When you’re in a rut, you can’t waste a start like the one Jeff Karstens gave the Pirates yesterday. You’ve lost five in a row and nine out of ten, and you get six innings from your fifth starter where he holds one of the best teams in the National League to just two runs. You have to win that game.
This Pirate team right now is, to borrow a phrase, who we thought they were. The starting pitching is better than last year’s and the offense is somewhere between terrible and below average, but the bullpen is a disaster. This is, as you can probably guess, not a combination of abilities that’s going to lead to many wins. Or, if the last six games are evidence, any wins at all.
