I don’t know what else to say about this game except that the Pirates went 2-5 on a seven-game road trip and in those five losses, they lost three times in extra innings without using Joel Hanrahan. The offense is obviously a problem for this team, but when you choose to let Jose Veras pitch to Raul Ibanez instead of Hanrahan or Tony Watson, you’re just asking for trouble and that’s what Clint Hurdle got today.
It was awful frustrating to see the Pirates lose this game today: they got some offense from unexpected places (big hits from Overbay and Garrett Jones) and if Hurdle had just used his best left-handed reliever (Watson) instead of his second best one (Beimel) to start the eighth, it’s entirely possible that they get a win instead of another loss. But Veras gave up the homer to Ibanez and in all fairness, the offense didn’t come through after that point, and so instead of scraping one win out in Citizen’s Bank, the Pirates were swept.
So here we are. The trade deadline is over, the Pirates have lost five of six, and now they’re 4 1/2 games out of first place. They’ve got a nice run against the Cubs and Padres this week in the schedule and it’s pretty imperative that they make up ground if there’s any chance they’re going to stay in contention. I know that the Phillies and Braves are two awfully good teams, but the Pirates feel a pretty long ways away from that after this week.
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