Three One-Run Games

[magnumo]

Win or lose, one-run games make for exciting baseball..... but it's always better to win!

Odds are pretty high against another one-run affair in the Pirates' road opener against Kershaw in LA tomorrow. However, like everyone else, I'm hoping that Correia can regain his on-the-road magic from early last season..... also hoping that we'll see McGehee and Hague in the starting lineup against the lefty and that they'll do some damage.

 

[sychmd]

not sure what the splits of all these 4 platoon guys are, but empirically, they make a great group of platoon players.
hague and jones at first
alvarez and mcgehee at third.
it also give us 2 good offensive bats off the bench with some hope, like hague gave us.
not to mention harrison and mcclouth off the bench.

if we can work counts and get to people's pens, it seems like we have 5 starters and correia will make 6 that will keep us in games.

we really need our top to set the table and walker to come thru and cutch to just be consistent and not red hot and ice cold like he seems to be at the plate.

i am so bummed we have an off day. so ready to ride the big MO to the west coast. saw that kershaw is 0-1 with a 3.41 ERA in 5 starts against the bucs (or something in that ballpark which was flabbergasting to me).

If we can come off this trip 4-5 to give us 6-6 with west coast, philly and all the aces we will face, while we are sorting out our rotation and lineup, i would be really pleased.

 

[Darkstone42]

not sure what the splits of all these 4 platoon guys are, but empirically, they make a great group of platoon players.
hague and jones at first
alvarez and mcgehee at third.
it also give us 2 good offensive bats off the bench with some hope, like hague gave us.
not to mention harrison and mcclouth off the bench.

if we can work counts and get to people's pens, it seems like we have 5 starters and correia will make 6 that will keep us in games.

we really need our top to set the table and walker to come thru and cutch to just be consistent and not red hot and ice cold like he seems to be at the plate.

i am so bummed we have an off day. so ready to ride the big MO to the west coast. saw that kershaw is 0-1 with a 3.41 ERA in 5 starts against the bucs (or something in that ballpark which was flabbergasting to me).

If we can come off this trip 4-5 to give us 6-6 with west coast, philly and all the aces we will face, while we are sorting out our rotation and lineup, i would be really pleased.

Don't forget Navarro. In his first two at bats this year, he drew walks, which, while not wildly impressive, does indicate he at least understands hitting.

 

[Illinest]

Navarro's walks are one of the best things that I've seen this young season. He did exactly what was necessary.

 

[sychmd]

totally agree about navarro. that is what i meant by being able work counts. he is young but seems to have a good feel and knowledge of the game.
he was a lot thicker than i expected from a utility middle infielder type.
wonder if with his eye, he can have occasional power as he matures and finds his place in the bigs.
what do you guys think?

 

[Darkstone42]

More on topic, these are the sorts of games the Pirates are going to need to win this season if they want to have success. Unless Alvarez finds himself and McGehee remembers how to hit, which could give us two power bats in the lineup in addition to the occasional power McCutchen and Walker provide, we're going to have to win with speed and pitching, which means lots of low-scoring one-run ball games.

 

[magnumo]

totally agree about navarro. that is what i meant by being able work counts. he is young but seems to have a good feel and knowledge of the game.
he was a lot thicker than i expected from a utility middle infielder type.
wonder if with his eye, he can have occasional power as he matures and finds his place in the bigs.
what do you guys think?

Navarro has a reputation for making solid contact. I just checked his minor league stats..... he has a lifetime .429 SLG in 5 years (over 1500 at bats) in the minors, including .459 over the past couple of years at AAA. Looks decent for a utility infielder.

Yamaico Navarro Baseball Statistics (2007-2011) The Baseball Cube

 

[magnumo]

More on topic, these are the sorts of games the Pirates are going to need to win this season if they want to have success. Unless Alvarez finds himself and McGehee remembers how to hit, which could give us two power bats in the lineup in addition to the occasional power McCutchen and Walker provide, we're going to have to win with speed and pitching, which means lots of low-scoring one-run ball games.

Yes indeed. The first three games reminded me a LOT of many of the first 100 games last year. If the Pirates play reasonably well (and the rotation keeps performing) through this first road trip, they may drag me out of my doldrums of pessimism.

Unfortunately, I'm kind of expecting Correia to take some lumps tomorrow..... but the good news is that he should be out of the rotation by the end of April. That may not be fair to Correia..... but I've only seen him pitch a couple times as a Pirate, and he was awful both times. Just didn't look like a competent starter to me.

I'm still hoping that NH finds a trading partner for Correia, although he may think that he needs to wait until both Morton and Burnett return. A Correia-for-Lannan deal with the Nats seems like a natural fit. I'm not a big Lannan fan, but he's similar to Maholm and as a lefty, seems marginally better for the Pirates than Correia. What I'm thinking is that it might be better for the Pirates to have Lannan as depth at Indy, rather than Correia pitching long relief for the Pirates.

I don't know how Washington would view such a trade proposal..... probably depends on how badly they want to get rid of Lannan.

 

[pixburgher66]

Yes indeed. The first three games reminded me a LOT of many of the first 100 games last year. If the Pirates play reasonably well (and the rotation keeps performing) through this first road trip, they may drag me out of my doldrums of pessimism.

Unfortunately, I'm kind of expecting Correia to take some lumps tomorrow..... but the good news is that he should be out of the rotation by the end of April. That may not be fair to Correia..... but I've only seen him pitch a couple times as a Pirate, and he was awful both times. Just didn't look like a competent starter to me.

I'm still hoping that NH finds a trading partner for Correia, although he may think that he needs to wait until both Morton and Burnett return. A Correia-for-Lannan deal with the Nats seems like a natural fit. I'm not a big Lannan fan, but he's similar to Maholm and as a lefty, seems marginally better for the Pirates than Correia. What I'm thinking is that it might be better for the Pirates to have Lannan as depth at Indy, rather than Correia pitching long relief for the Pirates.

I don't know how Washington would view such a trade proposal..... probably depends on how badly they want to get rid of Lannan.

The Nats would certainly take on Correia to dump Lannan. I'd be okay with that trade. There was no luckier starter last year than Correia. I know it's hard to look at the wins and the road record and not be impressed, but he's mediocre at best. I hope I eat crow tomorrow though. I'm more worried about the bats awakening a bit than anything though. Admittedly, I didn't get to watch a game yet (darn you Indiana...), but from a purely statistical view they need some polishing. 2 of 3 from Philly off those pitchers feels darn good though.

 

[element1286]

I don't see why the Nats would want Correia, he's probably worse than Lannan, and isn't any cheaper.

 

[thedddd]

If I had to choose I would take Lannan strictly because he is a left handed option.

Anyway to stay in these one run games the bullpen will need to keep coming up big and hopefully not much more of the Resop's during the opener. My biggest worry is I don't think they will produce enough offensively to protect the bullpen.

 

[Illinest]

we need to be the type of team that doesn't look at a guy like Lannan as an upgrade.

 

[thedddd]

we need to be the type of team that doesn't look at a guy like Lannan as an upgrade.

Abosolutely no team should think that ever. The problem is that he is an upgrade over Correia.

 

[magnumo]

Correia pitched better than I expected..... and the Pirates DID start the season with their fourth consecutive one-run game. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Pirates have never done that before, i.e., started a season with 4 consecutive one-run games.

Any chance we run that streak to 5? With a Billingsley-vs-Bedard matchup..... maybe so.

 

[Darkstone42]

Correia pitched better than I expected..... and the Pirates DID start the season with their fourth consecutive one-run game. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Pirates have never done that before, i.e., started a season with 4 consecutive one-run games.

Any chance we run that streak to 5? With a Billingsley-vs-Bedard matchup..... maybe so.

I don't think it's terribly far-fetched that we do.

It would, however, be nice to post some significant run support today.

 

[steelparrot]

Its nice to have pitching depth, remember the year with all the injuries and we traded for Omar Oliveras to save us? lol

Considering the pitchers and ballparks, it would be close to impossible to have a worse schedule for our hitters so far this year