Oh, What A Night (and Not in a Good Way)

A mere eleven days ago, the Pirates completed a four game sweep of the Brewers in their personal graveyard, Miller Park, to climb within a half-game of the Cardinals for the final National League Wild Card spot.  I made a comment on Facebook then that after such an improbable occurrence, that "anything was possible" for this team.  

Well, I sure had that right, but not in the way that I had hoped.  What followed was being swept by the Cubs in Chicago, and then being swept by those same crummy Brewers in PNC Park.  At THAT point, I stated on Facebook that anything less than a sweep of this three game set with the Cardinals, and your would be able to....

insofar as the Playoff hopes for 2016 were concerned.

Company on Labor Day prevented me from seeing the Pirates lose 12-6 to the Cards on Monday, but last night, Tuesday night, Marilyn and I were there at PNC Park to see perhaps the piece de resistance of this season.  I'm sure you know the details, but let me recount them for you anyway.

• The fifth batter of the game, Yadier Molina, hits a grand slam home run to put St. Louis up 4-0.
• This after first baseman John Jaso froze up after fielding a ground ball that could have been an inning ending double play, and got nobody out, but loaded the bases very nicely for Molina.
• An inning later, Matt Adams (who went to Slippery Rock University) hit a home run over the right field stands and over the river walk.  It was high and it was long and it was the very definition of the term "majestic home run".
• The Pirates then proceeded to score single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, and then score four runs in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead.  It was exciting and fun and it put some life into what was a moribund crowd.
• The bullpen held the lead through the eighth inning, turned it over to Tony Watson, who recorded two easy outs and then proceeded to go HR-Double-HR-HR to the next four batters.
• That batter who was one strike away from becoming the twenty-seventh and final out was pinch hitter Matt Carpenter.  When he was sent up to bat in that spot, I said to Marilyn "This is a guy who really scares me on this team."  I believe I had that.

When Watson served up his second gopher, this one a two run shot by Randall Grichuk, I abandoned my long stay-until-the-final-out policy and said "that's it, we're outta here."  And as we turned our backs to leave, Watson served up yet another meatball to Jhonny Peralta.  

We got to the car in time to hear the bottom of the ninth (wherein in Jung Ho Kang hit his second solo home run of the game to make the final score 9-7; is it just me or do the Pirates seem to hit a lot of home runs with the bases empty?).  Announcers Joe Block and Steve Blass were stunned at the turn of events that the game had taken.  Even Blass, who I often say announces like he gets paid by the word, said "I just don't know what to say about this one."

In an exchange on Facebook last night with friend Sam Reich, he said he had a hard time remembering a ninth inning collapse that included three home runs and a double.  I said that in 58 seasons of going to baseball games, I am sure that I have seen something somewhere along the lines of what happened last night, but nothing has come to mind in the twelve or so hours since that game ended last night.  It was just Awful with a capital A, and it effectively ended the season for the Pirates.

********

Some other random Pirates thoughts....

• My preseason prediction for the Pirates said that they would win 89 games but not make the playoffs.  Well, they ain't going to the playoffs, so I believe I had half of that.  
• As for 89 wins, they will have to go 22-4 over their remaining 26 games to achieve that.  Not going to happen.
• Now, even a winning season is in doubt.  To win 82 games and finish over .500, the team will have to fashion a 15-11 record the rest of the way.  The team has shown during the course of the season that they are capable of such a run, but after this eight game losing streak, I wouldn't bet on it happening at this point.

********

Finally, last night's game took three hours and thirty-six minutes to play, and it seemed a lot longer than that.  It was stultifying.  The pace of play initiatives that MLB so loudly trumpeted last year have obviously fallen by the wayside.  Just watch any typical at bat of Josh Harrison if you don't believe me.  I didn't do it on every pitch, but on several pitches I was timing Antonio Bastardo and Felipe Rivero between pitches. From the time they received the ball from the catcher, it would take between 30 and 40 seconds for them to deliver a pitch.  Too long.  A time clock begins when a coach or manager makes a visit to the mound.  It always gets to :00, and it is ignored.  The home plate ump walks out to the mound and tells them to break it up. Big deal.  Until you call a strike on Josh Harrison for hitting his cleats and taking a practice swing after every pitch, or a ball on a pitcher when he doesn't deliver a pitch within the prescribed time frame, or when the the manager takes too long on a visit to the mound, these "pace of play" rules mean less than nothing, and the proof is in games like the ones that the Pirates and Cardinals have played in the last two days.

All sports have their pace of play problems, but baseball had better figure out something about their particular problems.  Who has time for nine inning games that exceed three and one-half hours?

And So It Ends....

As it did in 2014, the Pirates 2015 season ended with a Wild Card loss.  This time, it was 4-0 to Jake Arietta and the Chicago Cubs.

Much of the pre-game strum und drag  centered around Clint Hurdle's decision to start Sean Rodriguez and first base and sit Pedro Alvarez.  In what was thought would be a tight pitchers' duel, Hurdle and the Pirates' advanced metrics boys went with defense over offense.  Of course, the Cubs jumped to a 3-0 lead, and all of a sudden the Pirates had to play for offense, and Alvarez pinch hit for Rodriguez on his first turn in the order.  Alvarez responded by going 0-for-3 with three strike outs.  Of course, no one else in the line-up hit either, as the Pirates recorded only four hits, and Arietta continued his almost unprecedented streak of pitching excellence.

The game was also sparked by a benches clearing brawl in the seventh inning when Tony Watson hit Arietta in the butt with a pitched ball.  The back story here is that Arietta had previously plunked two Pirates, one of whom, Francisco Cervelli, had to quickly fall backwards as the ball was headed right for his face.  Anyway, Watson responded by hitting Arietta in his left ass cheek, about the least vulnerable spot to hit a batter.  Instead of taking first base, Arietta had to start jawing at Watson, and that led to the benches clearing.

I found it interesting that announcer Ron Darling, a pretty good pitcher in his day and a smart guy (he has a degree from Yale) to boot, said, and I am paraphrasing here, if you hit two of the other teams batters, you have a nice lead, and then you get plunked in the butt by the other team's pitcher, smile and jog down to first base.  If Arietta had done that instead of jawing with Watson, there would have been no incident.

Right now I am betting that Tony Watson is the most popular guy in the clubhouse amongst his teammates.

Back to Alvarez.  What we all saw last night was surely Pedro's last appearance in a Pirate  uniform.  How he was used by the Pirates this season made it apparent that the team had  lost their patience with such a one dimensional player, and the decision to not start him yesterday surly reinforced that notion.  I have always been a Pedro backer.  Many times over these last six seasons, and as recently as just this past Sunday afternoon, I have been in awe of how far he can hit a baseball.  Last night, however,  truly encapsulated the Conundrum that is Pedro Alvarez:  Over the course of 162 games, he will hit a lot of home runs, but when it comes down to any one specific game, he is far more likely to do what he did last night - strike out three times - than he is to launch one on the river walk.

I am sure that I will be writing a lot more about Pedro over the course of the off-season that started at about 11:00 last night.

It was certainly a disappointing end last night, but I am going to try, really try, not to let that sour finish mar what was a pretty terrific season for the Pirates.

How many days 'til pitchers and catchers report?

Let's Hear It For The Boys....

Congratulations go out to the following Pittsburgh Pirates selected to play in the All-Star game in Minneapolis next week.

First, the incomparable Andrew McCutchen, who by virtue of being the leading vote getter among all NL outfielders, becomes the first Pirate to start an All-Star Game since Jason Bay in 2005.

 McCutchen is having a superb season as a followup to last year's MVP season.  In fact, this is the fourth consecutive All-Star team to which McCutchen has been named.  You know what other Pirates were selected to play in four straight All-Star Games?  

Ralph Kiner and Roberto Clemente. 

That's it.  That's the list.

Pitcher Tony Watson, he of the 5-0 W/L, and 0.89 ERA has also been deservedly named to the squad.  There was a time when middle relievers never would have been considered for a spot on an All-Star team, but with the way the game has evolved, and the major role played by "set up men", then there can be no question as to Watson's qualifications.






But the real "feel good" story of the make up of this All-Star team is the inclusion of Josh Harrison, the J-Hey Kid, on the team.

Derided by many, including Yours Truly, as the quintessential "25th guy" on the roster, there can be no denying the important role that Harrison has played for the Pirates in 2014.  While Jose Tababta and Travis Snider struggled in right field (before the Polanco call up), Clint Hurdle, in a seemingly desperate move, put Harrison in right and both he and the team took off from there.  He is currently at .298 on the season with 5 HR, 25 RBI, 33 Runs, and a .788 OPS, and the Pirates can't keep him out of the line-up in one of four different positions.

He has been a real spark plug for the team.  Will water eventually seek it's own level with Harrison?  Maybe,  but until then, the Pirates need to keep riding him, and he has most definitely earned something that can never be taken away from him: He is a Major League All-Star.

One down note is that Neil Walker did not make the All-Star team. I am guessing that the stint on the DL hurt Walker's chances.  Too bad, because he is having a year worthy of being in Minneapolis for the game.

Way to go, Cutch, Tony, and J-Hey!!