After an extremely rough week of baseball, the Pirates were able to snap their seven game losing streak with a win this afternoon. Solid pitching by Wandy Rodriguez and a couple home runs being hit helped the Pirates end their longest losing streak of the season. Rodriguez had another very good start for the Pirates. He allowed three runs (one earned) and struck out four en route to his eleventh victory of the season. Tony Watson and Jared Hughes combined for a scoreless seventh and Jason ... Read More
The “Dude” Who Cried Wolf
A few days ago Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips took to his Twitter account (@DatDudeBP) after a 14 inning victory to accuse one of the Pittsburgh Pirates of shouting something racial at him. He used the hashtags #RealTalk and #Racism to emphasize his point. There’s only one problem with that, none of the Pirates said any such thing to him. So much for “Real Talk.” Naturally the Pirates player in question, pitcher Jared Hughes, quickly and rightfully defended himself but ... Read More
Pittsburgh Pirates release 2013 schedule
Pittsburgh, PA - The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced their 2013 regular season schedule, which will feature the Bucs opening the season at PNC Park versus National League Central Division rival Chicago Cubs on Monday, April 1. In addition there will be a total of 39 N.L. Central Divisional home games, including the first nine home games of the season, against the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds throughout the reg- ular season as the five teams ... Read More
Will this season be successful if the Pirates miss the playoffs?
At this point last month, you were considered negative for saying the Pirates were going to collapse and miss the playoffs. The city was in. The true fans and bandwagon fans alike had this team's back. The players believed and the clubhouse was more alive than ever. The public relations staff had to send out an email about ways to purchase playoff tickets. The last time that happened, email was hardly around. The fans waited 19 years for this. They've waited 19 years of constant reminders that ... Read More
The Pirates commit seven errors in 12-2 loss to Cubs
Before each game, Kristy Robinson and I try to predict the Pirates' starting pitchers line. Today was A.J. Burnett. We both had Burnett going 7.2 innings and dominating the Cubs. As for the runs, I said I could see a few unearned runs coming and told Kristy that I felt a couple errors were going to happen that would cost the Pirates. I had no idea it would be this bad however. It started with a Brock Holt error in the first that would eventually lead to Luis Valbuena scoring. But for Holt, ... Read More
Jason Grilli: The turn around of a career
The bullpen for the Pirates this season has been a huge key to the teams’ success, and Jason Grilli has perhaps been the most effective pitcher out of it. The veteran reliever has played in the major leagues with Florida, the Chicago White Sox, Detroit, Colorado, Texas, and Pittsburgh throughout his career. While pitching for the Pirates this year, Grilli has seen fantastic success as the eighth inning set up man. “I was never an eighth inning guy and I never had this opportunity up until this ... Read More
The next six games are crucial for the Pirates
After a promising series against St. Louis, the Pirates went into Milwaukee confident, and came out without a victory. With A.J. Burnett, Jeff Karstens, and James McDonald being the three pitchers in Milwaukee this weekend, a sweep is the worst possible thing that could have happened to the Bucs. They fell one game into the wild card standings, and are now 1.5 behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. The wild card is looking like it's coming down to four teams. The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis ... Read More
A father & big leaguer: Jordy Mercer is having the best year of his life
Jordy Mercer grew up in Oklahoma with the dream of being a big league baseball player. From his time playing little league in Taloga, Oklahoma, to playing at Oklahoma State University, Mercer held on tight to his dream of making the show. Being a third round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2008 draft was the start of his journey, but he was still a long way off from showing up in Pittsburgh. While playing in the Pirates system, Mercer got married and while making the big leagues was ... Read More
Pirates fall to Crew on missed opportunities
The Pirates had their chances to put runs on the board tonight, but were unable to as they fell on a walk off to the Milwaukee Brewers. A.J. Burnett was the starter for the Pirates and pitched pretty well. He did not allow a hit through five innings and after walking Carlos Gomez in the fourth, he stole second and third and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Burnett was pulled after 6.2 innings of work and struck out nine, with five of those coming in a row. He allowed his second run on an ... Read More
Pirates led by Pedro and a Wandy-ful performance on ESPN
It's been seven years since the Pirates have been a nationally televised game on ESPN. That was prior to to the All-Star game in Pittsburgh. No one on this current team was here. Last season, John Kruk was pushing for the mothership to make an appearance in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, the Pirates were out of the race by the time ESPN considered it. So with their success last year, ESPN had to consider a trip to Pittsburgh at the beginning of the year right? Actually, no. In their N.L. Central ... Read More