A guy who was pitching in the Mexican League earlier in the year was made to look like a reincarnated combination of Larry Dierker/Nolan Ryan/Roy Oswalt by the Pirates pathetic line up today. Only five hits against some stiff named Edgar Gonzalez and an Astros bullpen consisting of Moe, Larry, and Curly.
Correction: Moe, Larry, and Curly were playing short stop, catcher, and first base for the Pirates.
Astros first baseman Brett Wallace was made to look like a reincarnated Jeff Bagwell by Jeff Locke.
I was there today. Spent $32 for the privilege, plus parking, plus the overpriced ballpark food. It was as awful as anything I had seen the Pirates put out in the depths of the John Russell administration.
A Pirates team that fancies itself a post-season contender, with a chance to shake off an awful weekend in Milwaukee, came up against a team that is not just bad, but historically bad, and they laid down and died. It was nothing short of pathetic. I don't know how they're looking in a mirror in that clubhouse tonight.
So it comes down to this. Two more games with the Astros, and then three with the Cubs, another lousy team, over the weekend. Unless they win all five of those games, seriously, all five of them, kiss the wild card hopes good-bye. The goal then becomes winning 82 games and ending the streak, and if it comes to that, they are going to be seriously challenged to do so, Twenty-eight games left to play, and they now need to go 12-16 in those games. If you told me a month ago that winning a minimum of 82 games would be a challenge for this team, I'd have said you were crazy, but, now, well, I'm the one saying it..
Two player specific comments:
- I guess we can hold off on that automatic induction into Cooperstown for Brock Holt. I don't want to be harsh on the kid, but some were getting a bit carried away after he had two hits on Sunday. And just for the record, as long as Walker is still hurt, I'd rather see Holt than Josh Harrison playing at second.
- Gaby Sanchez is proving to be an extremely annoying player. In addition to being not very good (0-for-4 today with two pathetic strike outs), he is maddening to watch at the plate. After each pitch, he steps out of the box, adjusts his batting gloves (even if he hadn't swung on the pitch), walks around, kicks dirt off of his spikes. He took 20 to 25 seconds doing this crap between pitches today. I timed him. This would be maddening if he was hitting .280 with 20 home runs. That he does it with his current level of production is intolerable. Doesn't baseball have rules about this kind of stuff?
OK. The challenge is very clear. They have to win the next five games against these two lousy teams. They HAVE to.
BOBBY I agree with you about the players adjusting everything they wear after every pitch --- Clemente never did that! So why do these .220 hitters have to adjust?
ReplyDeleteI am resolving myself that this team is NOT a play off team this year -- can't put my finger on why they can not get motivated to play against the second coming of Fernando Valenzuela albeit plus about 10 years but I contend we are out of the running. Even if we got lucky and won 5 of the next 6 it will be very difficult to overcome an offensive power house like the Cards. Sadly, our ship has sailed.