I don’t normally solicit outside articles, but when longtime reader/Twitter friend Charles Star explained the premise for this post to me and asked if it could run on WHYGAVS, it was too good to turn down. You may be familiar with Charles’ work at The Classical. You should definitely follow him on twitter @ugarles. Everything below is his work. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did. -Pat
For the third year in a row, the Pirates are going to the playoffs. This is amazing, even though the last time this happened it was followed by 20 years of losing. It is also true that this is the third year in a row the Pirates are (probably) going to (probably) host the Coin Flip game against a team with a formidable ace. Given the potential shortness of this playoff run, and on the heels of an oddly maddening season for a year with more than 90 wins, I want to thank the players who helped the team get here. Not the ones who did the most, but the other guys who put on the black-and-gold during the regular season.
It is not an evaluation of a player’s WAR or net value or general goodness-at-baseball. It is not a comprehensive list of merits or demerits. It is not that serious.
It is a list, with references, of contributions from the less-heralded Pirates. So it is also not a catalog of success for the Pirates who logged a ton of time on the field: the rotation or the bullpen stalwarts; the starting lineup and their regular season-long subs are not getting individual entries. I will list them here: Pedro Alvarez, Antonio Bastardo, AJ Burnett, Arquemides Caminero, Gerritt Cole, Josh Harrison, Jared Hughes, Francisco Liriano, Jeff Locke, Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen, Mark Melancon, Jordy Mercer, Charlie Morton, Gregory Polanco, Sean Rodriguez (130+ games!), Chris Stewart, Neil Walker and Tony Watson. All wonderful fellows who have obviously contributed to the success of the team. They are not the focus today.
For each remaining player I have chosen one game this season where they pitched in to help the Pirates get to where they are. They weren’t the only players who could necessarily have done what they did nor were they necessarily the most important player that day. But each was, in fact, a player who did whatever he happened to do on that day, and it helped the Pirates. I tried to limit the references to games the Pirates won and I tried to give everyone their own Game of Glory. It mostly worked.
It is very long. Here we go.
Remember These Guys? – The Early Season Players:
Corey Hart: Game 7 (4/13) Hart went through a long drought but he actually started the season somewhat strong. His 2-run dinger in 5-4 win over Detroit were insurance runs that turned out to be necessary during Melancon’s early panic-inducing blue period.
Steve Lombardozzi: Game 31 (5/10) He hit .000 but worked a walk and scored the winning run in a 4-3 win over the Cardinals.
Casey Sadler / Tony Sanchez: Game 6 (4/12) This is the only joint entry. Serving as the backup catcher while Stewart dealt with a spring training injury, Sanchez went 3-4 with 2 runs in a 10-2 win. Sadler got the start and, in his only appearance for the Pirates this season, threw five solid innings for his first career win.
Rob Scahill: Game 30 (5/9) Scahill did his best work early in the year mostly in losing efforts but in this game he relieved Worley with the team down a run, threw a stellar 6th inning (K, 1-3, 1-3 on 11 pitches) and got the win when the Bucs scored three in the bottom of the 6th to beat the Cards 7-5.
Vance Worley: Game 15 (4/22) Vanimal started the season in the rotation while Morton was getting in game shape, and in this start threw 5.2 good innings, giving up 1 run in a 4-3 win over the Cubs as the Bucs began to get their season back on track.
The Yo-Yos –Indianapolis Regulars / Guys With Curious Stints on the DL:
Jaff Decker: Game 99: (7/28) I will never accept that his first name is pronounced “Jeff” nor that his last name isn’t spelled “Dacker”. He didn’t hit a lot but he’s got Youkilis eyes. In this game he had a walk, a run, and a sacrifice in an 8-7 win over Minnesota.
Pedro Florimon: Game 117 (8/18) Brought up because of all of the midseason infield injuries to serve as a glove and a pair of nimble legs, his game winning RBI triple off the Clemente Wall to end a 15 inning death march against Arizona will stick with anyone who stayed awake to watch it.
Deolis Guerra: Game 77 (6/30) Guerra had a pretty good run in the bullpen for a while, and the highlight was his 3 innings of scoreless relief, which earned him the win in a 14 inning slog against Detroit.
Travis Ishikawa: Game 84 (7/8) Kind of a surprise waiver claim, in his third game back in Pittsburgh, he had an 8th inning pinch hit walk and scored the winning run on Polanco double against the Padres. j/k the real season highlight was his power explosion in Game 92 (7/20) against the Royals: two doubles, a home run and 4 RBI in a 10-7 slugfest.
Brent Morel: Game 96 (7/24) He spent a week with the team this year, then decided to leave the organization when he was sent back down. While he was with the big club he only got one hit, but it was a game-winning RBI double against the Nationals.
Jose Tabata: Game 46 (5/27) Adios, Neck Lips. You were a fun guy to have around. His hit in this game helped key a rally from down 2-0 against the Marlins on the way to a 5-2 win. The judges definitely also would have accepted the Wandering Elbow for this slot.
The Deadline Acquisitions:
Joe Blanton: Game 114 (8/15) Blanton threw 3 innings of scoreless relief and got the win in the 5-3 14 inning win over the Mets at CitiField during a fun late-season sweep. (see Happ, J.A., immediately below for more on this)
J.A. Happ: Game 113 (8/14) Happ has been generally amazing since his surprise acquisition to fill the hole left by AJ’s midseason elbow injury. I’m including this one because I watched it in person. After a terrifyingly bad first start, he threw 5 1/3 excellent innings (seven Ks!) in a game the Pirates won in 10 when Bobby Parnell imploded.
Michael Morse: Game 106 (8/5) Morse has played very well for the Pirates since his acquisition but games where his contribution matched up neatly with team success led me to this game, his second appearance. Morse’s sixth inning hit turned into the game-winning run via the legs of Sean Rodriguez.
Aramis Ramirez: Game 128 (8/29) It is a pleasant surprise to have Ramirez back in Pittsburgh to bookend his amazing career. The easy answer is this game, which featured a 3-run HR in 4-3 win over the Rockies. I also considered this game from his time with the Brewers, when Ramirez had 3 RBI and a sacrifice to set up another run, leading to a 5-3 win over the Cubs. He didn’t even know he was helping us yet, but he was.
Joakim Soria: Game 102 (7/31) Best known as the Game When Marte Saved Melancon’s Bacon, Soria pitched a Very Joakim Soria 7th inning in his first game in Pittsburgh. After loading the bases with 2 outs and nobody on, he escaped the inning when he stabbed a screaming liner up the middle to preserve a one-run lead for Marte’s heroics.
Post-Deadline Acquisitions:
Keon Broxton: Game 130 (9/21): Called up mostly, I think, to keep him in the organization for baroque free agency reasons, in his first game in the bigs, Broxton promptly stole third and scored when the throw went into left field. It was already deep into a blowout over Colorado but he showed that, yes, he was blazing fast and we might have our own Hamilton/Gore menace on the bases for the postseason.
Bobby LaFromboise: Game 140 (9/10) LaFromboise was brought in to get out one batter as a LOOGY in the 11th inning. He struck that guy out. We lost in 13 to Milwaukee (of course) but Bobby did his job.
Travis Snider: Game 142 (9/13) The Lunchbox trade was pretty good. Two legit pitching prospects and then a return to Pittsburgh for the stretch run. His bases loaded pinch-hit double in this comeback win against the Brewers has been the highlight so far.
I’m Writing Something For Everyone, Huh?:
Radhames Liz: Game 16 (4/23) In a 5-4 comeback over the Cubs, Liz threw two innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win, including two strikeouts. We won’t discuss what he did in September.
Chris Volstad: Game 71 (6/24) In his only appearance, Volstad threw two scoreless innings of relief in a 5-2 loss – keeping the game within comeback distance – after a rare rough outing for Cole. His innings gave the bullpen a needed respite the day after the Bucs used six pitchers in a win, and the day before the Pirates played back-to-back extra inning games.
Really? Everyone?:
Gorkys Hernandez: Game 87 (7/11) Hernandez pinch ran for Alvarez after Pedro tied the game with a single in the 8th. He didn’t advance but it was a nice option to have and the Bucs ultimately won in the 14th. Not a lot of options here, to be honest. Gorkys had one chance in the OF, batted .000, and committed a ridiculous baserunning mistake as a pinch runner that almost cost the Bucs a game, so…
Andrew Lambo: Game 14: (4/21) uhhh. jfc. Lambo went 1-for-23. He got his hit in Liz’s only win. Not a lot to work with here… Game 14 he … grounded into a FC but it wasn’t a double play, so he was on base to score an insurance run when Kang hit a bases-clearing double. How bad is this entry? Watson and Melancon melted down and the Cubs won anyway. Andrew, we thank you for your service.
Yes, Everyone (In Case of Emergency, Break Glass):
Wilfredo Boscan: Game 38 5/17? Moonlight Boscan was called up three times and suited up for five games (I think) but did not throw a pitch. I used this game because, like Wall below, it was kind of a best case scenario for him to throw but instead Hurdle was guided by the save and put in Melancon with a three-run lead.
Elias Diaz: Game 141 (9/12)? Maybe they forgot to ship his catching equipment. It is unclear exactly why the Pirates called up Diaz if not to give Cervelli and Stewart a rest during blowouts. He was given an at-bat late in this particular blowout of the Brewers but for some reason he didn’t also stay in to field. He hit the ball hard, but Logan Schafer tracked it down. It’s a weird entry but you do what you can.
Josh Wall: Game 118 (8/19)? Happ pitched six scoreless innings and for some reason Hurdle used the top of their bullpen to close the game with a 3-0 lead against Arizona. (Soria, Watson, Bastardo when it became 4-0, Melancon after Bastardo gave up a leadoff homer – save situation!) Would have been nice to let Wall take a shot and actually resting someone. But he was there if they really, really desperately needed him. I had to rewrite Happ’s entry because of this.
I Didn’t Forget This Guy!:
Jung-ho Kang: Game 121 (8/22) I have spent the better part of my son’s seven years on this Earth indoctrinating him into being a Pirates fan in Brooklyn. (It is mostly working, though for some reason he has also decided to root for the Padres. Go figure.) He chose Jung Ho Kang as his favorite player before he had any idea if he was good (see also, the San Diego Padres.) Not surprisingly, because of this, we took Kang’s injury very hard and I’m not leaving him in a list of names without ever writing about his rookie year. So.
I could have gone with Game 99, when he banged a ninth inning home run off of the second deck façade in Minnesota for the win but I needed the slot for Jaff Decker. Instead, we’ll go with this gem, when Kang was virtually the entire Pirates offense against the Mike Leake, back when the Giants were still in the Wild Card hunt. His two home runs were the Pirates’ only hits through eight innings (technically Marte had a seventh inning double, but he got caught stealing third while Kang was batting) in a game that was tied 2-2 until Marte’s walkoff home run in the ninth. There were a lot of other games to choose from but this one was special.
It infuriates me that Kang won’t play in the postseason to close out his rookie year. The team has no choice but to #RaiseIt for him, and for all of the guys who contributed along the way.
Let’s Go Bucs.
Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images
