Post by joshsbix on Nov 26, 2023 6:03:01 GMT -5
The Pirates look to continue to build on their success after going 6-4 over the last 10 games but face a sim full of winning teams. Pittsburgh has had some recent success against the top teams in the league but that doesn't seem likely to continue. After the Astro series, the Pirates face off against Chicago, ST. Louis, and Atlanta. Let's see how bad it got.
5/25
Headed into the the 5/25 game the Pirates and Astros are tied 1 game to 1 for the series. The rubber match featured a couple of real life Marlins facing off against each other as Josh Beckett and Dontrelle Willis try to clinch a not so important game 3 for their respective teams. Beckett went the complete game, do visiting managers have any other strategy that they are forced to use? Willis went 6.1 innings, giving up no runs and turned the game over to the bullpen in the 7th. Wilson, German, Mantei, and Mattes were able to close out the game with only 1 more ER but the defense cost Wilson a run. At the end of the day it was the Pirates that road solo shots by Tejada, Castillo, and Butler to a 3-2 win.
Pittsburgh starts the sim 1-0 and wins the Houston series 2-1. Their winning streak extends to 2 games.
5/26
As the Astros were leaving town, the Cardinals were arriving. This next part is tough to write. The Cardinals, the former Pirates, bring several familiar faces with them as they arrive in Pittsburgh to play the new Pirates, formerly known as the Astros. I swear this is the last time I am putting this into an article. Of course, Cliff Lee gave the St Louis bullpen the night off, as he threw a complete game shutout and received 6 runs in support and the Pirate offense could muster only one. Lee has struggled to get wins this year. More often than not that has been because of a lack of offense from the Cards, but that wasn't an issue in this one and Cliff Lee's shiny new brilliant rating is showing. Cards win 6-1 and the Pirates fall to 1-1 and the Cardinals end the Pittsburgh 2 game win streak.
5/27
If Stool needs a new lineup, it isn't showing in this series. The Pirates sent SP Darren Dreifort to the mound to counter Zach Greinke. It went about as well as anyone would have guessed, like me being a counterweight to Rosie O'Donnell, the systems started to fail early as STL scored 6 in the second, 1 in the 3rd, 1 in the 4th, and 3 in the 5th. Chavez, Murphy and Guillen all had at least one hit against their former team and St. Louis easily takes game 2 of the series, 11-4. The Pirates scored all 4 runs in the 7th,8th, and 9 innings but when you spot your opponent 11 runs, it is going to be difficult to come back from. Pirates drop to 1-2 on the sim.
5/28
Game 3 of the series didn't go all that much different than games 1 and 2 other than the fact that the pitching staff performed much better today, giving up only 4 runs, bringing St. Louis' total run production for the 3 game series to 21 runs in 3 games. The score looked close, but we suspect the Cards were toying with us like a cat toys with it's kill. Oliver Perez gave up a pair of runs early but was bailed out by a 4 run 9th inning and St. Louis concludes the three game sweep by ripping out the heart of Pittsburgh fans hoping to salvage a game from the series. Pirates drop to 1-3 on the sim.
5/29 Day off to consider, if St Louis was this bad, how bad is Chicago going to be?
5/30
The Pirates arrived in Chicago to take on the defending division champs and the current division leader. Another game, another disappointment. The Pirates took an early lead in this one and held a 7-4 lead after 6 and 10-4 after 7 but you already know what is about to happen. the Cubs came storming back in the 8th and 9th scoring 6 runs to send the game into extra innings. That was their mistake. For whatever reason the Pirates can't seem to lose extra inning games this year. They can lose anything else but improved to 5-0 in extra inning games. Pittsburgh shook off the dramatic comeback and all of the blown leads from the last few weeks. From what I can tell from the box score, the top of the lineup came through in the 10th and CJ Wilson picked up the save. An interesting note, the Pirates have won 6 straight starts that Hebnor has made and 7 out of 10. Pirates win 12-10 and improve to 2-3 on the sim and take a 1-0 lead in the 4 game Cub series.
5/31
Chicago got their revenge in game 2 as Dontrelle Willis pitched like a powder puff and Zito pitched much better. The D Train had won 3 consecutive starts but the Cubs got to him for 2 in the second and 4 in the 4th before he was mercifully lifted for a bullpen that gave up three more Cub runs before the 10-5 drubbing was over. pirates drop to 2-4 on the sim and 1-1 for the Cub series.
6/1
The Chicago offense was offensive in game 3. It wasn't even close. They scored 5 in the first, 5 in the second, and sprinkled in a couple more runs for good measure as they absolutely shell Cordova for 6 runs in 2 innings. The time on the DL does not seem to have done Cordova any favors. I am hoping he can get back on track as we get to the middle part of the season. Pirates drop to 2-5 on the sim and 1-2 against the Cubs
We have one more game against the Cubs but we don't have much hope in our heart for this series. I haven't looked forward on the schedule, when you are 15-39 do you really care who is next? I have a really bad feeling that I am going to be scheduled to help Philly avoid their 10th loss for a little longer, but I honestly haven't look at the next sim schedule.
Lotto Odds Watch
1. Cincy 12 wins
1. SD 12 Wins
1. TB 12 Wins
4. Min 15 Wins
4. Pitt 15 Wins
6. Yankees 18 Wins
7. Angels 19 wins
With a seemingly solid buffer growing between these 7 teams and the other teams in the league, this appears to be the race for the bottom, at least until all of ATL's old people abruptly retire in June.
5/25
Headed into the the 5/25 game the Pirates and Astros are tied 1 game to 1 for the series. The rubber match featured a couple of real life Marlins facing off against each other as Josh Beckett and Dontrelle Willis try to clinch a not so important game 3 for their respective teams. Beckett went the complete game, do visiting managers have any other strategy that they are forced to use? Willis went 6.1 innings, giving up no runs and turned the game over to the bullpen in the 7th. Wilson, German, Mantei, and Mattes were able to close out the game with only 1 more ER but the defense cost Wilson a run. At the end of the day it was the Pirates that road solo shots by Tejada, Castillo, and Butler to a 3-2 win.
Pittsburgh starts the sim 1-0 and wins the Houston series 2-1. Their winning streak extends to 2 games.
5/26
As the Astros were leaving town, the Cardinals were arriving. This next part is tough to write. The Cardinals, the former Pirates, bring several familiar faces with them as they arrive in Pittsburgh to play the new Pirates, formerly known as the Astros. I swear this is the last time I am putting this into an article. Of course, Cliff Lee gave the St Louis bullpen the night off, as he threw a complete game shutout and received 6 runs in support and the Pirate offense could muster only one. Lee has struggled to get wins this year. More often than not that has been because of a lack of offense from the Cards, but that wasn't an issue in this one and Cliff Lee's shiny new brilliant rating is showing. Cards win 6-1 and the Pirates fall to 1-1 and the Cardinals end the Pittsburgh 2 game win streak.
5/27
If Stool needs a new lineup, it isn't showing in this series. The Pirates sent SP Darren Dreifort to the mound to counter Zach Greinke. It went about as well as anyone would have guessed, like me being a counterweight to Rosie O'Donnell, the systems started to fail early as STL scored 6 in the second, 1 in the 3rd, 1 in the 4th, and 3 in the 5th. Chavez, Murphy and Guillen all had at least one hit against their former team and St. Louis easily takes game 2 of the series, 11-4. The Pirates scored all 4 runs in the 7th,8th, and 9 innings but when you spot your opponent 11 runs, it is going to be difficult to come back from. Pirates drop to 1-2 on the sim.
5/28
Game 3 of the series didn't go all that much different than games 1 and 2 other than the fact that the pitching staff performed much better today, giving up only 4 runs, bringing St. Louis' total run production for the 3 game series to 21 runs in 3 games. The score looked close, but we suspect the Cards were toying with us like a cat toys with it's kill. Oliver Perez gave up a pair of runs early but was bailed out by a 4 run 9th inning and St. Louis concludes the three game sweep by ripping out the heart of Pittsburgh fans hoping to salvage a game from the series. Pirates drop to 1-3 on the sim.
5/29 Day off to consider, if St Louis was this bad, how bad is Chicago going to be?
5/30
The Pirates arrived in Chicago to take on the defending division champs and the current division leader. Another game, another disappointment. The Pirates took an early lead in this one and held a 7-4 lead after 6 and 10-4 after 7 but you already know what is about to happen. the Cubs came storming back in the 8th and 9th scoring 6 runs to send the game into extra innings. That was their mistake. For whatever reason the Pirates can't seem to lose extra inning games this year. They can lose anything else but improved to 5-0 in extra inning games. Pittsburgh shook off the dramatic comeback and all of the blown leads from the last few weeks. From what I can tell from the box score, the top of the lineup came through in the 10th and CJ Wilson picked up the save. An interesting note, the Pirates have won 6 straight starts that Hebnor has made and 7 out of 10. Pirates win 12-10 and improve to 2-3 on the sim and take a 1-0 lead in the 4 game Cub series.
5/31
Chicago got their revenge in game 2 as Dontrelle Willis pitched like a powder puff and Zito pitched much better. The D Train had won 3 consecutive starts but the Cubs got to him for 2 in the second and 4 in the 4th before he was mercifully lifted for a bullpen that gave up three more Cub runs before the 10-5 drubbing was over. pirates drop to 2-4 on the sim and 1-1 for the Cub series.
6/1
The Chicago offense was offensive in game 3. It wasn't even close. They scored 5 in the first, 5 in the second, and sprinkled in a couple more runs for good measure as they absolutely shell Cordova for 6 runs in 2 innings. The time on the DL does not seem to have done Cordova any favors. I am hoping he can get back on track as we get to the middle part of the season. Pirates drop to 2-5 on the sim and 1-2 against the Cubs
We have one more game against the Cubs but we don't have much hope in our heart for this series. I haven't looked forward on the schedule, when you are 15-39 do you really care who is next? I have a really bad feeling that I am going to be scheduled to help Philly avoid their 10th loss for a little longer, but I honestly haven't look at the next sim schedule.
Lotto Odds Watch
1. Cincy 12 wins
1. SD 12 Wins
1. TB 12 Wins
4. Min 15 Wins
4. Pitt 15 Wins
6. Yankees 18 Wins
7. Angels 19 wins
With a seemingly solid buffer growing between these 7 teams and the other teams in the league, this appears to be the race for the bottom, at least until all of ATL's old people abruptly retire in June.
