The Pirates’ sweep over the Cubs was a great thing to see. Even though the Pirates didn’t play all that poorly in getting swept by the Cardinals last week, the result was a devastating one that more or less ended their shot at winning the NL Central. Coupled with the Cubs playing good baseball prior to the Pirates coming to town, well, I was worried about the season having a viking funeral at Wrigley Field. They avoided that and besides Friday’s rain delay, they did it without breaking too much of a sweat on Saturday or Sunday.
The whole process will repeat itself in Philadelphia now. The Phillies are playing pretty well right now, given that they’re a Ruben-Amaro-Jr.-created-dumpster-fire of a baseball team. They’re actually 12-6 in their last 18 games. That still puts them 10 games under .500 and miles away from even the National League’s sad excuse of a second wild card race (which I will, of course, not complain about because it’s somehow made the Pirates favorites to make the playoffs at the moment). They’ve built this run by winning series from the Mariners, Cardinals, Nationals (twice) and Braves, which means that they won’t just roll over because a contender in need of wins for a playoff spot is in town. If the Pirates are going to come out of Philadelphia with more than a 2-2 split, they’re going to have to earn it.
Jeff Locke starts against Kyle Kendrick tonight. Locke’s control has been all over the place lately. He started August with a no-walk performance against the Marlins, then walked four Tigers in five innings, then looked better against the Nats with two walks in 5 2/3, then walked six Brewers in six innings, then calmed down with two walks in 7 1/3 against the Cardinals, and finally laid a gigantic egg at Busch Stadium with a five-walks-in-three-innings performance last week. Usually you can tell pretty quickly if it’s Good Jeff Locke or Bad Jeff Locke. With his fully stacked bullpen, I’d hope that Hurdle doesn’t mess around with Bad Jeff Locke for too long tonight. On the bright side, Kendrick has not pitched well at all this year, and besides his last start that’s true even during the Phillies’ recent resurgence.
First pitch tonight is at 7:05. Josh Harrison is still out of the lineup. The Pirates are in the driver’s seat for the second wild card, but that only holds true so long as they keep winning.
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