can the pirates hold on?

[sychmd]

they are 45 - 36 after 81.

before the break,
- 1 hou home. should go 1-0
- 3 home against SF. will miss their 2 best pitchers. should go 2-1

then of the next 68 games after the break,
51 are against losing teams, unbelievable! most are mil, hous, cubs, colo. some of these will be sellers and be even worse. (Hous just dumped lee)
- should go 32 - 19
- these clubs are just terrible, actually pirates circa 93-2011(2nd half)
16 are against winning teams, should go 8-8
- 6 home and away with cin
- 6 home and away with stl
- 4 home against dodgers

then we finish with, should go 5-5
- 4 at mets
- 3 home cinc
- 3 home atl

tally it up and the record is 93-69.

sounds amazing, but i think very realistic. i think we can actually do better against the bad teams, maybe 34 - 36 wins. now if we pick up another bat or starting pitcher, each category increases by 1-2 wins.

what do you think?

 

[WVUinVegas]

I think the Pirates finish over .500 this year, finish 2nd in the division and miss the playoffs

:sad:

 

[thedddd]

If the Pitching staff can hold unlike last year I can see an over .500 finish. The offense itself seems to be coming around.

But come August if they still look the same I think I would feel a LOT more confident. It is the pessimistic view towards this team too long that keeps me from feeling the same.

 

[steelparrot]

I think our schedule prevents a collapse barring injuries.

Winning record seems easy, playoffs maybe, depends on the Reds and Cards records.

 

[Burgh Sports Rule]

The Reds lost again tonight to the Padres. The Pirates now lead the NL Central by 2 gms!

With Marte,expected to be called up after the All Star Break. I would also like to see us also call up either a Locke, or Owens to help out this rotation. Then, hopefully, Neal can be aggressive at the trade deadline & can get us an impact bat?

Dig out your Green Weenies folks! This could be a special summer, the likes of which we have not seen in Pittsburgh in 20 years!

Burgh

 

[WVUinVegas]

Dig out your Green Weenies folks! This could be a special summer, the likes of which we have not seen in Pittsburgh in 20 years!

Burgh

The era of the Green Weenie is over. This is the age of Zoltan!!

 

[Etrius24]

Zoltan???

 

[Etrius24]

And I hope they get 93 wins because I think it will take 93 or 94 wins to win this division..I think if they end up with 90 they lose the division...

 

[Etrius24]

But if the games you break down... The division games against the Cards and the Reds are going to be SO CRUCIAL....The bucs might well win 92-93 games but if they do not win more than they lose against the Reds and Cardinals it is going to be hard to win the division..If they can somehow find a way to win 4 or 5 games against both the reds and the cardinals I think they can win the division with 90 wins... The Bucs have to beat those teams if they expect to win this division.. each win against them is like 2 wins against anyone else.

 

[romeo212000]

Hope they do. You guys deserve a good season.

 

[Smoke]

No.

 

[WVUinVegas]

Zoltan???

You havent noticed all the players doing the Z sign with their hands?

It's a reference to Zoltan, a character in the movie Dude, Where's My Car?

 

[Etrius24]

I have not seen that movie... *LOL*

Maybe I will look for it on Netflix

 

[WVUinVegas]

ZOLTAN! - YouTube

 

[Etrius24]

Okay thanks

 

[magnumo]

they are 45 - 36 after 81.

<snip>

tally it up and the record is 93-69.

sounds amazing, but i think very realistic. i think we can actually do better against the bad teams, maybe 34 - 36 wins. now if we pick up another bat or starting pitcher, each category increases by 1-2 wins.

what do you think?

I never have liked counting unhatched chickens.

On the other hand, since the Pirates continue to improve their run differential, and since the offense appears to be better than it showed during the first couple months of the season, a collapse similar to last year's seems unlikely.

However, it all comes down to pitching..... and depth:

- The starting pitching has taken a couple of hits with Morton's surgery and Bedard's ineffectiveness. I missed a lot of the action over the past couple of weeks, due to a week-long internet outage followed by a week at the beach, but from what I heard, it seemed that Burnett and McDonald were showing a few cracks. Seems that this year's depth has helped, with Karstens coming back strong and Correia pitching better than expected. We still have additional starting depth at AAA..... but I HOPE we have no more injuries.

- Now that the offense is producing a bit, I shudder to think about the impact of an injury to any one of our key players, e.g. McCutchen, Walker, Alvarez..... or to any of the pitchers who have anchored the staff, e.g., McDonald, Burnett, Hanrahan. We have guys who MIGHT be able to step in, but I fear the psychological impact a key injury might have on the team at this point.

Let's just hope that the team stays healthy and the pitchers remain effective.