Buc's CLINCH Playoff -- Buctober !!

[cpollock]

So fun watching them with the champagne !!

 

[Supersteeler]

Any doubters remaining that the culture has been changed?

 

[Steeltime]

That post-game celebration was awesome.

https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/F6...p4?versionId=0TjuvIpE0eDJX4D2ExMopZqSRgLY3tjH

https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/19...p4?versionId=x1IbPH_vIIiRIjEC5oS1tLwTtj2X9DJV

Really stoked about my Buccos. 12-20 in early May - and 74-51 since.

This team is built to win. Three top-tier starting pitchers, superb pen with Big John Holdzkom on board, great defense, great speed, good OBP, good hitting, deep, decent bench.

 

[Max Power]

Almost as fun, listening to Milwaukee morning radio all week. Epic collapse...

 

[Omar10213245]

Congrats you guys. Wish it wouldve been my Reds, but since it isnt, I'll be rooting hard for the Buccos to get themselves a ring

 

[hamster]

Any doubters remaining that the culture has been changed?

Raises hand. Me me !

I think Hurdle has done a marvelous job. Letting Morneau go was a huge mistake. Cheap. Who could have ever predicted that Harrison would have the year he is having? Lucky......or maybe Nutting saw what the rest of us didn't. LOL.

I am happy they made the playoffs. I still have aright to \be skeptical of this organiztion's intentions. Time will be the judge.

 

[Steeltime]

Letting Morneau go was a huge mistake. Cheap.

hamster - this is not the NFL. There is no salary cap.

The Pirates have a real budget. Further, Justin Morneau last year, and the year prior, was a joke. Dude hit exactly 0 HR's for the Pirates.

Finally, any batting stats from Coors Field must be discounted. Because the fences are 430' from home plate, all outfielders must play extremely deep, since otherwise any gapper is a triple.

For that reason, bloopers and pop-ups fall in galore at Coors Field. The one thing that Morneau can do is hit bloopers and pop-ups ... since even with playing 1/2 his games at Coors, he has all of 16 HR's from the 1st base position.

The simple fact is this: If Jordy Mercer played half his games at Coors, he would hit .300 with 25 HR's.

 

[Max Power]

Raises hand. Me me !

I think Hurdle has done a marvelous job. Letting Morneau go was a huge mistake. Cheap. Who could have ever predicted that Harrison would have the year he is having? Lucky......or maybe Nutting saw what the rest of us didn't. LOL.

I'm glad I got this wrong. In spring training I didn't even have Harrison making the team as an insignificant bench piece. Thought he'd get caught up in the numbers game when final cuts came. I could not have been more wrong.

 

[Hineswardkickedurpanzyass]

God I would love to see us win the Central. I really do think it is going to happen. The Cards have been playing pretty well, but the Bucs are just on fire. Lets go Diamondbacks!

 

[hamster]

hamster - this is not the NFL. There is no salary cap.

The Pirates have a real budget. Further, Justin Morneau last year, and the year prior, was a joke. Dude hit exactly 0 HR's for the Pirates.

Finally, any batting stats from Coors Field must be discounted. Because the fences are 430' from home plate, all outfielders must play extremely deep, since otherwise any gapper is a triple.

For that reason, bloopers and pop-ups fall in galore at Coors Field. The one thing that Morneau can do is hit bloopers and pop-ups ... since even with playing 1/2 his games at Coors, he has all of 16 HR's from the 1st base position.

The simple fact is this: If Jordy Mercer played half his games at Coors, he would hit .300 with 25 HR's.

Points well taken. I also think that Morneau would be an upgrade to Ike Davis. And the Pirates did have the money, which they chose not to spend. It might make the difference between winning and losing in the POs.

 

[SteelerinMD]

Happy for ya! We can't ALL win the division

Seriously, who would have thought 3 years ago that Pittsburgh and Baltimore the two most consecutive losing franchises go back to back playoffs??? Hell, throw in the Nationals

 

[Steeltime]

Points well taken. I also think that Morneau would be an upgrade to Ike Davis. And the Pirates did have the money, which they chose not to spend. It might make the difference between winning and losing in the POs.

The Pirates went after Loney, but were not willing to give him 3 years. They offered 2 years, $9 million per.

They also went after Josh Johnson, who signed with San Diego because he wanted to be on the West Coast. They offered him $7 million.

They did not make the tender to Burnett ($14 million cost), eventually settled on Volquez for $5 million, and were lambasted for that decision ... yeah, the same Volquez who is 13-7 with a 3.04 ERA, deals at 94 mph, and has a slider and change that he keeps down in the zone. Meanwhile, Burnett leads the NL in losses, earned runs allowed, and walks, and sports an ERA of 4.07.

The Pirates front office earns a pass from me. They believed Volquez could give them quality innings at affordable cost - they were right.

They thought Burnett was worth getting in 2011, and not worth keeping for $14 million in 2014 - right both times.

They thought Joel Hanrahan was worth getting despite a 7+ ERA at the time of the trade, and that he had more value as a trade pieced to get Melancon, Pimentel - right both times again.

They thought Martin was undervalued at C due to a low BABIP in 2012 - right again.

When this front office decides that signing Player "x" is a good idea, and passing on Player "y" the right thing to do, I simply nod my head at this point and say, "Yep, they are probably right."

P.S. I am a HUGE baseball fan, with some background in advanced statistics. I evaluate players with things like BABIP, FIP, xFIP, GB/FB ratio, BB/K ratio, etc. So does the Pirates front office - and they do it better than anybody in baseball right now.

 

[steelermania]

Points well taken. I also think that Morneau would be an upgrade to Ike Davis. And the Pirates did have the money, which they chose not to spend. It might make the difference between winning and losing in the POs.

Morneau had been garbage for several years. I can't beat the Bucs up for letting him go.

 

[steelermania]

Happy for ya! We can't ALL win the division

Seriously, who would have thought 3 years ago that Pittsburgh and Baltimore the two most consecutive losing franchises go back to back playoffs??? Hell, throw in the Nationals

Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and KC, three powerhouses from the early days of divisional play, that had been the 3 worst franchises in baseball for well over a decade.

Could we be headed towards another Bucs-O's World Series? Add to it the rivalry between the two cities, which didn't really exist back in the 70's.

 

[Steeltime]

Could we be headed towards another Bucs-O's World Series? Add to it the rivalry between the two cities, which didn't really exist back in the 70's.

Decent possibility for that, IMO. The Pirates:

(1) Have a team ERA of 2.96 ERA since the All-Star break - 3rd best in the majors. The best? The Orioles at 2.93.
(2) Have the 2nd highest OBP in the majors since the AS break.
(3) Have the 3rd highest slugging (behind Colorado, which should not count given thin air) while the O's are #1 (DH helps a shitload).
(4) Have the highest OPS in baseball since the All-Star break. Think about that - they play at PNC, a pitcher's park, not in thin air, and not with a DH.
(5) Their pen is solid now with Holdzkom to go along with Watson and Melancon, and Hughes, Axford for earlier duty.
(6) Have the best record in the majors (17-4) over the past 3 weeks.
(7) Have 5 of the top 14 and 6 of the top 20 batters in the NL in terms of post-AS break OPS (Marte, Harrison, Snider, McCutchen, Martin and Walker). Five of the top 14 ... just, wow.

This Buccos team can beat anybody. Liriano, Cole and Volquez are power arms. The Buccos have 5 pitchers who deal over 95 mph (Cole, Watson, Wilson, Axford, Holdzkom). They play defense, hit, get on base, burn through opposing starting pitchers, have a very deep pen, have a good mix of lefty and righty bats, some very hot hitters, and a very good outfield.

Every other NL team has a weak spot. The Dodgers feature a catcher who cannot hit for ****, and have serious pen deficiencies before Jansen. The Cardinals are horribly defensively. Seriously, Matt Holliday and Matt Adams? Jesus, I feel sorry for any pitcher that has those assclowns behind them. Their pen also has zero reliable lefties. The Nationals have pen issues before their new closer (Storen), questionable catching, and an assload of batters who fan a ton (Werth, Desmond, Harper, Laroche). The Giants have serious hitting issues in the middle infield, CF, and C since Posey cannot catch 2 days in a row, and no real SP'ing after Bumgarner.

The Buccos are a damn good team - damn good. I can tell you that Giants and Cardinals fans are asking this about the Pirates:

"Who are those guys??"

 

[Punxsutawney]

Pirates are in some trouble, as both the Nationals and Dodgers have a better rotation and score better than the Pirates.

They "should" beat the Giants, but who knows?

 

[Hineswardkickedurpanzyass]

Pirates are in some trouble, as both the Nationals and Dodgers have a better rotation and score better than the Pirates.

They "should" beat the Giants, but who knows?

2nd half of the season I would bet the Buccos have as strong of numbers as anyone. The Nats look really strong right now, they are the only NL team that I am hoping gets knocked out before we play them.

Cards lost tonight so it all comes down to tomorrows games. I wonder if we will pitch Cole? Looks like Wainwright is scheduled for the Cards, he has given up almost nothing lately. Oh well.

 

[Scott T]

Nationals are Cutch's Favorite team to hit against

 

[Punxsutawney]

We'll see.

I like the top three starters the Dodgers and Nationals can field in a series more than those of the Pirates. Liriano and Cole are capable of those great starts, but I trust the likes of Kershaw and Fister more.

 

[Steeltime]

Pirates are in some trouble, as both the Nationals and Dodgers have a better rotation and score better than the Pirates.

The Nationals scored 4 more runs than the Pirates.

Further, it is not a legitimate comparison to say "team x scored more runs than team y" due to the ballpark effect. The better statistic for comparative purposes is weighted runs created (wRC+), which takes into account the effect of the home park and shows that the Pirates are the 2nd best offense in the NL, behind only the Dodgers. The two teams are very close (111 for the Dodgers and 108 for the Pirates), and far ahead of all other NL teams.

Further, the Pirates have more HR's than any other team in the NL playoffs, and have hit better since the All-Star break than prior. They can hit.

The issue is going to be their pitching. They have a very good top 3 (Cole, Liriano, Volquez). Those guys deal - mid to upper 90's with nasty breaking balls. If they throw strikes, they can match up against other top 3.

The Nats and Dodgers have some bullpen issues, and the Dodgers have a dude hitting .175 playing C. They have weaknesses. They can be beat.

 

[Supersteeler]

Raises hand. Me me !

I think Hurdle has done a marvelous job. Letting Morneau go was a huge mistake. Cheap. Who could have ever predicted that Harrison would have the year he is having? Lucky......or maybe Nutting saw what the rest of us didn't. LOL.

I am happy they made the playoffs. I still have aright to \be skeptical of this organiztion's intentions. Time will be the judge.

Morneau has been a complete surprise this year. He played like **** for the Pirates and I was glad they didn't bring him back. Not like he was a slam dunk to have a great year or anything. I agree on Harrison, I didn't see him blowing up like he has but then again I didn't see Pedro Alvarez having a complete mental meltdown and being useless either. He was one of the big reasons for last year's success.

Here's the thing about the team's intentions. They are building for the long term through drafting and grooming home grown prospects in the system and have been since Huntington took over. And they are locking up the potential star players long term the as soon as they start to blossom. With the financial situation being what it is in baseball, that's the only option.

 

[21STEELERS21]

If we beat the Giants it will come down to Cole versus Nationals, he is scheduled to pitch game 1 and 5.
I like our chances against the nationals, we are fairly evenly matched, but I give them a plus on their
bullpen.

 

[jitter77]

Volquez not particularity sharp could be interesting

 

[Buster]

Believe!!!

 

[Omar10213245]

Volquez not particularity sharp could be interesting

Well aint that some ****!! 4-0 Giants off a GS