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Game 122: Pirates 5 Giants 2

Sorry for the lack of posts this weekend; I was out of town for a wedding until this morning, and so I missed the bulk of this series. As it turns out, this is probably the Pirates’ biggest series victory of the year, non-St. Louis Cardinals division, as taking three of four from the Giants […]

Game 119: Pirates 4 Giants 0

Charlie Morton’s sinker gets most of the press, and because of that it’s easy to forget that his curveball was once supposed to be his out pitch. Against the strongest lineup in the National League last night (at least statistcally speaking) it was the curveball that was generating a ton of whiffs for Morton, though, […]

The math is easy now

The Pirates play the Giants this weekend. The Pirates are first place in the Wild Card race. The Giants are third, seven games behind the Pirates. This math is easy: if the Pirates win three or four games this weekend, they’ve put a huge down payment on a playoff spot with five weeks left in […]

Game 118: Pirates 4 Diamondbacks 1 (the JA Happ post)

I spent a long day at work yesterday and got home just as the Pirate game was ending, so when it ended and I thought about writing the recap my first thought was, “this was a pretty run of the mill game,” and I put the recap off for a bit, because I didn’t think […]

JA Happ starts again

I’m a bit pressed for time tonight (it’s 6:55 and I’m just sitting down to write a preview), but I’ll reiterate my thoughts on the Happ/Morton/Locke trio that will start the next three days: if the Pirates are going to stay ahead of the Cubs and somehow catch the Cardinals, they need something from these […]

Last night’s hero is today’s DFA: A brief tribute to Pedro Florimon

When I was working on my recap last night, I couldn’t decide whether to use the above picture of Pedro Florimon in the post-game celebration or the amazing shot of Cervelli barrel-rolling into home plate with Gregory Polanco face down on the ground waving him home. In the end, the Cervelli/Polanco shot on the recap […]

Game 117: Pirates 9 Diamondbacks 8

It’s 12:31 AM and I just watched Pedro Florimon hit a walkoff double or triple (I don’t know how it was scored, not sure it matters) so you’re getting bullet points: The Pirates just won an 15-inning game and only used two relievers from the tenth inning onwards. Arquimedes Caminero and Joe Blanton put their […]

Francisco Liriano faces the Diamondbacks

Lost in last night’s panic over Gerrit Cole’s poor start is the fact that the Diamondbacks are good at scoring runs. The Pirates have been lately, too, but obviously they didn’t have much success against Jeremy Hellickson. Chase Anderson starts for the Diamondbacks. He hasn’t pitched well lately, with three of his last four starts […]

Pirates sweep Mets behind their bullpen and timely hitting

After Gerrit Cole’s short start against the Cardinals last week, I started to worry. With AJ Burnett out and both Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke struggling more often than not, seeing Cole fail to get out of the sixth inning in two of three starts (with a six inning start in the other) felt like […]

The new Mets

The Pirates lucked out with their pitching draw in New York this weekend, as they don’t have to face Noah Syndergaard or Jacob DeGrom over the next few days. That doesn’t mean that this trip to CitiField is likely to be an easy one; the Mets are 42-18 at home, they’re 10-2 since the trade […]

Game 112: Pirates 10 Cardinals 5

It wasn’t as easy as it should’ve been and it wasn’t all that pretty, but the Pirates managed to escape St. Louis last night with their first win since July of 2014. To be perfectly honest, my main concern with last night was Francisco Liriano. That being said, seeing the Pirates explode for seven first […]

Shoring up

At this point, all I’d like to see from the Pirates tonight is six or seven innings from Francisco Liriano and the defense to make the most routine of plays. The Pirates can’t unlose the first two games of this series, but they can at least re-group, avoid a sweep, and give themselves something to […]

From 1 to 162

One question that I’ve been struggling with since almost the beginning of this 2015 season is a pretty straightforward one. How do you define success for the 2015 Pittsburgh Pirates? Would a division title be a success? Would a trip to the NLCS be a success? Would it take a World Series? From an emotional standpoint, my […]

Game 111: Cardinals 4 Pirates 2

Two days, two winnable games lost in St. Louis by the Pirates. I think that this one is mostly chalked up to awful defense, with Pedro Alvarez missing a third inning scoop that lead to the Cardinals’ first two runs, and Gregory Polanco completely whiffing on a sixth inning Yadier Molina single, turning it into […]

The trials of Gerrit

There is no way to put this other than bluntly: the Pirates need a huge start from Gerrit Cole tonight. Their rotation is in trouble, their division chances are shrinking, and they haven’t won in St. Louis in over a year. They need their ace to take the mound, put his foot down, and make […]

Game 110: Cardinals 4 Pirates 3

Wins don’t come easily for the Pirates at Busch Stadium, and so it’s hard to feel any way but frustrated after the Pirates dropped the first game of this three-game set there in what felt like an avoidable fashion on Tuesday night. The short version is that the Pirates took a 3-1 lead on the […]

Game 109: Pirates 13 Dodgers 6

Where on earth do I even start with this one? Charlie Morton struggled quite a bit early on in this game, and through most of his five innings I was thinking that he just had to keep it close enough to give the Pirate offense a chance to take over. I can’t take credit for […]

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