Post
by jeemie » Mon Jul 13, 2015 5:48 pm
Allow me again to inject a note of realism, as other teams out there, while not as hot as the Pirates, have been having some pretty nice seasons of their own, others are potential sleeping giants, and still others always play us tough, regardless of their records.
Additionally, we just went through this last year...we were the hottest team in baseball for a stretch from June-August as we recovered from a very slow start. Look how that season ended.
But to wit, if we come through this stretch of games still solidly entrenched in the divisional and wild-card hunts, then we can start talking about "best team in baseball" We've played the good teams this year, inconsistently. This is a lot of good teams to have all in a row, with 15 of these 25 games away from the friendly confines of PNC Park.
Fri, 7/17 at Brewers
Sat, 7/18 at Brewers
Sun, 7/19 at Brewers
Mon, 7/20 at Royals
Tue, 7/21 at Royals
Wed, 7/22 at Royals
Thu, 7/23 Nationals
Fri, 7/24 Nationals
Sat, 7/25 Nationals
Sun, 7/26 Nationals
Tue, 7/28 at Twins
Wed, 7/29 at Twins
Thu, 7/30 at Reds
Fri, 7/31 at Reds
Sat, 8/1 at Reds
Sun, 8/2 at Reds
Mon, 8/3 Cubs
Tue, 8/4 Cubs
Wed, 8/5 Cubs
Fri, 8/7 Dodgers
Sat, 8/8 Dodgers
Sun, 8/9 Dodgers
Tue, 8/11 at St. Louis
Wed, 8/12 at St. Louis
Thu, 8/13 at St. Louis
This is as tough a stretch as you will see this season, and we will have JHay for none of it...our bench players are, to say the least, unimpressive.
Our starters continue to be great, or else battle through when they're not so great. A little concerned about Morton, who is bucking to change his name from "Ground Chuck" to "Air Morton", but he's the fourth starter so who gives a shit? Locke, OTOH, has been looking rather stellar for a fifth starter lately. So not immensely concerned about them for now.
And while a few of our bullpen arms have continued their impressive streaks (Melancon, Hughes, Bastardo, and, the surprise of them all, in my mind, Guerra), others are showing cracks as well. Caminero is showing that just because you have 100 mph stuff, you don't become the next Aroldis Chapman when your stuff hangs there in the middle of the plate with no movement. And Tony Watson has been making his appearances an adventure as often as not lately.
And then there are the aforementioned teams.
The Brewers: have been on a mini-roll, playing far better baseball than the last time we saw them...where they took 2 of 3.
The Royals: solid from top to bottom- that their guys were in the running for almost all the AL slots was partly due to a rabid fan base, but also partly because they are that damn good. You want to make a true case for the "best team in baseball"? I think you can look to the team that hails from the Paris of the Midwest and not go wrong.
The Twins: are surging- they've got a nice lineup, sparked by the arrival of Sano, and a nice pitching staff (starters are probably their Achilles heel), with a closer that's just as lights out as Melancon. I thought the AL Central was going to provide an exciting two-team race, and it still will- just I thought it would be the Royals and Tigers, not Royals and Twins.
The Reds: always play us tough at their bandbox, and have owned us thus far this year. One can hope Cueto, Bruce, and maybe even Votto are gone from the club by the time we play them.
The Cubs: Good hitting, decent pitching, and have owned us as well. May be too young to make a run, but never count a Joe Maddon team out.
The Dodgers: No more need be said about their pitching. That said, we have seemed to play them well recently.
The Cardinals: We suck at Busch- it's just undeniable. And they won't be so short-handed this time
So this was a long-winded way of saying this stretch of the season could make or break this team. For sure, when we come to the end of this stretch, we will know far more about the story of the 2015 Pirates than we know now
This stretch will be extremely tough, and our team still has some holes in it.
But I will end on a positive and say that at least this weekend proved they will never ever give up, and may just have a team dynamic that makes them better than the sum of their parts.
“Yeah we suck, be there is a chance we could suck slightly more if we try to correct the problem.” - Art Deuce (summarized by SteelPerch)
