When Clint Barmes Is Your Third Leading Hitter, Your Team Might Be Struggling
By Tom Smith
Another day, another solid pitching performance from A.J. Burnett and the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen. Unfortunately it was wasted by the Pittsburgh Pirates failure to score a run. Again. In recent history, Los Angeles has been an absolute dreadful place for the Pirates to play. But it’s never been quite this bad.
DCameronFG on Twitter had some interesting statistics regarding the Buccos start to the 2013 season:
"After tonight’s shutout, the 2013 Pirates are now hitting .117/.185/.145. In 2012, pitchers hit .130/.171/.187.19 Major League teams have scored more runs than the Pirates have hits."
It’s hard to generate a real feel for the team until Memorial Day, but we can have some fun with small sample sizes. It won’t kill anyone, so let’s add a few of our own.
In 2012, much news was written about just how bad the Pirates offensive struggles were. If you recall our recent Why It Sucks To Watch The Pirates Post, the Buccos put up 58 runs in the month of April in 2012. That equated to 2.63 runs per game.
In 2013, the Pirates offense through five games has scored six runs. That equates to 1.2 runs per game. Manchester United would be embarassed by those numbers.
The slow start is magnified by the fact that off-season acquisition Russell Martin doesn’t have a hit in 2013. Zero.
Clint Barmes is right behind Andrew McCutchen with the Pirates second leading OPS with a whooping .500.
The Bucs have four extra base hits. FOUR. All doubles.
Madness. We predicted a slow start, but shit, nothing like this.