OnlyBucs

The way I look at it, the Pirates went an amazing 34-18 (.654) in the first half, except for that tough little stretch there in the middle when they went 14-31 (.311).



Just a crazy, topsy-turvey, up, down then up again first half ...



This team is CAPABLE of being good ... but they are also clearly capable of what was basically a full-blown meltdown.



Hoping for more consistently good play in the 2nd half.

7755465B585D5A55764157575B340 wrote: The way I look at it, the Pirates went an amazing 34-18 (.654) in the first half, except for that tough little stretch there in the middle when they went 14-31 (.311).



Just a crazy, topsy-turvey, up, down then up again first half ...



This team is CAPABLE of being good ... but they are also clearly capable of what was basically a full-blown meltdown.



Hoping for more consistently good play in the 2nd half.










Yep.  For all of the giant slides and huge streaks, we're right where most people expected we'd be.  Just didn't figure we'd get there in quite that fashion, haha.

It always seems to me that while Hurdle and Searage don't really ever come out of ST with the pitching staff how they want it, they usually have it settled by this point in the year. I think they are in a place where they are getting solid starts from Taillon, Nova and Musgrove, Kingham and Williams have had some duds lately, but have shown plenty of flashes.



The bullpen is also well settled and it allows Hurdle to go ahead and pull a starter in the fifth when he's not getting outs.



I think lately, Marte has been the rising tide on offense. Dickerson has responded well to being moved to leadoff and of course Polanco has been mashing. If Moran and Bell were to take steps forward post all-star break, they could at least make it interesting in the WC (especially with some teams in free fall).

The first half in a word: "Inconsistency"



Young pitchers will break your heart. They will also take you to the top of the mountain and show you a vision of the promised land.

Marte's WAR is up to 3.1 ... far and away the highest on the team.



As for Colin Moran ... he may be slower than molasses going uphill in the winter, and maybe he has mobility of a statue at 3B, but I think he's a pretty good hitter. A professional hitter with a professional approach.

I have to agree that taking it to the Brewers for 5 straight is pretty eye opening.    The OF is really performing well and if Bell is going to hit well, we may have something going here.      Starting pitching is fine, the fielding has been much better as of late too.  It's a different ball team out there right now.   Crazy swings

Amazingly, if the Pirates somehow manage to play out the rest of the season at the former clip (.654), they'll finish with 90 wins. 90 wins almost certainly gets you in the playoffs. That said, I really don't think this is a 90 win team.

694B58454643444B685F4949452A0 wrote:

As for Colin Moran ... he may be slower than molasses going uphill in the winter, and maybe he has mobility of a statue at 3B, but I think he's a pretty good hitter. A professional hitter with a professional approach.


Joey Cora almost beat him to the plate. Joey Cora who is probably old enough to be Moran's father.

5D5556617752757A140 wrote:

As for Colin Moran ... he may be slower than molasses going uphill in the winter, and maybe he has mobility of a statue at 3B, but I think he's a pretty good hitter. A professional hitter with a professional approach.


Joey Cora almost beat him to the plate. Joey Cora who is probably old enough to be Moran's father.
He has to move to 1st base if he want to stay in the NL, but I'm not holding my breath for NH and CH making such a bold move.

Yeah, but Joey had the play in front of him the whole way. Not a fair race.