At Last

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Holy crap, I don't know where to begin. The Bucs are finally back in the win column after 10 excruciating losses in a row. 7 of those 10 came at home to NL bottom feeders after I predicted the Bucs would 5-2 in that stretch. But thats been the way the cards have fallen this season. When we started this blog on May 18, railing against the FO for another disastrous season of baseball on the cheap, the Bucs halted their 6-game skid and went on a tear. Once I stepped out and said the Bucs SHOULD have won both series vs. the Cubs and Padres, they completely flatlined.

Yesterday morning, I was preparing to write the Bucs eulogy. It was going to be titled "Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding". It was going to be twice as long as the song. Now, 1 win out of the last 11 games is not enough for me to say there is a turnaround on the horizon, but I am going to stave off that post for a little while longer.

The Bucs got off to a good start last night, plating 2 runs in the 1st when The Pride of PR doubled home GI Jones and scored on Ludwick's RBI single. They added to their lead in the 3rd when Kdro drew a bases loaded walk to tilt the ledger to 3-0. In the 5th, the Bucs essentially put the game away when Ludwick singled Jones home and scored on a Brandon Wood single. Great Stuff continued his Jekyll and Hyde ways, this time with a second straight solid start, pitching 8 scoreless innings and surrendering 6 H and 3 BB to along with 4K. Veras worked a scoreless 9th to close it out. Final count Buccos 5, SFG 0.

Since the game was on the West Coast, and the whole little 10 game losing streak, I had little interest in staying up late to watch. Last time that happened, it was Jerry Effing Meals  stealing the show.

Player of the Game:  GI Jones- 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored. Jones got Bucs off on the right foot, doubling in the first and scoring the first run.

Morton also has a good argument.

As I stated, I didn't watch the game so feel free to submit your opinions for Head Scratcher and Face Palm of the Night.

The Bucs and G's are back at it again tonight with J-Mac versus Bumgarner.

The Pirates are out of the division race

I haven't checked the standings lately, but I do believe at 6:58 p.m. EST on Saturday, August 6, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates are out of the race for the division title in the NL Central.
Basically, that means they will not make it to the playoffs for the 19th straight year. I was starting to think they had a shot, although I shouldn't be so naive.
I still believe they can finish above .500, which would be nice if they could build on that, but I don't know if they can.
Since the horrible stretch of losing season began in 1993, the Bucs have finish five games under the .500 mark twice.
In 1997, they were 79-83 and finished second to Houston in the division race. They had the opportunity to win it, but faded in the last month of the season.
In 1999, Pittsburgh was 78-83 after not playing a makeup game because it had no relevence in the standings. I believe it was against Milwaukee. The Pirates were 78-80 going into the final series against the New York Mets, but were swept.
I always go back to that year because that was the first year of my life that I started to watch baseball. I was about 13 back then. I attended two games live that year and they split.
In my youth I was more positive. I thought to myself, "they will turn the corner next year and break .500, then make the playoffs in the first year at PNC Park, and with all the revenue generated, win the World Series in a few years."
I think I took Greg Brown's announcing too much into account because none of that has happened.
The Pirates have dropped eight in a row and are three games under .500. If they can squeeze out a few series here and there, they will be back at .500. Although, they don't have what it takes to win the division. It would be nice, but it won't happen.
I give Clint Hurdle credit. He still deserves the manager of the year award for what he's done with this rag-tag bunch, but I guess teams like this only win divison titles in the movies.

The Curse of Jerry Meals

19 years ago this October, the Pirates franchise was set back to the Stone Age by an agonizing loss in Atlanta. In eerily similar fashion, the Bucs 2011 season took a turn for the worst after another close play at the plate in Atlanta. Sid Effin Bream was safe, Julio Mother Effin Lugo was not.


The Bucs are now something like 1-9 since Meals screwed us to the wall, taking all of the wind out of the team's sails. Obviously, I am not blaming Jerry Meals for any loss other than the one pictured above. But his call certainly killed the Bucs momentum. Imagine taking the first 2 games on the road in Atlanta, winning 3 out of 4 in that series heading to Philly. We might be exactly where we are right now. But my gut tells me things would have been a little bit different. The Bucs that came out that next night against Atlanta looked defeated for the first time this season. They looked completely over matched against a Phillies team they had taken 2 of 3 from earlier in the year.

Now, the Bucs have been swept by the lowly Cubs and found new ways to lose the game each time. The first game was a fairly average loss; outside of Lee, we couldn't get the big runs home when we needed them. The second game was a putrid performance by the smug Kevin Correia, who didn't seem to care that he gave up 8 ER and like 50 HRs in 2+ IP. Wednesday's game was a bone jarring 1-0 loss in which Great Stuff pitched his heart out, only to have it stomped all over buy offensive ineptitude. Last night's loss was the worst of them all.

Disheartening. Disgusting. Soul crushing. Those are some of the words I could use to describe last night's come from ahead, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory loss. The Cubs jumped out to an early 4-0 lead when 3 of their first four hits were home runs. But in the bottom of the 4th, the Bucs broke through for the first time in what seemed like eons.

GI Jones lead off with a double to right center and moved to third on a Walker ground out. Ryan Ludwick then notched his first hit and RBI as a Bucco, singling to score Jones. Kdro and NoMitt followed with back to back singles to load the bases and the great Xavier Paul bounced into a FC to score a run and put runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs for Brandon Wood, who walked. Jake Taylor decided to allow J-Mac to bat, drawing my ire and few choice words that included "Purple Son of a Bitch", only to see James get ahead in the count 2-1. J-Mac then wisely sat on a fastball, slashing a base clearing double to give the Bucs a 5-4 lead. Cutch was up next and hammered a double to score J-Mac, increasing the lead to 6-4. GI Jones, who started it all off, then drove a shot to the base of the right field wall, looking as though it was going to be a 2 run homer to put this baby to bed, but falling just short.

J-Mac then hummed through the 5th, 6th, and believe it or not 7th innings. McDonald was so pumped that he made it 7 IP that he even did a comical celebration. The team was having fun while holding a 2 run lead. Too bad it was all just foreshadowing for an epically disastrous ending. Jake Taylor sent The Guy Who Cried out to pitch the 8th inning. I immediately threw up in my mouth when I saw that. I don't know what it is, but I have never been a fan of D.Cutch. Maybe it is because he cried in the locker room after losing a regular season game last year. But he is to the Pirates pitchers what Xavier Paul is to hitters/fielders: the guy who I am eternally looking at to fail and blame for everything that goes wrong on their watch.

I will make my description of the 8th inning as brief as possible, while still getting the message across. The Bucs had a 6-4 lead. The Guy Who Cried was on the hill and exited without getting an out, so did Grilli, and so did Beimel. Veras, the person who should have started the inning, then came on to set down all 3 batters he faced in order. It took 4 pitchers to get the first out of the inning. ' Nuff said.

The Bucs were unable to mount any sort of comeback because asking them to score in more than one inning per game is like asking Congress to do something productive: Not gonna happen. Final Count- Cubs 7, Bucs 6.

This was the first time in 19 years that I have thrown something ( my remote control) out of genuine anger directly related to a Pirates game. I wanted so bad for this season to be different and it still could be, but I am not nearly as hopeful as before. I used to look forward to writing these recaps every morning but now it feels like writing a Death Row Pardon request in Texas. I understand that there are always going to be hard times when following a sports team, but it would be nice to see the  Pirates and their  fans catch a fucking break for once! Excuse my language, but I am coming apart at the seams.

This Losing Shit is Getting Depressing…

I won’t harp again here on the laundry list of things that have gone badly for the Bucs since 14 October, 1992. But it has certainly has been almost nothing but misery for the franchise since then. There have been brief glimmers of hope: 1997's ridiculous run. Late summer of 99’s swoon. The Opening of PNC Park. The 1^st month of 2003. Mid-June of 2005.

This year, however, up through this past weekend it felt like the most legitimate reason to have faith in the local ballclub around these parts for a very long time. I came into this season in a state of absolute fatalistic dread. But then a weird thing started happening: they were winning ballgames.

For once the Bucs were getting some above average performances, a couple of timely breaks, and were making sound and smart decisions; from the front office, to the manager’s intuitive moves. Although I would have preferred they go for broke and acquire Hunter Pence for this year plus two additional seasons, I was very satisfied with the rental of Derek Lee and Ryan Ludwick. Exactly the infusion of veteran right handed power hitting potential this lineup needed. I was on board. They had me buying in. Hook, line, and sinker.  

And then they went out and lost three straight to the worst team in their division. Absolutely disgusting. And depressing. If this is a sign that we are going to be blowing things up in the offseason, and going into spring training next year talking about breaking an onerous burden of 19 straight losing seasons, it will be a miserable state of affairs for everybody. Pro, Anti, or Indifferent, we all want to see that longest stretch of utter futility in all of professional sports end, right?

We have come to far to give up now. This HAS to be the year we finally start to turn things around. Who knows what next year will bring, but for one mother-shining moment, this city really needs a winning baseball team.

I’m not saying this because I’m giving up or jumping off the band wagon. I bitching about it because I’m still here. Pittsburgh Pirates: I JUST CAN’T QUIT YOU. I hope I look back at this as another over-reactionary moment and C-Hurd levels the guys off and gets them back into contention for at least .500, if not the division. Because I am sick as hell of all this losing.

Circling the Drain

I don't know what to say after last night's disgusting performance. I do know that I wanted to wipe that smirk off of Correia's face in between Soto and Soriano's HRs to put the game completely out of reach. The Bucs are treading water and the sharks are circling, mouths watering, waiting for that first drop of blood.

There is still time left for this team to turn it around, after all: It's always darkest just before the dawn, right?

Maybe not........

When the Levee Breaks

Well, I wrote up a whole recap. I detailed Lee's near heroics and the Bucs outside of him, Walker, and McKenry trying their damnedest to help us lose. But for whatever reason, Blogger gave me an error message, causing me to lose everything but the title of my post.

I am guessing that you could surmise from the title what the post was all about: ineptitude on the basepaths, pitching beginning to backslide, and the general sucktitude of this team after Jerry Meals killed their dream season last week. A bit extreme, you might ask? Perhaps, but we've won only once since that night and all of the magic this team previously had  has since evaporated into the atmosphere with Warren Morris and Kevin Polcovich's careers.

The pitching staff has been forced to carry the load too long and too far. It took too long to get offensive reinforcements into the lineup and we are seeing the Bucs revert to the tactics that lost them 105 games last year. Wondering off second base, cutting off a throw home instead of covering 3rd base, or failing to get a big hit when the team REALLYneeded a run. And that was just Kdro. Then there was Maholm getting hit with a batted ball after failing to sac bunt a guy over and nibbling at the corners because every strike he threw got pounded. Depressing stuff, actually.

Cutch actually raised his post ASG average to .188 with a 1 for 4 performance last night, but struck out to end the game. Maybe if Hurdle and the local media bitch to the high heavens and Bruce Bochy enough , Cutrch will start to finally get something done at the plate. Neil Walker has been pretty awesome lately. He went 2 for 4 last night, improving to .357 since the break but did strike out on a ball 4 that would have been high on Andre the Freaking Giant. The next batter was Derrek Lee, who drove a solo shot into the bleachers for the first of his 2 home runs in his Pirates debut. Lee was first Bucco to homer in his debut since Matt Morris and now is the first Bucco to home TWICE in his debut since Shawon Dunston. We REALLY could have used him 10 games ago!

Losing 9 of their last 12, the Bucs are starting to slowly spiral out of control. Hopefully, a big win tonight can help right the ship before absolute disaster mode sets in. That is, if it hasn't already begun.

Point of Know Return

After a tough weekend in Philly, the Bucs need to dig in with 56 games remaining in their season. With their record currently standing at 54-52 and 4.5 games out of first place, the Bucs have 7 games against the lowly Cubs and Padres. I think it would be an understatement to say that each of these series needs to be won for the Bucs to stay serious. Luckily, as we sit here right now, the Bucs are a better team than they were yesterday. Are they a far better team? Maybe not. Are they suddenly going to start scoring 5 runs a night? Not likely. But the additions of Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick instantly make the Bucs a better offensive team. Even though it isn't 2008 Derrek Lee and 2008 Ryan Ludwick, neither are strangers to the Central Division and both add some pop to the lineup.

As it currently stands, Ludwick would be tied for the team lead in RBI wiht 64 and Lee is coming off a July that saw him produce a .805 OPS. Lee is also known to be a good producer in the late months of the season as well as a defensive stalwart. Ludwick's career OPS ion August is .791 and .800 in September. The Bucs gave up little to get these 2 guys, but hopefully the return is that of 2 proven middle of the lineup MLB bats.

With a lot of baseball left to be played, the Bucs have a chance right now to pick up some much needed W's and a fair amount of momentum heading into a tough road trip including SF followed by The House of Horrors.  After going 5-8 in the tough 13 game stretch against NL contenders and top teams, losing 7 of their last 10, the Bucs have to rally together and get back in the win column tonight.

I am not going to bother recapping the Weekend series in Pihlly. Amazing, both Kdro and Overpaid homer in the same weekend. Sadly, that was Alvarez's lone hit in 12 at-bats for the series, striking out 4 times and dropping his season average to a depressing .195. Can you say OUCH? That is a 13 point drop since the man who was supposed to resurrect the offense returned from the DL. His 55 K's in 43 games equals to about 207 K's over 162 games. That is just plain ugly. Overpaid's HR was also his only hit of the series, in 7 at bats. His season average is .227 and his fielding has been subpar as well.

Cutch went 1 for 10 in Philly, putting a cap on a disappointing July in which he hit .255, but only .183 after the break. Walker hit .366 in July but only knocked in 13 runs and scored only 11. The Bucs pitching was still stellar for most of July, despite getting knocked around by the highest payroll in NL history over the weekend.

All-in-all, the Bucs are far from out of anything just now. It may seem unlikely to some that this team can still make a legitimate run at the Central Division title. But it probably seemed unlikely that 2011 would be the season that is has been so far. Although I certainly would have liked to see a big risk/big reward type trade made at the deadline, it's too late now. That was never going to happen in the first place. Once again, the Bucs are a better team today than they were 24 hours ago. Are they good enough to compete? That is up to the players right now.