FIRST PLACE!!!

[Etrius24]

Second best record in the NL!

6th best run differential in the NL!

And with the win on Sunday they have a winning record on the road so far this year!!!

All of these things are good signs!

Remember last year when the Pirates were hanging around the .500 mark as the season went along, and their run differential was in the negative?

Exactly one year ago today the Bucs were:

- 4 and 7 on the road
- 9 and 11 overall
- They had a negative run differential of 13
- They were 4 and a half games out of first place behind the Cardinals.

Today they are:

- 7 and 6 on the road
- 15 and 10 overall
- A positive run differential of 10!
- They are in first place by half a game.

Now someone might say, okay but your example from last year was after 20 games and the bucs have played 25 so far this year.... So I went and looked after 25 games as well.

After 25 games last season:

- 5 games out of first place
- 11 and 14 record.
- 6 and 10 on the road.
- negative run differential of 17


While we have no way of knowing what is going to happen in the coming weeks... I do find it encouraging that the bucs have so far found a way to win on the road, and that their run differential is at least in the positive.


...Of course as we all remember the pinnacle of the Bucs season came on July 28th when they were 16 games over .500 with a positive run differential of 41! And at that time the offense was being driven mostly by McCutchen.

While I enjoyed the incredible run the Bucs went on in June and July of last sason.. I would rather see them just be a little more consistent and stay above .500 from here on out. Here is hoping a higher success rate on the road and the positive run differential make that a more likely reality.

I will revisit this again a few times as the season goes along. I know every season is different, but last season is as close as the bucs have come to being competitive and above .500 for an entire season in many years! Because that was only 1 season ago and the bucs are again playing well...I thought it valid to look at this year's team and compare them to the squad from 2012.

 

[Darkstone42]

Second best record in the NL!

6th best run differential in the NL!

And with the win on Sunday they have a winning record on the road so far this year!!!

All of these things are good signs!

Remember last year when the Pirates were hanging around the .500 mark as the season went along, and their run differential was in the negative?

Exactly one year ago today the Bucs were:

- 4 and 7 on the road
- 9 and 11 overall
- They had a negative run differential of 13
- They were 4 and a half games out of first place behind the Cardinals.

Today they are:

- 7 and 6 on the road
- 15 and 10 overall
- A positive run differential of 10!
- They are in first place by half a game.

Now someone might say, okay but your example from last year was after 20 games and the bucs have played 25 so far this year.... So I went and looked after 25 games as well.

After 25 games last season:

- 5 games out of first place
- 11 and 14 record.
- 6 and 10 on the road.
- negative run differential of 17


While we have no way of knowing what is going to happen in the coming weeks... I do find it encouraging that the bucs have so far found a way to win on the road, and that their run differential is at least in the positive.


...Of course as we all remember the pinnacle of the Bucs season came on July 28th when they were 16 games over .500 with a positive run differential of 41! And at that time the offense was being driven mostly by McCutchen.

While I enjoyed the incredible run the Bucs went on in June and July of last sason.. I would rather see them just be a little more consistent and stay above .500 from here on out. Here is hoping a higher success rate on the road and the positive run differential make that a more likely reality.

I will revisit this again a few times as the season goes along. I know every season is different, but last season is as close as the bucs have come to being competitive and above .500 for an entire season in many years! Because that was only 1 season ago and the bucs are again playing well...I thought it valid to look at this year's team and compare them to the squad from 2012.

During their nice run last year, Pedro and Jones were significantly contributing to the offense as well. I do, however, think this year's lineup is stronger than last years, on merit of Snider and Martin alone.

Even so, I'm going to temper my enthusiasm. I was pretty devastated last year when the Pirates went into their downward spiral.

 

[Etrius24]

Darkstone

I agree the lineup is stronger.. and I think another key difference will be the fact that there is pitching help on the way. People have mentioned that the bullpen is being used at an alarming rate. Well we have a solid closing candidate in AAA that could come up at some point and help out at the end of games in Black. Contreras also at some point might be able to help out in the pen. Morton and Liriano are working their way back and can within the next month theoretically be pushing for a spot in the rotation and then there is always Cole down on the farm.

Marte has been playing great thus far and is easily one of the bright spots on this team! Snider has been playing well... I am eager to see how much playing time he will get as the season progresses. So far he has made Tabata a 4th outfielder/pinch hitter.

The positive I am trying to focus on and take from this season thus far is that we are ahead of where we were at this point last year... So if McCutchen and Pedro start hitting like they did last season after the month of April and the offense really starts producing we might be in a better position than we were last august when the wheels fell off.

I was working on a post specifically about McCutchen when the internet went down here a few hours ago.. I lost it.. but I did some research on April hitting stats for Pedro and McCutchen and I will share Pedro's numbers here and see if I can rehash the other post in another thread (because I consider McCutchen worthy of his own thread offensively.)

The difference between Pedro last april and now aside from the fact that he had one more homerun last season at the end of april is almost 50 points of batting average and over 100 points of OPS. I would post the numbers to see them visually but it is after 3 am here and I need to get up in the am for work..

Point being we have noticed that the team is winning without McCutchen carrying the offense... Further examining the point McCutchen is off from his production even compared to last April. Now we see that so too is the production down from Pedro as well.

And that means thus far this is a offense that has been relying on the lead off hitting of Marte and the timely hitting of Sanchez and Martin.

Which gets us back to the point of the offense as a whole being stronger and more balanced... LOL I am tired, going around in circles... goodnight.

 

[sychmd]

a couple other encouraging points.

cutch didnt hit his first HR last year until may 1 if i remember correctly. unfortunately, he seems to be a late starter.

also, since our opening 1-5 start, we are 14-5. that is pretty consistent play. luckily, when we have a dud game, we wrap a lot of ugliness into it, but only a couple so far out or 25.

lastly, since being swept in LA in our early doldrums, we
beat arizona (division leader) 2-1
swept cincy (winning record and rival) 3-0
split stl (winning record and rival) 1-1 and ahead in the rain out 4-2
beat atl (very hot was like 11-2) 3-1
beat phil (middling but drew 3 aces halladay, hamels, lee) 3-1
beat stl (rival and div leader) 2-1

those are good teams with good starting pitching and 7-3 on the road as well.
hopefully we dont relax against the cubs, mets, marlins, padres as we need to go 667 against that schedule, split on the road and 600 at home.

 

[Etrius24]

Excellent points Sychmd!

I remember reading a yahoo column before that epic homestand...And it stated the season was about to get worse for the pirates and their anemic offense.. because we were out on the road and it was a tough schedule.. I think we were 1 and 5 and had to go to Arizona for three games before coming home to face the Reds, Cardinals, and Braves!!!

I am so glad that columnist was dead wrong! If this team can find a way to beat the Brewers I will really be excited about their chances going forward!

 

[sychmd]

as long as we take 1 out of 3, i will be satisfied.
just dont get swept.
it has been a long road trip and many games in a row other than a rain out. i think 20 dates.
so 1-2 is acceptable,
2-1 is awesome.
3-0 book a trip to pitts in oct for the playoffs!

 

[Etrius24]

Yeah the Brewers seem to be our nemesis.

Success against them may well be the portent for ultimately how the season is going to go.