There’s nothing that takes the air out of the Pittsburgh Pirate balloon quite like a road trip, is there? After an awesome homestand, the Bucs have promptly dropped five straight on the road and they’re not even really watchable at this point. Beyond Dan McCutchen’s solid debut (six innings, three earned runs, five strikes, bounced back nicely from giving up a homer on the second pitch of his career) this afternoon, I really don’t care much at all about what happened today.
Well, that’s not entirely true. Joel Hanrahan did have a very good outing in the first game of the double-header, striking out four and only allowing one base runner in two innings of work. And Denny Bautista did come out for his fourth straight outing as a competent-looking pitcher in the second half of the double-header, striking out four in his two innings of scoreless work. Remember, though, that Bautista was pretty good when he first came to the Pirates last year before exploding in Hindenburg fashion down the stretch.
Whatever. The Pirates are now five losses away from the worst kind of history and while part of me just wants to rip the scab off and be done with it, I’d really rather it didn’t happen while I’m travelling again this weekend.
As quick editorial note; the Road to 17 is going to be making a full-fledged return between now and whenver #82 comes. There are several posts I’ve wanted to write in that vein over the summer, but the Great Huntington Roster Massacre of 2009 very quickly shifted my focus. That’s all past us now, so starting tomorrow morning you can expect a daily dose of futility until the Pirates (or, more accurately, their opponents) end this thing.
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