If the 2011 edition of the Pittsburgh Pirates know that on paper they translate to being only slightly better than the 105 loss team of a year ago, they certainly don't act like it. So often, teams with little chance to compete fizzle out at various points during a season for any number of reasons. #1 being that they just don't have the horses. A few others include injuries, firesale trades, or just losing all sense of hope and confidence whatsoever. Just over 1/3 of the way through the 2011 the battling Bucs seem to be showing a lot more resilience than in recent years, showing more mettle down the stretch. They never count themselves out of a game and even a die-hard yet skeptical fan like myself can't help but feel that no game is lost for them until that final out.
Last night, the Bucs did battle with the D-backs, who came in one game out of first place in the NL West. Kevin Correia was looking for 9th win of the season and the Bucs were looking to stay hot in June. Despite losing Sunday to Filthy, they still took 2/3 from the Phils, also helping the Cards take over the Best Record in Baseball.
The game didn't start off well for KC, who just didn't look as sharp last night as he had the rest of the season. For some reason, the guy just can't pick up wins at home and that has been a career long issue. 17-24 with a 4.59 ERA for his career at home, 27-23 with a 4.35 on the road.. Last year, against the Bucs at the JotNS, KC was excellent giving up 3R, 2 earned, over 6 innings and picking up the victory. This year, he is an abysmal 1-3 at home with a 5.76 ERA compared to 7-1 and 2.42 on the road. I guess it's a lot easier to win at JotNS when you are facing the Pirates as opposed to playing for them?
Anyhow, KC gave up a first inning solo bomb to Kelly Johnson but suffered no other damage until the 5th. He had 2 baserunners on board in the second, but was able to get Parra to line into a double play to end it. The Bucs struck back in the 2nd and took the lead by Manufacturing Runs the Pirates way: Cutch walked, Overpaid reached on a 2 base error, setting up 2nd and 3rd and no outs. Snyder followed with a sac fly and Cedeno singled in Overpaid. KC breezed through the 3rd 1-2-3 and the Bucs followed suit in the bottom half. The 4th was largely uneventful save a Stephen Drew single with 1 out that turned into a double when Snyder pulled a Doumit and couldn't catch a curveball that was RIGHT IN HIS MITT. This team has to have more passed balls than any in recent memory. Anyway, KC got out of the inning sending us to the bottom of the 4th.
Cutch led off with a double to the North Side notch, moved to 3rd on an Overpaid flyout, and scored on one of the stranger plays I have seen lately. Snyder hit a looping line drive to left that was caught my Parra. Cutch tagged up and Parra threw a LASER home, reaching the catcher on the fly who clearly tagged Cutch out. However, the homeplate ump had some sort of brain fart and ruled Cutch safe, indicating a non-existent bobble. Another addition to Manufacturing a Run the Pirates way: a leadoff XBH, 2 sac flies, and a generous call!
KC took the hill in the 5th leading 3-1 but REALLY struggled to get outs. He surrender a leadoff homer to Miranda, struck out Parra, and allowed a single to the pitcher and a double to Jesse James wannabe Ryan Roberts. Kelly Johnson singled to bring 'em both around and we had a deficit, Dbacks 4, Bucs 3. Upton followed Johnson with another single but Overpaid was able to stab a hot shot from Drew to get the out at 2nd. 1st and 3rd, 2 outs for Chris Young. Drew moved to 2nd on a wild pitch but Young flied out to end the threat and Correia's evening.
That did it for scoring until Young blasted a home run off of Meek to begin the 8th. Meek got himself in some more trouble but Future All Star Chris Resop got the final out with the Bucs trailing 5-3. Jake Taylor then sent GI Jones to PH in the 8th and he rewarded him with a double. Yes, the same GI Jones who sat against a righty so Xavier Paul and his ZERO HR's could bat 3rd....... Tabata followed with a double and Harrison with a single to score Tabata and tie the game at 5. Paul bunted and ended up reaching, putting 2 men on and 0 out for Cutch, who drew a walk to load the bases for Overpaid. With the sacks full in a tie game and Overpaid at the plate, it was easy to imagine a 1-2-3 DP and then a Snyder K to end the inning tie. But Overpaid must read this blog and abhor his nickname because he came through in a big way with a base clearing, Mr. Sunshine orgasm inducing, double to give the Bucs the 8-5 lead. This whole time Opie was on the phone talking up the draft and sitting on his hands until they fell asleep so he could give himself a stranger. Snyder, Wood, and Cedeno all failed to score Overpaid, but the damage was done. Bucs 8, Dbacks 5.
Hanrahan came out for the 9th and was taking no prisoners, striking out the 1st 2 batters and getting Drew to pop out to end it. RTJR. Final Bucs 8, Dbacks 5.
What a come back. Walkie said as the credits rolled that this game "was not handed to the Bucs". He noted that we got our runs from putting hits together and not from walks or errors. He must also read this blog. And I hope so, because I want to point something out to him: the 1st 2 runs came as a result of a walk and an error. The third run came from a blown call by the home plate ump.The go ahead runs in the 8th came as a result of a walk and a poorly played sac bunt ruled an FC, not considered an error. Yes, we strung a few XBH in a row during that ONE INNING of offense, but prior to the 8th had 3 runs on 3 hits............ not exactly the stuff dreams are made of.
ok, I digress. A win is a win and a comeback win is great. Especially one where you come back after blowing a lead.
Player of the Game: Overpaid with the 3 run double. Since we started the Mutiny, he has picked it up with 11 RBI, 6 in June already, and raised his AVG about 5 or so points. However, I will continue to call him Overpaid because after this season he will have $32M during his career and he can afford to have a sense of humor about a nickname from a lowly blogger.
Headscratcher of the Game: Playing Xavier Paul against righties is one thing, but batting him 3rd is entirely different. Tabata is struggling against righties and having he and Paul in there while Jones and Walker are idle gives us little power in the lineup.
Face Palm of the Night: It wasn't costly but Snyder's passed ball was disgusting. Right in the mitt! he is supposed to be a defensive uprgade from No-Mitt. Snyder has 5 PB and has been behind the plate for 9 WP. wow.
Tonight Christian Husband Paul Maholm takes on former Buc and a favorite of mine Zach Duke. Should be interesting and hopefully all 398 people on hand give Duke a nice welcome. It wasn't his fault this organization toyed with his mechanics and decided to fix something that wasn't broke.
Well, it appears things have taken a turn for the surreal with our beloved Buccos. They actually look...good (or is the NL that bad). There's stiil a lot of games to be played and the trade deadline still looms like a slowly awakening volcano, but as of today (to steal a quote from Smizik) "the Pirates are 29-30 and baseball is fun in Pittsburgh" again.
ReplyDeleteI'll be curious to see where they go from here. Will they try to improve the PBC or will they dump their money into low A ball again. I don't have a problem with spending money on draft picks, but not at the expense of the Big League team.
Also, I'm hearing rumors that Michael Cuddyer is available. That bat sure would look good in our line-up. The guys a gamer too, plays multiple positions and will do whatevers asked of him. The only problem I see is his contract which is up after this year. Still if the PBC somehow finds itself in contention come July 31st, then maybe it's worth it to finally break this losing streak. I suppose it comes down to what the Twins would want for him and whether or not he would even want to come here (not sure if he has a no-trade clause).