Pirates beat the Reds last night. Good. Let's do it again today.

Today will be tougher. I knew that if they could hit anyone in baseball, they could hit Leake last night; but Cueto seems to be extra-good against Pittsburgh. And Locke's not that good.

But it was great to wind up winning the first game. Got tense there for a few innings.

Team has clinched the series and one Red fan on the game 2 thread delved into the whole whining thing about losing to the "pitiful" (even though both teams have the exact same record) Pirates.

Things are good.

Heretic;1425278 wrote:Team has clinched the series and one Red fan on the game 2 thread delved into the whole whining thing about losing to the "pitiful" (even though both teams have the exact same record) Pirates.

Things are good.

Nice.

Marte just hit a 2-run blast in the bottom of the 8th to give the Buccos an 8-6 lead after falling behind 5-0.

10-6. Pretty big rally.

Buccos broke out the brooms against the Reds following a 10-7 win today.

killer_ewok;1425499 wrote:Buccos broke out the brooms against the Reds following a 10-7 win today.

78-84....hopefully behind the Reds

Ironman92;1425501 wrote:78-84....hopefully behind the Reds

Might want to find a few more bullpen guys who don't utterly suck if you want to break that 78-win plateau this year.

Ironman92;1425501 wrote:78-84....hopefully behind the Reds

Maybe so...but I'm gonna enjoy the sweep of the Reds for now.

killer_ewok;1425508 wrote:Maybe so...but I'm gonna enjoy the sweep of the Reds for now.

Fair enough....I'm still riding high not to have Drew Stubbs available for Dusty.

It's sort of amazing the team is right below .500 right now. For the first few games, the offense was the worst I've ever seen. And the starting pitching has been a lot more miss than hit. Burnett's been very good, but...

Wandy's missed at least one turn through the rotation.
Locke's been subpar (his one "good" start against the Reds was more him surviving five innings as the Reds choked time and time again with runners in scoring position than him actually pitching well).
Sanchez and McDonald both have stunk and have no real control over where their pitches go.
Irwin looked above his head and a bit scared against the Reds in his start.

And the team still is winning games and had an even-money chance against the Braves to go above .500 until Hughes gave up that late homer.

If they can get some good starting pitching, whether it be guys getting their shit together, guys getting healthy (Morton, Karstens and Liriano) or guys coming up from the minors and contributing, the team could be good.

Speaking of that, in good news, Morton had his first rehab start last night and from what I read, his velocity is great. He hit as high as 96, which I don't think he had done in some time.

hung tough with the braves who have been on fire. i was pleasantly surprised

I was impressed with the starter last night. I know he left some pitches over the plate that Braves hitters didn't miss, but when he didn't do that he was really tough. Alvarez hit a fucking bomb too.

Didn't get to see how it ended until about midnight but was a good game and should be a good series. Hudson is going for win #200 tonight.

karen lotz;1429275 wrote:I was impressed with the starter last night. I know he left some pitches over the plate that Braves hitters didn't miss, but when he didn't do that he was really tough. Alvarez hit a fucking bomb too.

Didn't get to see how it ended until about midnight but was a good game and should be a good series. Hudson is going for win #200 tonight.

I think the thing about Locke (if you remember he was part of that whole McLouth deal which neither team really has gotten much out of other than one decent year by Morton for us) is that his stuff is kinda in the marginal big leaguer type where he'll probably wind up settling in as a minor league journeyman/spot starter, or a long/middle reliever (like other minor league Pirate starters like Tony Watson and Jared Hughes have).

That leads to where his pitch count winds up being high because he's a pure location guy who doesn't have blazing stuff, so he nibbles a good bit. And when he can't find his location, that's when hitters don't miss and he gives up 3 dingers in 4.2 innings.

i recently downloaded the iheartradio app for droid and have been listening to 970 espn radio out of pittsburgh savran on sports from 12-2pm good pirates/steelers/pens talk everyday

Hudson not good, Alvarez hit one into Youngstown. 6-0 buccos after 5.

Wandy with a gem today.

Gblock;1429314 wrote:i recently downloaded the iheartradio app for droid and have been listening to 970 espn radio out of pittsburgh savran on sports from 12-2pm good pirates/steelers/pens talk everyday

Radio.com app has 93.7 The Fan on there.

killer_ewok;1430348 wrote:Wandy with a gem today.

Yep he was really good.

Braves still undefeated when they don't get shut out.

karen lotz;1430350 wrote:Yep he was really good.

Braves still undefeated when they don't get shut out.

Lol, if we win any more this series, it'll be by breaking that streak. I don't know if McDonald or Sanchez can get through 5 innings without giving up at least 5 or so runs. And if Atlanta decides to be patient at the plate, it'll be a hellishly long pair of games.

We have great performances so far from AJ and Wandy, but I'll be really happy when guys like Morton get done with their rehab stints, as beyond those two, the starters have not been good.

Looks like Pedro's bat is waking up. Two games, two no-doubt homers. That is good. Right now, the team is looking pretty good offensively with SS being the only true black hole of suck (assuming Pedro and Russell Martin continue their improved hitting).

Heretic;1430404 wrote:if Atlanta decides to be patient at the plate,

good joke!!

karen lotz;1430430 wrote:good joke!!

Hell, today with McDonald, that might not even be an issue. From what I've heard, team's a bit worried because his velocity is down a few MPH right now. Which means that if he's not throwing balls, he's grooving 89-mph "fastballs" down the center on a tee. At least that's how his last start went.

McDonald was actually good today! And the team did just enough off Maholm to win, giving them at worst, a series split. Going for 3 tomorrow, which would be a very pleasant surprise.

I missed the game and was shocked when I saw that the Pirates beat the Braves again behind a stellar performance by J-Mac. I figured that he would get lit up.