In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
It’s been that kind of year for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team can’t capitalize on an easy part of their schedule, players can’t stay healthy, and their offense and pitching can’t stay consistent. Remember when the offense was surging for the first third of the season? Well, it’s disappeared since to say the least. Remember when the Pirates’ starting pitching and bullpen were a dumpster fire for the first half of the year? Then the bullpen turned it on, and the starting pitching has even been better as of late. But just as the pitching gets good, the offense falls apart. The Pirates have still managed to stay within striking distance of the second Wild Card spot, but it has not been a pretty season to date.
And last night’s game basically summed that up. Ryan Vogelsong had a great start, his second great start in a row since coming off the disabled list. Even though he allowed just two runs, both of which were unearned, the Pirates were still trailing the Padres 2-0 when he left the game. In fact, the Pirates were no-hit through five innings, and were shutout in the game, notching only two hits from Andrew McCutchen and Jordy Mercer.
Edwin Jackson pitched a great game, but he’s just a name at this point in his career. He peaked from 2008-2012 with a number of different teams (seven to be exact), but then fell off a cliff with the Cubs. Last night’s start was just the fifth of the season for Jackson, who has pitched mostly in relief over the past two seasons. But the Pirates are so inconsistent that it doesn’t really matter who they are facing on the mound.
Oh, and the Padres also had a steal of home, in which Antonio Bastardo had Travis Jankowski dead to rights, but a poor throw and poor fielding by Eric Fryer allowed the run to score.
Yep, that about sums up the season. Fortunately, the Marlins also lost yesterday, so the Pirates remain 2.5 games back of the second Wild Card.
Jameson Taillon takes the mound against Christian Friedrich tomorrow afternoon, with a chance to move to within two games of the second spot.
Yesterday’s Player of the Game
The #Pirates lose 4-0 to the Padres. Who is your player of the game? (We do this every game win or lose)
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) August 11, 2016
Baseball Talk from Around the Web
- Who is the most overrated player on the Pirates? Dave Schoenfield of ESPN lists his most overrated players for all 30 MLB teams. I don’t disagree with Schoenfield’s choice for the Pirates.
- Cliff Corcoran of SI.com picks his all-time best MLB/NFL players, inspired by the recent news that Tim Tebow wants to pursue a baseball career. Did any former Pirates make the list?
- Do pitchers pitch to the score? Justin Verlander says he does. Here are some more takes from players and staff members around the league on that concept, via Fangraphs.
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