Pirates at Phillies Series Thread|04/22-04/25

[Etrius24]

Yeah so far Grilli has been money!

 

[HammerDown]

 

[evolver115]

Three outs away from winning the series. Bucs rally again today in the eighth and send nine men to the plate

 

[dare2be]

It's so nice to have the Battlin' Bucs back again.

 

[evolver115]

Three of four from the Phils, and Pedro is heating up just as he is headed to his favorite ballpark to mash homers

 

[element1286]

I don't want to count on these rallies all the time, but maybe this is what an average offense looks like? Like they can actually score runs when need be.

 

[awaz]

It's so nice to have the Battlin' Bucs back again.

 

[evolver115]

It's so nice to have the Battlin' Bucs back again.

Damn impressive what they've done the past few weeks. But I've seen that fish before, so I'm cautiously optimistic. ..

 

[steelparrot]

Hard to believe we are doing this good against this competition.

The bullpen coming through with Grilli and Melancon both needing a day off.

This is the deepest team we have had in a loooooooooong time.

 

[awaz]

Damn impressive what they've done the past few weeks. But I've seen that fish before, so I'm cautiously optimistic. ..

i'm entering the next phase of optimism (not sure what it's called) because cutch and walker both aren't hitting.. if they start heating up.....

 

[evolver115]

i'm entering the next phase of optimism (not sure what it's called) because cutch and walker both aren't hitting.. if they start heating up.....

Good point about those two. Cutch broke an 0-16 streak today.

I'm more worried about the starting pitching and in turn what that will do to an already overworked bullpen. Wandy and AJ are reliable veterans, and barring injury, both should be innings eaters. It's the other three spots in the rotation that leave me doubting their long term success.

 

[sychmd]

unfortunately, in these last games, burnett and wandy didnt give our pen the rest we desire or expect from them. that has to change.
every 5 games, we need 2-3 starters to give us 7 innings. an occas 8 would be amazing.
then our pen could catch a rest and line up optimally as the situations dictate.
getting 3-4 innings per game is just too much to continually absorb.
if we hit earlier, we could tolerate a starter giving up 3-4 in 7 innings.
but when the score is 2-0 in the 6th with 0 outs, the tolerance is 0 and he is yanked.
if we are up 6-2, then he stays in, eats up his innings leaves with a 6-4 lead after 7 and we have our studs to close it down. if our pen is rested, then we bring someone in the 7th if someone gets on.

we have been scoring late, and that puts pressure to keep it close in the middle innings.
also, our pitchers are not attacking and nibbling with the score so close so their pitch count is 80 whil working in the 5ht still.

 

[magnumo]

Damn impressive what they've done the past few weeks. But I've seen that fish before, so I'm cautiously optimistic. ..

That describes me, as well. Caution seems appropriate after the meltdowns of the past two seasons.

On the other hand, it would be difficult to deny at least some optimism after the way the Bucs have played the last couple of series. From personal experience, I know what a positive effect can result from that hang-in-there-and-come-from-behind-to-win process, ESPECIALLY when a team does it a number of times. Nothing builds confidence in a team's capability to do something better than..... actually doing it..... repeatedly.

With help (and perhaps GOOD help, at that) on the way for the pitching staff, there may be some reason to believe that confidence MAY be sustainable. I had little confidence before the season opened (and after the first week of the season), as demonstrated by my 73-89 prediction. Nothing would please me more than to be proven W-A-A-A-Y wrong in that prediction.

 

[Illinest]

I have a feeling that we're going to be terribly dependent on the starters in the second half. I think that the bullpen is doing a nice job picking up the rest of the staff but eventually they're going to get worn out and we'll need those 8 inning starts worse than ever come july and august.

 

[Etrius24]

Illinest

Lucky for us we have Black down on the farm to come help out in the pen...I agree with you.. .We will need him, because we are using up our relievers at an alarming rate currently.