OnlyBucs

4E4C565046230 wrote: VaPirate, I hope that was you and your son in right field when Frazier hit his home run. That would make sitting at the game worthwhile.



To me the problem has been the lethargy of the team, not the preseason pitcher roulette. They don't play defense, they look horrible running the bases, and they have no idea what situational hitting is all about. Maybe that is all a result of the offseason pitching moves, but it seems a deeper issue to me.


Thanks - I appreciate the thought! Hopefully some other dad and son have today's ball.



I do have a HR story - my son got the last HR Mike Piazza ever hit against the Pirates. 2nd of June 2006 off of Ollie. Giles was on base (piazza was with SD wrapping up his career). It was #405. He was 6 yo, but he still remembers getting that ball (a cool story I won't bore anyone with). Not a whole lot matters more than that. Special memories.

Today was the first time in a long time -- at least the first time I can remember -- that I turned off a Pirates TV game in progress and just walked away.



Pirates have quit on the season, so in the top of the 3rd when it was already 5-2 and getting uglier by the minute, I quit on them.



Sad thing is, I was really looking forward to a wonderful September of pennant race baseball.



That is now out the window.



This team -- as currently constituted and as currently playing in terms of interest-level, hustle, desire, commitment and CARING -- is absolutely PATHETIC.



If this team had just won HALF of its last 12 HOME games -- and that's not asking a lot at all -- it would be in the wild card position right now.



Today's game was lost in the bottom of the 1st. 1st and 2nd with no outs and Cutch, Polanco and Marte due up. And OF COURSE we don't score. And OF COURSE Cutch hits one of his routine grounders to 3B for the DP. I called it before it happened. That was the ballgame.



And how about in the 2nd with runners on 2nd & 3rd with 1 out and a grounder to SS, and Cervelli waits a second or two for some reason and then trots home and his about 20 feet. HELLO ?????



And that was just one example of MANY.



And then Jeff Locke comes in and immediately proceeds to be Jeff Locke.



And, well, that's enough. And that's about when I walked away and went outside and started thinking about 2017.



2016 is over.

446964757263743437060 wrote: Didn't take Locke long.   >:(
Keep pitching Locke in games you need to win when you still have a chance. It's insane.

60475652574A75415657574A330 wrote: Didn't take Locke long.   >:(
Keep pitching Locke in games you need to win when you still have a chance. It's insane.
Locke has had good stretches here and there. But generally, he has been such a bad pitcher for such a long time that it's amazing he's still on the team. I would have released him after the game yesterday to send a message to the rest of the team.

I understand the frustration with this team and this season, and like Carolina Bucco, I will no longer doggedly try to watch every game and every play on TV, regardless of when I get home from work.

And, I get how most are angry that the front office didn't do more this past off-season to shore up the starting pitching.

That said, with respect to the offense ---

Weren't most on this board and elsewhere singing the praises of NH for locking up both Cervelli and Polanco this season, and Marte the season before?

And, didn't an offense that featured the world's best outfield, a decent hitting infield and an above average hitting catcher look good?

And who could have predicted a bench of newcomers that often hit better than the starters?

Sadly, this team appears to have been swallowed up by the flood waters that have afflicted way too many communities and is suffering from a stagnant fowl smelling malaise that it cannot shake. Way too much lethargic play and way too many stupid plays (Cervelli why did you try to score after forgetting to break when the ball was hit?) --- but, with the talent on the team, things were not expected to be this way and things should not be this way.

Looking back, perhaps last year really was an aberration; an anomaly. The team won 98 games, but perhaps the team really wasn't a 98 win team. This year, perhaps the team is really coming back to its norm, and instead of finding magic around the next bend, it finds failure.

All in all, this has been a very disappointing season. It looks like the second wild card slot could be won by a team that has less than 90 victories. While this team could theoretically still finish with 90 wins, at this point, its hard to envision them even finishing above .500. Too many parts that aren't clicking.

I think a couple players struggled who were counted on. That is the main issue with this team.

Every team will have surprise players (Rodriguez, Freese, Joyce) but how many have players well below their norm (McCutchen, Cervelli, Liriano) or not get better with age (Marte, Cole, Kang) or more playing time (Harrison, Nicasio).

I am only worried about a few positions going forward, but if everyone else picks up their game those positions won't hurt much or impact the team.

072B23242F083F29394A0 wrote: I understand the frustration with this team and this season, and like Carolina Bucco, I will no longer doggedly try to watch every game and every play on TV, regardless of when I get home from work. 

And, I get how most are angry that the front office didn't do more this past off-season to shore up the starting pitching.

That said, with respect to the offense ---

Weren't most on this board and elsewhere singing the praises of NH for locking up both Cervelli and Polanco this season, and Marte the season before? 

And, didn't an offense that featured the world's best outfield, a decent hitting infield and an above average hitting catcher look good?

And who could have predicted a bench of newcomers that often hit better than the starters?

Sadly, this team appears to have been swallowed up by the flood waters that have afflicted way too many communities and is suffering from a stagnant fowl smelling malaise that it cannot shake.  Way too much lethargic play and way too many stupid plays (Cervelli why did you try to score after forgetting to break when the ball was hit?) --- but, with the talent on the team, things were not expected to be this way and things should not be this way. 

Looking back, perhaps last year really was an aberration; an anomaly.  The team won 98 games, but perhaps the team  really wasn't a 98 win team.  This year, perhaps the team is really coming back to its norm, and instead of finding magic around the next bend, it finds failure.    

All in all, this has been a very disappointing season.  It looks like the second wild card slot could be won by a team that has less than 90 victories.  While this team could theoretically still finish with 90 wins, at this point, its hard to envision them even finishing above .500.   Too many parts that aren't clicking.

I think that's well put. While it was frustrating from the start to see the FO downgrade the starting pitching, few if any thought the offense would be a problem. We knew 1B was iffy with Jaso. We knew they had little power. But we didn't expect just 9 HRs from Marte and 0 from Cervelli. Or Cutch being a .240-.250 hitter all season. Or Kang getting worse instead of better. The bench acquisitions looked good from the start and have done well.

But much of the problem is the lethargic and stupid plays that seem to continue from game to game. That's a problem a manager has to address. If Hurdle can't correct it, then maybe he needs to go. I've said previously that Hurdle is like most managers. They all manage games via formulas for better or worse with little imagination. But something like the intangible problems the Pirates seem to demonstrate repeatedly is an issue a good manager has to put an end to. Obviously, Hurdle hasn't or can't.