OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: The Condemned of Altoona

[cheesedanish87]

The first couple innings we were hitting line drives all over the place and Musgrove looked great.

This game turned in a hurry.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Need to at least chip away with one or two quickly. I don't have a great feeling, Scalafani's pitch count is in good territory, and he's piling up some Ks. Need a bloop and a blast this inning or something.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Sure seems like the Reds have seen something in Musgrove's approach or his pitches.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

This seems like it's either going to end with the Reds up 6 or 7 to 1, or with Musgrove stranding Hamilton and a big momentum boost. Looking like we're in for another disappointing loss.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Good grief.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Brutal. He just lost the feel for the offspeed stuff and starting hanging things to Votto and Suarez. Combine that with the usual stupidity on defense, and this is the obvious result.

Even if the bats come out in full force, this seems like it's over. Pretty demoralizing, given how it started.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Neverauskas? Really? Even if he comes in and throws well, this is a bad decision. He's been by far the world reliever the entire season, which is truly saying something. Not the guy to bring in when you absolutely cannot give up more runs.

 

[cheesedanish87]

Another thing that Hurdle does that annoys me is that he always stacks his left handed hitters in the row.

Moran
Dickerson
Bell
Polanco

That makes it so easy for the opposing manager to bring in a lefty late in the game.

 

[cheesedanish87]

I also hate wasting Glasnow for 2 innings in a 6-2 game when hes been of your better relievers.

Especially when your starting a series with the Brewers tomorrow.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Would've loved to see Meadows put one in the bleachers there.

 

[cheesedanish87]

Polanco had a hell of a game.

Joey Cora has been really good this year, but that wasn't a good send.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Hamilton has toched us all day in the field and even at the plate.

That was definitely a bad send by Cora. Even if you factor in how tough Iglesias can be, we would have been one hit away from taking the lead. I would imagine that there might be some kind of metric about the chances of scoring, where it's basically just worth it to try borderline things like that, because if the throw is even slightly bad, you'll get the run, whereas in the abstract late in the game, it's harder to generate runs. But still, Bell just doesn't have the footspeed for that to make sense.

 

[DanielPlainview]

This is a tough one to lose. Felt early on it could be a laugher. Then things fell apart and in a hurry they were behind by 5. Battled back to within one. Bullpen blows it.

When they make moves, it has to be to fix the bullpen.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Santana takes the seat as the Pirates worst reliever now.

 

[lordstanley91]

I thought even with the catcher blocking the plate that Bells left hand got to the corner of home before the tag got his shoulder. Might just be the homer in me though.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Could've been a tie game

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Weird, kinda bad game in some respects. Blame ultimately goes to Musgrove, though. Just can't give up that many runs, especially on those kinds of pitches. The Suarez HR was where the game started to get too far out of reach. I hate seeing Santana take a few steps back after so many lights out games in a row, but that's the second time where he's given up a big HR on a not so great pitch.

Regardless, we won the series, and Polanco looks like he might be finally starting to come around. That's bigger than any sweep, even if we can't afford to waste chances like this. It looks like the Phillies might beat the Brewers, meaning a series win would put us 6 games back. All things considered, that's pretty solid for being a .500 team. We have to grind away and win series after series consistently for a bit. Hopefully we can find a way to take 3/4 from the Diamondbacks.

Need a bounceback game from Williams and for the offense to keep rolling. We're not facing too many tough pitchers from the Brewers, except for perhaps the rookie starting Tuesday.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Kang's last 4 games: .286/.389/.746; 1 RBI; 2 BBs; 1 SO

 

[DJ Spinoza]

It's such a strange call to make, but I guess I wouldn't need to see him succeed for too long before trying him out in Pittsburgh. Seems like a lot of it is just getting back to the speed of the game. It's not like 4 or 5 weeks of good AAA baseball will mean much more than 2 weeks or something.

I'd imagine Rodriguez is ready to come off the DL, which might be the end of Stallings as emergency catcher. That would mean Kang's opportunity will either come via an injury, or a decision to DFA S-Rod. So we may be waiting for a while.

Brewers also lost a game today that they almost clawed back into, so we'll be starting off from a similar position tomorrow. Hate to just beat on a dead horse, but once again, things seem like they'll come down to the quality of pitching we get. Today was a massive disappointment given how Musgrove started out especially, and also because we will need several very good starts in a row if we have any hope of going on a brief winning streak to help make up some of the ground we've lost more quickly. I just don't see it - the best we can hope for is to sort of hold serve for a little bit, and win series when we can. Arizona will be tough, even at home, and it's another 4-game disaster series. Going 4-3 probably won't buy us more than 1.5 games in the division, but it would be huge.

 

[DanielPlainview]

I honestly think Stallings is up as a way to stave off DFAing SeanRod. There's no legitimate reason right now to be carrying 3 catchers, especially with Osuna mashing .340 and Newman hitting .304 in AAA.

Neverauskas will go back to AAA when Rodriguez is activated. Then Stallings for Kang.

 

[cheesedanish87]

It seems like a big start for Williams tonight.

If he isn't good you will see Williams end up on the DL with some mysterious injury that happens to Pirate players when they struggle.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I can see Neverauskas going back, but I could also see taking a longer look at him. Strikeouts are up, velocity seems to be up. He's had two very good appearances and two bad ones, so who knows. About par for the course for everyone else in the bullpen.

I don't doubt that all manner of things are staving off the DFA for S-Rod. Don't forget - his bobblehead game is next weekend.

Phantom injury for Williams seems plausible. I hope he bounces back. He didn't face the Brewers the first time around. If he falters, I also don't think it would be the craziest decision in the world to put him in the bullpen and have three guys capable of going more than one inning. Maybe there's a real outside shot of giving Glasnow a look, but I recall Williams being very useful as a swing man when he was first acquired.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Pirates rethinking bullpen roles; Neal Huntington takes blame for lack of "conventional" late-inning relievers

This is pretty interesting. There are reasons to look askance at Huntington's comments as a kind of copout, but another take on it is sort of retraining Hurdle in bullpen usage. The problems are still apparent: 1) Vazquez is totally unreliable, especially outside of the conventional 9th inning "closer" role, and 2) Hurdle has seemingly continued to look for dedicated 7th and 8th inning pitchers.

Maybe the recent usage of Glasnow, and these comments coming out, are a turning point of sorts. I can see sticking with Vazquez as the 9th inning guy, and turning to Glasnow first as the kind of Andrew Miller option. Then you ride hot hands and play matchups in order to bridge. Helps that basically the entire bullpen is rookies, near-rookies, or journeymen. At the end of the day, I'm not sure there's enough talent for this to matter too much, but Glasnow and Brault do seem to be able to be used as weapons, and the various other pitchers have tools.

 

[cheesedanish87]

Hurdle used Glasnow yesterday for 2 innings in a 6-2 game right before this Brewers series.

That was so dumb, you gotta figure Glasnow isn't available today, he might not even be available tomorrow.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

He only threw 26 pitches. I imagine it probably depends on the situation. Brault and Glasnow are the two options to get length in the bullpen. I didn't have a huge problem with it.

The only reasons Glasnow couldn't go multiple days are if he threw over 35-40 pitches or if they want to get him stretched out for a spot start or something. I didn't have a huge problem using him yesterday, and I could see him getting into tonight's game if necessary, although Brault may get the first crack (though the Brewers have a ton of righties).