OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: The Condemned of Altoona

[TNT87]

 

[TNT87]

Do the Pirates teach fundamentals? Inexplicable not scoring on that foul ball.

 

[FlightlessBird]

I’m gonna keep bitching about it no matter how trivial it is. Why in the hell does Root continue to insist on trotting out Joe Block 2 out of 3 games every series when you have Greg freaking Brown?!

 

[DanielPlainview]

If there's a worse tandem than Block and Wehner, I'd be shocked

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I missed the game live, but just caught the condensed version and then doubled back to watch Glasnow's inning of relief. He was dominant against Myers-Hosmer-Renfroe, inducing some routine ground balls and then blowing some pitches right by Renfroe for a K. He was sitting at 98-99, and that was a pretty high leverage situation. I thought he looked a little bit sharper last night, but another in a decent string of encouraging outings for him. I think he'll still stumble somewhat, but the bullpen project this year has so far been a great success.

With how much help we need, I doubt he'll get the chance to start unless it's a fluky situation. Kingham will be back tomorrow to take Kuhl's spot. Today's game looked like a wild one, with us just making the most of our opportunities. Definitely the kind of game that's necessary to win in order to compete, which is something we haven't done in a very long time (hence why we are no longer really competitive).

Vazquez was nasty again, and he really looks much more like his old self. One thing that could be interesting is if Huntington might be willing to deal him. On the one hand, obviously that would not bode well for our hopes to compete in the near future, since the bullpen is already such a big weakness. On the other hand, bullpen arms are mostly pretty fickle, and while when Vazquez is on, he's essentially Arlodis Chapman with more pitches, there could be reasons to be skeptical about him.

In particular, I am thinking that the Yankees might be a team that's interested, and has tons of chips to use. I am not quite certain, but I recall reading something about the Red Sox and Astros both dominating right handed pitching, with the Yankees perhaps looking for some lefties (hence Happ). Just a thought, as we start to approach the deadline. I'm hoping for a fairly uneventful deadline, maybe with a move of Nova so that younger arms can get a longer look, but now that might be a bit unnecessary with Kuhl's situation.

In more disappointing news, it seems like Taillon may have taken a step backwards today, even if he wasn't tagged for a bunch of runs. I'm actually pretty surprised that we've managed to stay only 8 games out. It's not a good situation, and realistically we've settled basically into the kind of record that you'd expect on paper, but given how disastrous these past several weeks have been, it's amazing that we could still make some noise if we could just rattle off 6 or 7 wins in a row. The entire division has basically been a pillar of .500 play for quite some time.

 

[cheesedanish87]

I'd be down to trade Vazaquez if we can get a package(Gleyber Torres) like the Yanks got for 2 months of Chapman.

 

[Return of the Paek]

Is Glasnow more valuable as a 2-inning, Andrew Miller type who pitches 3/5 games or a starter who pitches 1/5 games? I think the answer is probably a starter, but it is an interesting debate.

No way I would trade Vazquez unless the return is impossible to refuse. Find it very hard such an offer would be out there.

 

[Brandinho]

Is Glasnow more valuable as a 2-inning, Andrew Miller type who pitches 3/5 games or a starter who pitches 1/5 games? I think the answer is probably a starter, but it is an interesting debate.

No way I would trade Vazquez unless the return is impossible to refuse. Find it very hard such an offer would be out there.

Provided he can be equally effective in either role, you're always getting more value out of the starter.

Agree about Vazquez.

 

[DanielPlainview]

At this rate, I doubt Glansow gets a start until they're officially out of it. Getting him into the rotation just doesn't seem to be a priority this season.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Kingham cost himself a run and about 15 pitches because of an error at first base. Pirates baseball.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Unbelievable.

Poor throw from Diaz to the mound made worse by Kingham seemingly not paying attention.

2-0 Dodgers.

An error. A balk. And whatever the hell you want to categorize that bullshit on the mound. Each all or partly on Kingham.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Kingham should only be allowed to pitch 2nd inning and beyond. Then he will be fine.


Pirates bats are starting to find their power tho.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Diaz goes yard to make up for that poor throw.

 

[DanielPlainview]

"An offense that doesn't hit for power and really doesn't string hits together" - MLB Network announcer describing the 2018 Pirates.

 

[T1K]

Kershaw hasn’t been that great this year so I fully expect him to go out there and dominate us tomorrow

 

[DanielPlainview]

Games like this make me wish MLB had a mercy rule

 

[TNT87]

Humiliating. What a joke of a franchise.

 

[USMC607]

I'd be down to trade Vazaquez if we can get a package(Gleyber Torres) like the Yanks got for 2 months of Chapman.

The pirates will give him up for peanuts specifically for more financial flexibility.

 

[USMC607]

As a pirate fan this is hard to watch.

But at the same time a necessity...

Alot of people had their eyes opened this offseason. But the Homer's and diehards gotta realize how bad this owner is along with his puppet front office and Manager.

But nothing will change until we stop going in mass. Yea theyll cut payroll even further and trade all out youngins. But guess what? They are gonna do that anyway. So why go?

If you love the game go to wildthings game... less traffic and they are actually competitive.

This team has so much history it's a shame that almost 30 yrs of poor ownership and management has made us a f***ing laughing stock tire fire. Minus what 3 or 4 yrs.

 

[Winger for Hire]

 

[cookthebooks]

excited to not have work so i can stay up and watch this ga...oh

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah, hard to not see a tailspin coming.

Nova is out there throwing either meatballs or missing by a foot. At the end of the day, the most important thing really comes down to the pitching, which we just have not had for pretty much every single year recently.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Well. At least they're just solo shots

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Joe Block playing pretty fast and loose with the idea of a cleanup hitter...

Diaz does look excellent, but it feels like only a matter of time before the Dodgers have 6 ro 7, even if we can get another run here.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Musgrove to the DL. Brault went last night. Could we have a Glasnow spot start tomorrow?