Sometimes you don't have to.Last night was a soporific preview of the Nutting boobie prize wild card play in game just around the corner. Can the Bucs score more than 2 runs against one of the league's best pitchers?
Sometimes you don't have to.Last night was a soporific preview of the Nutting boobie prize wild card play in game just around the corner. Can the Bucs score more than 2 runs against one of the league's best pitchers?
No, it's an indictment of Delpanther and his psychosis about Nutting. Embarrassing.Is this a rhetorical question?
Or is this an indictment on the pirate's lineup?
It's good that Pittsburgh has another team built to win in the regular season like the Penguins.
Only thing that embarrassing is your lack of reading comprehension and tendency to read negative inferences into the posts of people that sadly you don't like. The Pirates are not a good hitting team that in particular struggles against top quality pitchers, particularly the quality of pitcher that a team is likely to face in the first game of the playoffs, aka the Nutsack boobie prize game played on the day of the great Nutsack Northside Carney-Val. This point has been raised all year by the writers who follow the Pirates, in case you haven't noticed in between your stints doing the word search puzzles in the latest editon of AAAP magazine. You have to be a bit brighter than you let on.....No, it's an indictment of Delpanther and his psychosis about Nutting. Embarrassing.
Easy-the league stinks, the Pirates are at best an very average offensive team which puts them at a distinct disadvantage facing a team's ace in a one game playoff-simple as that. The pirates just don't score lots of against decent pitching, particularly against teams in their own division. They're under .500 in divisional play-what does that tell you-they beat up on the league garbage(and there's lots of that) and struggle against the better teams. Hope I'm wrong but what we are seeing here is eerily similar to what we saw the last 2 years which shouldn't be surprising since Nutsack didn't do much of anything to improve his team offensively.I would love to hear you explain how this pirate team is built to win for the regular season and not the postseason.
Moreover I would love to hear how an ideal team is built for the post season.
Actually, the Pirates have a pretty solid offensive team. BA, HR's, most other stats near the top of the NL. The point you make about hitting elite pitchers seems to be true of all NL teams, and, uh, THAT is why they are ELITE pitchers! I'd argue the Pirates recent softness has more to do with their starting pitching.Only thing that embarrassing is your lack of reading comprehension and tendency to read negative inferences into the posts of people that sadly you don't like. The Pirates are not a good hitting team that in particular struggles against top quality pitchers, particularly the quality of pitcher that a team is likely to face in the first game of the playoffs, aka the Nutsack boobie prize game played on the day of the great Nutsack Northside Carney-Val. This point has been raised all year by the writers who follow the Pirates, in case you haven't noticed in between your stints doing the word search puzzles in the latest editon of AAAP magazine. You have to be a bit brighter than you let on.....
Actually, the Pirates have a pretty solid offensive team. BA, HR's, most other stats near the top of the NL. The point you make about hitting elite pitchers seems to be true of all NL teams, and, uh, THAT is why they are ELITE pitchers! I'd argue the Pirates recent softness has more to do with their starting pitching.
Hurdle follows the Monebalz approach, sabermetrics, quantum mechanics, OPS..all that useless gobblygook which ignores the fact that with about 18 games left in the season, you shouldn't be trotting out a bunch of scrubs in the second game of a double header against a team that's breathing down your neck in the playoff race.I won't use any negative adjectives to describe my feelings on Hurdle. The man drives me up the wall with his line-up changes and incessant supposed scientific explanations about rest , etc. This is not the time of the year to give key players games off. You have to go with your best. After all we WERE in a division race. yeesh!
I do believe Cole is good but i also believe that the Cubs will find a way to score 3-4 runs off of Cole et al(Bucco fielding blunders etc.)and that the Pirates will be lucky to score 2 off of Arieta.You don't think Cole is an elite pitcher that the Cubs offense might struggle with? They did struggle just two days ago. Short memory?
When teams beat Elite pitchers, they usually scratch out a couple of runs, or the elite pitcher is having a bad day. That is why Elite pitchers have low ERA's. No team scores a lot of runs against them.
Good pitching stops good hitting every time. That is a baseball law tried and true over the ages.
The Pirates beat Cueto a couple of years ago to get into the playoffs, then played the Cards tough. Last year, the Giants pitcher shut them down, but also pitched lights out in the playoffs and Series, got MVP hands down.
The Pirates team this year is much deeper and balanced than the past two years. They aren't horrible and have a pretty good chance of advancing. They'll never do enough for you as long as Nutting is the owner, everyone gets that. But why not wait to see what they do instead of potentially embarassing yourself and disappearing when your predictions don't come true?
Hurdle follows the Monebalz approach, sabermetrics, quantum mechanics, OPS..all that useless gobblygook which ignores the fact that with about 18 games left in the season, you shouldn't be trotting out a bunch of scrubs in the second game of a double header against a team that's breathing down your neck in the playoff race.
Hurdle follows the Monebalz approach, sabermetrics, quantum mechanics, OPS..all that useless gobblygook which ignores the fact that with about 18 games left in the season, you shouldn't be trotting out a bunch of scrubs in the second game of a double header against a team that's breathing down your neck in the playoff race.
I just turned 150. On my way to Iowa City. Go Pitt!No, he doesn't. If he used my approach he wouldn't be so damn inflexible on bullpen roles, in Aramis Ramirez being a deserving 4-hole hitter (or deserving of playing 3B period), or in having Andrew McCutchen patrolling CF.
He's the same as all the other managers. A dinosaur. Crippled by the myth that closers possess a special trait, that bunting is smart baseball, and that veteran players deserve undue deference based on past accomplishments when they're past their prime.
I do enjoy you just dismissing OPS though. A stat "calculated" using the triple slash line you hold so dear. Holy hell, Del, how old are you? Lol
Very key point. It is possible to think Hurdle is a very good manager yet still call him out for things that he does. It doesn't have to be one or the other. This isn't April or May. And these guys aren't being asked to spend 10 hours on their hands and knees digging coal out of the earth. After an off day Monday, some of these guys can't play a day/ night double header? that's ridiculous. Like you said. get your best players out there every day and use your bench for what it is there for, Pinch hitting and late inning defense. Playing Rodriguez at short last week cost them a game. Playing Rodriguez in right the other day cost them a first inning run when a Cub scored from second on a hard single to right. With Polanco in the game like he should have been that runner doesn't even try to score. The other night Snider, who was in left because Cutch had to rest so Marte played center, misplayed a ball down the left field line into a run scoring 3 bagger. And yesterday Hurdle stared out onto the field while the Cubs were pounding everything Morton threw up there and waited til 5 runs were in before getting him out. Madden on the other hand lifted his guy in the 3rd after 4 runs scored. No messing around. No waiting for him to start pitching better.Cubs had their best players in the game all 4 games. The Pirates did not. End of Story.
Exsactly the way I feel now and have felt about this dinasour. If they don't like to play everyday don't pay them millions. This is insane that we even talk about this sh..!Very key point. It is possible to think Hurdle is a very good manager yet still call him out for things that he does. It doesn't have to be one or the other. This isn't April or May. And these guys aren't being asked to spend 10 hours on their hands and knees digging coal out of the earth. After an off day Monday, some of these guys can't play a day/ night double header? that's ridiculous. Like you said. get your best players out there every day and use your bench for what it is there for, Pinch hitting and late inning defense. Playing Rodriguez at short last week cost them a game. Playing Rodriguez in right the other day cost them a first inning run when a Cub scored from second on a hard single to right. With Polanco in the game like he should have been that runner doesn't even try to score. The other night Snider, who was in left because Cutch had to rest so Marte played center, misplayed a ball down the left field line into a run scoring 3 bagger. And yesterday Hurdle stared out onto the field while the Cubs were pounding everything Morton threw up there and waited til 5 runs were in before getting him out. Madden on the other hand lifted his guy in the 3rd after 4 runs scored. No messing around. No waiting for him to start pitching better.
Hurdle follows the Monebalz approach, sabermetrics, quantum mechanics, OPS..all that useless gobblygook which ignores the fact that with about 18 games left in the season, you shouldn't be trotting out a bunch of scrubs in the second game of a double header against a team that's breathing down your neck in the playoff race.
I do believe Cole is good but i also believe that the Cubs will find a way to score 3-4 runs off of Cole et al(Bucco fielding blunders etc.)and that the Pirates will be lucky to score 2 off of Arieta.
Nutting will always be a bum no matter how the Pirates fare in the playoffs this year because he will never be motivated to do what's in the best interests of the team and the fans-his wallet will always be of paramount concern to him. The view on Nutting isn't a one, 2 or 3 year proposition. He's run a cheap, lousy manged organization until now and he will continue to do so as long as he's the owner. My view on Nutting isn't impacted by what the Pirates do this year. And I hope the Pirates win a world championship this year-that's not going to embarrass me. Don't confuse my rooting interests with my views on Nutting.
Very key point. It is possible to think Hurdle is a very good manager yet still call him out for things that he does. It doesn't have to be one or the other. This isn't April or May. And these guys aren't being asked to spend 10 hours on their hands and knees digging coal out of the earth. After an off day Monday, some of these guys can't play a day/ night double header? that's ridiculous. Like you said. get your best players out there every day and use your bench for what it is there for, Pinch hitting and late inning defense. Playing Rodriguez at short last week cost them a game. Playing Rodriguez in right the other day cost them a first inning run when a Cub scored from second on a hard single to right. With Polanco in the game like he should have been that runner doesn't even try to score. The other night Snider, who was in left because Cutch had to rest so Marte played center, misplayed a ball down the left field line into a run scoring 3 bagger. And yesterday Hurdle stared out onto the field while the Cubs were pounding everything Morton threw up there and waited til 5 runs were in before getting him out. Madden on the other hand lifted his guy in the 3rd after 4 runs scored. No messing around. No waiting for him to start pitching better.
The way the Cubs are killing it, don't be surprised if the wild card game is in St. Louis. And don't get me started on Locke. The Pirates have been trotting him out there every 5th day and he has absolutely stunk up the joint, save for a good start last week. Morton can't be trusted either. If the Pirates get past a wild card game, and they would have a better chance against St. Louis because Arrietta has been unhittable, they need to go with a 4 man rotation with Locke and Morton on the bullpen pine.Not only did Hurdle blow the Cubs series, but he knew Locke was pitching tonight vs. Greinke. The Pirates had almost zero chance to win tonight, combine that with the mismanagement in the Cubs series, and there's now a good chance we could be heading to Wrigley for the Wild Card Game instead of competing for the division.
I'd argue that good hitting teams do break through even against elite pitchers from time to time.