This Pirates-Cards game has gone into the 17th inning.
When will we see a position player pitch?
FIRE FRED WILPON
This Pirates-Cards game has gone into the 17th inning.
When will we see a position player pitch?
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1-5 since that 19 inning game wasn't exactly what I envisioned. Pitching has struggled (except for Karstens in the win) and hitting has also cooled off as well. Cutch has dropped to 344 and now this series with the Cardinals is almost like a "must win" at least in regard to the playoffs. The Bucs have struggled with August for the 2nd straight year, hopefully it doesn't carry over into September.
LETS GO BUCS!!
FIRE FRED WILPON
Home run derby today.
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Bucs get win #72 with a 6-3 win over the Astros. The 72nd win matches the total for 2011 with 26 games left. Cubs come in for 3 over the weekend. Bucs still within striking distance of the Wild Card in September, which is more than what 95% of the baseball world expected when this season started.
LETS GO BUCS!!
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Is anyone else getting nervous about the Pirates' winning record? I've been pulling for them all year to make the playoffs, but if they can't do that I'd at least like to see them end the losing season streak. The way they've been playing lately I'm wondering if they might not even do that.
Come on, Pirates! At least get ten more wins!
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I am. What's really been bad is how many times over the last week the Bucs would be on the cusp of "snapping out of it" with 1 big hit, or 1 solid pitching performance, only to have it frittered away, like Wandy's performance last night, or when they loaded up the bases with nobody out in the 14th last night. To not take advantage of these opportunites has happened often over the last 19 years, just not with a winning record in September. This isn't exactly the "finishing" I or Clint Hurdle envisioned.Originally Posted by ian2813
LETS GO BUCS!!
FIRE FRED WILPON
Hurdle make wrong move in Pirates' loss?
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...n-pirates-loss
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Wow...under 500, blowing a 7-4 lead in the 8th inning...just when you think it can't get more gruesome, it does. With that Playoffs are pretty much out of the question, but with 7 games coming up against the Astros and Mets "mission 82" is still very possible. This fallapart has been hard to watch, and it would be even harder if they lose either the Astros or Mets series.
LETS GO BUCS!!
FIRE FRED WILPON
Look on the bright side. The Pittsburgh Pirates did not lose 16-1 to the Phillies tonight.
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They need to go at least 8-5 the rest of the way. Their final two series are at home against the Braves and Reds. The Reds should have their division title clinched by then, so perhaps they'll rest some key players in that series. If the Braves' playoff spot is set in stone by then as well, they might do the same.
I hope they don't finish at 81-81, because then we'd have to start distinguishing "non-winning seasons" from "losing seasons," and that would just be annoying.
FIRE FRED WILPON
Pirates no good.
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LETS GO BUCCOS !!!
c/o Jayson Stark's BlogBucs making the wrong kind of history
This is an edition of the September History Watch that we September History Watchers didn't want to write -- any more than Clint Hurdle or Andrew McCutchen or A.J. Burnett want to read.
But at this point, we can't help ourselves, because the Pittsburgh Pirates are hurtling toward the kind of history nobody wants to make.
As recently as Aug. 6, a mere seven weeks ago, they had a record of 62-46. That's 16 games over .500, if you're subtracting along at home. And they'd played 108 games at the time. That's two-thirds of the season.
So if there ever was a lock for them -- or any team -- to finish with a winning record, this was it. Right?
OK, wrong. Obviously. We know that now. We know it because the Pirates have tumbled, stumbled and bumbled their way to a record that now sits at two games under .500.
And that means this team is on the verge of doing something no team has ever done:
Find itself at least 16 games over .500 after 108 games and finish with a (gulp) losing record.
We spent way too much time Monday morning studying this depressing topic. We found more than 500 teams through the years that were 16 games over .500 or more after 108 games. And you know what they all had in common?
Not one of them wound up with more losses than wins. Not one!
It seemed so hard to believe that we asked the Elias Sports Bureau to double-check, just to make sure we weren't nuts.
Nope. That was the deal, all right.
Not one!
The sort of good news is, we did find two teams that finished at .500 on the nose, at least:
• There was Herman Franks' infamous 1977 Chicago Cubs. That team was 25 games over .500 at one point, was still 18 over (63-45) after 108 games and finished at 81-81, completing their legendary Cubbie-esque plunge from first place, and an 8½-game lead, to fourth place, 20 games south of first place.
• And then there was Buck Rodgers' 1989 Expos. That club was also 63-45 through 108 games, and also staggered home to finish 81-81, with the help of an attractive 5-15 kaboom in its final 20 games.
And that's the whole group. So what's the closest any team has ever come to being as far above .500 as these Pirates were, after 108 games or later, and finishing on the wrong side of Mount .500?
Elias reports it was Toad Ramsey's 1886 Louisville Colonels, who were 15 over (64-49, plus one tie) after their 114th game -- then went a spiffy 2-21-1 in their final 24 games to finish 66-70.
Now clearly, this is not the kind of company any team wants to keep. But fortunately, we'd like to remind these Pirates of something they might want to hold on to:
The season isn't over. All they need to do is go 7-3 in their final 10 games, and they can avoid being lumped in with any of the teams in this group. And just to prove how upbeat we are about the chances they could pull that off, we won't even mention that they've only won seven times in their past 23 games.
Oops. Strike that last sentence from the record, please. And let's hope that in a week and a half, these Pirates can forget Toad Ramsey, Herman Franks and anything we just typed -- because no team deserves that fate, especially a team that hasn't had a winning season since Sid Bream slid into home.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/blog/_/name/s...nd-history-mlb
FIRE FRED WILPON
I was at the Mets-Pirates game last night at Citi Field. I've noticed too many Pirates batters in the lineup had sub-300 OBP's.
The Pirates front office should fix this.
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FIRE FRED WILPON
Pirates no-hit for six innings against Homer Bailey.
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My cousin Randy Allera has a Pirate logo tattooed on his bicep. When I saw it a few years ago I asked if he had considered Laser surgery. Pleases Buccos in the name of "Gunner" Prince get to .500.
FIRE FRED WILPON
Pirates lose 4-3. Hanrahan blows a save.
Pittsburgh was 16 games over .500 on August 6th, but has lost 18 of 23 to fall to 77-82.
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FIRE FRED WILPON
Pirates lose 4-0 to the Braves to end the 2012 season. The Pirates end at 79-83.
Sorry.
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LETS GO BUCCOS !!!
The season was officially over for me in the first inning of yesterday's game. To be exact, right here....
A.J. Burnett pitching for Pittsburgh
Michael Bourn
Strike (looking), Ball, Strike (foul), Ball, Ball, Ball, M Bourn walked
Martin Prado
Strike (looking), Ball, Ball, M Bourn stole second, Ball, M Bourn stole third, M Prado hit sacrifice fly to right, M Bourn scored
In Love With This Game
At least the Pirates tied for their highest win total since the losing season streak began. Hopefully it's a sign that the team is on the rise.
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