OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Congrats to the Houston Cheaters on their win

[Gallatin]

I was about to say Cruz looks bad against lefties but then he laced that into the gap.

I do think the Pirates need better batters against lefties, though. Cruz and Suwinski will mash righties, but I think both will struggle against lefties.

Suwinski already has 4 homers against Lefties. I take that as a very good sign he's going to be ok with them.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Thing is - the tools are for the most part superior to Bonds - so I get it. Barry struggled while flashing greatness early in his career. I expect similar from Oneil, and will get my juice from the insane physical freak show he puts on.

Doubt most see it that way though.

I mean yeah, Cruz has abilities 99.9% of current/past players don't. I cringe though when people, having never really seen a guy play (most people haven't seen Cruz until he made his debut) start going to the extremes with such limited viewing. Could Cruz be a multi-time MVP like Bonds? Maybe. But I just don't like going there.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Suwinski already has 4 homers against Lefties. I take that as a very good sign he's going to be ok with them.

After today, Suwinski is hitting .178 against lefties.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Glad to see DL Santos getting a shot in a pressure situation.

 

[since70]

Yeah, Bonds was probably on his way to a HOF career even before his head mysteriously grew, so maybe pump the brakes a little on Cruz for now. I'll be happy with the hall of very good.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Our BP has been such shit lately.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

What a collapse...

 

[Empoleon8771]

Shit defense and shit pitching

 

[ImporterExporter]

Just f***ing unreal. We deserve this loss.

 

[since70]

If I was Quintana I might pull a Derek Bell, or Raul Mondesi to get them to trade me....lol

Chavis walk, Suwinski homer? If nothing else Greg Brown's head will explode.

 

[Beauner]

Not to sound like a “back in my day” old head, but have we really reached the point in the sport where 83 pitches and 6 IP is seen as the limit for a starter? Are no pitchers going to go more than 5 innings at a time in the future? I’m all for preserving arms but it seems like we’re tipping the scales excessively in the other direction.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Chavis ties it up on the first pitch!

 

[Scandale du Jour]

And just like that, we are back!

 

[Empoleon8771]

Not to sound like a “back in my day” old head, but have we really reached the point in the sport where 83 pitches and 6 IP is seen as the limit for a starter? Are no pitchers going to go more than 5 innings at a time in the future? I’m all for preserving arms but it seems like we’re tipping the scales excessively in the other direction.

I think all of baseball is doing this. It helps the Pirates because their starters aren't anything special, so I think they get better results out of them by relying on the bullpen more. The issue is that the Pirates bullpen isn't good enough either.

I think getting a stacked bullpen and relying on your starters for 5-6 innings per game is a totally reasonable strategy.

 

[since70]

I guess Chicago hasn't seen Chavis likes swinging at the first pitch. Throw a fastball right down the middle. Check

 

[ChaosAgent]

The problem was the proponents acted like he was the difference between a functioning and non-functioning offense. Then he had a hot first couple of games and they were self-satisfied at their proclamations.

Like with Archer, they will die on this hill and never admit they were wrong even in the face of absolute disaster.

I'm obviously rooting for him to be a great player but the yinzer hype was intolerable.

A couple of hot first games against AAA pitching, also. The Cubs starters Monday and Tuesday were straight garbage lol

Crowe turning back into a pumpkin sucks. We can't be at a point where the bullpen is Bednar and 1 other guy and then everyone else is a gas can.

 

[ChaosAgent]

I hope we are willing to go 2 innings with Bednar here

 

[ImporterExporter]

I hope we are willing to go 2 innings with Bednar here

Yep. At this point, he's had some rest, gotta hope we in in the bottom half here or the 10th.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Yep. At this point, he's had some rest, gotta hope we in in the bottom half here or the 10th.

The 10th is higher leverage than the 9th since the runner starts on 2nd. It's just obviously you have to get to the 10th in the first place

 

[ImporterExporter]

That bottom of the 9th was like the first time having sex. Over in about 47 seconds.

And now Bednar pulled....

 

[ChaosAgent]

Why didn't we challenge that tag-up?????

 

[ImporterExporter]

Huge out there!

 

[DJ Spinoza]

This constant challenging and going to the rule book is so old -- you didn't execute the play and there was no scenario where the player is getting injured. Take the L.

There's no way to actually implement it, but I sort of think challenging should go away for the regular season unless it's like a series that has playoff chances completely tied up in it (like in September during a WC race). Nobody should care who gets the call perfectly to the rulebook in a Cubs vs Pirates game on a Thursday afternoon. It doesn't matter.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Raise it!!!!

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Hayes not getting up