I don’t know if there’s much to say about where the Pirates are right now other than to say that the ninth inning problems against the Brewers have created a huge deficit for the Pirates that they most likely will need outside help to pull themselves out of. That’s really what it amounts to now for the Pirates: put the ugly losses behind them, win some games, and see where things go from there.
Thanks to yesterday’s rainout, the Pirates will have three games in the next two days at Yankee Stadium. Besides Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees are not a particularly compelling team in 2014. Much of their lineup is below average, and the same goes for their rotation. That’s not to say that they’re a bad team, just that they’re certainly not as intimidating as a lot of Yankee teams of the past. Obviously the Pirates aren’t terribly intimidating themselves, but the opportunity to take two wins this weekend does exist.
Jacoby Ellsbury has been scratched from today’s lineup for the Yankees with the flu, which thins that lineup out even more. David Phelps will start for the Yankees; he’s generally a swing-man/long reliever that’s been pressed into service in the rotation with injuries to Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda. With him and Edinson Volquez on the mound today, I expect some runs to be scored. I hope the Pirates will score at least two more runs than the Yankees, because I’m sick of watching the bullpen try to hold one-run leads. First pitch today is at 4:05.
