On Sept. 7th, Stephen Strasburg threw his final three innings of the year for the Washington Nationals due to an innings limit placed by management during spring training. Too bad this happened during the best season Washington baseball has seen in over half a century. The Nationals have already clinched a playoff spot and are within a few games of clinching the division thanks, in part, to some phenomenal pitching. Strasburg, along with Geo Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmerman, have combined for ... Read More
Pirates snap five game losing streak with 8-1 win
After barely any offense Saturday night, the Pirates broke out this afternoon and had eighteen hits. A solid game pitched by A.J. Burnett also helped the five game losing streak come to an end. Burnett pitched eight very good innings, while striking out eleven, and allowing one run. He hadn't had a win in over a month, and his outing today was very impressive and one of the better ones of the second half. Chad Qualls pitched a hitless ninth to close the game out. A productive fifth inning ... Read More
‘Cutch’ No Longer the MVP and It’s Not His Fault
Barring a late-season win streak, the Pirates will surely clinch their 20th consecutive losing season. Just like last year, the season will end with an epic collapse to erase what was a competitive four months of baseball. And yet, there is one major difference between last year's collapse and this year. Andrew McCutchen is still playing at an All-star level. He hasn't put up the same numbers we saw in May and June but asking a player to hit 7-8 home runs while batting .370 is asking for ... Read More
Pirates lose fifth straight, lose series to Astros
The Pirates lost once again tonight and now stand three games under .500. They lost the series against the Astros and will try to not be swept tomorrow afternoon. With the exception of one pitch, Kevin Correia pitched a solid game. He tied his career high in strikeouts (nine) and pitched six innings. He did allow four runs but three of them coming on a Jason Castro three-run homer, the pitch that lost the game for the Pirates. Tony Watson and Joel Hanrahan each had scoreless relief ... Read More
Key Injuries in the NL Hunt for October
These are injuries that have been sustained within the last month. (Courtesy of MLB.com) With only under two weeks left in the regular season there are many key injuries to contending teams. Today we will look at the NL contenders. NL East With both teams having playoff spots locked up we will see how they play the last 13 games of the season. Will they rest their guys to avoid injury, or will they continue to play regularly to remain crisp? Was - Stephen Strasburg - Done for season. ... Read More
The Pirates second collapse could be worst season in 19 years
It's happened. It's officially happened. I've remained mum on the situation for the past month or so, but tonight was the nail in the coffin. The Pirates officially are a losing ball club with their loss to the Brewers tonight. .500 was the dream for fans for the better part of two decades and this had to be the year. There were nothing but talks of making the playoffs because .500 was a given. Seriously, 16 games over .500 in late July, how could it not happen? The simple question is who ... Read More
Who Says Cheaters Never Win?
I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase “Cheaters Never Win.” Apparently that’s not always the case. Major League Baseball has announced that Melky Cabrera, who is currently serving a 50-game suspension for using a banned substance, will in fact be eligible to win the NL batting title. One player of local interest, Andrew McCutchen, currently trails Cabrera by seven points (.346 to .339) and doesn’t have much longer to make up the ground. If Cabrera wins, he will have done it despite missing ... Read More
Why Neal Huntington’s Job should be Safe
When a team goes into a free-fall as the Pirates have done for the second straight season, it is wise to blame close to everyone in the organization from the ownership, to the water boy. In many cases, a total collapse usually leads to wholesale changes throughout the organization (hello, last year's Red Sox). But, these are the Pirates and many of the Pittsburgh faithful are excited that, despite going just 4-11 in September, the team still has a chance to finish with a winning record. ... Read More
Berardi’s baseball update: Second NL wild card is wide open
Updated Playoff Races - 10/17 Every week I will update you on the playoff races going on in the majors along with who those teams will face in the upcoming week. (Take note, All GB are based on loss column ONLY. I don’t believe in the ½ game stat because those are games that can be controlled by a team. AL East The Yankees and Orioles both went 4-2 last week allowing New York to keep a one-game lead. Tampa Bay has fallen off the pace and is five back. 1. NY 83 – 63 -- (Off Day, 3 vs. ... Read More
Pittsburgh: The former graveyard is now a hit and miss
For years now, Pittsburgh has been known as the graveyard for baseball players. To simplify it, players would come to Pittsburgh for one last stop before they turned in their baseball cleats. Just look at it over the years. Raul Mondesi Jose Mesa Jeromy Burnitz Matt Morris Derek Bell This list is just the players off the top of my head that made their last stop, or close to their last stop before throwing in the towel. To put it nicely, each of the players didn't enjoy their best ... Read More