That was an awesome game to watch last night. Edinson Volquez and Josh Harrison? Phew. Thank you guys for showing up.
Every single game is obscenely important right now. Every game. Division games, non-division games, interleague game, all are huge. The margin of error for the Pirates is razor thin. The non-activity at the deadline looms large right now, especially with the bullpen pissing all over itself.
Twenty eight games left for the Pirates to make up some ground. They have some very shitty opponents coming up. Sweeping the Phillies in four is a tall task but it might be necessary. Six left against the Cubs? Almost need to sweep one, if not both of them.
A tall task indeed. Not an insurmountable mountain to climb, it’s just going to be a wild ride. I guess that’s kind of what we wanted though, no? Meaningful baseball in September? Well these 28 are as meaningful as Pirates fans have seen. Since the World Series days. Or last year.
But last year seemed like more of a sure thing than this one. The Pirates were in for the most part, it was just a question of where. This year the Pirates are most certainly NOT in and they need to claw their way back after they dug a massive hole in the middle of August. A hole that may have cost them the playoffs.
Gonna need a big outing from Vance Worley today.
I know how everyone continues to say that Tony Watson has been great this season, blah, blah, blah. Well he hasn’t been great recently. A pitcher that is exclusively a reliever should never have ten wins. The guy has two wins in the Pirates last three games after giving up runs. In Watson’s last five games he’s given up three earned runs and allowed three inherited runs to score. He’s only had two clean outings in his last five games. Is he broken? Who knows. Can you really trust Watson to get it done right now? Boy, I sure don’t.
That’s why we need a big outing from Worley.
But if you’re trusting Worley right now I question your sanity. Worley has given up nine earned runs over his last 12.1 IP, ten runs total. He has also allowed 21(!) hits over that span. He’s not pitching good right now. He hasn’t had a quality start since August 8th.
Bartolo Colon has cleared waivers. Bartolo Colon is an upgrade over Vance Worley. Bartolo Colon should be in a Pirates uniform, despite his big contract next year. They ain’t signing Russell Martin, Francisco Liriano, or Edinson Volquez anyway so they might as well not cut payroll again and upgrade for the stretch run.
Worley has not been good against the Reds in his career. His relief appearance this year was garbage, and his numbers overall ain’t good. But hey, Bartolo Colon makes $11 million dollars next year, Bob Nutting needs that money to bathe in.
This is a pretty major start for the Pirates and Vance Worley. Worley can’t stay in the rotation down the stretch if he’s going to pitch like dog shit.
Alfredo Simon goes for the Reds.
Old ass reliever becoming an All Star starter at 33? Fuck you, sir.
Simon was scuffling big time before he finally put it back together in his last outing.
Simon has pitched well against the Pirates this year, but I think he’s hittable.
Guys like Simon, and maybe Worley, are flukes.
See, Simon has plummeted back to earth since his unreal first half. We’ve seen this before, no?
Yeah we’ve seen that before. Like every fucking year. A pitcher comes out of nowhere, dominates the first half then just explodes back to mediocrity (Kevin Correia) or worse (James McDonald). Jeff Locke! I’m talking to you too buddy!
Simon has decent numbers against the Pirates, and I have a lot of respect for a guy that goes by the nickname “Big Pasta”.
Thing is, all his wins have come this year. All his better numbers are from this year. Simon’s career numbers being okay are pretty dependent on that magical half season. The Pirates need to hit him hard, because Johnny Cueto won’t be a pushover tomorrow.
First Pitch: 4:05 PM EST
Where To Watch: Root Sports, FS1, MLB.TV, FS-O
