The Pittsburgh Pirates have been a nice story this season, making a run at a winning record and having flirted with the playoffs for a longer stretch of time than anyone anticipated. The longshot bid for the postseason probably went by the boards for good with a crushing Friday night loss in Milwaukee. But at […]
After twenty years of losing baseball and a September collapse last season, the Pittsburgh Pirates have their share of doubters. One of them has been TheSportsNotebook. I’ve resisted and resisted acknowledging this team, especially on my Monday podcasts with Pirate believer Greg DePalma, but here we are on the final day of June and coming into today’s games it’s the Pirates who have the best record in all of baseball.
It was pitching that put the Pittsburgh Pirates into playoff contention this season. It was pitching that the Pirates strengthened at the trade deadline when they acquired Wandy Rodriguez from the Houston Astros. And it’s pitching that’s now threatening to be the reason for the demise. The Pirates have been hit hard in the second half of the season, especially in the month of August and today in Milwaukee I saw it carry into September firsthand, as the Brewers hung twelve runs on the board and won a 12-8 slugfest. What’s going on here?