OnlyBucs

0A2B230A21294E0 wrote: Pirate fans are delivering a message to the FO: no way there are more than 6000 or 7000 thousand fans at pnc. Great weather, fun team that’s winning, and this may be the smallest crowd I’ve ever seen in good weather. 


11,404 to be exact!   ;D




I counted every single person and can say with 100% certainty: that number is wrong.

764448485C6E4D44494C4344250 wrote: Yeah.  The whole "yeah but those are against bad teams" thing annoys me for a few reasons. 



One is that people say that as if other teams don't play against bad teams. 



The other is the very subtle goalpost-moving it shows.  "We're only beating bad teams" implies that the Pirates are not one of those bad teams.  Of course, that already means they're a better team than most of those people said they were.  The hard-core org-haters will never ever recognize that they are doing this--admitting that the team doesn't suck as much as they say.  Terrible teams don't consistently beat other terrible teams.



I never got how people thought this was a 100-loss team, but others did. 


I hadnt thought of this in the way you articulated, but I think you nailed it: bad teams don’t dominate bad teams. The Pirates are competing against the very good teams and dominating the bad teams. Sounds like a good team to me.



Maybe the Pirates will imploded down the road. Then the evidence will lead to a different conclusion. But the narrative, currently, is that the Pirates are playing an unusually easy schedule so it does count for anything.

Here's the encouraging thing about this team while we wonder if they can sustain their early success: the players are generally performing at or below the abilities they've preciously shown or were expected.



Cervelli is hitting as he did in 2015 but with more power. IIRC, he was improving his conditioning in the off season to try to reduce injuries. That seems to have resulted in more power. As a result, he's being pitched more carefully, drawing more walks and increasing his OBP.



Dickerson has hit for a high BA in the past and he's doing so now. He's playing like an All-Star, which he has been.



Bell's BA is somewhat higher than last year but not at an unexpected level. Fewer HRs. But only 2 RBIs behind Dickerson for the team lead. Plenty of room for improvement.



Polanco, Mercer and Frazier are hitting below expectations.



Marte was hitting as he's done on the past.



Harrison has been a non-factor so far.



The bench has generally hit well but only Diaz has hit in a manner that probably can't be sustained.



The rotation has generally performed as expected although Taillon has not been the stud we expected. Williams is building on his strong rookie season last year. Kuhl and Nova keep the team in the game for 5 innings. The BP is strong as it was expected to be (despite a bad start in that cold weather). And we still don't know who the 5th starter is.



The defense has been ok. Not great. So this 26-17 start is not the result of a couple guys playing way over their heads. No one is really doing that and there is room for improvement among many. The pitching is good enough to win if they get sufficient offense, which they are doing. Lots of timely hits and contributions throughout the lineup. So at this point, despite low expectations (me included) this success seems sustainable. In 2016 the Brewers lost 89 games and when they were in first place in May 2017 we kept waiting for them to come back to reality. But they ended up in 2nd place with 86 wins. A lot of people in MLB are waiting for the Pirates to collapse. But maybe they won't.

7E796F67697E39354C6B616D6560226F63610C0 wrote: Yeah.  The whole "yeah but those are against bad teams" thing annoys me for a few reasons. 



One is that people say that as if other teams don't play against bad teams. 



The other is the very subtle goalpost-moving it shows.  "We're only beating bad teams" implies that the Pirates are not one of those bad teams.  Of course, that already means they're a better team than most of those people said they were.  The hard-core org-haters will never ever recognize that they are doing this--admitting that the team doesn't suck as much as they say.  Terrible teams don't consistently beat other terrible teams.



I never got how people thought this was a 100-loss team, but others did. 


I hadnt thought of this in the way you articulated, but I think you nailed it: bad teams don’t dominate bad teams.  The Pirates are competing against the very good teams and dominating the bad teams. Sounds like a good team to me.



Maybe the Pirates will imploded down the road.  Then the evidence will lead to a different conclusion. But the narrative, currently, is that the Pirates are playing an unusually easy schedule so it does count for anything. 




Here's another point...Detroit is 20-23, 1-5 against Pittsburgh, 19-18 against everyone else.