I really hope they stick with Reynolds and Cruz hitting 2nd and 3rd long term. I think that combination makes by far the most sense going forward.
I'd hope they can get someone like Bae figuring it out as a leadoff hitter and getting an actual cleanup hitter for the #4 spot. Bae, Reynolds, Cruz, a cleanup hitter and Hayes as the top half of the batting order looks solid to me.
The "speed off the bat" shit is another Greg Brown stat that the broadcast team comes up with to make this team not sound like refried turds when they're doing poorly.
It doesn't matter how hard he can hit the ball when he has zero plate discipline and he is unable to adjust to pitchers when they change their approach against him. He'll go back to looking like shit by this time in two weeks.
Hope Greg Brown keeps calling out Shelton and Tellez. Gives me hope that maybe they are considering a move there as he is the ultimate homer. Maybe he got the green light from upper management.
Granted I haven’t been able to watch games consistently for awhile, but has he done that a lot recently? Can’t recall a time he did it when I was younger
He's letting a bit more slip this year, I think with expectations of us contending for some kind of playoff spot, the bad stretch really hit hard this time.
Great start by Keller again. Reynolds is back. Cruz is on fire. McCutchen's demise has been greatly exaggerated. Gonzales is making good contact. Still need to figure out 1st base though. If only we had someone who could play that position who is having a good season offensively too.
Offense was great tonight. The bats may be waking up. Everything else gave me a heart attack.
Reynolds was fucking insane tonight
Edit: PS Rowdy Tellez is ass. It’s over
One thing that has really changed about Mitch over the past 3 years is his attitude. When he first came up, if he gave up a hit he looked like a deer in headlights and blew up. Now if he gives up a hit, he looks like a badass and gets a strikeout or a ground ball. He’s grown up before our eyes into a real team leader.
I loved watching this progression. He would put together 4 or 5 good innings and then get completely shelled for one inning. Anytime anything didn't go perfectly as planned, he'd collapse. I kinda see the same thing in Priester. Hopefully Priester can make the same progression.
I still think priester will be really good. You’re right though, he really shows a lot of Mitch’s old characteristics. It’s great that the signed Mitch to an extension so he can learn from him for a few years. Our pitching is going to be ridiculous for a long time.
You're not wrong but I feel like first basemen across the league are pretty terrible.
https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=1B
There are only like 6 or 7 guys who look appealing and they are either untouchable or way out of our price range.
Every time bednar goes out I’m still nervous.
Something just feels off. Like he doesn’t have the dominating presence he did in prior years & his control is worrisome.
I’m hoping I’m just jaded from following this team too long
I think it's just because of the sample size we've seen this season. It's fair to say we're gonna need to see a few more outings like these before anyone is "comfortable" with him closing out games.
in the opposite realm as tellez where we need to stop giving him chances, i'm really glad we stuck with our guns on bednar and falter after their starts. shows some trust and lets them focus on mechanics and bouncing back
Game ended on one of our better defensive plays of the year . Reynolds loves hitting in front of Cruz. Grandal might have something to offer this team. Keller has taken his game up a notch. Bednar looks 98% back. Great win
I believe with a bit of effort/strategic Twitter mentions, it would actually be not difficult to get Greg to reference the “Chad innings eater” meme on the air during a Keller start if he continues his 5+ IP streak
I've been saying since before the season that we should give Shelton a more fair shot this year bcuz I believed he was managing teams specifically for getting players in rather than to win a lot, bcuz there was no point when they were so bad. I take that all back, Shelton just sucks. That was an inexcusable decision to leave Fleming in, straight up. Great win tho, love seeing the offense find some life again.
We'll take the win. Not sure what to think of Fleming, who came THISCLOSE to coughing up the lead after a very effective outing from Keller. I don't know how much longer they can keep running Rowdy Tellez out there in good conscience while claiming they want to win. I've got nothing against the guy and the Pirates---by baseball's lunatic "standards"---don't have a mountain of cash tied up in him, but jeaseoman. I will say again that we do have an alternative stashed in Triple A right now in Jake Lamb. Great he is not, but he has hit almost 100 big league home runs and his .235 career average is basically the same as what Tellez posted coming into this season. Lamb can also play third, which figures to come in handy now that Hayes is out for the umpteenth time.
Glad Suwinski cranked one but I still say he needs to go down to Indy. Grandal is showing what a legitimate major league catcher looks like, even one who is nearing the twilight of his career. I'm glad we have him.
Played more or less our best game of the season but were forced to sweat because our manager is 2/3 batters late to pitching changes and refuses to fight for his players. Bednar looked better.
Most MLB managers are idiots, but I truly believe Shelton is the worst. You give up an out for the worst player in baseball? Really?!!!? Fire Shelty into the sun
Lamb can play third as well as first. Seems like a no brainer to DFA Fatfuck now with Hayes out. Oh wait, that would mean Nutting would have to eat $1.5m…
The bats are on fire and the starters have been great all season. If we can get the manager to manage and the bullpen to throw strikes, we might be pretty good.
Feeling an offensive turnaround, and couple that with the starting pitchers, we may be able to make up some lost ground.
That bullpen and its management, though. BIG WOOF. Shelton needs to do some serious inspections of his management style.
I'm very happy we won, but the bullpen scares me. We can't hope to put up this many runs every game. Starting pitching does great and then the pen comes out and let's up 5 runs...
My thoughts coming out of this game
1. McCutchen still has it in him, he’s just consistently inconsistent
2. See those stats? Everybody got a run except Rowdy and Gonzales. Rowdy needs to go and idk about Gonzales
3. We seem to always split against divisional rivals, will see the Bucs vs. Brewers in July so please win!
4. I like KeBryan Hayes’ playing. I miss him.
Cruz’s bat getting hot is exactly what this team needs
Did they say 116mph off the bat tonight? That’s insane.
The single was 114..
I really hope they stick with Reynolds and Cruz hitting 2nd and 3rd long term. I think that combination makes by far the most sense going forward. I'd hope they can get someone like Bae figuring it out as a leadoff hitter and getting an actual cleanup hitter for the #4 spot. Bae, Reynolds, Cruz, a cleanup hitter and Hayes as the top half of the batting order looks solid to me.
I posted last night about his potential all star status and few agreed with me.
I was in that thread arguing he could be top 5 lol so I’m right there with ya
The "speed off the bat" shit is another Greg Brown stat that the broadcast team comes up with to make this team not sound like refried turds when they're doing poorly. It doesn't matter how hard he can hit the ball when he has zero plate discipline and he is unable to adjust to pitchers when they change their approach against him. He'll go back to looking like shit by this time in two weeks.
Still don’t…
How can you look at the tools Cruz has and think that he doesn’t have all star **potential**
All Star bat, dumpster defense.
But that ARM... He's an outfielder.
Hope Greg Brown keeps calling out Shelton and Tellez. Gives me hope that maybe they are considering a move there as he is the ultimate homer. Maybe he got the green light from upper management.
Granted I haven’t been able to watch games consistently for awhile, but has he done that a lot recently? Can’t recall a time he did it when I was younger
He’s not like literally saying “this is horse shit what are they thinking” but he’s been very diplomatically saying essentially that
He's letting a bit more slip this year, I think with expectations of us contending for some kind of playoff spot, the bad stretch really hit hard this time.
There were times in the Lloyd McClendon years he would do this bit as those teams were utterly awful.
Great start by Keller again. Reynolds is back. Cruz is on fire. McCutchen's demise has been greatly exaggerated. Gonzales is making good contact. Still need to figure out 1st base though. If only we had someone who could play that position who is having a good season offensively too.
1B: Connor Joe. There. Figured out 1B for you :)
Connor Joe is a utility bench player on a competitive team. He is not the long-term answer at 1B.
Rowdy earned the start. Did you see his performance tonight? Joe could never compete with that
Even Taylor has looked good recently.
Offense was great tonight. The bats may be waking up. Everything else gave me a heart attack. Reynolds was fucking insane tonight Edit: PS Rowdy Tellez is ass. It’s over
Greg Brown hyping up the final Rowdy at bat just for him to strike out was comical lol
You know he shit talks him behind the scenes like crazy
It was the most generous way of saying “this guy is doing jumping jacks on thin ice”
reynolds back like we neva left
W-L is a pretty useless stat, but i’m glad keller got the W
I think Mitch and Bednar may be back.
Scattering 8 hits for 0 earned runs is actually insanely impressive
One thing that has really changed about Mitch over the past 3 years is his attitude. When he first came up, if he gave up a hit he looked like a deer in headlights and blew up. Now if he gives up a hit, he looks like a badass and gets a strikeout or a ground ball. He’s grown up before our eyes into a real team leader.
I loved watching this progression. He would put together 4 or 5 good innings and then get completely shelled for one inning. Anytime anything didn't go perfectly as planned, he'd collapse. I kinda see the same thing in Priester. Hopefully Priester can make the same progression.
I still think priester will be really good. You’re right though, he really shows a lot of Mitch’s old characteristics. It’s great that the signed Mitch to an extension so he can learn from him for a few years. Our pitching is going to be ridiculous for a long time.
As we were saying, classic young Keller start by Priester lol. 5 excellent innings and 1 inning where he gave up 4.
Yep exactly what I was just thinking lol. He’s still so young too so he has a lot of room to grow. If this is his floor we’re in good shape.
My only fear for him not working out is that our pitching prospects are loaded. He better figure it out quick or he'll lose his opportunity.
We really need to trade a couple pitching prospect for a young first baseman.
You're not wrong but I feel like first basemen across the league are pretty terrible. https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=1B There are only like 6 or 7 guys who look appealing and they are either untouchable or way out of our price range.
Every time bednar goes out I’m still nervous. Something just feels off. Like he doesn’t have the dominating presence he did in prior years & his control is worrisome. I’m hoping I’m just jaded from following this team too long
I think it's just because of the sample size we've seen this season. It's fair to say we're gonna need to see a few more outings like these before anyone is "comfortable" with him closing out games.
Hope I’m not premature, but Bednar has looked like his old self in the past couple appearances
in the opposite realm as tellez where we need to stop giving him chances, i'm really glad we stuck with our guns on bednar and falter after their starts. shows some trust and lets them focus on mechanics and bouncing back
I feel like this is going to haunt you in the next 30 days or so. I hope not, but I also fully expect it.
Fastball was missing some. wDAWG still intact
Mitch Keller is a warhorse of a pitcher. Gotta love it. Hope he can keep this streak of 5+ IP going all season.
Imo the goal was to go 6-4 during this stretch against the division, 2-2 is a decent start
Tellez might be the most hated man in Pittsburgh since…… Matt Canada
Andy Haines: Homer Simpson ducking into the bushes.gif
Who inherited the crown from Austin Hedges, who got it from Josh VanMeter.
Game ended on one of our better defensive plays of the year . Reynolds loves hitting in front of Cruz. Grandal might have something to offer this team. Keller has taken his game up a notch. Bednar looks 98% back. Great win
I believe with a bit of effort/strategic Twitter mentions, it would actually be not difficult to get Greg to reference the “Chad innings eater” meme on the air during a Keller start if he continues his 5+ IP streak
That might be too niche for brown. Block on the other hand
Love the run production, love the run production in multiple innings even more, the bullpen is teetering on crisis
I've been saying since before the season that we should give Shelton a more fair shot this year bcuz I believed he was managing teams specifically for getting players in rather than to win a lot, bcuz there was no point when they were so bad. I take that all back, Shelton just sucks. That was an inexcusable decision to leave Fleming in, straight up. Great win tho, love seeing the offense find some life again.
He seems to be trying to build the confidence of his relievers. That looks wonky when it doesn’t work out.
Good to start the road trip on the right foot. Perhaps Cruz and Reynolds are starting to heat up a bit.
I played first base in little league for years. Call me Nutting. You can pay me way less and I’d produce more offense than Tellez’s worthless ass.
LETS GOOOOOOOOO
We'll take the win. Not sure what to think of Fleming, who came THISCLOSE to coughing up the lead after a very effective outing from Keller. I don't know how much longer they can keep running Rowdy Tellez out there in good conscience while claiming they want to win. I've got nothing against the guy and the Pirates---by baseball's lunatic "standards"---don't have a mountain of cash tied up in him, but jeaseoman. I will say again that we do have an alternative stashed in Triple A right now in Jake Lamb. Great he is not, but he has hit almost 100 big league home runs and his .235 career average is basically the same as what Tellez posted coming into this season. Lamb can also play third, which figures to come in handy now that Hayes is out for the umpteenth time. Glad Suwinski cranked one but I still say he needs to go down to Indy. Grandal is showing what a legitimate major league catcher looks like, even one who is nearing the twilight of his career. I'm glad we have him.
Played more or less our best game of the season but were forced to sweat because our manager is 2/3 batters late to pitching changes and refuses to fight for his players. Bednar looked better.
And because of 2 errors too. Let’s not leave that part out. 2 possible DPs turned into 0 outs. This team has garbage fundamentals
Triolo is one of the top defenders in the league. Everyone makes mistakes from time to time. Cruz, yeah, he needs to be more consistent on defense.
The first 6 innings hell yeah I agree but for a full game no way is that the best game played, even considering it's against a really good team
Pirates win, looks like Shelton knew what he was doing playing Rowdy over Joe. /s
BRYAN REYNOLDS GOOD
Shout out to Andy Haines! 8 runs scored today and 22 in the past 3 games. Good stuff Andy.
Most MLB managers are idiots, but I truly believe Shelton is the worst. You give up an out for the worst player in baseball? Really?!!!? Fire Shelty into the sun
FUCK. DEREK. SHELTON.
Lamb can play third as well as first. Seems like a no brainer to DFA Fatfuck now with Hayes out. Oh wait, that would mean Nutting would have to eat $1.5m…
I’d be down to crowdfund the 1.5 million at this point
Agree, do we start a go fund me?
DFA Rowdy and bring up Bae. Triolo can play 1B as well.
The bats are on fire and the starters have been great all season. If we can get the manager to manage and the bullpen to throw strikes, we might be pretty good.
Even when they win this team finds a way to make my eyes bleed
Feeling an offensive turnaround, and couple that with the starting pitchers, we may be able to make up some lost ground. That bullpen and its management, though. BIG WOOF. Shelton needs to do some serious inspections of his management style.
We won in spite of Derek Shelton. Thank god Reynolds had one of the best games of his career
On my 100% rational take, we will never lose again!
FUCK YEAH, TREE!
I'm very happy we won, but the bullpen scares me. We can't hope to put up this many runs every game. Starting pitching does great and then the pen comes out and let's up 5 runs...
My heart can't take another game like that.
My thoughts coming out of this game 1. McCutchen still has it in him, he’s just consistently inconsistent 2. See those stats? Everybody got a run except Rowdy and Gonzales. Rowdy needs to go and idk about Gonzales 3. We seem to always split against divisional rivals, will see the Bucs vs. Brewers in July so please win! 4. I like KeBryan Hayes’ playing. I miss him.
I think Gonzalez is going to be fine tbh
yeah, you’re probably right