The Pirates winning streak came to an unfortunate end tonight in an unusually high scoring game for the Buccos. The Pirates offense was able to rack up 6 runs, but the pitching was faulty tonight giving up 8. This marks only the 3rd time this season the Pirates pitching staff has let up 8 or more runs.
The Pirates came out hot scoring on two hits and a walk in the first, but Lincoln struggled giving up 4 runs in 4 innings. Sadly, the Pirates pitching struggles would continue from there when Resop gave up 3 more earned.
The Pirates lineup however was unusually lively scoring 6 earned and getting good production out of some unusual suspects. Casey McGehee hit a solo homerun in the 6th to make the score 2-4. The Bucs would score 2 more in the 7th and 8th innings to inch closer, and bring the score to 4-8. Then finally, in the 9th Neil Walker hit a bomb to left scoring Presley. The game would end though off of a McGhee groundout to third.
Tomorrow night the Pirates will try to stop losing their first series in five series. Correia (2-5) will most likely take the hill for the Bucs and Matusz (5-6) for the O's. I think the Pirates should have a good shot tomorrow if they can continue the great offensive production we've seen recently. Tonights game turned out to be a great example of why Lincoln, for the near future, should stay in the pen until he can prove himself as a Major League starter.
Series Preview vs. Orioles
The Pirates will visit the Baltimore Orioles this upcoming series and will hope to improve their famously bad play in American League ballparks as they will give Camden Yards a try this time around. The Orioles are eight games over .500 at 34-26 and in third place in the AL East. The Orioles record is not a true assessment to the kind of team that they are, because they are much worse then the average team who is 8 games over .500. The Orioles got off to hot start but have been tailing off lately totaling in at a 5-5 record in their last ten. The Pirates shouldn't have a tough time winning this series if they play as well as they have in their past fifteen in which they have gone 12-3 the best record in the MLB for that time frame.
Game 1- This match-up really confuses me on behalf of the Pirates because they will be sending Brad Lincoln to the hill for his second straight spot start. Lincoln did not have the results he wanted to last time out as he filled in for Charlie Morton. The Pirates could of easily made the move to bring up Jeff Locke or Rudy Owens to make one quick start but they choose to go in my opinion the wrong route and decided to start Lincoln instead. Lincoln will oppose Wei-Yin Chen who is 5-2 with a 3.49 ERA. None of the Pirates on the roster have ever face Chen so it might take a trip through the line-up before they start to get to Chen but hopefully it won't be to long.
Game 2- In game 2 of the three game set the Pirates will Send Kevin Correia to the hill, by far the worst out of the five starters if you ask me. Correia is just 2-5 this year with a 4.29 ERA and I think an American League team like the Orioles will jump on him fairly easily and this will turn out to be a tough one to win for the Pirates. If Correia goes five or six innings the Pirates will stand a chance but if not the Pirates do not have the offense to come back from a bunch of runs down. The Orioles will throw Brian Matusz who is 5-6 with a 4.82 ERA so far this season.
Game 3- Erik Bedard will get the call in game 3 and he has looked to be his old self so far this year posting a 4-6 record with a 3.59 ERA. Bedard has been phenomenal this year but has struggled with his control at times. If Bedard wants to have a chance to get the win in this one he must keep the walks under control because if he doesn't the Orioles will make him pay.
I would be very happy with two out of three in this one and if my wish comes true it would be the clubs sixth straight series victory. As mentioned before the Pirates are traditionally very bad in inter-league play and even worse when they play inter-league on the road. The good thing is that the Pirates are on a four game win streak and do not show any signs of slowing up. It will be interesting to see how the Pirates respond after taking over first place on Sunday.
Game 1- This match-up really confuses me on behalf of the Pirates because they will be sending Brad Lincoln to the hill for his second straight spot start. Lincoln did not have the results he wanted to last time out as he filled in for Charlie Morton. The Pirates could of easily made the move to bring up Jeff Locke or Rudy Owens to make one quick start but they choose to go in my opinion the wrong route and decided to start Lincoln instead. Lincoln will oppose Wei-Yin Chen who is 5-2 with a 3.49 ERA. None of the Pirates on the roster have ever face Chen so it might take a trip through the line-up before they start to get to Chen but hopefully it won't be to long.
Game 2- In game 2 of the three game set the Pirates will Send Kevin Correia to the hill, by far the worst out of the five starters if you ask me. Correia is just 2-5 this year with a 4.29 ERA and I think an American League team like the Orioles will jump on him fairly easily and this will turn out to be a tough one to win for the Pirates. If Correia goes five or six innings the Pirates will stand a chance but if not the Pirates do not have the offense to come back from a bunch of runs down. The Orioles will throw Brian Matusz who is 5-6 with a 4.82 ERA so far this season.
Game 3- Erik Bedard will get the call in game 3 and he has looked to be his old self so far this year posting a 4-6 record with a 3.59 ERA. Bedard has been phenomenal this year but has struggled with his control at times. If Bedard wants to have a chance to get the win in this one he must keep the walks under control because if he doesn't the Orioles will make him pay.
I would be very happy with two out of three in this one and if my wish comes true it would be the clubs sixth straight series victory. As mentioned before the Pirates are traditionally very bad in inter-league play and even worse when they play inter-league on the road. The good thing is that the Pirates are on a four game win streak and do not show any signs of slowing up. It will be interesting to see how the Pirates respond after taking over first place on Sunday.
Off Day Talk: Being In First Place
Your hometown team the Pittsburgh Pirates are in first place on June 11, 2012. That's right I said it first place in the NL Central. But they aren't really in first place they are tied with the Reds, but if you are going to get technical they are currently winning the head to head match-up tie breaker so I guess you can put their name above the Reds. Everyone around town is really excited about their team right now, people were even watching the Sunday Night Baseball match-up last night with great interest hoping the Tigers could come back and defeat the Reds which they did end up doing. But what some people are forgetting is that it is only June 11 and the Pirates still have over 100 games left to play before being in first place even matters for anything.
I have mixed feelings about the current situation the Pirates find themselves in at the Top of the NL Central. Obviously I am happy the Pirates are winning games at a faster rate then anyone else in their same division but on the other hand I just think that it is a little to early to throw a party for being in first place. Last year on June 11 the Pirates were 5.5 games out of first place and one game under .500. So this clearly shows that the Pirates are in a better situation then they were last year on this date, but they improved last year as well getting all the way up to six games over .500. The Pirates came to a point last year on July 25 that resembles this situation very similarly. The Pirates were six games over .500 at tied for first place with the St. Louis Cardinals who would eventually go on to win the world series. The Milwaukee Brewers were trailing just behind as well being .5 games off of the pace and would eventually go on to win the NL wild card.
What I am trying to get out of the scenario above is that the Pirates were in this same situation over a month later into the season last year and they did not even come close to a winning season let alone a playoff berth, like many people in Pittsburgh are predicting. All I am saying is that we have to be careful about how excited we get. Let me tell you I am one of the biggest Pirate fans you will ever meet and I am just trying to be careful because I know the pain you experience when you build your hopes so high and then they come crashing down right back on you.
But on the other hand the people in Pittsburgh are stoked about their team right now and that's just an awesome thing to see. For that reason I think the irrelevant title of being in first place in the middle of June is very relevant. Whenever you can get a whole city rallying around a sports team especially one who hasn't won in 19 years its a very special thing and that's what we are seeing right now. Right now we are seeing a city being passionate about a baseball team a sight that we saw last year in July but never really got the real feeling we all wanted, we only got a little taste. If the Pirates are still in this situation on July 25 like they were last year the feeling around this city is going to be unreal, which seems to only be a feeling you get in the fall when the Steelers return to Heinz field. But the difference this year is that we have the CHANCE to have this same feeling on the baseball field. I think that's all the people in the city of Pittsburgh want at this point is a CHANCE and this year that CHANCE is better than ever.
I have mixed feelings about the current situation the Pirates find themselves in at the Top of the NL Central. Obviously I am happy the Pirates are winning games at a faster rate then anyone else in their same division but on the other hand I just think that it is a little to early to throw a party for being in first place. Last year on June 11 the Pirates were 5.5 games out of first place and one game under .500. So this clearly shows that the Pirates are in a better situation then they were last year on this date, but they improved last year as well getting all the way up to six games over .500. The Pirates came to a point last year on July 25 that resembles this situation very similarly. The Pirates were six games over .500 at tied for first place with the St. Louis Cardinals who would eventually go on to win the world series. The Milwaukee Brewers were trailing just behind as well being .5 games off of the pace and would eventually go on to win the NL wild card.
What I am trying to get out of the scenario above is that the Pirates were in this same situation over a month later into the season last year and they did not even come close to a winning season let alone a playoff berth, like many people in Pittsburgh are predicting. All I am saying is that we have to be careful about how excited we get. Let me tell you I am one of the biggest Pirate fans you will ever meet and I am just trying to be careful because I know the pain you experience when you build your hopes so high and then they come crashing down right back on you.
But on the other hand the people in Pittsburgh are stoked about their team right now and that's just an awesome thing to see. For that reason I think the irrelevant title of being in first place in the middle of June is very relevant. Whenever you can get a whole city rallying around a sports team especially one who hasn't won in 19 years its a very special thing and that's what we are seeing right now. Right now we are seeing a city being passionate about a baseball team a sight that we saw last year in July but never really got the real feeling we all wanted, we only got a little taste. If the Pirates are still in this situation on July 25 like they were last year the feeling around this city is going to be unreal, which seems to only be a feeling you get in the fall when the Steelers return to Heinz field. But the difference this year is that we have the CHANCE to have this same feeling on the baseball field. I think that's all the people in the city of Pittsburgh want at this point is a CHANCE and this year that CHANCE is better than ever.
Pirates Draft Update
It has been about a week since the Pirates drafted another group of young talent in the 2012 MLB Draft and some of them are already starting to come to terms with the team. So what I thought I'd do is go over who these guys are that have already signed and tell you how this might impact how the Pirates will go about signing the rest of the guys they have drafted.
The Pirates did not back off the rest of the draft like some thought they were going to after drafting Mark Appel the possible number one draft pick that fell all the way down to eighth overall. Appel is going to be an expensive sign so some thought that the Pirates might have to let some of their later round picks go free in order to save enough money for Appel. The Pirates have not done anything like that to this point, one week after the draft. The Pirates started early with their signings when Jon Sandfort (third round pick) announced on Seibel, Starkey, and Miller that he would go to Bradenton on Monday (yesterday) and sign his contract. In my opinion this was a telling sign for the Pirates because Sandfort had a commitment to play in college and seemed relatively serious about this commitment but the Pirates put enough money on the table to convince him to take the other route in going pro. The Pirates most likely did not save much money if any from this pick which is not necessarily a bad thing considering they locked up a good third round pitcher.
Soon after coming to terms with Sandfort the Pirates announced agreements with two other picks. The two other guys the Pirates locked up were sixth rounder Eric Wood and ninth rounder D.J. Crumlich. Wood the third baseman signed for $88,000 under what the suggested slot value was leaving that money for the Pirates to spend somewhere else how they please. D.J. Crumlich says that he graduates from U.C. Irvine on the 15th of June and will head to state college shortly after that to start his career as a professional baseball player.
The Pirates also came to terms with UNC Senior catcher Jacob Stallings. This could be a sign where the Pirates might save some money with the slot value being $148,000. A pitcher Stallings might be catching at State College is the one that they drafted in the twelfth round Dalton Friend who is expected so sign at around 100K or so.
The Agreement that excited me the most by far though was the one that the Pirates came to with second round catcher Wyatt Mathisen. If you read my post last week about the Pirates Top 10 Draft Pick's then you would of seen that Mathisen hardly played any catcher at all in high-school instead he played shortstop. Most of the time if you are big enough to play catcher and athletic enough to play SS then you will turn out to be a strong major league defensive catcher, and that only improves when you could pitch as well in high-school adding a strong arm to the mix. Mathisen also has a quick bat with power, and you would be surprised at the bases he can steal for a catcher. The Pirates probably didn't get a great deal on Mathisen but they did get a possible starter in the major leagues for about 746K.
To this point the Pirates have not saved a ton of money on picks but they have done a good job at getting a lot of good players signed early. The Pirates main goal is still to sign Appel and at this point I can't even say if I think they are going to do it or not. Luckily the Pirates have a while until they really have to get worried about weather or not they will get a deal done with the Stanford Junior. The negotiations will most likely pick up in the next few days or so as well because Appel's season has just ended as his team has lost in the NCAA super-regional to Florida State. I truly think it will be interesting to see how this whole situation plays out and to see how serious the Pirates are about their first round draft pick. If the Pirates don't get this guy inked the people in Pittsburgh will go crazy but I can't say that it will necessarily be the wrong move because there are such high penalty's for going over the Pirates 6.6 million dollar draft budget. The Pirates have historically good history with Scott Boras so I guess you can call me a glass half full kind of guy when it comes to Appel.
The Pirates did not back off the rest of the draft like some thought they were going to after drafting Mark Appel the possible number one draft pick that fell all the way down to eighth overall. Appel is going to be an expensive sign so some thought that the Pirates might have to let some of their later round picks go free in order to save enough money for Appel. The Pirates have not done anything like that to this point, one week after the draft. The Pirates started early with their signings when Jon Sandfort (third round pick) announced on Seibel, Starkey, and Miller that he would go to Bradenton on Monday (yesterday) and sign his contract. In my opinion this was a telling sign for the Pirates because Sandfort had a commitment to play in college and seemed relatively serious about this commitment but the Pirates put enough money on the table to convince him to take the other route in going pro. The Pirates most likely did not save much money if any from this pick which is not necessarily a bad thing considering they locked up a good third round pitcher.
Soon after coming to terms with Sandfort the Pirates announced agreements with two other picks. The two other guys the Pirates locked up were sixth rounder Eric Wood and ninth rounder D.J. Crumlich. Wood the third baseman signed for $88,000 under what the suggested slot value was leaving that money for the Pirates to spend somewhere else how they please. D.J. Crumlich says that he graduates from U.C. Irvine on the 15th of June and will head to state college shortly after that to start his career as a professional baseball player.
The Pirates also came to terms with UNC Senior catcher Jacob Stallings. This could be a sign where the Pirates might save some money with the slot value being $148,000. A pitcher Stallings might be catching at State College is the one that they drafted in the twelfth round Dalton Friend who is expected so sign at around 100K or so.
The Agreement that excited me the most by far though was the one that the Pirates came to with second round catcher Wyatt Mathisen. If you read my post last week about the Pirates Top 10 Draft Pick's then you would of seen that Mathisen hardly played any catcher at all in high-school instead he played shortstop. Most of the time if you are big enough to play catcher and athletic enough to play SS then you will turn out to be a strong major league defensive catcher, and that only improves when you could pitch as well in high-school adding a strong arm to the mix. Mathisen also has a quick bat with power, and you would be surprised at the bases he can steal for a catcher. The Pirates probably didn't get a great deal on Mathisen but they did get a possible starter in the major leagues for about 746K.
To this point the Pirates have not saved a ton of money on picks but they have done a good job at getting a lot of good players signed early. The Pirates main goal is still to sign Appel and at this point I can't even say if I think they are going to do it or not. Luckily the Pirates have a while until they really have to get worried about weather or not they will get a deal done with the Stanford Junior. The negotiations will most likely pick up in the next few days or so as well because Appel's season has just ended as his team has lost in the NCAA super-regional to Florida State. I truly think it will be interesting to see how this whole situation plays out and to see how serious the Pirates are about their first round draft pick. If the Pirates don't get this guy inked the people in Pittsburgh will go crazy but I can't say that it will necessarily be the wrong move because there are such high penalty's for going over the Pirates 6.6 million dollar draft budget. The Pirates have historically good history with Scott Boras so I guess you can call me a glass half full kind of guy when it comes to Appel.
6/10 Recap vs. Royals
The Pirates got their lead early in this one when Andrew McCutchen doubled home the speedy Alex Presley in the bottom of the first inning giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead which they would not let go the rest of the game. McCutchen came back the bottom of the third and hit a two run home-run which scored Neil Walker who singled the previous batter. This gave the Pirates a 3-0 lead which with their pitching is hard to blow.
Although McCutchen had all three RBI's for the Pirates A.J. Burnett might of been the MVP of this one. Burnett took a no-hitter all the way into the sixth inning before Alex Gordon singled on a ground ball to right field. Burnett finished up with 7.1 IP, 5 hits, 2ER, 2 BB, and 6 SO. There was a nice scene at PNC Park whenever Burnett left the game in the eighth, the crowd thanked Burnett for his performance by giving him a standing ovation and Burnett acknowledged them by tipping his cap.
The bullpen did good job in this one giving up no earned runs in 1.2 inning of work. With Hanrahan being unavailable because he had pitched three straight nights and five out of the past six games, Jason Grilli entered this one in the ninth and earned him self the save by striking out 2 to close out the game.
Although McCutchen had all three RBI's for the Pirates A.J. Burnett might of been the MVP of this one. Burnett took a no-hitter all the way into the sixth inning before Alex Gordon singled on a ground ball to right field. Burnett finished up with 7.1 IP, 5 hits, 2ER, 2 BB, and 6 SO. There was a nice scene at PNC Park whenever Burnett left the game in the eighth, the crowd thanked Burnett for his performance by giving him a standing ovation and Burnett acknowledged them by tipping his cap.
The bullpen did good job in this one giving up no earned runs in 1.2 inning of work. With Hanrahan being unavailable because he had pitched three straight nights and five out of the past six games, Jason Grilli entered this one in the ninth and earned him self the save by striking out 2 to close out the game.
Pirates Look To Clinch Series Early Against Royals
The Pirates pulled through with a 4-2 win last night when they to advance all the way up to three game over the .500 number. The Pirates look to make their trip back to home a little sweeter tonight where they have a chance to take the series early against the Royals.
James McDonald will look to reel in the win tonight against the Royals Vin Mazzaro. Both pitcher's on the hill tonight have excellent ERA's McDonald totaling in at 2.14 and Mazzaro at 2.25. This will be only Mazzaro's fourth game this season so his ERA can be slightly deceiving. I am predicting that the Pirates will get to Mazzaro tonight, he is not a 2.25 ERA guy and has never been at any level that he has played professionally.
This would be a very big win for the Pirates putting them all the way up to four games over .500 a very respectable number at this point in the season. It would also be the Pirates fifth straight series victory for the Pirates if they pull it off, so I guess you can say they are getting hot.
Pirates Lineup:
1. Presley 7
2. Walker 4
3. McCutchen 8
4. Jones 3
5. Alvarez 5
6. Tabata 9
7. Barajas 8
8. Barmes 6
9.McDonald 1
Royals Lineup:
1. Gordon 7
2. Betancourt 4
3. Butler 3
4. Moostakas 5
5. Francoeur 8
6. Hosmer 9
7. Pena 2
8. Escobar 6
9. Mazzaro 1
James McDonald will look to reel in the win tonight against the Royals Vin Mazzaro. Both pitcher's on the hill tonight have excellent ERA's McDonald totaling in at 2.14 and Mazzaro at 2.25. This will be only Mazzaro's fourth game this season so his ERA can be slightly deceiving. I am predicting that the Pirates will get to Mazzaro tonight, he is not a 2.25 ERA guy and has never been at any level that he has played professionally.
This would be a very big win for the Pirates putting them all the way up to four games over .500 a very respectable number at this point in the season. It would also be the Pirates fifth straight series victory for the Pirates if they pull it off, so I guess you can say they are getting hot.
Pirates Lineup:
1. Presley 7
2. Walker 4
3. McCutchen 8
4. Jones 3
5. Alvarez 5
6. Tabata 9
7. Barajas 8
8. Barmes 6
9.McDonald 1
Royals Lineup:
1. Gordon 7
2. Betancourt 4
3. Butler 3
4. Moostakas 5
5. Francoeur 8
6. Hosmer 9
7. Pena 2
8. Escobar 6
9. Mazzaro 1
Karsetns Update
Jeff Karstens a guy that looked to be one of the Pirates top of the rotation starters at the start of the season has injured himself once again. As most of you know by now Karstens hurt himself in the start of the year when he left a start early in Arizona. Karstens was officially put on the DL for right shoulder inflammation and missed a good amount of time without even throwing a baseball
Karstens had been making multiple starts in the minors trying to rehab and build his arm strength to the point to where he could make a quality start at the major league level. Unfortunately just when it looked like Karstens was just fine tuning he re-injured himself but this time in a different area.
Karstens was pulled from his start on Thursday in Triple-A Indianapolis with "tightness in his right groin". Karstens received an MRI on that particular area and even though we are not sure about the exact injury we know that it was an injury on his hip flexor.
Everyone hopes that Karstens will not miss to much time especially me, considering I am about the biggest hater of Kevin Correia that their is. I am not sure when Karstens will rehab again, but what I am sure of is that he will miss at least one more start.
Karstens had been making multiple starts in the minors trying to rehab and build his arm strength to the point to where he could make a quality start at the major league level. Unfortunately just when it looked like Karstens was just fine tuning he re-injured himself but this time in a different area.
Karstens was pulled from his start on Thursday in Triple-A Indianapolis with "tightness in his right groin". Karstens received an MRI on that particular area and even though we are not sure about the exact injury we know that it was an injury on his hip flexor.
Everyone hopes that Karstens will not miss to much time especially me, considering I am about the biggest hater of Kevin Correia that their is. I am not sure when Karstens will rehab again, but what I am sure of is that he will miss at least one more start.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)