Before the game, I wrote this:
I won’t pretend like Jason Grilli coming in and serving up a single to the first hitter he faced to put Giancarlo Stanton into the on-deck circle as the winning run didn’t terrify me, but again, it’s just hard to see it as something other than a fluke circumstance. I am going to be unhappy if I have to write “I’m inclined to ignore the ninth inning debacle again” after today’s game, though.
I’ve made a huge mistake.
When the Reckoning of 2014 comes, I suspect that the Pirates are going to sorely regret losing games in which the likes of Vance Worley threw seven shutout innings. It took a group effort from Tony Watson, Pedro Alvarez, Ike Davis, Russell Martin, Jared Hughes, and Clint Hurdle, but dadgummit, they tried all weekend to lose a game to the Marlins that they should’ve won and they finally pulled it off today.