As the Pirates closed out a lost weekend of baseball in St. Louis, they also saw themselves looking up at the team that had just swept them in the standings. With just three weeks left in the season, the Bucs seem to be playing their worst baseball of the season. In all three games, the offense failed to show up (unless you count coming back from a 12-1 deficit to make it a respectable 12-8 final) and the starting pitching was awful. Many fans who came home late from work would turn on the television to see that the game was already nearly over in the first three innings.
A.J. Burnett, Jeff Locke and Charlie Morton all struggled in their respective starts against the league’s most potent offense and, paired with the quiet Pirates bats, all received losses as the Bucs dropped their final three games against their division rivals. The sweep stings for a few reasons. First of all, the Pirates bats were stifled by a Cardinals pitching staff that had been struggling as of late, and Adam Wainwright regained his confidence Saturday with a dominating outing against them. Justin Morneau and Marlon Byrd both had a bad series at the plate, and on the whole the Bucs left 12 runners on base in Game 1 and never were able to capitalize on their rare scoring chances.
The pitching staff, which has seen a gradual decline turn into a nosedive in this series, simply did not hold up, and it has considerably weakened one of the league’s best bullpens by forcing them to go long innings in games. You just had the feeling that Burnett did not have his best stuff on Friday, as the entire Cardinals lineup feasted on his breaking ball and at one point saw four doubles in a row score runs to give the Cardinals a healthy cushion. Jeff Locke pitched well compared to what he has been giving the club since the All Star break, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the offenses once again was shut down by Wainwright. On Sunday, things just fell apart for Morton, which you had to think was going to happen eventually; he has been money since returning from the DL and was due for a bad outing.
Finally, this sweep hurts because the Pirates have one of the toughest remaining schedules in the majors, which includes three on the road against Texas as well as 6 of their final 9 games this season against the team chasing them, the Reds. The Cardinals, on the other hand, have one of the easiest and would appear primed for yet another NL Central crown. The Pirates also still have not guaranteed a winning season for the first time in 20 years, although that should happen very soon.
If the Pirates wish to salvage any hope for a division title, the staff and offense need to step up and show why the Bucs have been one of the best teams in the National League for the better part of five months.
