Official Game Thread - 9/14 - Bucs vs Royals

[Possum]

Royals

1 DH Tommy Pham R
2 SS Bobby Witt R
3 1B S. Perez R
4 2B M. Massey L
5 C F. Fermin R
6 LF MJ Melendez L
7 RF Adam Frazier L
8 3B M. Garcia R
9 CF Kyle Isbel L
SP Michael Wacha R

Bucs

1 SS I. Kiner-Falefa R
2 LF B. Reynolds S
3 CF Oneil Cruz L
4 DH A. McCutchen R
5 2B N. Gonzales R
6 RF B. De La Cruz R
7 C Y. Grandal S
8 3B Jared Triolo R
9 1B Billy Cook R
SP Mitch Keller R

Why bother even playing the game? Shelty & GMBC don't have a clue about the rest of this season and 2025. It's up to Nutting to clean the house. If he wants his legacy to be one of losing year after year he would be smart to do that.

[Doc]

Possum, according to Nutting’s scorecard, his financial statement, he’s not losing. The organization is profitable, with little risk, and its value continues to rise. That’s Priority #1. Not winning on the field? Who cares? Always refer to Priority #1. The man has a big time grift going and it’s not going to stop anytime soon.

[Bobster]

Possum, according to Nutting’s scorecard, his financial statement, he’s not losing. The organization is profitable, with little risk, and its value continues to rise. That’s Priority #1. Not winning on the field? Who cares? Always refer to Priority #1. The man has a big time grift going and it’s not going to stop anytime soon.

Sad but true. Nutting has the legacy he wants: successful businessman. He bought a very profitable sports team. The team and the sport are irrelevant. The profits put him where he wants to be in the business world. Occasionally, he has to appease his consumers with an infrequent interview in which he lies about wanting to win or even making an obligatory firing and hiring to further the façade of caring. But then it’s business as usual and the only thing he cares about is profit.

[Wildwoodcoach]

You will have to excuse me if I don't get excited about today's game.
The Back Yard Brawl and some other good college games take precedent over
a lousy baseball team.

[mouse]

Of late, Keller has not looked sharp. He seems to give up a lot of hard-hit balls.

[Surgnbuck]

I thought BDLC was jogging it out of the box in the bottom of the 8th, but I was wrong, shame on me. I just didn't realize he was that slow!

Pirates get a crew chief review to overturn a call, having lost their challenge earlier. Be great if they could somehow rally from this with the opportunity.

Keller was okay today, defense didn't help. Certainly, as has been the case lately, the Pirates have pitched well enough to win, they have shown nothing offensively going back to the Nats series.

Ortiz was positively hosed last night, as that huge inning all resulted after he not just once, but twice had guys struck out looking on pitches not on the line, but well inside the box. It was an absolute travesty. It bothers me that no mention of that comes from fans and from the post game show, the fill in for Zangrilli. That guy is just a hater anyhow.

Not that it likely changes the outcome of the game, but it certainly changes the perception of Ortiz, because he actually pitched okay yesterday too. It's funny, if Keller/Ortiz/Jones/Skenes/Falter don't toss shutout or one run ball, people make comments as if they're all just ordinary.

[Surgnbuck]

Bases loaded, one out in the bottom of the 8th. Pirates still don't quit. But it's clear that offensively, they need to fix things, and it's quite easy to see what they have to do.

They either need to make more contact, run more, and manufacture runs, or put the ball over the fence. Just like my criticism of last years team, it's no different this season. They strike out way too much, don't get on base often enough, don't run as often as they should, for a team that doesn't have much punch.

[Surgnbuck]

4 pitch walk for Bednar, who doesn't even look over before delivering his next pitch and the runner practically can walk into second.

I really hope next season we see the old Renegade back. He's never been right the entire season, and it all goes back to the injury in the spring.

Third base stolen. Another walk

[Surgnbuck]

Second stolen. Three stolen bases in the inning, going to make Bart's numbers look bad but he hasn't had a chance.

Royals 6-6 in stolen bases today

[Surgnbuck]

Strike out, then with 3-1 count they IBB Witt.

Bases loaded one out, on three walks. Talk about how strange an inning is where there are three stolen bases, three walks, and no runs have been plated.