My Week With The Pirates, and Other Comments

 

Well, it's not actually a whole week with the Pirates, but rather the three game series with the Cleveland Indians at PNC Park this week.

Tuesday, Indians 6 - Pirates 3

The Pirates lose this one in the tenth inning when Carlos Santana hits a moon shot of a home run down the left field line with two runners on base that breaks a 3-3 tie.  The Pirates argue that the ball was actually foul, and it probably was and the replay officials at MLB HQ screwed it up (imagine that), but no matter.  The game was really lost in the bottom of the ninth when the Pirates had runners on first and second with no outs when Jarrod Dyson (more on him later) gets picked off of second base by the catcher.  The Pirates went meekly in the rest of the inning after that.  Yes, shit happens in baseball, and the Indians catcher made a nice play, but in a situation like  that you SIMPLY CAN'T ALLOW YOURSELF TO GET PICKED OFF OF SECOND BASE BY THE CATCHER.  You just can't.

Wednesday, Indians 6 - Pirates 1

Steven Brault starts for the Pirates and pitches brilliantly for five innings, allowing two hits and no runs.  He is pulled after those five innings with the score 0-0 and in comes Doyvadas Neverauskas with his can of gasoline.  Twenty-two pitches later, Carlos Santana hits another moon shot of a home run, this time to right field, over the seats, and probably into the Allegheny River.  No question as to whether this one was fair or foul.  It's now 3-0, Cleveland adds three more in the eighth.  Cleveland pitcher Aaron Civale throws a complete game five hitter, giving up one meaningless run in the ninth inning.

I watched both of those contests, and I vowed that I will not subject myself  Thursday's game.

Thursday, Indians 2 - Pirates 0

I stay true to my vow and do not turn on the television.  However, at about 9:20 or so when I switch it on, and I see that the Pirates are losing 1-0, and I see two Bucs strike out in the sixth inning and hear Greg Brown tell me that those were the tenth and eleventh K's for the Pirates so far.  They ended up striking out 16 times and losing meekly, 2-0.  I turned the the game off before it finished, switching to the Joe Biden coronation instead.

So how awful was this three game stretch?  That leads to the "Other Comments"....

• The Pirates record is now 4-17.  Over 162 games, that pace would produce a 31-131 record.  100 games UNDER .500.  10 games worse than the 1962 Mets (40-120).
• The Pirates regularly field a lineup with seven guys currently batting below .208 and four of those guys are below .200.
• The Pirates have used twenty-six (26!!) different pitchers in 21 games.
• Neverauskas, who has appeared in 8 games (8 IP) has an ERA of 9.00 and a WHIP of 2.00.  Why is he on the team?
• Jarrod Dyson, a washed up retread in the tradition of Pirates signings of the PNC Park Era, has played in 16 games, has 45 AB's and is batting .137.  As I was watching on Tuesday, my thought was that he should be used only as a late inning defensive replacement or a pinch runner.  Then he got picked off of second by the catcher, so he apparently isn't even good for that either.
• Cole Tucker has been used in the outfield and is learning as he goes, but I am fine with that.  For a team that is going nowhere, they SHOULD be playing Tucker, a former #1 draft pick and find out for sure if there is a spot for him on a major league roster.  With Tucker, there is at least the possibility of a future, which there certainly is not with Dyson.
• Gregory Polanco has played in 14 games and is hitting .070 (that's not a typo) and was struck out 22 times in 43 AB's and has looked pathetic in doing so.  He appears to be done.  Yet Jason Martin (for whom the Pirates traded Gerrit Cole) and Jarod Oliva, a couple of outfielders who might have promising futures, are kicking it around in boot camp in Altoona.
• On the bright side, on the rare occasions when Polanco is getting his bat on the ball, he is, according to the team's Analytics Gurus, hitting the ball HARD.  But he's still batting .070.

Okay, we all know that one of the big reasons that Dyson and Polanco are still playing is the money that they are owed by the Pirates.  Doesn't it always come down to money for this gang?

Can you sense my frustatuon?  I mean, why am I doing this to myself?  The best line I saw about this team came from a gent named Rick Bergman on the Pirate Chat Facebook group when he said "I wish that they would allow fans into the ballpark this season so I could make a point by refusing to go."