2017 Pittsburgh Pirates

[Mister Bee]

The ship is taking serious water! We better get things figured out quick or even a WC chance will be a struggle this year.

I agree! Injuries to Cervalli, not due back to July with no real backup to replace him AND Cole with tricep tightness but listed as day to day but in all reality, he will be going to the DL, this doesn't look good.

The bullpen, except for Melancon, has been uneven this year and they were a strong point the past several years. Maybe we are trying to get lightening in a bottle to many times and giving pitching coach Ray Searage too many projects to work on as our starting pitching is spotty at best.

Hitting has improved this year, leading the NL at this point but team leader McCutchen needs to start performing better at the plate. One year he is having knee problems, now it is his thumb. If you want to be the face of the team then you need to start performing year around and not just picking it up from June thru late August. I am a little frustrated with him at this point. Polanco and Marte have improved dramatically at the plate and lets hope that this is a permanent improvement. Harrison and Mercer need to be more even at the plate. Friese, Jaso and Joyce have been solid pickups but we ARE missing Walker's bat. Kang has recovered nicely from his injury last year and appears to be solid at the plate and in the field.

I thought that the Pirates management team had came to the conclusion that to be contenders year to year you would have to spend some money. I think we are still a small money team that continues to look for diamonds in the rough and pay low wages. Point in case, Neil Walker.

IMHO opinion, it is too early for Taillon to make the move to MLB but he didn't do bad in his debut the other night. With Cole possibly heading towards surgery, Taillon may be moved up for the rest of the year.

This current stretch of games vs some very good teams in the next few weeks will tell us if we are going to be buyers or sellers (like we have in the past) when the trade deadline nears. Hopefully, we will go out and pick up some good players, if only for this season, to make a serious push for the playoffs.

As of right now, our only hope is to secure a wildcard berth, hopefully a home game. Everybody in the NL Central is playing for 2nd place as the Cubs appear to be the real deal this year so I really think that our chances at catching the Cubs are ZERO.

Hurdle better start pressing the right buttons and please stop tinkering with the lineup. the only thing we have set from day to day is our outfield, Marte LF, McCutchen CF and Polanco RF. The infield is a constant state of flux. I think the everyday infield should be Kang 3B, Mercer SS, Harrison 2B and Friese 1B (simply for his veteran leadership and timely hitting). You can spot start the other guys as needed.

Just my honest opinion.

Big road trip this week with 3 each vs the Mets and Cubs. Going 3-3 is a must and 4-2 or better would be manna from heaven.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Bucs 4 Mets 0

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

We needed a shot in the arm and we got it from rookie pitcher Jameson Taillon. Brought back up from the minors after Cole went on the DL, Taillon is making a huge impression and should have just pitched himself into the starting rotation after this past week.

Taillon line stat last night...8IP 0R 2H 1BB 5K on just 91 pitches. He had a no hitter thru 6. Lost it on the first batter of the 7th and then promptly got a DP to erase the runner. Watson came out of the pen to close out the 9th and break the Buccos losing skid.

Bucco bats provided support as both Kang and Marte belted 2 run blasts.

If you think Taillon's success was because the Mets had never seen him before, he made his MLB debut last Wednesday vs the Mets and went 6IP 3R 6H 2BB 6K on 91 pitches. So in 2 starts he is 1-0, 14IP 3R 8H 3BB 11K and an ERA of 1.93.

Hopefully, Cole's tricep problem can be cured with a stint of the 15DL. Our other starting pitchers need to step up and the bullpen needs to return to it's old ways. Offensively, we are hitting better but can do better with runners in scoring position. McCutchen needs to get it going, we need him. Going 0-4 last night and hitting .237 isn't getting it.

Game 2 has the Bucs sending out Locke (5-4, 5.38) to face Snydergaard (6-2, 2.00). Locke needs to put his last appearance behind him and pitch like he did the previous 4 starts.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Bucs 1 Giants 0

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

After a terrible road trip vs the Mets and Cubs where the Bucs went 1-5, we get an improbable win against one of the best pitchers in baseball, Bumgardener, and the hottest team in MLB.

Bumgardener got the complete game loss as his only mistake was a solo Bucco blast by Kratz.

Locke, go figure this cat out, was outstanding for the Bucs after 2 terrible starts, going 6 2/3 with the shark tank looking like it's old self and closing out the win.

Not much offense n this game as it was all pitching. Game time 2 HR 24 mins.

Game 2 doesn't get any easier for the Bucs as they send out Boscan (1-0, 2.92) to face Cueto (10-1, 2.10).

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Bucs drop the final 3 vs the Giants.

Since May 13th, we have lost 20 of our last 26 games and are now 5 games under .500 and are 14.5 back of the NL Central leading Cubs.

Injuries have taken their toll but mainly we have the 5th highest ERA in MLB at 4.57. A once solid pitching staff has fallen on hard times. Our starting pitchers are not delivering 1st pitch strikes and the bullpen, save for closer Melancon, has been terrible.

Again I say that maybe Bucco management is trying to bring in to many pitchers that need their careers revived than need be.

While the offense is better this year than last year, we still are having problems delivering key hits with runners on base. McCutchen has been awful. No All-star votes from me this year for him. He is the captain of the team and the continual complaining about injuries is getting old. Clemente always complained about aches and pains but he delivered.

The Dodgers come to town for a 4 game set and we need to take 3 out of the 4 before we head out on our last road swing before the All-star break and build some positive vibes. 2 @ Seattle, 3 @ Oakland and 4 @ St Louis before coming home for 3 vs the Cubs and then the break. The only way to slowly climb back into the race is to start winning each series.

If we continue to play below .500 ball up to the All-star break I look for the Pirates to revert to their old ways and possible dump salary by trading away players and hope for something better next year. In 2014 we were 3 games below .500 (5 now) and bounced back to gain a wildcard spot. Hopefully, we can do that again this year.

Game 1 has us sending out rookie Tallion (1-1, 3.50) to face a AAA call up Nick Tepesch who isn't on their 40 man roster. We don't usually fair well when facing a pitcher for the first time so this will be a challenge. Dodgers are on a roll having won 6 straight and 9 of their last 10.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Bucs 8 Dodgers 6

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

Buccos end the Dodgers 6 game winning streak while doing the same to their 3 game losing streak.

Pirate starter Taillon was unimpressive going 4IP+ 4R 8H 1BB 2K and was spotted a 4-0 lead after 2 innings. Hughes and Lobstein come in in relief and go 1.1 IP 4H and 2R. Luckily, Feliz, Watson and Melancon go 3 2/3 and face the minimum number of batters to finish it off and get the Bucco win.

Offensively, the Bucs get homers from Kang and Joyce (who also went 3-4) and some timely hitting for once, 4-11 WISP, to offset a shaky front-end pitching performance.

Game 2 has the Bucs sending out Locke (6-5, 5.44) to face Maede (6-4, 2.64). Hopefully, the Jeff Locke who throws first pitch strikes will show up and give us some good innings.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Bucs 6 Dodgers 1

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

Bucs starter Locke (the one who throws first pitch strikes) was perfect thru 5 innings and went 7IP 1R 5H 0BB 3K to get the win and the shark tank finished it out with 2IP 3H 0R 0BB 3K.

Bucco bats have struggled this year to score runs and even though they only managed 5 hits, 3 of them were home runs as McCutchen hit a solo shot and a 3 run shot along with Mercer's 2 run blast to give the Locke plenty of run support.

Dodgers ended a 14 game streak in which they had at least 1 home run in each game.

It only gets tougher as game 3 has the Pirates bringing up Chad Kuhl from AAA (6-2, 2.58 in 14 starts) to make a spot start and facing Clayton Kershaw (11-1, 1.57) in another national tv broadcast.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Bucs 4 Dodgers 3

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

AAA call up Chad Kuhl gives the Bucs 5 effective innings, 3R 4H 4BB 5K, to earn his first MLB win in his MLB debut on a spot start for the injured Cole.

Bucco offense touches up Dodger starter Kershaw for 4 runs on 9 hits, doing all the damage in the second inning when Freese hits a bases loaded double.

The shark tank was outstanding for the Pirates as 3 pitchers throw 4IP 0R 0H 0BB 2K to secure the win for Kuhl. Melancon gets his 22nd save on just 9 pitches in the 9th. Since opening day last year, Melancon leads MLB in saves.

Lets also give a tip of the cap to Adam Frazier, another AAA call up for the Bucs, who since his MLB debut on Friday night has gone 3-6 with 1 RBI and gives the Bucs another option off the bench.

Bucs go for the rare 4 game sweep today as they send out Lirano (4-7. 5.17) to face Kazmir (5-3, 4.53).

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Dodgers 5 Bucs 4

Bucs score 4 runs in the first for their starter Lirano but he only last 4.1 IP 5R 4H 5BB 3K as the Dodgers comeback to salvage the last game of the series to avoid the sweep.

While winning 3 of the 4 games is great, it is somewhat disappointing that the offense got 4 runs in the first and that wasn't enough. Yes, they could have scored more but you would think having a 4 run lead before you even take the mound would be a huge mental boost.

Lirano continues to have major problems that are now dragging from early May thru the entire month of June. His totals for this month 24.1IP 24R (19 earned) 30H 20BB 25K. He is the type of pitcher that wants you to chase his stuff but batters are becoming more disciplined against him. In his last 10 starts for the Bucs, the team is 2-8 and this goes back to the first week of May so this is serious. I would think that if the starting rotation was in better shape, he could miss a start or 2 to work on some things but that doesn't look like it is going to happen.

Some positives from the 4-4 home stand....we bounced back from a 1-3 series vs the Giants to go 3-1 vs the Dodgers. We picked up a couple of games on the Cubs and in the wildcard standings. A good debut for Chad Kuhl. McCutchen is starting to show some life as he went 6-22 with 2 home runs, double and 4 RBI so his average a crept up to .243 but it is still well below his lifetime average of .294. The shark tank, while still shaky at times, appears to be settling down, at least for most of the members as we did blow a big lead in game 3 vs the Giants which should have been a win.

Last road trip prior to the All-star break starts tonight with 2 vs Seattle. They are similar to us and are struggling going 3-7 in their last 10 games while we are 4-6. We need at least a split and a game 1 win makes it easier.

Game 1 we send out Niese (6-5, 4.93). He has given 4 or more runs in his last 3 starts to face Urias (0-2, 4.33).

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Black Panther]

"You Can Kiss It Good Bye"! Bucs sweep the A's! Now head to stl. for a big four game series this week...

[Mister Bee]

"You Can Kiss It Good Bye"! Bucs sweep the A's! Now head to stl. for a big four game series this week...

And, we came from behind in all 3 games!

We need to go at least 4-3 vs the Cards and Cubs to hold our momentum going into the All-star break.

Game 1 the Bucs send out Niese (6-6, 5.07) to face Martinez (7-5, 2.83). Both teams are coming off winning their weekend series with sweeps and Martinez has been lights out in his last 6 starts even though he has been credited with just 3 wins.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Black Panther]

"You Can Kiss It Good Bye"! Bucs sweep the A's! Now head to stl. for a big four game series this week...

And, we came from behind in all 3 games!

We need to go at least 4-3 vs the Cards and Cubs to hold our momentum going into the All-star break.

Game 1 the Bucs send out Niese (6-6, 5.07) to face Martinez (7-5, 2.83). Both teams are coming off winning their weekend series with sweeps and Martinez has been lights out in his last 6 starts even though he has been credited with just 3 wins.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

I like it...And we came back again today v stl.Polanco with two hr's in the win."How Sweet It Is!"

[Mister Bee]

Game 2 has the Pirates shelving their scheduled starter Taillon to the 15 DL due to shoulder fatigue, like we need another pitcher on the DL, and giving a spot start to another AAA call up.

Lefthander Steven Brault (2-3, 3.00 in 9 minor league starts) takes the hill vs Leake (5-6, 4.13) who has won 8 of his last 9 starts against us.

Bucco bats better be ready and so should the bullpen as I think we will only get around 5 innings from Brault.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Bucs 5 Cards 2

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

Brault gives us just enough in his first MLB start/debut AND collects his first hit in his first at bat.

Bullpen does a great job in relief with 5 scoreless innings. They have given up 1 run in the last 40.1 innings.

Bucco offense does it again as they come from behind for the 5th straight game to gives us our 6th straight win. Everybody is getting into the act and making contributions pitching, hitting and defense right now.

Game 3 and it keeps getting tougher as the Bucs send Locke (8-5, 5.13) to face Garcia (6-6, 3.84). Locke is 2-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 9 career starts vs the Cards and Garcia just shuts us down going 2-1 with an 0.57 ERA in 6 career starts.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Bucs 7 Cards 5

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

Our 7th straight win in a row AND our 6th straight come form behind win. "WE HAD THEM ALL THE WAY!!!"

Bucs give their starter Locke an early 1-0 lead but he can't hold it and only goes 4 innings and exits with us down 5-1. Offense slowly chips away at the lead with some timely hitting and another great performance by the shark tank, the 2nd straight night that they have had to go 5 innings of relief.

Bucs go for the rare 4 game sweep as they send out another rookie pitcher to make his MLB debut but Pirate fans have waited a long time for this one, Tyler Glasnow (7-2, 1.78) will take the hill vs Wainwright (7-5, 4.70). The Cards are 10-3 in his last 13 starts so this will be another hard fought game.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Cards 5 Bucs 1

We started the road trip with a loss and ended it with a loss but in between were 7 wins. 7-2 not a bad record for a road trip.

Cards starter Adam Wainwright was on as the Bucs only managed 1 run on 6 hits so tip your cap to him.

Bucs rookie starter Glasnow, while giving up 4 runs, didn't do a bad job in his MLB debut.

Bucs head home for a 3 game set vs the Cubs before the All-star break. It would be nice to take 2 of the 3 from them.

Game 1 has Liriano taking the mound for the Bucs vs Arrieta. Runs will be hard to come by for the Buccos.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Bucs take 2 of 3 from the Cubs and are now just 7.5 games behind them.

Just a couple of weeks ago we were 14.5 back and 5 games below 500. Now we are 3 games over 500. We got hot and they got cold.

Offense has improved, especially with runners on base. The starting pitching was carrying us for awhile but the bullpen has really stepped it up even though the starting pitching hasn't been very good the last week. So the All-star break should give the shark tank a nice break.

Some good, timely AAA call ups have helped our staff, Tyler Glasnow, Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault gave us some good innings and a look at the future.

Also include utility man Adam Frazier who seems to have earned a longer stay in the majors and future 1st baseman Josh Bell who only got a 3 day call up but made a big impression. Josh will be back for good when the rosters are expanded in September, maybe even sooner. The Bucco farm system, which has earned the title of best in MLB is starting to show some very exciting results.

Staff ace Gerrit Cole is expected back on the hill after the break and Ryan Vogelsong will be back sooner than expected so that will help us out.

Catcher Fransico Crevelli will also return after the break.

GM Neil Huntington said that he expects the Pirates to be buyers before the trade deadline as he is looking for more pieces for our 4th straight run at the post season.

Bucs will be on the road after the break for a short 3 game series vs the NL East leading Washington Nationals on Friday. Neither team has announced it's starting pitchers.

The race for the NL Central crown has turned into a 3 team race and the Cubs don't appear to be a total lock to break the curse of the billy goat just yet.

As always...

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[danicalifornia]

The Cubs will have All Star Dexter Fowler back a couple of days after the break. That will be a big jolt back into the lineup, which hasn't been struggling, unlike the starting pitching, which I think everyone knew wasn't going to stay on pace to be the greatest rotation ever lol

Went to the game yesterday, first time at PNC in over a decade and it did not disappoint. My 2nd favorite stadium behind Wrigley. Besides being around some very dumb fans (Cardinals lost to the Rangers in the NLCS last year as an example) it was an awesome experience. They use the scoreboard about 5827x better than GAB uses theirs.

I think that I'll be heading to more Cub games in Pittsburgh than in Cincinnati from now on. It's worth the extra hour each way, IMO. Good luck to the Pirates in the 2nd half.

[Mister Bee]

Bucs 10 Mariners 1

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER!!!

Bucs starter Gerrit Cole was outstanding in getting the complete game as the Bucs end the homestand 5-3. However, the Bucco bats left alot of runners on base in every game and we could have easily gone 6-2 or 7-1. We have to start producing when we have runners on base and in scoring position. I think in game 1 vs Seattle we were 1-13 WISP. Horrible. Last night's 10-1 win could have and should have been around 16-1. To many times we are getting multiple runners on base with 0 or 1 outs and stranding them.

We need our starting pitchers to start chewing up innings and I mean quality innings to help out the bullpen.

McCutchen is hitting 50 points below his.293 career average but he did go 3-5 last night so lets hope he is out of his season long funk. I was ready to bench him for a couple of games to clear his head if I was the manager.

Freese needs to be in the lineup everyday. Infield or outfield, we need his bat. He hammers lefthanded pitching and did so again last night.

Pirate farm system is rated the best in baseball. A lot of good, young players down there but they are a year or two away from being everyday starters, especially the starting pitching like Glasnow (DL) Kuhl and Tallion. More are coming at nearly every postion. It will be interesting to see if we are buyers or not before the August 1st trading deadline. If we go after anyone it should be an established starting pitcher IMHO.

Bucs start a 6 game road trip, 3 each vs the Brewers and Braves. We need to win every series and sweep a couple to have a chance at catching the divison leading Cubs or securing a wild card spot.

Game 1 vs the Brewers has us sending out rookie Steven Brault to make his 2nd start (4IP 1R 4H 2W 5K) in his first start limited to a pitch count to face fellow rookie Junior Guerra (6-2, 2.85) who went 6IP 2R 3H 3W 6K against us on July 20th. We are a miserable 5-13 the last 2 years in Miller Park. Time to turn the tide.

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[Mister Bee]

Brewers sweep the Pirates right out of Milwaukee for the 3rd straight series.

Bucs look totally lifeless after the Melancon trade was announced.

Bucco management have lowered the Jolly Roger and raised the white flag even though we are only 4 games out of the 2nd wildcard spot.

Pirate fans came now look at the final 59 games of this year as an early jump on spring training for the 2017 season. There will be a constant shuffling of players up and down from the majors to the minors as players are given their chance of having a "cup of coffee" in the majors. Look for many minor leaguers to make starts and pinch hit appearances for the Pirates the final 2 months of the season.

We can only hope that Pirate management and player pride will help us finish above .500 but I have serious reservations that we will.

Once again, we are playing for next year. I can understand the Melancon trade as they have signed him to a 1 year contract every season. This year it was for 9.6 million and he would again be a unrestricted free agent. No way will Pirate brass offer him the expected 12-15 million he will get next season. Their mistake was to sign him to 1 year contracts but that was all about money and the fact that they didn't think he would be as good as he was. One has to wonder what they will do with their ace starter Gerrit Cole as his 1 year contract is up and he is eligible for arbitration after this season.

3 game series at Atlanta starts tonight. Gerrit Cole takes the hill for the Bucs. Hopefully, our players will fight through management"s lack of faith in them and start winning some serious for the fans.

Clint Hurdle would be on a short lease with most other teams but management is writing this season off due to injuries.

Final side note, late season pickup last year starting pitcher J A Happ, who went 7-2 1.86 for us down the stretch, is 14-3 this season for Toronto. We traded for him and let him go as a free agent and the Blue Jays picked him up for 3 years, 36 million. (Thats the same amout we spent on Liriano who we just shipped to Toronto). Boy, we sure could have used Happ but he was just to expensive for us.

As always...

LETS GO BUCS!!!

[danicalifornia]

Hutchison is a flyball pitcher who has had some bad luck, with an extremely high BABIP the last 2 seasons, who is getting out of the AL East could be a major positive for him. I think he has more upside for the Pirates than Nova, but I've never been high on Nova.

I also don't get the white flag waving when there was a serious chance to make another run at a playoff spot, especially since I feel like the Fish and Cards are going to slip and the Mets just aren't good. Lots of PT for the youngsters for sure.