Cardinals at Pirates Series Thread|04/15-04/17

[Darkstone42]

Coming off a big sweep of the Reds, the Pirates (6-6) will host the Cardinals (7-4) in the second series of this ten-game homestand.

The Bucco bats seem to be coming alive a little bit, although they are still statistically very low in most offensive rankings. Even so, it's early in the season, and the team is young and growing.

Pitching matchups project as Lynn (1-0) vs. McDonald (1-1), Westbrook (1-1) vs. Sanchez (0-2), and Miller (2-0) vs. Burnett (0-2).

I started the last series thread, and we swept the Reds, so I figure as long as the team is having success, I'll keep making the series threads.

Go Bucs!

 

[Burgh Sports Rule]

Make the series threads all year brother Darkstone.

I love em! And, I'm sure others do as well.

Burgh

 

[HammerDown]

Good job, Darkstone. I love the NL Central and am really looking forward to this series. It's going to be interesting to see who does what and I think we're going to have a clearer picture of these two teams when the dust settles. I'd be happy with the Pirates taking 2-of-3 and delighted with a sweep.

 

[thecrow124]

Watching the game today I noticed Pedro was starting to put some good swings on the ball. I just have a feeling he is about to go on one of his tears. Hopefully it is this series as we could definately use it against the Cards.

 

[magnumo]

I started the last series thread, and we swept the Reds, so I figure as long as the team is having success, I'll keep making the series threads.

.....and that's all I have to say about that!

 

[steelparrot]

Pedro is starting to look alot better, taking his walks and making solid contact. Marte looks like a budding superstar too.

We gonna have to score some runs, Melancon is out for 2 days for sure after pitching 3 in a row and 5 out 7 days. Grilli needs another day off too... We really need to add a 3 to our one two punch at the back of the bp.

 

[element1286]

Marte has been great, but I don't buy he can hit for that average with that many k's, and so few bb's. His bb/k ratio is .15, one hitter (who qualified for the batting title) the past 5 years has had a ratio that low for an entire season.

I just don't see him being a great player unless he drops the k's down or raises the bb's. This in between ground is going to limit his upside, unless you believe his career BABIP will be well north of .400, which would be unprecedented.

 

[sychmd]

Pedro is starting to look alot better, taking his walks and making solid contact. Marte looks like a budding superstar too.

We gonna have to score some runs, Melancon is out for 2 days for sure after pitching 3 in a row and 5 out 7 days. Grilli needs another day off too... We really need to add a 3 to our one two punch at the back of the bp.

they should have used morris yesterday in the 9th and have melancon if he faltered. also thought they should have left gomez in one more inning as he had good rhythm and bullpen a bit short.

we need hughes to be hughes from last year and i think wilson can really shine in relief.
grilli, melancon, wilson, hughes as the 8/9th inning options and
morris, watson, gomez as the 5-7th inning options. gomez the youngest of the arms and hasnt played too badly.

it will be interesting to see if
1. leroux can come back or is he a AAAA pitcher
2. morris can turn into a late inning guy
3. if welker can play into the MLB team
4. what alderson ends up being.
5. where karstens lands. i hope we dont need him in the rotation. that will mean wandy is healed, mcd is reliable, locke continues as a lefty gaining confidence and either sanchez/liriano having an impact.
then karstens can be pen and we have some P to deal with some young bats to get a great, ready to play SS who is blocked at the mlb level on present team.
4.

 

[sychmd]

Marte has been great, but I don't buy he can hit for that average with that many k's, and so few bb's. His bb/k ratio is .15, one hitter (who qualified for the batting title) the past 5 years has had a ratio that low for an entire season.

I just don't see him being a great player unless he drops the k's down or raises the bb's. This in between ground is going to limit his upside, unless you believe his career BABIP will be well north of .400, which would be unprecedented.

hopefully as the opposing pitcher start to give him less to hit, he can lay off the junk and see the walks increase.
it will help if he has a team hitting behind him so he can be ok with a good obp and not feel he is responsible to knock in himself each AB.

it will be interesting to watch his development as he seems so fast in everything and that speed generating such power with the bat and the arm. too bad he got injured last year and didnt get the full benefit of an extended callup to go through the adjustment and readjustment game with pitchers a couple times through.

 

[element1286]

hopefully as the opposing pitcher start to give him less to hit, he can lay off the junk and see the walks increase.
it will help if he has a team hitting behind him so he can be ok with a good obp and not feel he is responsible to knock in himself each AB.

it will be interesting to watch his development as he seems so fast in everything and that speed generating such power with the bat and the arm. too bad he got injured last year and didnt get the full benefit of an extended callup to go through the adjustment and readjustment game with pitchers a couple times through.

Yea, I agree. He's still <300 Plate appearances in the majors, so there is plenty of time to develop.

 

[sychmd]

just saw the pirates added back presley instead of harrison.
nice to get a lefty on the bench when a righty starts instead of having them all in the lineup then when the lefty comes in we put in all our RHB then have no lefties on the bench when the put in another righty.

also, more pop with presley.

i thinks barmes is doing a great job defensively and mcdonald is a vet and adequate enough for a breather or to give a late inning substitute after PH for barmes if necessary.
harrison needs more regular play and not enough obp or pop at this point.

 

[stillmatic32]

I can't take anymore J-Suck. He's consistently sucked for pretty long now.

 

[sychmd]

in the 2nd inning, he had 2 outs and a 1-2 count and 0 runs in until it all fell apart.

 

[thedddd]

Well that was a total buzzkill after the Reds series.

 

[HammerDown]

what a total disappointment.

 

[sychmd]

down 10-4, we had 2nd and 3rd with one out and the top of the order. getting those 2 would have been breathing down their neck.
then 10-4 in the fifth, strand another 2 runners again,
we are getting chances and their BP is terrible so we will have 4 chances at them. we seem to be hitting. who knows, another dramatic late inning magic??????

 

[HammerDown]

We've all seen crazier things happen.

 

[HammerDown]

No better time than now to make their move. Start it now or go home.

 

[Burgh Sports Rule]

Well, it's a loss. The Bucco bats made a good showing again though.

Again, Marte is a Stud. Here's hoping we can come back tonight & get a win, now that we won't have JMac out there throwing BP.

I hope JMac gets sat down for awhile, I've seen enough.

Burgh

 

[element1286]

Well, it's a loss. The Bucco bats made a good showing again though.

Again, Marte is a Stud. Here's hoping we can come back tonight & get a win, now that we won't have JMac out there throwing BP.

I hope JMac gets sat down for awhile, I've seen enough.

Burgh

I'm thinking we are going to see him on the DL soon, his fastball is down a few miles per hour this year. And he can't live throwing 89mph all night.