Official Game Thread - 7/7 - Bucs vs Mets

[Wildwoodcoach]

Pirates fans: "Champman sux! He's washed up! Want him gone! Waste of money!"

Also Pirates fans: "They won't get anything good in return like always."

With everything that's already talked about, and I missed the post game show with Hawthorn so don't know if it was brought up there either. Chapman was at a pitch count he hadn't been at since he was with the Cubs.

Why then, wasn't Nicolas brought in to face Lindor? Lindor is a switch hitter, I get that. But it was the pitch count.

FWIW ( and I will mention this with a caveat about The Wizard mentioning how you can't blame the officials), if Chapman had been given the same strike zone Manaea was getting, the Pirates win this game.

I agree about the umpires and Manaea

[JollyRoger8]

For the seat watchers: 96,193 this weekend.

Because there are two distinct groups of seat watchers among the yinzers:
1. Those who complain that the stands aren't full enough, and we have terrible fans who won't go
2. Those who complain anyone goes to games to enrich Bob, and we have terrible fans who do go

I was hoping for 100,000 but 93,000 for 3 games is very good

The Pirates were playing a critical series against one of the teams they are battling for a wild card. Friday and Saturday had 2 of the biggest promotional giveaways of the season. On top of that Skenes was pitching on Friday. Plus the weather was good. A 13,000 drop off for Sunday was disappointing. The Pirates are 25th in attendance averaging 21,000. Cincinnati and Washington are no bigger than Pittsburgh with teams that are playing on the same level as the Pirates are averaging over 25,000
The Pirates are a young team with a very exciting starting pitching trio.
I get it that the Bucs have not won a division title since 1992 and have only made 3 very brief playoff appearances in those 32 years.
I get the anger at Nutting as I am one of those that criticizes him regularly. Although attendance is up slightly, I just feel that it should be higher this year.

[Doc]

For the seat watchers: 96,193 this weekend.

Because there are two distinct groups of seat watchers among the yinzers:
1. Those who complain that the stands aren't full enough, and we have terrible fans who won't go
2. Those who complain anyone goes to games to enrich Bob, and we have terrible fans who do go

I was hoping for 100,000 but 93,000 for 3 games is very good

The Pirates were playing a critical series against one of the teams they are battling for a wild card. Friday and Saturday had 2 of the biggest promotional giveaways of the season. On top of that Skenes was pitching on Friday. Plus the weather was good. A 13,000 drop off for Sunday was disappointing. The Pirates are 25th in attendance averaging 21,000. Cincinnati and Washington are no bigger than Pittsburgh with teams that are playing on the same level as the Pirates are averaging over 25,000
The Pirates are a young team with a very exciting starting pitching trio.
I get it that the Bucs have not won a division title since 1992 and have only made 3 very brief playoff appearances in those 32 years.
I get the anger at Nutting as I am one of those that criticizes him regularly. Although attendance is up slightly, I just feel that it should be higher this year.

". . . and have only made 3 very brief playoff appearances in those 32 years."

Reading those words makes me pause to think just how really awful it's been, and continues to be, for us Pirates fans. This will be our 46th year of not going to a World Series. 46! That's becoming historic in terms of futility.

[Bobster]

For the seat watchers: 96,193 this weekend.

Because there are two distinct groups of seat watchers among the yinzers:
1. Those who complain that the stands aren't full enough, and we have terrible fans who won't go
2. Those who complain anyone goes to games to enrich Bob, and we have terrible fans who do go

I was hoping for 100,000 but 93,000 for 3 games is very good

The Pirates were playing a critical series against one of the teams they are battling for a wild card. Friday and Saturday had 2 of the biggest promotional giveaways of the season. On top of that Skenes was pitching on Friday. Plus the weather was good. A 13,000 drop off for Sunday was disappointing. The Pirates are 25th in attendance averaging 21,000. Cincinnati and Washington are no bigger than Pittsburgh with teams that are playing on the same level as the Pirates are averaging over 25,000
The Pirates are a young team with a very exciting starting pitching trio.
I get it that the Bucs have not won a division title since 1992 and have only made 3 very brief playoff appearances in those 32 years.
I get the anger at Nutting as I am one of those that criticizes him regularly. Although attendance is up slightly, I just feel that it should be higher this year.

There are many different reasons for attending games. Some enjoy the ballpark experience. Some enjoy watching the game of baseball. Some enjoy the outing with friends and/or family. Some want to watch particular players. Some want fireworks or giveaways. And some love the atmosphere of a pennant chase.

There's no wrong reason for attending games. But I think the Pirates draw most of their fans from those first 5 categories but not so many from the last. Fans don't believe in the team's chances because of the lack of support from Nutting and the inaction from Cherington. Fans have endured this for so long that no one believes the preseason hype about hopeful expectations. And the GM's comments about "waiting for internal improvements" sounds a lot like "this is the team; take it or leave it."

And I don't buy the idea that staying away from the ballpark teaches Nutting a lesson. In 2015 they had an outstanding team and set the franchise attendance record. It didn't matter. The following year the team began to deteriorate with dumpster dive additions like Jaso and Vogelsong. Payroll began to decline as did the talent on the roster. So attendance declined. This doesn't seem to have bothered Nutting. The team doesn't change its ways. The operation is profitable without great attendance because the payroll is low and there are various sources of revenue.

What could have been seen as "a critical series against one of the teams they are battling for a wild card" didn't generate as much attendance as it would have if fans believed the Pirates were serious contenders. But the reality is that they are below .500 and only "battling for a WC spot" because there are now enough WC teams (3) that even teams below .500 are not too far away from that 3rd spot. But there are currently 3 other teams with winning records in the WC hunt, 2 more at .500 and 1 more that's closer to .500 than the Pirates. All things considered, I think attendance is respectable. If they want to get it to a higher level, they need to be legitimate contenders instead of trying to sell fans on the idea that "we may have a losing record but we're not out of it."

[bucs607179]

Saw that the Bucs have best ERA in all of baseball since June 1st.