House of Horrors!!

Speedloader88 · Post by **Speedloader88** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 1:50 am

Well it looks like the Bucs have thrown in the towel in Milwaukee once again!

:-/

rucker59@gmail.com · Post by **rucker59@gmail.com** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 1:58 am

There seems to be no life in this team. Just awful performances two straight days. Maybe this is just what it looks like when you're losing. But on Thursday they were only 2.0 games down. How can a team not be playing with a special fire when they're that close....

CarolinaBucco · Post by **CarolinaBucco** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 2:01 am

I'm just glad we've finally arrived at the "easy" portion of the schedule. To absolutely no one's surprise, we are most definitely NOT taking advantage of it.

With tonight's (probable) loss, Pirates will be 4-4 since the break vs. Brewers & Phillies ... with 10 more games coming up vs. Brewers, Braves, Reds and Padres.

.500 baseball vs. these teams ain't gonna cut it.

rucker59@gmail.com · Post by **rucker59@gmail.com** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 2:10 am

Bullpen gives up 3 (so far) in 7th and 8th.

Speedloader88 · Post by **Speedloader88** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 2:11 am

I suspect that we are seeing the final days of Joyce, Freese, Rodriguez and others.....

Ecbucs · Post by **Ecbucs** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 2:17 am

5651474F4156111D644349454D480A474B49240 wrote: Bullpen gives up 3 (so far) in 7th and 8th.

no offense against the Brewers again. Just disgusting that the offense can't hit guys like the Brewers put on the mound tonight. The soft underbelly of the schedule is killing the Bucs chances.

SteadyFreddy · Post by **SteadyFreddy** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 3:56 am

It's incredibly frustrating when the Mets continue to lose and either the Cards or Marlins are losing as well since they are both playing one another. Plus, Braun has not played in either of these games and Lucroy sat out tonight. You can't continue to blow opportunities to pick up ground which is what the Pirates continue to do. Liriano better damn well better win this game tomorrow afternoon. He needs to pitch well and this inept offense needs to score some runs.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 11:57 am

The reality is that except for 2 games, the Pirates have lost a game for every game they've won all season long (52-50). Expecting them to change dramatically from that pattern with bad starting pitching, bad middle relief, inconsistent back-end bullpen relief, a lack of power and a .240-hitting Cutch just doesn't seem realistic to me. It's not as if they're just in a slump. These issues have plagued them since opening day. This is who they are. They have just enough talent to offset their glaring weaknesses to play .500 ball.

They actually seem to be a pretty typical .500 team. Always just as capable of winning any game as losing it. They've played 19 different teams so far. They have winning records against 7, losing records against 8, and are even against the other 4. Only 4 times all season have they won at least 4 in a row. That's a difficult task when 60 percent of your rotation consistently pitches poorly. They've lost at least 4 in a row 5 times. We get frustrated when they don't capitalize on the weak part of their schedule. But look at it from their opponents' POV. When they play the Pirates they are playing a .500 team with poor pitching, little power and a star playing batting 3rd who consistently hits .240. That's doesn't even scare the weaker teams, who see the games against the Pirates as games they have a good chance of winning. This isn't the 98-win Pirates of 2015. Is it football season yet?

SteadyFreddy · Post by **SteadyFreddy** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 12:37 pm

I agree with you Bobster and missing the playoffs this year after winning 98 games last season is a complete and total reflection of management not spending the neccessary reasonable money they had to try and improve this team. Josh Bell should be up here now as well to help improve this struggling offense. The Pirates need this last one today in Milwaukee and they gotta play well the next 9 games against the Braves, Reds, and Padres. You really can't afford to lose any of those series at this point coming up on 50 games left.

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 4:41 pm

So the question is, will management learn anything from this season that will improve the team next season? If the Pirates are out of it the last few weeks of the season attendance will drop, and off-season package sales will likely be a harder sell. That has to be a message of that sort to ownership.