MAY 15, 2009. The scoreboard at Wrigley Field. Photo- RumBunter.com

Whither Goest the Pirates. A Guest Post by Joe

When May 15 rolled around in the 2009 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates had 16 wins and 20 losses, not great but not horrible.  When they took the field on June 15,  the Bucs had 23 wins and 40 losses. 

The box score from May 15 shows Akinori Iwamura at second base and Ryan Church in left field.  For much of the season, Iwamura had played second base and for many games Lastings Milledge was in left. 

Now fast forward to the present and the box score will show Neil Walker at second and Jose Tabata in left.  Walker and Tabata have both put up better stats than the players they replaced.  The Pirates also upgraded the starting pitching by adding Jeff Karstens and dropping Charlie Morton.

How did a team improve three positions and get worse? 

The answer is that they did not get worse, they are just losing more games.  In their first 36 games they gave up eight or more runs 11 times.  In the 27 games since May 15, the Pirates gave up eight or more runs only twice.  Through May 15 they had a record of 6 wins and 1 loss in one-run games and 4-0 in two run games.

Since May 15 they are 3-5 in one-run games and 1-4 in two-run games.  They are playing better and losing more often.  Think that makes no sense?  (more…)