Pirate baseball agonizing to watch

[hagberg]

...especially against the Brewers. The top half of the order (1 thru 5) hits 6 for 26; meanwhile, Bucs pitchers either walk their sub-.200 hitters, including walking starting pitcher Peralta who's batting a sterling .000, or they're serving up meatballs to everyone else.

I'm starting to believe that they don't think they can beat Milwaukee, and it gets so much into their heads they don't - or can't - play worth a shit.

Hurdle doesn't help matters any when he has runners on 1st & 3rd, with a chance to win the game, and leaves Florimon and his impressive .105 BA in to hit. Hell, I'd rather have seen Cole take some hacks at it!

"Frustrating" doesn't even come close on a night they had a chance to pick up a game on the Cards.

 

[Player2BNamedL8r]

Amen brother....A-fricken-men.

 

[LemonEars]

Marte and Polanco have talent galore but they must be two of the dumbest players alive. The Pirates would have won this game if Polanco wouldn't have stood there watching the catcher chase the ball to the backstop instead of running in the bottom of the seventh. Both Marte and Polanco continue to make stupid decisions game after game.

 

[EPC FAN]

...especially against the Brewers. The top half of the order (1 thru 5) hits 6 for 26; meanwhile, Bucs pitchers either walk their sub-.200 hitters, including walking starting pitcher Peralta who's batting a sterling .000, or they're serving up meatballs to everyone else.

I'm starting to believe that they don't think they can beat Milwaukee, and it gets so much into their heads they don't - or can't - play worth a shit.

Hurdle doesn't help matters any when he has runners on 1st & 3rd, with a chance to win the game, and leaves Florimon and his impressive .105 BA in to hit. Hell, I'd rather have seen Cole take some hacks at it!

"Frustrating" doesn't even come close on a night they had a chance to pick up a game on the Cards.

Agonizing to watch? Are you friggin' kidding me? They have the second best record in MLB and you're bitching? After 18 straight losing seasons, you should be happy as a clam knowing how far they've come. SHEEEESH!!!

 

[nits74]

...especially against the Brewers. The top half of the order (1 thru 5) hits 6 for 26; meanwhile, Bucs pitchers either walk their sub-.200 hitters, including walking starting pitcher Peralta who's batting a sterling .000, or they're serving up meatballs to everyone else.

I'm starting to believe that they don't think they can beat Milwaukee, and it gets so much into their heads they don't - or can't - play worth a shit.

Hurdle doesn't help matters any when he has runners on 1st & 3rd, with a chance to win the game, and leaves Florimon and his impressive .105 BA in to hit. Hell, I'd rather have seen Cole take some hacks at it!

"Frustrating" doesn't even come close on a night they had a chance to pick up a game on the Cards.

Preaching to the choir, Hagberg. Wasted four hours watching that garbage last night. Aside from the usual poor fundamentals, I'm getting real tired of Hurdle's wholesale "defensive" changes, basically from mid-game forward. Then they get in tight games and have no hitters in the line-up. As I've harped on, this division record will kill them. Losing seven straight to the Brewers is inexcusable, no matter how anyone tries to spin it. The single time in the season the Cardinals show some vulnerability and these guys not only can't come close to taking advantage of it, they're in danger of falling behind the Cubs.

 

[bjf1984]

Marte and Polanco have talent galore but they must be two of the dumbest players alive. The Pirates would have won this game if Polanco wouldn't have stood there watching the catcher chase the ball to the backstop instead of running in the bottom of the seventh. Both Marte and Polanco continue to make stupid decisions game after game.

Or if:

McCutchen, not once, but TWICE.....had not chased 3-2 pitches that were a foot off the plate, struck out, and hung Harrison out to dry for rally killing double plays (Rather than accounting for four outs, if Cutch doesn't chase two "not anywhere close" pitches, the Buccos have a "2 on-1 out" opportunity AND a "2 on-None out" opportunity)

Cervellii, doesn't get picked off of 2nd base by the catcher

Alvarez, against a pitcher who was clearly struggling to throw anything over the plate, had not (in a First and Third, none out situation), whiffed chasing a 3-2 one hopper, that would have loaded the bases with none out

Ramirez, again - against a pitcher who had no idea where the plate was, had not come up with the based loaded and 1 out.......seen 4 pitches - NONE of which were in any danger of even coming close to the strike zone....and chased three off them, striking out rather than taking the free run.

Bullpen........walk the leadoff man in both the 10th and 11th (though they did manage to escape both of those innings)....AND walk not one, but two weak Brewers hitters - IN FRONT of Braun (who's two out single knocked in the go-ahead run)

PLENTY of responsibility to go around last night.

Polanco's "turning into a spectator" was certainly FUBAR.....though I can't recall any foul ups by Marte last night.

 

[basic blues]

Preaching to the choir, Hagberg. Wasted four hours watching that garbage last night. Aside from the usual poor fundamentals, I'm getting real tired of Hurdle's wholesale "defensive" changes, basically from mid-game forward. Then they get in tight games and have no hitters in the line-up. As I've harped on, this division record will kill them. Losing seven straight to the Brewers is inexcusable, no matter how anyone tries to spin it. The single time in the season the Cardinals show some vulnerability and these guys not only can't come close to taking advantage of it, they're in danger of falling behind the Cubs.

Couldn't agree more. He wastes players and it ended up costing him....not to mention he made the genius decision to throw Liz back out there in the 13th after he blew it for them in the 12th. That guy has no idea where the ball is going when he throws it.....yet, Hurdle runs him back out there in the 13th and he does the same thing....finally costing the buccos the game.

 

[PSU Mike]

Boo hoo.

 

[bjf1984]

Couldn't agree more. He wastes players and it ended up costing him....not to mention he made the genius decision to throw Liz back out there in the 13th after he blew it for them in the 12th. That guy has no idea where the ball is going when he throws it.....yet, Hurdle runs him back out there in the 13th and he does the same thing....finally costing the buccos the game.

BTW:

Not for nothing, but the Buccos could have had a much more effective guy available in the pen.

But he was down in Indianapolis throwing a meaningless AAA playoff game (8 innings, 0 earned runs, 6 hits, 1 walk). Now, in his 6 starts: 4W-1L, 1.93 ERA, 24 strikeouts and only 6 walks in 42 innings.
WTF??
Instead we have Liz/Scahill in the pen......not to mention Jeff Locke starting in game 3 of this series.

Someone shoot me.

:-(

 

[The Spin Meister]

Watched five or six Little League WS games and didn't see more than a couple of mistakes the entire time while the Bucs had about six just in one game!

 

[wbcincy]

BTW:

Not for nothing, but the Buccos could have had a much more effective guy available in the pen.

But he was down in Indianapolis throwing a meaningless AAA playoff game (8 innings, 0 earned runs, 6 hits, 1 walk). Now, in his 6 starts: 4W-1L, 1.93 ERA, 24 strikeouts and only 6 walks in 42 innings.
WTF??
Instead we have Liz/Scahill in the pen......not to mention Jeff Locke starting in game 3 of this series.

Someone shoot me.

:-(

Yeah, I'm a bit confused by Worley remaining in AAA at this point. I guess he doesn't want to be long relief, theyve already taken the time to stretch his arm out, and there's no room in the rotation w/ Burnett back... But just make him do what's best for the team anyway

 

[bjf1984]

Yeah, I'm a bit confused by Worley remaining in AAA at this point. I guess he doesn't want to be long relief, theyve already taken the time to stretch his arm out, and there's no room in the rotation w/ Burnett back... But just make him do what's best for the team anyway

Something definitely FUBAR in that situation.
I don't know what it is.....but it HAS TO BE something more than his ability to help the team.
Even if they legitimately think he is not a better option than Locke (which I would find dumb-founding, but that may just be me).....he has to have a lot more value than some of these other extra arms they added (Scahill, Liz, LaFrom)

Something ain't right.

 

[CDLionFL]

Somehow, Melancon AND Watson weren't available because of the previous nite's near yak to the Reds. Therefore, Liz had to get trotted back out there again. No idea why he pinch-hits Aramis for Mercer in the 7th when the pitcher's spot is up next. Florimon got DFA'd for a reason -- he's TERRIBLE with the bat. He was like that with the Twins and I was shocked when I saw he was on another major league roster. You just can't lose to teams like the Brewers if you want to go anywhere in a playoff race.

 

[fairgambit]

Just accept that losing to the Brewers is part of the master plan....."lose to the bad teams and beat the good ones". You can't beat everyone, no one can, so we beat the best and choke on the rest. When the playoffs start you will see the wisdom of this strategy.

 

[bjf1984]

Somehow, Melancon AND Watson weren't available because of the previous nite's near yak to the Reds. Therefore, Liz had to get trotted back out there again. No idea why he pinch-hits Aramis for Mercer in the 7th when the pitcher's spot is up next. Florimon got DFA'd for a reason -- he's TERRIBLE with the bat. He was like that with the Twins and I was shocked when I saw he was on another major league roster. You just can't lose to teams like the Brewers if you want to go anywhere in a playoff race.

"No idea why he pinch-hits Aramis for Mercer in the 7th when the pitcher's spot is up next."

Agree. Didn't mention that earlier......but that had me shaking my head.

Especially with a bases loaded - 1 out situation

2 outs bases empty....sure
2 outs bases loaded.....fine

But in a bases loaded, 1 out situation the LAST thing you want to do is bring up a StrikeOut/DoublePlay type hitter. (thank goodness that Aramis didn't actually hit any of those three pitches that were at least a foot off of the plate.....the resulting double play would have ended the inning). Would have MUCH preferred just letting Mercer hit (he's no Babe Ruth, but in THAT situation, you want a guy who maximizes the chance of getting the guy in from third, and minimizes the odds of a double play). If they had a guy like a Harrison available off the bench at that point sure......but NOT Ramirez.

Not to mention that by doping so.....in a game that very likely is going to take extra innings to win.....you are stuck with Florimon for the rest of the game.

 

[psu_83_drummer]

"No idea why he pinch-hits Aramis for Mercer in the 7th when the pitcher's spot is up next."

Agree. Didn't mention that earlier......but that had me shaking my head.

Especially with a bases loaded - 1 out situation

2 outs bases empty....sure
2 outs bases loaded.....fine

But in a bases loaded, 1 out situation the LAST thing you want to do is bring up a StrikeOut/DoublePlay type hitter. (thank goodness that Aramis didn't actually hit any of those three pitches that were at least a foot off of the plate.....the resulting double play would have ended the inning). Would have MUCH preferred just letting Mercer hit (he's no Babe Ruth, but in THAT situation, you want a guy who maximizes the chance of getting the guy in from third, and minimizes the odds of a double play). If they had a guy like a Harrison available off the bench at that point sure......but NOT Ramirez.

Not to mention that by doping so.....in a game that very likely is going to take extra innings to win.....you are stuck with Florimon for the rest of the game.

I was thinking the same thing when it happened. I thought Ramirez had a good chance of hitting into a DP and was hoping he would strike out instead, which he did.

 

[NewYC]

Or if:

McCutchen, not once, but TWICE.....had not chased 3-2 pitches that were a foot off the plate, struck out, and hung Harrison out to dry for rally killing double plays (Rather than accounting for four outs, if Cutch doesn't chase two "not anywhere close" pitches, the Buccos have a "2 on-1 out" opportunity AND a "2 on-None out" opportunity)

Cervellii, doesn't get picked off of 2nd base by the catcher

Alvarez, against a pitcher who was clearly struggling to throw anything over the plate, had not (in a First and Third, none out situation), whiffed chasing a 3-2 one hopper, that would have loaded the bases with none out

Ramirez, again - against a pitcher who had no idea where the plate was, had not come up with the based loaded and 1 out.......seen 4 pitches - NONE of which were in any danger of even coming close to the strike zone....and chased three off them, striking out rather than taking the free run.

Bullpen........walk the leadoff man in both the 10th and 11th (though they did manage to escape both of those innings)....AND walk not one, but two weak Brewers hitters - IN FRONT of Braun (who's two out single knocked in the go-ahead run)

PLENTY of responsibility to go around last night.

Polanco's "turning into a spectator" was certainly FUBAR.....though I can't recall any foul ups by Marte last night.

The Ramirez at bat was horrible. The pitcher didn't throw one pitch close to a strike.

 

[BBG65]

Hurdle drives me crazy, too. He has a great personality and the players want to play for him, but as a strategist, he is the worst. He refuses to play the righty/lefty game with his pitchers, which means he is going against the percentages. He bunts too often with non-pitchers. He mustn't like Worley. I can't see how he can keep Locke in the rotation and Worley in AAA. The Brewer thing has to be in their head as they're not a good team. If they had played just .500 ball against Milwaukee this season, they'd be in 1st place.

 

[bjf1984]

Hurdle drives me crazy, too. He has a great personality and the players want to play for him, but as a strategist, he is the worst. He refuses to play the righty/lefty game with his pitchers, which means he is going against the percentages. He bunts too often with non-pitchers. He mustn't like Worley. I can't see how he can keep Locke in the rotation and Worley in AAA. The Brewer thing has to be in their head as they're not a good team. If they had played just .500 ball against Milwaukee this season, they'd be in 1st place.

Believe it or not.....if they played .500 against the Brewers, they'd still be 2 1/2 out.

They are "only" 6-10 against them on the year.....it just seems worse. Probably because they started the season 5-1.......and have now dropped an INCREDIBLE 9 of the last 10 to those bums.
What is really crazy is they beat Milwaukee 5 out of 6 BEFORE the Brewers started selling off guys......now - after the Brewers purged some salary (including Ramirez and Gomez).....they can't beat them