Through the looking glass

Through six games, the Pirates have scored eight runs and allowed 16. That puts them dead last in the NL in runs scored and second in runs allowed. They are 1-5. Through six games, the Diamondbacks have scored 37 runs and allowed 27. That puts them third in the NL in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed. They are 5-1. 

If we're being honest, right now I'm more concerned about the Pirates' immediate schedule than I am by the long-term implication of their inability to score runs. This season-opening stretch sucks and it's really painful to watch, but literally seven days ago I had the thought that the Pirates were probably somewhere around a league average offense (slightly below if things broke poorly, slightly above if things broke well) in the grand scheme of 2013, and I just can't get bent out of shape over six games, no matter how ugly they are. Concern is warranted, of course, but I just don't see a point in freaking out about this offense right at this second. That being said, the Pirates are playing a really ugly brand of baseball right now and even though this is the sort of thing that would probably only take one or two really good games to snap out of this early in the season, the Pirates' upcoming schedule is brutal. They've got a red hot, high scoring Diamondback team in a friendly offensive environment early this week, then the Reds, Cardinals, and Braves in a nine-game gauntlet run through some of the NL's best teams. After a four-game reprieve against the Phillies, it's the Cardinals again, the Vaunted Brewers, and then the Nationals.

I do think that the Pirates will play better eventually this year, but I will also say that if they don't start playing better soon, the first 31 games of this season are going to result in a really ugly mark in the win/loss column. Seriously: if the Pirates' don't right this ship quickly, things are going to be very very very bad. The sort of bad that managers and general managers that are already on the hot seat don't tend to recover from.

Tonight Wandy Rodriguez (who has the Pirates' only win!) will face Trevor Cahill (who has the Diamondbacks' only loss!). So … favorable pitching matchup, for once! I guess.The first pitch is at 9:40.