Series Thread: Pirates @ Cards

[steelparrot]

Morton Wainwright
Worley Martinez
Cole Lynn -espn-
Volquez Miller

After them its 3 at the reds to finish first half

 

[steelparrot]

Nice timing for a another delay, get 21 pitches out of wainwright and he can take a nice long break

 

[steelparrot]

Ike leads off the 2nd with a 10 pitch walk, we have enough players that make starters throw lots of pitches to get some synergy out of it.

 

[Darkstone42]

This is some kind of battle of curveballs.

 

[Darkstone42]

Easy triple for Marte, going hard out of the box. Bring him in, Cutch!

 

[Darkstone42]

I know Walker needs to swing at that 2-strike curveball, but how can you give Wainwright the call on that fastball four inches outside?

 

[Darkstone42]

Ike leads off the 2nd with a 10 pitch walk, we have enough players that make starters throw lots of pitches to get some synergy out of it.

That McCutchen, Walker, Martin, Davis portion of our lineup can really make a pitcher work.

 

[Darkstone42]

Morton is pitching out of his mind. He deserves some help from the offense.

 

[Darkstone42]

Why did they have Morton swing? The bunt should have been pretty easy there.

 

[Darkstone42]

Way too many wasted opportunities. Every inning we've had action. We can't get anyone across.

 

[Darkstone42]

Well, at least Pedro helped Morton with his glove there. Great play.

 

[Darkstone42]

And that was a great catch by Davis to end the inning!

Morton through 7 now, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 HBP. Just 84 pitches so far.

 

[Darkstone42]

Great pinch-hit at bat for Gaby Sanchez drawing the walk.

Runner in scoring position for Pedro against the lefty.

 

[Darkstone42]

Mercer reaches on an error, but the run doesn't come in, and it forces Hurdle's hand. Morton has to be lifted earlier than he otherwise would have been.

Polanco up.

 

[Darkstone42]

And Polanco goes down swinging.

Darn.

Watson likely on for the eighth.

 

[stillmatic32]

Ouch.

 

[evolver115]

Pirates got screwed in the very first inning of this one, and it comes back to haunt them in 9. Home plate umpire Alan Porter called an obvious HBP against Martin as an intentional, and didn't give Russ the base. It would have loaded the bases for Ike with two outs, and guess what Davis did when he led off the 2nd? Yep, base hit to left center field. Porter's strike zone for Wainwright was an embarrassment, as well. Why don't the Pirates ever get a decent shake from these umps? I challenge anyone to cite a close call that the Bucs benefit from, because I can't think of one.

 

[dare2be]

Matt Adams. Pirate killer. I hate him.

 

[Darkstone42]

Pirates got screwed in the very first inning of this one, and it comes back to haunt them in 9. Home plate umpire Alan Porter called an obvious HBP against Martin as an intentional, and didn't give Russ the base. It would have loaded the bases for Ike with two outs, and guess what Davis did when he led off the 2nd? Yep, base hit to left center field. Porter's strike zone for Wainwright was an embarrassment, as well. Why don't the Pirates ever get a decent shake from these umps? I challenge anyone to cite a close call that the Bucs benefit from, because I can't think of one.

Yeah, Wainwright didn't really have his best control, but he got a lot of pretty favorable strike calls. He doesn't really need the help, but he got it anyway, and it directly cost us at least a few baserunners, and who knows what kind of impact it had on the approach through the lineup. I mean, when fastballs four inches outside are being called strikes, that backdoor curveball poses all sorts of extra problems.

But even so, we needed to at least capitalize on one opportunity. We had a runner in scoring position almost every inning and never drove him in. Cutch had an especially rough night in that respect. But if we were going to drop a game in this series, it was going to be the Wainwright one, and a split would still be a victory, in my opinion, and is still highly attainable.

 

[HammerDown]

Matt Adams. Pirate killer. I hate him.

The only way I could possibly hate that team any more is if Pujols and Beltran were back.

If there's going to be a walkoff tonight, let's hope it's by the right team.