It's amazing what 3 games can do for a major league ball club. The Bucs made it out of Houston with a 3 game sweep, moving their record to 35-33, and people in the 'Burgh began talk about the playoffs. Who should we get at the trade deadline, who can we give up and for what? The Pro Nutters were dancing in the streets. I was told directly to "give the team a chance" after an elated friend notified me of the Bucs 35-33 record and I notified him that wins are easy when you're facing the worst team in baseball and they're handing you games. Now, the Bucs exit Cleveland after being swept, scoring 4 runs in 29 innings, and toting a losing record heading home to face the Orioles and Red Sox.
The Cleveland series was fairly typical for any series the Bucs played all season: solid starting pitching and little to no run support. The Bucs managed just 1 run in each of the first 2 games before exploding for 2 runs in yesterday's series finale loss. Of course, both of those runs came in the 1st inning and nothing in the next 10. One reason the Bucs struggled in Cleveland was the Indians excellent pitching. To hear Walkie and Mr. Sunshine tell it Saturday night, the Indians were tops in the league in terms of pitching. Actually, the Bucs broadcast team fawned all over the Injuns pitching staff all weekend long. So imagine my surprise when I looked at their ranking for the season.........
The invincible Indians pitching staff is now boasting a 3.90 ERA, putting up a 1.24 over the 3 game set with the Buccos. That team ERA is good for 15th among MLB teams, 7th in the 14 team AL. That doesn't exactly scream dominance. The Astros, by comparison, are 28th with a 4.48 ERA. The Bucs didn't exactly tear the cover off the ball with them, either. They won ugly and there is nothing wrong with that. But when I hear DK on the X talking to Double M ( Mark Madden's initials as well as his bra size), he suggested that while the Bucs are winning ugly, so did the SF Giants a year ago. Obviously, I was shocked by this revelation, I had obviously undervalued this 2011 team more than I originally thought.
They also lost their 13th straight interleague road game. Clint Hurdle didn't want to hear about that, though. He doesn't want to hear about anything, actually. He just wants to hear himself make smug comments in post game interviews. Moving on:
Another reason for being swept in Cleveland is the fact that the Indians also weren't interested in handing the Bucs runs in the same vein as the Astros. The Tribe made 1 error over 3 games compared to the 4 errors the Astros made over 3 the games prior.Those errors all lead to runs, and in 2 of the 3 games, the winning run. This is why Lightning in a Bottle is not the preferred method for winning in pro sports.
Overall, the weekend series in the Mistake by the Lake wasn't all terrible. Friday, the Bucs got a solid start from KC, despite his run yielding bases loaded balk, went 5.2IP, giving up 1 ER, 2R, and 4 H but fell to 8-6. Saturday's starter was Christian Husband Paul Maholm, he went 6.1IP, giving up 4 ER and 7 hits
and dropping to 3-8. Karstens earned a ND Sunday, going 7IP, giving up 1ER, 2R, and 5 hits, lowering his season ERA to 2.54. The bullpen wasn't too good Friday and Sunday's extra inning loss came when Tim Wood surrendered a 3-run jack to Cord Phelps, his 1st of the season no less, to end it.
The cumulative score of the series was Tribe 15, Bucs 4. The number of runs scored over 3 games tells the story of the series. Cutch was the worst, going 0 for 13 in the series, reaching base once and losing 14 points off of his average. Tabata was 1/10. Xavier Paul, a potentially huge trade piece according a SmizBlogger because he could lead off for most MLB clubs, was 1 for 13 and his season OBP is .300. The Pride of PR was 3/12 with 1 RBI, Cedeno was 3 for 10 and GI Jones was 4 for 13, being the lone "bright spots" for the lineup, although not exactly bright. Overpaid was 2 for 10 with an RBI, McKenry 1 for 6, Harrison was 1 for 6, Diaz was 1 for 5, and Wood went 2 for 5. For the series, the Bucs were 21 for 106, including 10 for 62 in the first 2 games. Their overall AVG for the series was .198.
The Orioles are heading into town next and are 32-37 after losing 2 out of 3 to the Nationals. This week also pays tribute to the Bucs 1971 World Series Champions team and much of the focus will be on honoring them as opposed to anything related to the current team on the field. I said late last week that the Bucs 2011 team is not much different on paper than the 105 loss team of a year ago and there is no doubt this team was overachieving. But that doesn't mean this is the beginning of the end for them, not by a long shot. But they need to right the ship against the O's and sweep them out of town before facing the Red Sox this weekend. That series could be a season killer if the Bucs don't manage to handle the Orioles.
I agree that the Pirates fans should have held back with the playoff talk after sweeping the lowly Astros. It took Carlos Lee barely jogging to first base to win that third game.
ReplyDeleteGood points about the Cleveland pitching staff. Mr. Sunshine always makes it look like the Pirates are facing the best teams. Against Houston, he was poking fun at how bad the Astros were. The Bucs have no room to talke about anyone.
That said, they are overachieving and Clint Hurdle is doing a helluva job. Playoffs are defenitely out of the question, but .500 could be a possiblity. One thing I like about this team, it has bounced back after tough losses.