If you wanted to argue that the worst moment since the 1992 NLCS for Pirate fans was the Jerry Meals game in Atlanta last July, I probably wouldn’t waste much breath disagreeing. I don’t blame Meals’ bad call in the bottom of the 19th for the Pirates’ ensuing slide because it was something that was more or less inevitable, but given the way that it correlated with the collapse and given the length of the game and the emotion involved, it was a heck of a loss to have to process.
Heading to Atlanta will certainly give the Pirates’ surprising pitching staff its biggest test of 2012. The Braves have already scored 101 runs this year and they’re averaging an insane 5.32 per game. They’ve been even better than that at the plate since being swept by the Mets in their season opening series; they only tallied seven runs total in those three games. Their pitching staff is clicking along at just about league average and the Pirates will see Tommy Hanson tonight. Hanson’s peripherals haven’t been quite as good as they were last year, but he’s obviously a talented young pitcher that puts up big strikeout totals, and that worries me as a Pirate fan. The Pirates send AJ Burnett to counter. I’m interested to see how he pitches against an opponent that actually knows they’ll be facing him, instead of being forced to prepare for him on a moment’s notice the way the Cardinals had to in Burnett’s debut last week.
First pitch tonight will be at 7:35. If the “no more than five runs for anyone in any game ever” thing doesn’t end tonight, I have a feeling it’ll be over before the end of the weekend.
