Good evening, good night, good morning, whatever. It is September 4th, 2013. The Pittsburgh Pirates are 81-57. The last countdown ran its course, so let's do things this way: 70 wins, 71 wins, 72 wins, 73 wins, 74 wins, 75 wins, 76 wins, 77 wins, 78 wins, 79 wins, 80 wins. I'm not even sure where to begin. My plan for these last two posts has […]

Pirate fans: we're close. We're close to the win that will lift the ridiculous 20-year stone off of our backs and let us focus on a playoff run. I don't use "we" here to conflate fans with the team. I use "we" here to mean Pirate fans, because it's the fans that carry the entirety […]

Good morning. It is September 3rd  2013. With last night's win, the Pirates are 80-57 Since 1992, the Pirates failed to win 80 games in the following seasons*: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. There is another way to write that list up. It could be written like […]

For Charlie Morton's first handful or so of starts back from Tommy John surgery, I thought that the increased velocity that he was showing without losing the increased sink that he'd picked up on his fastball before the injury was an awfully good sign. The last few times out, he's really started to put everything […]

For much of the first half of 2013, the Pittsburgh Pirates rode to prominence in the NL Central by beating the teams they were supposed to beat. The Pirates' first big run was when they won 11 of 13 from the Mets, Brewers, Astros, and Cubs, taking them from 18-16 to 29-18. Their pivotal nine […]

This game went bad just about at the same time that it started; it looked like Kris Johnson had some nerves (which is understandable, given the circumstances of his first big league start) and that dug a hole that the Pirates never really had a chance to dig out of against Joe Kelly. We could […]

As was announced this morning, the Pirates will turn to Kris Johnson to finish out this series against the Cardinals. So who is Kris Johnson? Other than his big league debut two weeks ago, when he turned in six innings of relief against the Diamondbacks in what was ultimately a losing effort, Johnson's been enjoying […]

Yesterday, I noted that Justin Morneau's triple-slash line this year (.259/.315/.426) was an awful lot like Garrett Jones's line this year (.242/.300/.424). The main reason for that was simply to point out that Morneau is more of a role player right now, that he's not guaranteed to be some kind of tater-mashing savior, riding in […]

Good morning. It is September 1st,  2013. With last night's win, the Pirates are 79-56. Since 1992, the Pirates failed to win 79 games in the following seasons*: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. Let's not mince words: 1999 is the year that ruined everything. The Pirates took a step back after […]

When the Pirates beat the Cardinals four times in a row at the end of July and beginning of August, what made the series memorable wasn't just that it put the Pirates in first place at the trade deadline but rather that it felt like the Pirates were making a declarative statement that they belonged […]

Between last night's easy win and today's Justin Morneau trade, there's an awful lot of good feelings around the Pirates right now. That's all well and good and not inappropriate, but let's not forget this: there is some huge baseball to be played this weekend. The Pirates still need one more win to make this […]

Ken Rosenthal, just now: Source:

Good morning. It is August 31st, 2013. With last night's win, the Pirates are 78-56. Since 1992, the Pirates failed to win 78 games in the following seasons*: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. There are no new years to cross of the list today, either, but we are in the final […]

For the first 25 minutes or so if this game, I'm not sure I exhaled once. Francisco Liriano needed 22 pitches to get through the first inning, and it seemed like his control was just a little bit off. In the bottom of the inning, Jose Tabata singled and Neil Walker followed that with a […]

I don't think that I need to sell this game or preview it much: the Pirates are a game behind the Cardinals on Labor Day weekend, and now they have three games against them. The Pirates absolutely need at least one win this weekend, though to be honest I won't feel terribly great about their […]

I feel like everyone's a little bit tense today. Why's that? Let's lighten the mood. Here are the players with the highest batting averages in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, minimum one plate appearance. Rk Player H BA From To Age G PA AB R 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SB […]

The linescore makes this obvious, but this game was really decided in the first couple of innings. Neither starter came out with his best stuff, but the Brewers were able to capitalize on the rustiness that Gerrit Cole had after a longer-than-normal laoyff, while the Pirates left runners littered all over the bases against Yovani […]

The Cardinals are off tonight, which means that the Pirates can move back into a first place tie with a win over the Brewers. Gerrit Cole gets the ball and will try to do just that for the Bucs tonight. His last start at PNC was in almost as big of a spot, as he […]

With Jeff Locke taking a brief detour to the minors to get some rest and maybe do some re-tooling over the next week, the Pirates need a starter for Sunday's game against the Cardinals. I'm guessing Locke will go back into the rotation following his return to the big leagues for at least a start […]