OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: More of the same

[ImporterExporter]

Who wants to bet bet hurdle will be back next year?

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Who wants to bet bet hurdle will be back next year?

May need a full collapse for him to finally be gone. Unless NH wants to pull a Shero and lose his job too because of his loyalty to the coach.

With the trades he made, this might be our best chance he actually does talk to Connelly about a new manager.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Who wants to bet bet hurdle will be back next year?

I'm pretty sure there's a 0% chance of them breaking camp with anyone other than Hurdle in the dugout, unless he decides he's retiring.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

I'm pretty sure there's a 0% chance of them breaking camp with anyone other than Hurdle in the dugout, unless he decides he's retiring.

Cards 21-8 since firing Matheny...So there might be a chance the Pirates follow suit.

1. NH has to win going forward after those trades.

2. We will be losing some vets this offseason, hopefully they go out(looking at Harrison) saying Hurdle didnt get the most out of their talent. And the bad decisions in important games(Starting Holmes , McRae replacing Nova instead of Rich Rod) along with leaving our hottest hitters out of the lineup for multiple games not only leading to one run lossed but them going cold as well. He single handedly ended Frazier's hot streak for no reason at all. Too many decisions leading to where we are now. You can blame it on the players too for being too soft when faced with adversity but its a young team...With the pitching we have theres no reason we should be in the WC race right now.
The Mets series aside(Dickerson and Marte hurt) , we won the first game against the Cards with Archer as starter. Things were going well. Then came the Nova/McRae game. If Rich Rod goes in after Nova we may have pulled it out. Following game we lost 2-1 with Williams starting...may have been a diff outcome as well if not for the game before. Also led to a 2-0 loss the next game with Musgrove starting against the Rockies. Won the next two and ..

Giants series we win the first game with Nova starting. Back to 4 games above .500 and a 3 game win streak. Williams slated to start...our offense was hot(24 runs in that 3 game win streak..off of 35 hits). Instead of going for the win streak and finally getting them 5 games above .500 again Hurdle decides to go with a spot start. We lose that and end up splitting the Giants series when it should have been at leasr 3-1 if not for a sweep. And that momentum would have carried over to the Twins series. And then this series losing 1-0 in both. They didnt sudenly lose their ability to score runs. Its all mental. They have no problem getting a ton of hits in non pressure at bats. But as soon as the pressure is on..they look horrible at the plate. They unraveled. And alot of that is due to Hurdle. 1-6 since the spot start, when we could/shoule be 6-1...66-57 record.

We know how baseball works.. The result of one bad loss can carry over to the next game. And the next. Thats where we are at right now. Nice to see Hurdle was focusing on these weeks ahead with that spot start, instead of trying to win in the moment and getting this team their 4th win in a row(5 games above finally) and momentum going forward.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Impending FA Hechevarria over Newman again. Not even worth bothering to watch until this changes.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Impending FA Hechevarria over Newman again. Not even worth bothering to watch until this changes.

Hurdle said he never planned on starting Newman. Only up due to injury

haha

 

[Winger for Hire]

Hurdle said he never planned on starting Newman. Only up due to injury

haha

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Although at this point, having that image just reposted every day would be enough commentary on whatever is going on, I will say that I still maintain a lot of optimism around the starting pitching foundation of this core, which is/has been the hardest thing to solidify, and I think will be in good shape next year and beyond. Something's definitely gotta be done about parts of the offense, but I think we are in pretty strong shape on that level.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Newman aside...still trying to figure out why Frazier has only started 4 out of last 11 games. Didnt start these last two and we get shutout in both. He starts tonight and not only drives in the first run with a double but sets up the next two runs.

Hes been our best hitter by far, the only one who can get XBHs lately. Hes been a huge reason for the few wins we have since the win streak. The 7 games he was out...shutout twice..held to one run twice...losing by 1 run in all 4 of those games

Its decisions like that all season long from Hurdle that cost us this season.

Our pitching is great now...but Hurdle has messed with the lineup so much he completely destroyed their momentum...consistency. Still refuses to move Marte out of the 2nd spot too...or sit him for a few games.

Dickerson made a comment earlier...


"It's tough. But sooner or later, you know somebody on the team's going to get hot," leadoff man Corey Dickerson said. "It could be anybody at anytime, which is what we need. What we need is to feed off somebody or for somebody to pick each other up and let it get contagious

Exactly right about it being contagious. Winning...and losing. Hurdle fails to grasp this. Takes out our hottest hitters...leaves Marte/Polanco in the 2nd/3rd spots when theyve done nothing these past few weeks. Its ok to tweak the lineup. Theyll survive. They know its temporary .

Worst part about this is many teams above us are also 4-6 in last 10 so we could/should(story of the season) be 2 games back right now if we just won 3 out of the 5 recent losses.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Frustrating season

But with this pitching…2019 could be the year we get back in. Its important they keep this up and finish strong .
Keep seeing alot say we dont have the talent to make the playoffs..this is a .500 team. I dont buy that. With this staff and pen…a capable manager who doesnt use a blindfold for his lineups and we are likely 2 games back right now.
Looking forward to next season…2020-21. This pen is reminding me of Watson, Melancon, and Grilli . The staff is shaping up to be like what we saw during the playoff years IF Archer can get back to where he was a few years ago. Being in the NL now and in this park I dont see why he cant. And we have Keller/Kingham next year. or Kuhl if they stick with him in rotation, if not he could be very good in the pen as well. And if Burdi / Schmegel pan out we could do what we always did and sell high on one of our backend relievers.
Would be nice to see Newman get some starts so we know what we have. Whether we go out and get a SS or dont need to and can focus on 3rd/2nd. We have Hayes at 3rd eventually. Possibly Kramer/Frazier at 2nd. Possibly Newman/Tucker at SS. But we need a few one or two year deals at those positions to improve the IF with proven players.
This lineup actually is close to our lineup in 2013 that made the playoffs. They could have made it this year but it took too long to get the pitching on track. We were still in it these past few weeks with great pitching but Hurdle playing pin the donkey with the lineup cost them. No way should this team lose 5 in a row right now. Theyre better than that.
Cant wait til this offseason. Up to NH now. Made those big trades. Whats he gonna do to follow it up?

 

[Empoleon8771]

It's really encouraging to see that the Pirates starting pitching has settled into being one of the stronger ones in the NL. The pitching as a whole is at a 3.60 ERA since the all-star break (4th best in the NL), and if you're just looking at their starting rotation, the Pirates have 3 pitchers below a 3.00 ERA since the all-star break (Williams at a 0.87 ERA, Musgrove at a 2.33 ERA and Tailon at a 2.91 ERA). Nova's ERA isn't even bad either, he's at a 3.81 ERA, which puts him at 37th since the all-star break. None of this includes Archer.

The Pirates obviously don't have as strong of a starting pitching group as say the Dodgers do, but it has been pretty strong since the all-star break and it has been very encouraging.

 

[lordstanley91]

Newman aside...still trying to figure out why Frazier has only started 4 out of last 11 games. Didnt start these last two and we get shutout in both. He starts tonight and not only drives in the first run with a double but sets up the next two runs.

Hes been our best hitter by far, the only one who can get XBHs lately. Hes been a huge reason for the few wins we have since the win streak. The 7 games he was out...shutout twice..held to one run twice...losing by 1 run in all 4 of those games

Its decisions like that all season long from Hurdle that cost us this season.

Our pitching is great now...but Hurdle has messed with the lineup so much he completely destroyed their momentum...consistency. Still refuses to move Marte out of the 2nd spot too...or sit him for a few games.

Dickerson made a comment earlier...


"It's tough. But sooner or later, you know somebody on the team's going to get hot," leadoff man Corey Dickerson said. "It could be anybody at anytime, which is what we need. What we need is to feed off somebody or for somebody to pick each other up and let it get contagious

Exactly right about it being contagious. Winning...and losing. Hurdle fails to grasp this. Takes out our hottest hitters...leaves Marte/Polanco in the 2nd/3rd spots when theyve done nothing these past few weeks. Its ok to tweak the lineup. Theyll survive. They know its temporary .

Worst part about this is many teams above us are also 4-6 in last 10 so we could/should(story of the season) be 2 games back right now if we just won 3 out of the 5 recent losses.

Did you check the lineup today? More of the same.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Did you check the lineup today? More of the same.

haha wow

He has to be trolling at this point. No way a MLB manager can be this bad.

 

[Winger for Hire]

haha wow

He has to be trolling at this point. No way a MLB manager can be this bad.

 

[lordstanley91]

haha wow

He has to be trolling at this point. No way a MLB manager can be this bad.

Also even though Frazier is a lefty he hits at like a .327 clip against LHP. So the matchup play doesn’t even make sense, it’s baffling.

Correction .322

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Harrison has played hurt this season, only reason I can come up with for them playing him over Frazier is to up his trade value. Hoping he bumps up his numbers and brings his value back up.

Because if they are trying to win...zero reason to have him in over Frazier.

 

[FlightlessBird]

Cool. Kunitz is at the game.

 

[lordstanley91]

We will lose to a solo shot for a third time this series today.

Edit: I was wrong but still horrible to scratch one run there.

 

[lordstanley91]

Harrison can’t lay off a high fastball to save his life.

 

[Pengwins]

i just tuned in. Newman seemed really slow

 

[Pengwins]

lol the catcher kicked him in the face

isnt this that blocking rule that screwed the Pirates over in the past

 

[bambamcam4ever]

lol the catcher kicked him in the face

isnt this that blocking rule that screwed the Pirates over in the past

The rules don't apply to the Cubs.

 

[Pengwins]

damn, Kela is a beast

 

[lordstanley91]

We bail out a lot of pitchers by chasing ball 4 ahead in the count.

 

[Pengwins]

lmao. pirates have the worst luck