Upcoming road trip...

SteadyFreddy · Post by **SteadyFreddy** » Mon Aug 06, 2018 11:19 am

Nine games 3 in Colorado, 4 in San Fran, and 2 in Minnesota. Gotta go 6-3 I think in these 9 games somehow someway. That would get you to 63-58 and should keep you in the wildcard race with games coming up against the Braves in a few weeks. Something like 4-5 or even 5-4 isn’t going to be good enough on this trip. The Pirates lost two games in the standings this last week and that just can’t happen again. I just don’t trust Hurdle at all after this weekend you can always count on Hurdle to take whatever kind of good momentum this team has and piss on it and do something stupid and screw it all up. He did it this weekend in the Cards series and he will do it again this week at some point on this road trip. Regardless 6-3 needs to happen on this trip or things are going to start becoming tough to overcome as far as the standings go.

GermanTownship · Post by **GermanTownship** » Mon Aug 06, 2018 1:21 pm

6 and 3 would be great. I would even take 5 and 4. I hope Hurdle plays his best players. I doubt it.

Osushawn · Post by **Osushawn** » Mon Aug 06, 2018 1:53 pm

Having Dickerson back should help kick start another run. I will call 7-2

CarolinaBucco · Post by **CarolinaBucco** » Mon Aug 06, 2018 1:55 pm

I think we need 5-4 to stay alive ... barely.

And 5-4 will not be easy.

This team despite playing well for the last month is barely hanging on. They need one more hot streak ... and they need it soon.

Unfortunately Hurdle is probably itching to give Polanco a day off, and Marte a day off.

DemDog · Post by **DemDog** » Mon Aug 06, 2018 2:35 pm

587A69747772757A596E7878741B0 wrote: I think we need 5-4 to stay alive ... barely.

And 5-4 will not be easy.

This team despite playing well for the last month is barely hanging on. They need one more hot streak ... and they need it soon.

Unfortunately Hurdle is probably itching to give Polanco a day off, and Marte a day off.

You're asking way, way to much from S-Rod. Having to cover both CF & RF and go 5-5 and hit for the cycle. ;D

MaineBucs · Post by **MaineBucs** » Mon Aug 06, 2018 5:19 pm

The Pirates' surge was fueled by Dickerson, Marte and Polanco all hitting like madmen in the first 3 slots of the order. It was helped by both Bell and Diaz hitting quite well and occasional contributions from others.

Marte has not been nearly as hot since his return and although it is only 1 game, Dickerson looks like he may take some time to get back into the swing of things. Clearly Freese's and Frazier's contributions have helped, but their efforts mostly have kept the team from falling off a cliff rather than surging to a winning streak.

I have a really bad feeling about this upcoming road trip. Colorado , at home, can be a horror show for any team, and if those games go badly, who knows about the rest of the trip.

Hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. I do, however, concur with others, tonight's line-up better feature all hands on deck, including Frazier over J-Hay at 2nd.

SteadyFreddy · Post by **SteadyFreddy** » Thu Aug 09, 2018 11:17 am

So far 2-1 on this monumental 9 game road trip. I said in the game thread yesterday the Pirates really need to win 5 of these next 6 games in both San Fran and then the two games in Minnesota early next week. Going 5-1 would put them at 64-57 with about 40 games left and that huge 3 game series with the wildcard leading Braves at PNC Park coming up in about 10 days or so. Even going 4-2 in these 6 games puts you at 63-58 which would be acceptable as well. I just don’t think they can afford to go something like 2-4 or even 3-3 just won’t be good enough.

The Pirates have to start winning that extra game or two now if they seriously want to start making up some serious ground and picking up more then just 1 game a week in the standings. I really like their chances of playing well n San Fran and potentially winning 3 games there. The Giants are not a very good team and have a run differential of minus 32. They don’t score a lot of runs so if you get a lead on them and pitch well you should be able to hang on and win. The Pirates have really seemed to play well there in San Fran the last few seasons they have won a lot of series there, and they are definitely going to need to win this one coming up this weekend.