Pirates at Cardinals Series Thread|04/26-04/28

[Etrius24]

Agreed

It has been amazing how the offense has been able keep it together with smoke and mirrors using timely hitting by Marte and Pedro. It seems that every couple of games someone chips in and is the unlikely hero. Tonight it was Martin!

As great as this has been thus far, this team desperately NEEDS Cutch to start being cutch. This team desperately needs him to lead this offense! This is not me saying he has to be a top 3 MVP candidate in the NL this year. I am saying his OPS is ~ 250 points lower than where it was last season. This offense is going to need more from him than that.

I feel like it is only a matter of time before he starts hitting the ball with authority and then hopefully the offense as a whole will be more productive. I just hope that when Cutch starts hitting that Marte and Pedro are still able to contribute some.

 

[Darkstone42]

Rubber match today. Locke vs. Miller. If Locke keeps pitching like he has recently, I like our chances.

Let's score some early runs this time, though, eh?

 

[element1286]

Feel bad for Sanchez, I never wanted him on the team, but to go out on a bullshit ejection, then suspension is a tough thing to watch.

 

[Etrius24]

Bad enough he might get demoted from the rotation and or sent down..Then he gets a suspension as well.

Am I wrong here? But I cannot remember Sanchez ever getting into any sort of trouble before for throwing at anyone? I cannot remember any warnings.. Seemed to me this suspension was a little bit of a surprise. Thoughts?

 

[sychmd]

last year, our offense relied on cutch,
but then walker was a good sidekick until he got hurt.
alvarez and jones then started to carry things in june into august.

so we are missing cutch, but also walker. not sire if sending him to 5 has hurt him but not the same as last year.

jones/snachez really producing and the last 10 have seen martin and alvarez, and barmes pick it up.

snider is giving us what walker did last year, although in a different package.

altogether, not sure where our O would be without marte and we would really be bad if our BP wasnt such a rock.
that is one area where hintington does a great job every year.

 

[Darkstone42]

I am loving the Martin signing. 1-0 Bucs!

And we're really working Miller, even though we're not getting a lot of baserunners. He's already at 39 pitches through 2. He's a good pitcher, so getting him out as early as possible is good for us.

Locke, on the other hand, is being pretty efficient. 29 pitches through 2. I hope he keeps it up.

 

[Darkstone42]

Come on Gaby...

 

[Darkstone42]

Darn.

But Miller's got 60 pitches through 3. That's still good.

 

[Darkstone42]

Come on, Inge!

 

[Darkstone42]

Darn it, Inge.

It'll be good to get Walker back.

 

[Darkstone42]

Good first four innings for Locke. I hope he keeps it up.

A little more run support would be nice, though.

 

[Darkstone42]

There's some run support! Opposite field home run for Tabata!

Nice!

 

[Darkstone42]

Locke with yet another strong inning. His location has looked really good most of the day, especially these last couple innings. And just 72 pitches through 5. Maybe he'll give our bullpen a bit of a rest.

 

[Darkstone42]

And now we're into the Cardinals' bullpen, which is always a good thing.

 

[Darkstone42]

Great hustle by Inge!

3-0 Pirates!

 

[Darkstone42]

Jones with the solo shot! 4-0!

 

[Darkstone42]

Now 7 scoreless for Locke. Good to get a long start out of him. Not to mention a fairly comfortable lead, so we don't have to use Melancon, Watson, and Grilli necessarily.

If we hold onto this one, it's a very nice win. On the road in the division, ensures nothing worse than a .500 road trip, and getting a win against a good team (and taking the division lead over them) without McCutchen, Walker, or Snider in the lineup. (Or Barmes, but he's less important.)

 

[steelparrot]

Locke pitching his way into the 'core' of our team is huge.


Locke, Snider and Marte all playing well is a massive boost to the future

 

[Darkstone42]

Locke pitching his way into the 'core' of our team is huge.


Locke, Snider and Marte all playing well is a massive boost to the future

Agreed. I hope they keep it up. It's about time some young guys worked out for us.

 

[Darkstone42]

Also, as Inge walks, I am reminded that he has been surprisingly not terrible for us thus far.