0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/23/2015
If I had to venture a guess, I’d assume that teams that score seven runs in an inning have a pretty good winning percentage throughout the history of baseball. I could leave the recap there, since that’s about all the substance I have to offer due to my focus being mostly on my softball league’s […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey
Upon a bit more reflection, I’d say that the Pirates’ weekend debacle in DC was probably more of a wake up call than anything. Building an eight-game winning streak is no easy task, even if it comes on the backs of the Brewers, Phillies, and White Sox, but it doesn’t mean the National League elites […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey
We all had a lot of fun saying things like, “The Pirates outscored the White Sox 20-4 in sweeping a four-game set” last Thursday, so it’s only fair that we turn the tables on ourselves. The Nationals outscored the Pirates 19-3 in this weekend’s three-game series in which the Pirates got six hits on Friday, […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/20/2015
With that out of the way, what else can I really say? Max Scherzer is excellent; he’s probably been the best pitcher in baseball over the last three years. Pretty much any time a team that strikes out like the Pirates runs into a pitcher that strikes hitters out like Scherzer, there’s a risk that something […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey
As well as the Pirates have been playing lately, the offense hasn’t really looked right for the better part of the last two weeks. These are the Pirates’ run totals in their last 11 games: 0, 1, 2, 1, 4, 1, 11, 3, 3, 3, 1. That’s only 19 runs in the ten games in […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/19/2015
We Pittsburgh Pirate fans have been fortunate enough to watch our favorite team play some really excellent stretches of baseball over the last two-plus seasons. When we all sat around in May of 2013 wondering if the Pirates’ hot start was real, that team ripped off a 33-13 stretch which included a 16-4 run at […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey
After playing out in front of the White Sox for most of this four-game series, the Pirates decided to finish the sweep with a different tactic: the late-game rally. They probably shouldn’t have needed a late-game rally in this one; they put runners on against Jeff Samardzija in the first, third, sixth, and seventh without […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/18/2015
If you, like me, were a little concerned with the Pirates’ situation in late May, then it’s likely that the reason that you were concerned was that the Pirates that you envisioned in spring training were much more like the Pirates that are in front of you right now; a buzzsaw capable of stringing a […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey
It looked early on like last night was going to be another laugher. Within the game’s first four hitters, Josh Harrison had doubled, Andrew McCutchen singled him in, and Jung Ho Kang homered to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead. The Pirates only had two more hits across the ensuing game. That didn’t matter, though, […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/17/2015
The Pirates take their crazy streak of shutout innings and incredible on the road tonight to continue their home-and-home with the White Sox. The Pirates’ last road trip went quite well, with a 7-3 run through San Diego, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Jeff Locke starts for the Bucs tonight and his last start against the […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/16/2015
This is starting to get crazy. With tonight’s Charlie-Morton-lead shutout, the Pirates have now thrown three straight shutouts, five in six games, and six in their last nine. The last time Francisco Cervelli has seen an opponent cross home plate in front of him was last Tuesday, which also happens to be the last time the Pirates […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey
Given that this homestand started with the Pirates’ bats falling into a funk, it’d be awfully nice if the trend that started last night continued tonight so that the homestand could end with them hitting their way out of said funk. They’ll face Jose Quintana tonight. He’s the third lefty they’re facing in a row, […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey
BREAKING: FBI investigating St. Louis Cardinals for hacking Astros. @NYTSports exclusive. http://t.co/qlmQmhRq2j — NYT Sports (@NYTSports) June 16, 2015
0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/15/2015
You know, all things considered, I think I like 11-0 in nine innings much better than I like 1-0 in 11 innings. OK, let’s put more of a straight face on. This is (at least) the second year in a row in which the Pirates have faced an inordinate amount of right-handed pitchers early in the […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey
Baseball’s weird little summer incursion into interleague play kicks in again tonight with a bunch of those odd home-and-home series kicking off all over baseball. The Pirates have drawn the White Sox this year, which is nice in that the White Sox are in last place in the AL Central and 12-21 on the road, […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/14/2015
This is a brief and incomplete list of things the Pirates did this weekend: Won a game 1-0 in 13 innings. Had a one-run lead in the eighth inning of a game while the Phillies had the bases loaded and no outs, then somehow escaped the jam with two ground balls that were turned into […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey
Starting a sentence with “the most impressive thing about Gerrit Cole thus far in 2015 is…” is a good way to get yourself into trouble quickly, as the list of impressive things that Cole has done to this point is as long as Cole is tall. After watching him pitch yesterday, though, certainly one thing that he’s […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/13/2015
Thirteen innings. Twenty four hits. Eight walks. Thirty runners left on base. One hit in scoring position. One run. You know the old adage that all wins are created equal? I mean, I guess that’s probably true. It’d be better if most of the Pirates wins didn’t look like this one, though. Image: Jared Wickerham, […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/12/2015
For some reason, the Phillies signed Kevin Correia this week and put him directly into their starting rotation, with his first start coming tonight against the Pirates. Correia was really awful for the Twins and Dodgers both last year, he spent spring training with the Mariners, and then a small amount of time with the […]
0 comments by Pat Lackey on 6/11/2015
If you just go by traditional stats, Mark Melancon’s been fine since his only blown save on April 21st. He’s pitched in 22 games since then, throwing 22 1/3 innings. He’s only allowed two runs in that span, he’s converted all 17 save opportunities he’s been given, and nothing he’s done in those 22 games […]
