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This week’s series at AT&T Park featured the Pittsburgh Pirates, trying to make a run at the N.L. Central division lead, and the San Francisco Giants, housing one of the worst records in the league.  But for the fifth time in six games, the Giants beat the Pirates this afternoon, 2-1.

Trevor Williams was solid today for Pittsburgh, giving up one run on five hits in six innings of work, while his mound opponent, Jeff Samardzija, gave up one run on four hits in seven innings.  Tony Watson suffered the loss today (5-3), giving up a run and two hits in the seventh inning.

San Francisco scored the game’s first run in the first inning on an RBI ground out by Brandon Crawford, allowing Joe Panik to score.

Adam Frazier’s double in the second scored John Jaso to tie the game...

Posted in Game Recaps & Reactions

The Pittsburgh Pirates are arguably playing the worst baseball in all the Majors right now and tonight’s 4-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in 14 innings, added more fuel to that fire.

Things were going well for the Buccos as this game headed into the bottom of the seventh inning.  They held a 3-1 lead and starter Wandy Rodriguez was having another fine outing.  Clint Hurdle then made what now looks like a very questionable decision to lift Rodriguez with two outs and runners on first and second.  In came Jared Hughes who would give up a game tying two run double to Dioner Navarro.  This would lead to another long night for Pittsburgh.

With the game tied 3-3 missed opportunities would prove very costly through regulation and into extras.  In the ninth a one out double by Starling Marte...

Posted in Game Recaps & Reactions | September 11, 2012 | No comments

[box_dark] “We need to play better – that’s it. I’m not going to get up here and point fingers or this and that or say this…I’m telling you how I feel – we’ve got play better. And that’s it. And they know that.” [/box_dark]

Clint Hurdle’s comments following yesterday’s 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs, capping a three-game series sweep, provided a cut-and-dry explanation of how the Pirates have been playing for the past month. They have dropped to 2.5 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals in the N.L. Wild Card race, and are now just 72-67. The way this team is playing right now, finishing with a .500 record seems as though it could be a bit of a challenge.

The Pirates are coming off a 2-4 home stand against the Houston Astros and the Cubs, two teams at the bottom o...

Posted in News & Features | September 10, 2012 | No comments

We’ve been hearing the past few weeks that the Pirates’ September schedule was light in comparison to other teams.  The Bucs entered this weekend very much in the conversation for the final N.L. Wild Card spot along with the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers.  But after taking two of three from the Houston Astros earlier in the week, the Pirates were outclassed and outplayed in every facet of the game this weekend, capped by a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs this afternoon.

Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run go-ahead homerun in the eighth inning off Jason Grilli as the Cubbies clinched the three-game series sweep of our Buccos at PNC Park.

The Pirates had a great opportunity in the bottom of the ninth to tie or even take the lead, but with the bases loaded and two outs, Cubs’ close...

Posted in Game Recaps & Reactions | September 9, 2012 | No comments

There are some games that are so embarrassing and depressing to talk about, it’s not even worth doing so.  Tonight was just one of those games for the Pirates, who were handed a 12-2 beating by the Chicago Cubs in front of a packed house at PNC Park.

While the Cubs did score 12 runs tonight, much of the Pirates’ wounds were self-inflicted.  In fact, only half of the runs that Chicago scored tonight were actually earned runs.  How is that possible?  The Bucs committed seven errors in the game.  Seven!  It was an absolutely disgusting display of baseball from the entire Pirates’ team.  Brock Holt and Starling Marte each committed two errors, while Gaby Sanchez, Rod Barajas, and Josh Harrison each committed one as well.

A.J. Burnett certainly didn’t pitch a great game tonight, bu...

Posted in Game Recaps & Reactions | September 8, 2012 | No comments

The past two nights have shown what a good team needs to do against a bad one.  The Pittsburgh Pirates jumped out to early leads, played solid defense, and received very good pitching performances.  Tonights 6-3 win over the Houston Astros, also put the Buccos only a game out of that last wild-card spot in the National League.

Kevin Correia was at his best tonight, clinching win number ten on the year, and hitting that double digit win mark for the fourth straight year, which is pretty good for a guy that seems to get the most ribbing from media and fans.  He would go six innings allowing one run on four hits while striking out and walking one batter.

Jared Hughes followed that up with two solid innings.  He would allow two hits, while striking out two batters.  Jason Grilli had a bit...

Posted in Game Recaps & Reactions | September 6, 2012 | No comments

Yesterday, the Pirates kicked off a six game home stand by losing to the Houston Astros, 5-1, in a game that made the Bucs look like the team that was well on their way to 100+ losses.  Tonight at a rainy PNC Park, though, the Astros returned to form as baseball’s worst team, while the Pirates snapped their four game losing streak with a 6-2 victory in the second game of the series.

The Pirates took the lead in the first inning and never looked back.  Andrew McCutchen and Brock Holt combined to go 8-9 on the night.  Cutch’s 4-4 performance included a double, three singles, and three RBI’s.  Holt also had four hits and two runs scored.  Garrett Jones added a hit and an RBI, while the rest of the Bucs’ lineup didn’t tally a single hit, only benefiting from two very costly errors b...

Posted in Game Recaps & Reactions | September 5, 2012 | No comments

There is no excuse for a team in a playoff race to be dominated by a team that has the worst record in baseball.  That is exactly what happened today to the Pittsburgh Pirates in their 5-1 defeat to the Houston Astros.  The Buccos once again looked bad at the plate and on the mound, which lead to their fourth straight defeat.

Jeff Locke made the start for Pittsburgh and did an ok job through the first four innings.  He gave up one run on three hits in the first inning.  The one run came on a controversial safe call at second when a runner went out of the baseline to avoid the tag.  A second run would score in the third on a diving ground out to shortstop Clint Barmes.  The fifth inning saw Locke get hit hard, with one out, two straight singles were followed by a three run homer by Br...

Posted in Game Recaps & Reactions | September 3, 2012 | No comments

The best part of this past weekend in the world of Pirates’ baseball is that we don’t have to watch them play against the Milwaukee Brewers in Miller Park for the rest of the season.  It was another disaster for the Bucs in Milwaukee, losing three straight in games that were utterly reminiscent of years past.  The Pirates have all but waived goodbye to any inkling of a chance at the N.L. Central crown, falling now 11 games behind the Cincinnati Reds, who are now an astounding 82-53 for the season.

Fortunately for Pittsburgh, the final Wild Card spot is still well within reach after a disappointing performance by the St. Louis Cardinals this past weekend, losing three of four games to the Washington Nationals.  The Bucs are a game and a half behind the Cardinals and a half game behind...

Posted in News & Features | September 3, 2012 | No comments

Today’s finale between the Pirates and Brewers looked like it would be a pretty enticing pitching matchup.  James McDonald took the hill for Pittsburgh, who was one of the best in the National League in the first half, while Yovani Gallardo was on the mound for Milwuakee, looking for his 15^th victory of the season.

Well, today’s game wasn’t exactly a pitchers’ duel.  In fact, the fans at Miller Park saw a total of 20 runs and 26 hits this afternoon, resulting in a 12-8 Brewers victory.  With the win, Milwaukee secured a three-game series sweep of the Bucs.

James McDonald was dreadful today from the very beginning when he issued a four-pitch walk to lead off the game.  He was touched up for eight runs (seven earned) on six hits in 2.2 innings.  Ryan Braun hit a three-run homeru...

Posted in Game Recaps & Reactions | September 2, 2012 | No comments