{"id":830084,"date":"2018-07-10T15:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T19:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=830084"},"modified":"2018-07-10T15:16:33","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T19:16:33","slug":"pittsburgh-pirates-avoid-and-attack-two-sinking-ships-passing-in-the-night-pb11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/pittsburgh-pirates-avoid-and-attack-two-sinking-ships-passing-in-the-night-pb11\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Pirates Avoid and Attack: Two Sinking Ships Passing in the Night"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been in the midst of a tailspin since the beginning of June. They went from a contender to a potential trade deadline seller. That is a tough thing to admit, but it\u2019s a sad fact. The Pirates began a series with the Washington Nationals yesterday and normally that would be a recipe for disaster, but thankfully the Nationals have been nearly as bad as the Pirates over the last few weeks of play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On June 9th, the Nationals were 11 games over .500 and looked poised for another NL East pennant race. As it stands right now, the Nationals are .500 and sinking fast. Their plethora of talented players haven\u2019t produced as expected and their pitching has disappointed. Sound familiar? Obviously, the expectations for the Nationals were much higher than the Pirates, so their free fall into mediocrity is much more disappointing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the recent poor play, the Nationals are still a dangerous team with many outstanding baseball players that can and will hurt you if you give them the chance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHitter to Avoid\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n