While enjoying the game on this beautiful day from the press box, I was talking to a couple of my fellow media members from the flagship station of the Pittsburgh Pirates, 93.7 The Fan. Joe Kapp and Gregg Giannotti took in the game today, and Kapp came down a row to shoot the breeze with us. After catching up, our topic of discussion turned to the Pirates. He told me that he and Giannotti looked up a couple of mind-boggling stats before the game. Both, of course, dealing with the putrid offense that the Pirates have. Entering play, the Pirates had 66 more strikeouts (368) than they did hits (302). After the eight strikeouts to only five hits in today’s 3-1 loss to the Mets, the Pirates now have 69 more.
Another interesting fact that Kapp pointed out is useless, coincidental information that we baseball stat geeks love. Entering play, eight position players, nine if you count Gorkys Hernandez, weigh more than their current batting average. Take a minute to think about that……….
We’ve heard the saying that the player can’t hit his own weight, but seriously? With nine guys, the Pirates are taking the saying to new extremes. The Pirates don’t have any Prince Fielders on this team that weigh too much for a baseball player. Talking about how good the pitching has been and how horrible the offense has been has become redundant and I hate to beat a dead horse, but outside of Josh Harrison, Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen, they cannot hit.
When you have Gorkys Hernandez (.000), Nate McLouth (.140), Yamaico Navarro (.171), Clint Barmes (.178), Michael McKenry (.188), Casey McGehee (.189), Pedro Alvarez (.203), Garrett Jones (.221) and Rod Barajas (.221) weighing more on the scale than their batting average is.
“I still believe we can turn this around,” Barmes said. “We have too much talent in here to not. I hear the boos, but I think I’ve earned that from the fans.”
Barmes said he is working on his mechanics and if it doesn’t work, he knows that he at least tried his hardest.
“I’m trying to swing at strikes and not swing at balls,” Barmes said. “Guys right now are looking at where I’m at and are pounding the strike zone up and down the order. Obviously, offensively hasn’t been that good this year and it’s not just me.”
Along with the redundancy of how bad the offense has been, we’ve said how well the pitching has done. Charlie Morton struggled early, but overall had a fine day. What’s it like to pitch as good as you can, but still know the offense won’t score?
“It’s part of the game,” Morton said. “Teams have ups and downs. My job is to go out there and limit the other team from scoring runs. If I do my job or don’t do my job, that’s how I evaluate the day. It’s not about the offense.”
Morton said his mindset going into starts doesn’t have anything to do with the offense.
“No, I mean honestly when I come to the field on the day I’m pitching, I expect them to go out there and score runs,” Morton said. “If they don’t, they don’t. I expect them to catch on. We have a really talented group of guys.”
Last night’s starter James McDonald has suffered from lack of run support the most. He is ninth worst in baseball with a 3.92 run support average.
“No it doesn’t bother me,” McDonald said about the lack of run support. ”There were times last year when I was horrible three starts in a row and these guys had my back and picked me up. It’s only a matter of time until this team clicks and they are playing hard behind me everyday, that’s all I can ask for.”
Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said at 44 games in, he knows what he has with his team.
“We like to think we have given guys here time to right some things,” Hurdle said. “You want to give guys that have experience and the back of their cards have said they have done some things, an opportunity to bundle some at bats and get some rhythm at the plate. At this point in time, we know where our strengths are. They are off the mound and defensively.”
While Hurdle would like to fix the problems internally, that doesn’t mean that the team hasn’t looked outside the organization.
“We’ve always kept and eye open to get better everyday whether it’s internally or externally,” Hurdle said. “The individual responsibility that comes with taking care of your own thing, you have to be aware of that. Our guys are aware of that and I would never give you a date. As far as you know, we have been looking for two weeks. We got to be open minded.
Hurdle said while he wants to give the guys the opportunity to play, he still has to look out for the best interest of the team.
“I don’t think anyone wants to work in an environment where you’re continually looking over your shoulder or up above you,” Hurdle said. “But at the same time, you have to be professional about your business. You have to make sure you’re doing everything you can do to prepare, then you have to go out and compete. At the end of the day, the end mark is a big mark whether it’s a W or an L.”
One of the few players who are playing up to standard, or in this case, above his potential has been Josh Harrison. Harrison has a nine-game hitting streak that he extended today with a sixth inning double. Harrison said while his own personal accolades have been nice, he’s concerned about the team more, but has faith things will turn around.
“It’s part of baseball and we know we won’t get a hit every time,” Harrison said. “But we know more times and not, we will. Some people say that hitting is cyclical, but it’s just part of the game. Sometimes you get it done sometimes you don’t, when you’re seeing the ball well and slow the game down, is when you perform your best.”
So the offense has a choice, either start hitting, or go on a diet. Let’s see which comes first.
Photo credits: Getty Images
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