Pirates @ Rangers 6-24

Pirates Loose 5-6. Vladi with the walk off single off Steven Jackson for the Rangers 11th straight win.

Pirates have now been swept for the 8th time this season.

and what a heartbreaking loss it was…

 No, that’s not really me. But that’s what i look like a lot of times when the Pirates break my heart.

Steven Jackson entered in the bottom of the 9th (WHAT! First of all. Why JR would you bring in Jackson into a high situation. You know, the Rangers only needed a run to win. Dotel was even up in the pen. Sometimes he makes these decisions I just DONT understand!) Gave up a BB 2H including the walk off RBI single by Vladi. *sigh*

 

If you love stats here is an interesting one:

Before last night’s game the Pirates with 2 outs: .220 (29th) 77 RBI (last)

                                            RISP with 2 outs:  .221 (24th) 64 RBI (last)

The Rangers this season with RISP with 2 outs: .307 !!!!

No wonder the Pirates drop to 25-47 on the season. Yikes!

 

There were many good things about the game though. The Buccos sure did bring out the bats. Unfortunatly the bats fell silent after the 4th inning.

Tabata went 3 for 5, SB, Run

GFJ went 3 for 4, RBI, Run

Pedro went 1 for 4, 2B, 2RBI, Run

Doumit 2 for 4, RBI, Run

Crosby 2 for 4

Church (the DH for the night) went a big fat 0 for 4. Oh, JR! Why oh WHY! is Church DH’ing when he is batting way below the Mendoza line (.180) Another pondering question is why not have Church play RF and DH Milledge. As we all know, Lastings is not a very good fielder. If you didn’t know by now, you sure figured that out last night. Made a few horrible plays, which Church more than likely would have caught (Ryan’s upside is his fielding) I’m not sure if Church’s wrist is still bothering him or what, but .180 SHOULD NOT BAT 5TH IN A LINEUP!

The Pirates are now 9-28 on the Road this season (NL Worst)

Daniel Moskos and Alex Presley were promoted to AAA Indy. Dany tweeted last night “Headed to Indy! Looking forward to a the new challenge that’s ahead of me. Caravanning with alex Presley” Follow him on twitter @the_dude_41

You can follow me as well @kristpie

The highlight of the night however was Charlie Morton’s start in AAA. His stats: 9IP 1R 2H 4K 1BB Retired 11 batters in a row. 109 Pitches, 77 for K’s. Keep up the good work Charlie!! I’m a huge fan of his and really hope he works out his kinks. Rocco Demaro from Piratesextrainnings.com wrote a good post on why we should all be rooting for him. It’s a good read.

Andrew McCutchen has been hittless since Saturday night. His avg dropped down to .305. Not very Cutch like. I’m hoping he doesnt go into a slump. We really really need him!

Karstens went 5.1 IP last night 4K 86 Pitches and got the No decision. Jeff seems to pitch pretty well until the 4th and 5th innings and then he seems to just run out of gas. He’s just not a good starter. Sorry to say it. He’s more of a long relief kinda guy. 

Speaking of Pitching. Evan Meek came into the 7th inning with a 5-3 lead. He showed that he is indeed human and gave up 2 runs. 3H and his ERA jumped from 0.66 to 1.07 In his last 11 games he allowed only 3 hits. Tough night for Evan. He has been the best guy on the pitching staff this season. **** happens. Go get em next time!

MLB Bullpen’s Leading w/ K’s:

Padres 248

Braves 231

Brewers 227

Pirates 220

White Sox 212

 

The Pirates are off to play Oakland for a 3 game series starting tonight. Fingers crossed for a better series.