis have a good game with 2 hits and a walk, scoring 2 runs and driving in a pair. Barry Falter pitched well again giving up 1 run on 4hits but only went 5 innings for some unknown reason, so the quality start streak ended at 7. He had thrown only 71 pitches. The bullpen did fine but did have one scary moment.

Key Moment Of The Game: Going into the bottom of the 8th the Pirates held a 5-1 lead. Josh Fleming got the first out easy enough but then walked the next batter and gave up a single to the next. In came Aroldis Chapman. Bryce Harper hit a low liner to right field that Bryan Reynolds made a diving catch. To make things interesting Chapman walked the next 2 batters to make the score 5-2. That brought up Brandon Marsh who Chapman struck out looking with the bases loaded and the threat was over. Bednar pitched a clean 9th that you knew he would in this game that the Pirates were destined to win. The Pirates improved to 10 and 4 remaining in 2nd place. Last night things went their way in a big way.

Next Game: This afternoon, Phillies in Philadelphia. Marco Gonzales takes the hill for the Pirates. It’s hard to believe that the Phillies generosity will extend to another game but who knows. The bats really did not come alive last night but a win is a win is a win. The Pirates will take them any way they can get them. The rotation continues to be strong and let’s hope we can ride that into some wins, until the offense can get rolling again. The only negative from last night was that Bryce Harper may be coming out of his hitting funk. That could lead to a bad weekend for the Pirates. Road trip 1-1, acceptable road trip 3-4.

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Pirates Morning Report: Gopher Ball Blues

Final Score: Pirates 1 Phillies 5

Why The Pirates Lost: No offense and the pitching gave up 3 home runs that accounted for all 5 Phillies runs. Each team had 7 hits and Pirates even added 2 walks. The difference was all of the Pirates hits were singles and well-spaced out. The Pirates were only retired in order twice. They had chances to get an inning going but there was no 2 out lightening in this game. They struck out 14 times with Andrew McCutchen and Michael Taylor leading the way with 3 each. All of McCutchen’s were called third strikes and at least Taylor got a hit in the 9th which contributed to the Pirates only run. Jared Jones gave the Pirates their 7th quality start in a row giving up 1 run in 6 innings, but the 7th inning did him in, giving up a 2-run homer to Brandon Marsh allowing the Phillies to take a 3-0 lead. Colin Holderman came in to relieve Jones and promptly gave up another 2-run home run, after another Pirate outfield miscommunication, which pretty much sealed the deal. The sad thing is the Pirates kept the Phillies stars pretty much in check. Scharber, Turner, Harper and Realmuto went 3 for 16 with 6 strikeouts. The Pirate record fell to 9-4 to put them in second place in the Central.

Key Moments Of The Game: It was the Pirates inability to get any type of offensive momentum. They were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position and left 8 men on base. On the other hand, Phillies only had 3 ABs with runners in scoring position and got a home run to drive in 2 runs. They only left 2 men on base. Oh, the power of the long ball. The home runs of spring training for the Pirates when they led all teams, has gone the way of most things in spring training down into the deep abyss. The Pirates are still below average in home runs hit this year. Six more road games to go.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Philadelphia. Barry (Was That Last Start A Fluke) Falter will take the mound for the Pirates hoping to break the 2-game losing streak. With Falter starting tonight this emphasizes Greg Brown’s point the last time Falter started, the Pirates are trying to win games. This eases by beating heart to know this. The Pirates are going to face another left hander in Christopher Sanchez. As I have written before, we all know that offense is a sometime thing, but hopefully this is not the start of a Pirate offensive slump. The last 2 games they have scored 4 runs. It still will be interesting to see how Falter does tonight. Will he be able to keep the ball inside the fences? Should be the key to victory.

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Pirates Morning Report: Trouble With The Curve.

Final Score: Pirates 3 Tigers 5

Why The Pirates Lost: There were 3 reasons the Pirates lost this game, taking them in order. The lineup card. Why you do not start your most dynamic player in a day game against a right-handed pitcher I have no freaking idea. In this day and age line up cards are made by committee supposedly with the analytic department contributing. You are not playing baseball today. I think this is called rest. I cannot think of one rational reason that Oneil Cruz was not on the field. Secondly, the Tigers to their credit played some unbelievably defense yesterday. It saved them at least 3 to 4 runs. The ninth inning failure. There is no question David Bednar dug is own grave with his control issues but the 3 hits that he gave up went out at the scorching speeds of 75, 53, which gave the Tigers the lead, and 90 MPH. Bednar’s obvious problem was his curve ball. SO WHY IN THE HELL DO YOU KEEP THROWING IT? THIS ISN’T A SPRING TRAINING GAME. Just live and die with you fast ball that day. Who is calling those pitches? You cannot control how the Tigers play defense, but you can control who you put on the field and what pitches you throw. They booed Bednar as he walked off the field, but this loss was clearly on the Pirate management team. It was a shame because it wasted the best pitching performance of the year by Martin Perez and a 2-home run game by Edward Olivares. Perez gave up 1 run on 6 hits, did not walk anybody and struck out 7 going 8 strong innings. This dropped his ERA below 2 for the season.

Key Moment Of The Game: It came in the bottom of the 5th with Pirates leading 2-1. Alika (I Don’t Know Why I Started Either) Williams led off with a single on a 99 MPH liner to left. Jared Triolo hit a 104 MPH ground ball that the Tiger 2nd basement, Colt Keith made a great grab, spun and threw Williams out at second. One out later Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a 102 MPH deep line drive to wall in left that Riley Greene leaped up and grabbed saving a home run. All of the Pirates balls were hit almost 10 to 50 MPH harder than any of the balls that the Tigers hit in the 9th inning. No question, this is hard defeat to swallow, especially with a tough road trip looming. but the Pirates will just have to move on. All we can hope for is that the Pirate management team doesn’t think that Oneil Cruz needs 3 days rest for his prematurely aging 25 year old body.

Next Game: Tomorrow, Phillies in Philadelphia. Jared Jones will make his third start of the year hoping to extend the quality start streak to 7 games. The sad thing is the Pirates are just 4-2 during the streak. The Pirates will play 4 in Philadelphia and 3 in New York against the Mets. If the Pirates can have a 3-4 road trip, I will consider it a success. A lot of this will depend on how much rest this aging young team will need. The management team is burning the midnight oil trying to figure this out. If I was them, I would concentrate more on pitch selection.