I was just putting the finishing touches on a 1,700 word blog post about how I didn't have anything to say about the Pirates right now, when my computer (which has been so buggy since I 'upgraded' it to Mountain Lion that it's been borderline unusuable) hard-crashed and ate the whole thing. The sense of […]

The Pirates are still "playing baseball" for at least a little while longer. I bet if you turn the game on your TV, you'll see something frustrating happen. I have my own softball game tonight, plus I value my sanity. I will not be turning the game on. Honestly, I'm so far past checked out […]

When talking about this game, pretty much everyone is going to mention Wandy Rodriguez getting pulled too early seventh inning. After a season of sitting on his hands most of the times that his starters struggle, Clint Hurdle decided that TONIGHT was the night to get Wandy Rodriguez out of the game at the first […]

Here it is: the Pirates are still in the playoff race on September 10th because the Cardinals and Dodgers have played bad baseball lately. This will not continue indefinitely through the end of the season, though I feel like the Pirates' slide might. This might be an unfair standard to apply, but I feel completely […]

Last week, on Tuesday morning, my dad and I drove to the airport talking about the Pirates/Astros debacle we'd witnessed at PNC Park on Labor Day afternoon. My dad had a simple question for me: "Why do you think this has happened two years in a row? Why have they gotten most of the way […]

With a win today, the Pirates somehow stay within at least 1 1/2 of a playoff spot, despite going 3-3 against the Cubs and Astros. Jeff Locke and and some dude named Chris Rusin, already underway.

Blah blah blah mometum only lasts until the next day in baseball blah blah blah. The Pirates literally (actual meaning of the word in this case) played the worst game that I can ever remember them playing yesterday. That's all there is to say about it. They should try to not do that again today, […]

Nope, not gonna talk about this one. Not now, probably not ever.

The 2012 season is quickly disappearing, and the Pirates are still on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. That means that there's no time left for them to lose games to the Cubs. It's true that if the Pirates take two of three from the Cubs this weekend, they can't possibly be more […]

I missed this yesterday, but MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo released his Top 100 prospect list with the minor league seasons ending this week and the Pirates have six players on the list, topped by Gerrit Cole at #8. In addition to Cole, James Taillon (#16), Starling Marte (#34), Alen Hanson (#54), Luis Heredia (#73), and Gregory […]

Writing about Pirates/Astros games at this point in the season is hard, because on one hand I want to say things like, "the Pirates got big performances from unlikely sources tonight with Gaby Sanchez and Alex Presley dragging the offense along behind them while Kevin Correia turned in a strong start to get the Pirates […]

The Cardinals played earlier today and lost, which means that a Pirate win this afternoon pulls the Pirates back to within 1 1/2 games of St. Louis with the Pirates hosting the Cubs (3-7 in their last 10) this weekend while the Cards host the Brewers (8-2). I was being serious last night when I […]

With his four hits last night, Brock Holt quickly ascended to the top of every single Pirate fan's "Please tell me this guy can be better than Clint Barmes when Neil Walker comes back" list. Because of the Pirates' utter lack of shortstop depth in the minors before Alen Hanson's emergence this year (and maybe […]

When the Pirates first started to crest in late May and early June, I talked quite a bit about the virtues of just taking the field and beating bad baseball teams. The Pirates won a lot of baseball games against good and bad teams both from the end of May until the All-Star break, but […]

The Pirates try to stop this latest losing streak at four games this evening with their second of three against the Astros. All isn't technically lost for 2012 yet, but it probably will be if the Pirates can't win these last two games against Houston at PNC Park. Wandy Rodriguez goes against his old club […]

As I wrote on Friday afternoon, I spent my whole weekend back in Western Pennsylvania with a full slate of events. As a result, I only watched the Pirates and Brewers peripherally. On Friday, I sat in Midway with about an hour's layover before my flight to Pittsburgh that coincided with the start of the […]

The Pirates have re-asserted themselves as playoff contenders with their two-day, 14-0 drubbing of the Cardinals at PNC Park. Combined with another Cardinal loss last night, the Pirates are just 1/2 game out of a playoff spot and could conceivably be back in playoff position after tonight’s action. So of course the Bucs find themselves […]

Today is August 31st. On August 31st, baseball’s rosters lock for the post-season, which means that only players on the active roster or the disabled list on August 31st can be used in the playoffs (with an exception for the 60-day disabled list, which we can talk more about in a minute). The Pittsburgh Pirates […]

I know that I occasionally lean on the “this is my life as an out-of-Pittsburgh Pirate fan in 2012” anecdotes a little heavily, but I’m kicking this recap off with one tonight. Despite my Debbie Downer routine earlier this week, I was pretty legitimately excited about the biggest Pirate game of 2012 being televised on […]

After yesterday’s Most Important Game of the Year, the Pirates are playing today’s Most Important Game of the Year on ESPN (at least, for those of us not in Pittsburgh; I believe you still have the game on ROOT if you’re back on the home front) as they wrap up their season set with the […]