Friday, August 30, 2013

Liriano continues mastery of the Cardinals, as Pirates move into tie for first place

The Pirates moved into a tie for first place with St. Louis, Friday night, thanks to another masterful performance by Francisco Liriano, who pitched eight shut-out innings in a 5-0 victory the Cardinals at PNC Park.

Liriano improved to 15-6--including 4-0 against the Cardinals--and continues to make a strong case for himself as a National League Cy Young candidate.

Pirates first baseman Garrett Jones was the offensive star, going three for four--including a home run and a double--and drove in four runs.  Jones came into  the game batting just .119 in August, and if he can get hot down the stretch, it could bode well for Pittsburgh's chances in the tight National League Central race.

The Pirates are now just four wins shy of clinching their first winning season since 1992. Also, with just 28 games remaining in the regular and an 8.5 game lead for the NL's second wild card spot, they're also closing in hard on their first playoff berth since that same season.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Pirates fans can breathe again......at least for now

As far as stressful sports weeks are concerned, last week's was pretty darn stressful for Pirates fans. After winning nine of 11 games during a homestand that overlapped the end of July and the beginning of August--including four of five over the Cardinals--Pittsburgh dropped five games on a six game road swing through Colorado and St. Louis--including two extra inning losses to the Cardinals.

One of those losses to St. Louis was almost the direct result of Pirates outfielder Starle Marte's inability to snag an easy pop fly with one away in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1 with the team ahead, 3-2.

After the game, many Pirates fans were beside themselves (including Yours truly), and since it was August, a third straight epic collapse was feared.

During a short three-game homestand last weekend, Pittsburgh had a chance to put some distance between itself and a Diamondbacks team that was the only real threat to its playoff chances. While Arizona didn't put a huge dent in the Pirates' large wild card lead, the D-Backs did gain a game in the standings after taking two of three--including a 16-inning loss on Sunday in-which Pittsburgh failed to score a single run over the final 13 innings.

You'd have to forgive most Pirates fans if they were a little worried at the onset of the team's current seven-game swing through San Diego and San Francisco. After all, it was almost a year ago to the day that Pittsburgh vanquished the Cardinals in a 19-inning marathon, only to get swept by the Padres at Petco Park right after that.

In fact, following the victory over St. Louis on August 19th of last year, the Pirates only won 12 games the rest of the way.

If such a slide came about after what should have been a confidence boosting victory over the World Series Champions a year ago, what would happen after three extra inning losses in five days?

The current answer is: "You're overreacting, Tony!"

Unlike the previous two seasons, when the sub-.500 Padres were the villains that starred in an unsatisfactory final chapter in what should have been a "feel good" baseball story, the Pirates have played like a team with the second best record in baseball and have taken the first two games in San Diego by a combined score of 11-2.

The Pirates two best pitchers, Francisco Liriano and A.J. Burnett, have pitched a combined 14 innings and have yielded only one run. And in Tuesday night's game, Pittsburgh's bats came to life and scored eight runs after not posting more than six runs in a game since July 30th.

During their modest two game winning streak, the Pirates have managed to pick up a game in the wild card standings on Arizona, who lost to the Reds, Monday night and have gained a game each on St. Louis and Cincinnati, who each lost Tuesday night and are a little further in the Pirates National League Central rear-view mirror.

Does this mean the Pirates are out of the woods, and it will be smooth sailing the rest of the way? Heck no. But maybe, just maybe there won't be a monumental collapse, after all.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Pirates end four-game losing skid, knock off Cardinals, behind masterful performance by Liriano

Francisco Liriano started the skid by giving up 10 rounds in only two innings, last Friday night in a 10-1 loss in Colorado, and he ended it, Wednesday night, by pitching his best (and maybe more important) game of the season. Only needing 94 pitches, Liriano pitched a complete game, as the Pirates ended their four-game losing streak with a 5-1 victory in St. Louis.

Pedro Alvarez (29) and Garrett Jones (11) got things going for Pittsburgh in the first inning by smacking solo home runs, and Starling Marte plated two in the fourth inning with a double to give Liriano all the cushion he would need.

The victory was much-needed for the Pirates, one night after losing in 14 innings. Leading 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, left fielder Marte dropped an easy pop fly, resulting in a two-base error and eventual game-tying hit with two away.

After two straight end-of-season meltdowns, a loss like the one to the Cardinals could have been hard to come back from. However, maybe this Pittsburgh team really is different.

We shall see.

It is worth noting that the Pirates participated in memorable marathon clashes in each of the previous two seasons. In 2011, Pittsburgh lost a 19-inning affair to the Braves after Jerry Meals blew a call at home plate. From there, the Pirates would go on to lose 43 of 62 down the stretch to finish completely out of the race at 72-90.

Last August, Pittsburgh got the better end of a 19-inning affair, this time against the Cardinals, but it still wasn't enough to spur the team to victory, as the Pirates would suffer a second-straight collapse and a 20th straight losing season.

So, maybe they're right when they say there's no such thing as momentum in baseball.

All I know is the Pirates are 71-48 and gave me a nice sigh of relief.

Monday, August 12, 2013

The Pirates drop third straight in Colorado, swept away by the Rockies

I knew it would happen eventually. Last week, after the Pirates' fourth straight victory, my uncle and I were talking online, and he said, "Man, they just keep winning and winning." Even though Pittsburgh won the next day, I just knew a slide was coming in the very near-future.

Sure enough, the Rockies came along to prove my suspicions.

The Pirates traveled to Colorado this weekend to take on a Rockies' team that was below .500 and well out of the wild-card discussions. Unfortunately, they still have a lot of fight in them (at least over the weekend) and swept Pittsburgh in three straight games, with each loss being more frustrating than the last.

Friday night, behind Cy Young candidate Francisco Liriano, the Pirates were pounded, 10-1, and utility man Josh Harrison was brought in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Saturday night,  behind ace A.J. Burnett, the Pirates took a 3-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning but found themselves down 6-3 by the time they batted in the top of the seventh, eventually losing, 6-4.

Sunday afternoon's loss was the most frustrating. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, behind Pedro Alvarez's 28th home run, Pittsburgh did nothing on offense the rest of the way. And after a critical error by Alvarez late in the game, the Pirates were trailing, 3-2, heading to the top of the ninth.

Neil Walker singled to start the inning, and after a strike out to Russell Martin, Tony Sanchez doubled to right-center. Walker was held at third, but the Pirates still had runners on second and third with one away.

But if you've been paying attention to the 2013 club, you'd know that its biggest Achilles heel is scoring runs, and the biggest symptom is a lack of production with runners in scoring position. In true form, Jordy Mercer lined out to third, and then Alex Presley ended things by weakly popping out to third.

It was a frustrating weekend, but the good news is the Pirates only lost a game in the standings to St. Louis, who lost two of three to the Cubs over the weekend.

The Diamondbacks, the only real threat right now to Pittsburgh's chances of making the playoffs, lost two of three to the Mets and are still 10 1/2 games back for the second wild card.

So, are Pirates fans beginning to panic? I'm sure they are. But I'm sure they were also panicking after the six of eight slide just before the All-Star break and the three of four slide in the days leading up to the epic five game series against the Cardinals.

Two weeks ago, the Pirates won their fourth straight game to improve to 23 games over .500--the first time they were that many games over .500 at that point in the summer since 1972. This weekend, Pittsburgh dropped three games to fall back to 23 above .500.

I think the Pirates will be fine.

Sidney Crosby gets superstar treatment at DMV, and people care way more than they should

In a story that could only make national (or since the NHL is God in Canada, sort of international) news in 2013 is the one involving Penguins superstar center Sidney Crosby's preferential treatment when he went to the DMV to get his license renewed.

Upon arriving at the DMV, he was quickly ushered to the front of the line. According to the link provided in the first paragraph, it was DMV supervisors who determined that it was the best course of action as to not create delays with people bothering Crosby for autographs and pictures, and not some diva-like demand by Crosby, himself.

In fact, it also states quite clearly that this is standard policy for most celebrities, so my guess is the only people reacting negatively to Crosby are the people who either didn't read the story or already hate him.

I think a little perspective is needed in this instance. Crosby didn't cut to the front of the line at Presby's emergency room. He didn't call up a Toys R Us and demand that every toy in the store be taken off the shelf so he could buy them and deprive every little kid in the neighborhood presents for Christmas.

You know what else Crosby didn't do? He didn't utter a racial slur at a Kenny Chensey concert. He isn't awaiting trial for the murder of Odin Lloyd. He didn't lie about using performance enhancing drugs and then fess up when he realized he had no other alternative.

Sidney Crosby is a good dude, and if your car is stuck in snow at the airport, he may just help shovel it out.

My, how quickly people forget.

Monday, August 5, 2013

My nightmare scenario about the Pirates clinching their first playoff spot in 21 seasons

The Pirates are currently in first place by two games over St. Louis in the National League Central Division. Considering the Cardinals have the second best record in baseball and have scored 46 runs in their past five games (or seven more than Pittsburgh did in June), it's safe to say the race for the division title could very-well come down to the last day of the regular season.

Thankfully, Major League Baseball has added four wild card entrants to the postseason mix over the course of the past 18 seasons (two in each league), and this has assured that teams who have the second or third best record in their league don't miss the postseason simply because of being in a loaded division.

As a fan of a team that hasn't given me much to cheer for during most of the past 20 years, I'm certainly thankful for a backup postseason plan in 2013, just in-case the Cardinals keep averaging nine runs a game the rest of the year.

Speaking of that backup plan. The Pirates currently hold an 11 game lead for the second National League wild-card spot--the biggest lead of any postseason consequence since the last day of the 1991 season, when Pittsburgh finished 14 games atop the National League East. I might be knocking on wood as I type this, but the idea of experiencing the playoffs for the first time since 1992 is becoming an almost "can't miss" possibility.

I have tickets to the last home game of the regular season on September 22nd, and I've had dreams of witnessing a division championship dancing in my head (in my dream, I catch Pedro Alvarez's Central-clinching home run and then sell it off for millions). That certainly would be epic and something I'd always remember, but with the race against St. Louis figuring to come down to the final days, it's hard to believe that the Pirates could win the division with six games left in the regular season.

As for clinching a postseason spot of any kind, however, with only 51 games to go and an 11 game lead, that is very tangible, and could happen well before the final home game.

In 2012, the Braves clinched the NL's top wild card spot on September 25th, or about a week before the end of the regular season, which ended on October 3rd. With Pittsburgh's current lead, and if the team can keep up the pace it's been on since the seventh game of the season (a .628 winning percentage), clinching one of the two wild-card spots could come as early as the mid-point of September.

That would be awesome, but what if that's all the Pirates get  to celebrate in 2013? It's been 21 years since our favorite baseball team has been able to enjoy a postseason berth. To borrow from what Joey Porter said following Super Bowl XL, I want the bells and whistles; I want the parade--I guess a parade might be too much to ask for, but I do want the hats and t-shirts. Yes, that's right, you might be surprised to know that MLB handed out "Playoffs" hats and t-shirts to 2012's four wild-card clinching teams, even though the playoffs would only be "one and done" for two of them.

Did you click on the "Playoffs" link? Did you see the joy and the champagne in Oakland's clubhouse? I want that for the Pirates. I don't know if there was more champagne in the A's clubhouse a couple days later when they actually clinched the AL West, but the point is they got to celebrate at least one time.

My biggest fear is seeing the Pirates clinch their first postseason berth in 21 seasons on a day off, or God forbid, after a loss.

And look who's coming to PNC Park for a series in mid-September: San Diego. We all know what the Padres do to the Pirates in late-summer, they beat the living hell out of them.

I can just see the headline now: "Despite the 17-0 loss to San Diego, Pirates clinch first playoff spot since '92."

Would there be a celebration? Maybe. But more than likely, Hurdle would say something like, "We have bigger fish to fry," and then the guys would go out for sushi, or whatever.

There would be no celebratory scrum in the middle of PNC's diamond. There would be no hats and shirts covered in champagne.

What if those fish don't get fried, the Pirates don't actually clinch the division, and they go on to lose the "crap-shoot" NLDS play-in game?

I've been waiting for over two decades to see something.Even if it's only a bell and not a whistle, I want to ring that bell.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Burnett goes the distance, Pirates win Sunday to take weekend series against the Rockies

Now that's how you play against an inferior opponent. A.J. Burnett pitched a complete game, as the Pirates defeated Colorado, 5-1, Sunday afternoon, to take the rubber game of a three game weekend series at PNC Park.

It was Burnett's first complete game of 2013, and the Pirates second of the season (Francisco Liriano pitched a complete game in a 6-2 victory at Wrigley Field, in early July.

After Pittsburgh scored two runs in the first three innings on an RBI single by Andrew McCutchen and a sacrifice fly by Garrett Jones, catcher Russell Martin hit a three run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to give Burnett more cushion than he would need.

Burnett, a hard-luck pitcher this season after tallying 16 victories in 2012, improved to 5-7 with the win and lowered his ERA to 2.73.

After taking the first four games of a very memorable five-game home series against the Cardinals during the week, the Pirates fell to St. Louis, 13-0, Thursday night and then dropped the first game against the Rockies, Friday evening.

However, Liriano pitched seven solid innings, Saturday night, in a 5-2 victory, and Burnett did him even better on Sunday afternoon.

The Cardinals took two of three in Cincinnati over the week, so the Pirates maintained the one and a half game lead they built by taking four of five from St. Louis, earlier in the week.

Even though the Pirates are currently in first place in the the National League Central Division, it is worth noting that they also have an 11 game lead for the second Wild Card spot--their largest lead of any postseason importance since they finished the 1991 season 14 games up in the National League East.

The Pirates are off Monday, before opening a three game series against the Marlins, Tuesday night.


Thursday, August 1, 2013

Its nice to finally have a baseball team to stand up and fight for the fans

Being a fan of the Pirates over the past 20 seasons wasn't easy. In fact, it felt quite hopeless. From the ineptitude of the front office, to the disparity in financial resources, I didn't even feel like watching or paying attention to baseball, outside of the occasional Buccos game.

Nationally, Pirates fans were often reminded that it was all about the Yankees and Red Sox (the greatest rivalry in all of baseball, don't you know?), and our team wasn't exactly a VIP. Oh sure, we were at the party, but usually in the same sense that a butler is at a party--in other words, it was easy to feel totally alienated and out-of-touch if you called yourself a Pirates fan.

The home team certainly didn't help in that regard, especially with "acquisitions" like Derek Bell and Jeromy Burnitz.

Speaking of that hopeless feeling. We certainly had that as we watched Pittsburgh take on the cream of the crop and be totally embarrassed and owned by the other team's superstar. How many home runs did Albert Pujols hit against the Buccos when he was with St. Louis? Certainly enough to be forever ingrained in our minds.

It's a vulnerable feeling when your favorite baseball team is a laughingstock. Every personnel move seems like a disaster. Every quote from the front-office makes headline news, but for all the wrong reasons.

Today, things feel a lot different for me. These new and improved Pirates are certainly capable of ending that hopeless feeling, and they have a ton of fight in them.

We have a veteran pitcher in A.J. Burnett who will not only compete every time he's on the mound and so do rather effectively, he'll argue with the other team, the umpires and even his own manager. What does arguing and  telling an opposing player to "sit the bleep down" have  to do with anything  tangible? Not much. But it's sure nice to have a player that's been around the block and isn't intimidated by the spotlight.

What is very tangible is an entire pitching staff that is capable of silencing the likes of a Pujols on a rather consistent basis.

The Pirates also have a superstar of their own in Andrew McCutchen, a player who, when he's on, he's as good an all-around player as anyone in the major leagues, and he's shown that he can carry his team on his back when he's at the top of his game.

And then, of course, there's Pedro Alvarez, a home run weapon, capable of hitting a baseball out of any stadium--and I almost mean that literally. Plus, he's had great success against two of the Pirates biggest tormentors in recent years, the Brewers and Cardinals, and has a combined 21 home runs in a little under three seasons.

Yes, it's certainly great to have a baseball team quite capable of standing toe-to-toe with anyone.

I don't feel so hopeless, these days. In fact, I feel like a VIP.