I can understand giving Melancon the night off but benching him for the rest of the season would be insane. A few bad nights is a terrible reason to lose faith in a guy who has had, by any measure, an absolutely incredible season.
Of course, using Melancon to set up Grilli is really no different from using Grilli to set up Melancon, because Grilli can bring it, too. Either way you’re bringing nasty stuff in the 8th and 9th. Having those two is a huge luxury.
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really don’t think Dusty should have pulled Bailey when he did. Homer was at only 91 pitches in the sixth inning, he was pitching pretty well, and he gave up a sac fly to score McCutcheon to make it 3-2 at that point.
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I don’t get why you’d pull Bailey at that point, either, but the thing is that the manager and his pitching coach have access to things about the starter the viewer does not. When a starter’s pulled in that situation it’s often because his velocity just dropped, a mechanic is clearly flying apart, or there was a known issue before the game with some mild soreness or fatigue. That’s such a quick hook that I’m inclined to think they knew Bailey wasn’t 100% last night.
Maybe you’re right but I sure couldn’t see it. He had a lot of velocity on his fastball. He was hitting 97mph with it in the fourth inning when he struck out three batters. With Dusty’s “history” of either a premature quick hook or leaving a guy flapping in the wind too long, it’s hard not to think that it’s just Dusty living up to his (possibly somewhat undeserved) reputation for not managing his pitchers all that well.
Bailey certainly was miffed to be removed at that point in the game. I just felt he should have let him gut it out for at least the remainder of the inning. I can’t remember when the pitching spot was due up next to bat though, so maybe that was a factor as well.
Jesus FUCKIN’ Christ! Have the Pirates led in any game in September? WTF happened to Jeff Locke, and why did Hurdle leave him in for 5 fucking first inning runs?
That’s it. I’m done with this thread until the regular season is over. I’m sure I will be happy that the Pirates broke the longest losing streak in organized sports history this year, but the way they close out seasons under Hurdle is becoming a major issue with me. The team should be easily leading the Central, and instead, they’ve blown games all over the second half of the season.
I will not come back to this thread. I can’t take it any longer. If they blow the second wildcard to the Nationals, it will be a sickening end to a fun season. Kind of like getting laid for the first time and having your girlfriend tell you she’s pregnant the next day.
St. Louis has clinched a playoff berth, but not yet the divisional title. Both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati can catch them. They finish with two series at home, so it begs the question of why the first ever college football game was played in the new stadium on the Saturday before the final week of the season.
Heavy rains fell in St. Lois on Thursday and Friday, and the football teams absolutely tore up the field on Saturday. There are huge gashes in the field and divots everywhere. I can’t wait until there’s a runner trying to score from second on a base hit though the hole, and Matt Holliday trying to scoop it up and throw home. Should be fun.
And the Braves (FINALLY) clinch the Division! Of course, they seem to have blown the home field advantage thing and will probably play the Central Division winner, but we’ll be there!!!
As for today’s Mariners-Angels matchup, in what may be a first, the game experienced a 23-minute “bee delay”. Interesting there happened to be a professional beehive-removal expert in the stands to solve the problem. Coincidence, or ill-conceived marketing stunt?
Well, the Bucs’ magic number for clinching a playoff berth (with the Nats splitting the DH today) is two. Any combination of Pirates wins and Nats losses in the last 6 games totaling two will clinch a wild card berth. Just ONE win or Nats loss clinches a tie and a one game playoff. It would be a monumental collapse, along with a heroic Nats effort to knock us off that perch.
Plus, the Nats play St. Louis for three games this week. If the Nats continue their juggernaut, then we have the chance to jump in front of St. Louis if we win. Since we finish with Cincy, we control our destiny there.
The season is very much in our hands. Two down with six to go isn’t impossible (StL losing 6-3 in the 8th as of this post).
I agree with you about Hurdle. I don’t know what has happened the last half of the last 3 seasons. Now, I have been somewhat convinced that modern pitchers are unable to pitch complete games anymore, but I think Hurdle takes his pussification of his pitchers and the other players to the next level.
On Wednesday, Morton was pitching a 2 hitter through 8 innings and had thrown 95 pitches. No pinch hitter needed, but he is benched and Melancon chokes.
On Friday, Liriano was pitching a 3 hitter through 8 innings and had only thrown 85 pitches. No pinch hitter needed, but he is benched and Melancon chokes.
Hurdle has rested players since June. I understand what other posters have told me about these modern precious snowflake multi-millionaire players, but I think Hurdle’s constant coddling has made them hypochondriacs to an extent about their level of exhaustion at the end of the year. The Padres’ pitcher wasn’t too tired to throw a near perfect game against us.
We’ve got six games to pull it all back together OR we can smoke 'em if we got 'em for six games and everything comes down to one game. (See other thread for distaste of wild card format). Let’s go Bucs. Morton tomorrow against the Cubs.
So unless I am mistaken, the Reds and Pirates are now tied and both teams are two back of the Cardinals. If the season ended today the Reds and Pirates would play a one game playoff.
I am imagining some scenarios…wouldn’t it be crazy if say the Reds caught up to the Cardinals and then there had to be a one game playoff for the division…with the loser of that game then having to play Pittsburgh in a one game playoff in the WC game?
What happens if all three teams tie? Is there some tiebreaker in there to determine the divisional winner?
Teams must play a game to determine Division Leader vs Wildcard - they no longer use tiebreakers because the difference between DL and WC is so great now. They use tiebreakers to determine home field for those games.
The Orioles are dead and buried for the season. They just got swept in a 4-game series by the Rays, leaving them 5 games back in the WC with 6 games to go.
Oh well. Unless they lose their last 6 in a row, they’ll still end up over .500 for the season, so it hasn’t been terrible, especially since i’d never seen them have a winning season before 2012.
They’ve been pretty much the same team this year as last year. The main difference is that they performed incredibly well in 1-run games last year, whereas they’re below par in the close ones this year.
Last year, they went 93-69, with an Expected W-L (based on runs scored and conceded) of 82-80. They were 29-9 in 1-run games.
This year, they’re currently 81-75, with an X W-L of 82-74, and are 17-30 in 1-run games.
It wasn’t nice seeing Manny Machado hurt his knee, and Casilla’s head knock looked pretty bad too. Hopefully they’ll both be OK, although Machado’s looked serious enough to be a long-term concern for him and the team.
I think I have to root for the Indians in the AL now, although i’d also like to see the Athletics do well in the playoffs.
Well, once again Clint Hurdle and his brilliant pitching moves. Morton pitching a 3 hit shutout and 85 pitches. Keep it going, Charlie, right? No, let’s bring in Melancon for his 3rd blown save in 5 days.
But, hey, at least he got the win thanks to Sterling Marte. And Grilli gets the save by having a runner thrown out at the plate.
The bullpen is killing me. But what a win! If the Nats lose, we clinch a wild card. If they win, we are one game closer to the Cards.
Reds win in 10. The Nats down 4-3 in the 9th. A loss and the Reds, Cards, and Pirates are simply playing for the division with no worries in the rear view.
