I think a Pirates-Reds NL Central race would be great.

mhs95_06;1192679 wrote:Both teams get a lead-off double in the 10th. The winners score, the losers don't. Does that mean the Pirates .190 hitters were better than the Reds' .270 hitters, or that Resop is better than Chapman?

Tonight? Yes

Pitching staff is getting a little shaky now.

Burnett, JMac and Bedard have been very good...Correia adequate...but now Karstens had a set back.

They may bring up Rudy Owens for the 5th spot and send Lincoln back to the bullpen.

As long as they can keep the starting pitching strong they should be able to hang around until mid to late July.

Non;1192690 wrote:Pitching staff is getting a little shaky now.

Burnett, JMac and Bedard have been very good...Correia adequate...but now Karstens had a set back.

They may bring up Rudy Owens for the 5th spot and send Lincoln back to the bullpen.

As long as they can keep the starting pitching strong they should be able to hang around until mid to late July.

Their bigger problem likely will be scoring runs. Can't win 85-90 games scoring 3-4 a game. They'll need to make a move probably.

Midstate01;1192694 wrote:Their bigger problem likely will be scoring runs. Can't win 85-90 games scoring 3-4 a game. They'll need to make a move probably.

Definitely. If they're able to hang around until then, they then would have to make a move to bolster the offense.

Bullpen is legit though

SportsAndLady;1192416 wrote:Lot of Ludwick hate on here (cough cough Ironman cough cough). The guy was a good pickup in my mind. He's been bad at times sure, but he's also been very good.

I have no problem with Luddy....I have a problem with how Stubbs plays every day no matter what, therefore causing Heisey/Luddy to play LF only. Heisey hit .326 in May over 17 starts and the last two nights he showed you his ability in CF.....he does need Jacoby or someone to get him back to spraying line drives.

Seriously.....you gotta have the world's shittiest scouts to throw Ludwig a first pitch strike. Right now he's basically Jonny Gomes.

Heisey is formidable, Luddy is fine (he'll keep getting 1st pitch strikes enough), Stubbs is fine....none if them need to get 550 AB.

killer_ewok;1192681 wrote:I think a Pirates-Reds NL Central race would be great.

Sure as hell would be fun down the stretch.

That loss falls on Phillips. He had his back turned for 3 seconds and he got his pocket picked severely on that fastpitch softball play allowing the runner to get to 3rd with 1 out. Sac fly would've been a fly out.

Should've won it in 9....not lost in extras.

Non;1192650 wrote:Wow. What a game.

Non;1192672 wrote:That was just an improbable finish, though.

Barmes and McKenry scoring the first earned run off Chapman?

You gotta love sports for moments like that. Bucs were totally screwed. One pitcher left. Tie game. Chapman in and they end up winning.

Acting like this is Game 7 of the NLCS lol

wildcats20;1192742 wrote:Sure as hell would be fun down the stretch.

Yeah it would. I'm pretty sure the Reds will be there. Hoping the Pirates can still be in contention then.

SportsAndLady;1192751 wrote:Acting like this is Game 7 of the NLCS lol

I didn't say that but for a regular season game, in June, it was a hell of game. Back and forth in the late innings.

killer_ewok;1192783 wrote:Yeah it would. I'm pretty sure the Reds will be there. Hoping the Pirates can still be in contention then.

The big thing will be their pitching, since the hitting slowly does seem to be coming around. Not great or anything, but over the last few games, they've been closer to .250 than .210. Last year, their pitchers were way above their peripherals until the last couple months...when they quickly faltered to reach that level.

This year, from what I've read, the starters are doing fine in that aspect, but the bullpen is a good bit above peripherals. A big part of that has to be Cruz, though. 2.2ish ERA with a 1.6ish WHIP is just freakish and says his ERA is due to explode. The way both Grilli and Hanrahan seem to be of the "get into trouble; pitch out of it" school probably adds to that, but I'm less worried about those two.

Owens looks ready for the bigs this year. Sub-1 WHIP in AAA, last I checked. They also probably could get use of some sort out of Locke, Wilson (left-handed relief if something happens to Watson or Slaten; too wild to be an effective starter) or Reyes (AAAA journeyman; spot starter) if they needed to. The thing that stunk last year was that when the starters fell apart, there was no one to replace them. At least there are viable options this year.

EDIT: Wrong thread