Can The Pirates Offense Come To Life In New York?

The Pittsburgh Pirates are in New York for a series with the Mets.   We have to wonder if their offense will come to life against some less talented pitching.  The Reds pitching staff was outstanding against the Pirates lineup.

The Bucs put up a zero in eight of the innings Sunday, eight of the innings Saturday, and seven of the innings on Friday.  Sure, we could care less how the runsare scored or even when, bring them in bunches, bring them in back-to-back innings–just bring them.  Please!   The season is running away.

The Pirates have been getting outscored at a ridiculous pace this season, but recently the trend is changing.  Now can it improve in New York?  We say it will.

The Bucs managed 22 hits in the three games with the Reds.  Ten of them in the first game when they walked just once while striking out eleven times.  The strikeouts continued on Saturday as 13 were put in the box score to go with five hits and two walks.  Four of the runs were in one inning, zeros in the rest.

But the game yesterday saw the Pirates be a little more patient, as the Pirates recorded four walks and when that happens for the young Bucs it is something worth mentioning.  The Pirates bats will come to life in New York, even though they will face the knuckleballer R.A. Dickey in tomorrow nights game.

There are a couple of reasons why we have this hunch.  We feel the stadium will play well for the Pirates.

Secondly, the confidence is starting to show after strong performances against the Braves and Reds.  Also, the extra eyes in the dugout are helping as the Pirates have many more coaches on hand.  If you remember, we are a big advocate of several layers of coaching and we think it makes perfect sense with their recent improved play.

Neil Walker will  attempt to break the Pirates rookie consecutive game hitting streak by getting to 19 tonight.  Walker is currently tied with Rennie Stennett at 18.

James McDonald will attempt to keep the Mets off the base paths in just a few hours.  JMac is coming off an impressive outing in which he pitched seven scoreless innings to beat the Braves Tim Hudson.  The Mets gave   Jeff Karstens fits last month and that’s when these pics were taken.

Let’s Go Bucs!