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The Dreaded Pirates Eighth Inning Curse Continues, Outscored 95-49 in the Eighth…and Counting
By Tom Smith
One night after the Pirates bullpen were heroes, tonight they were goats. In the eighth inning, the Pirates bullpen gave the game to the Dodgers. Five walks were the culprit. Steven Jackson was the unlikely gas thrower.
This season the Pirates have been outscored in the eighth inning 95 to 49. The ineffectiveness of John Grabow early in the season combined with the utter failure of the bullpen to pitch with confidence down the stretch has been a major factor in the nightly outcome this season.
Especially in the eighth.
Has anyone noticed the bottom falls out with key situational plays from the pitching staff (mainly) and the pathetic offense on a near nightly basis. A magic wand is needed desperately to patch the holes for next year. We are confident this roster can improve in a big way to provide 2010 as a near breakthrough season if ownership expands instructional coaching, the talent level, and leadership within the clubhouse.
Let’s argue about that.
We have begged for a coach to focus solely on the bullpen and have heard we might have a glimmer of hope. More to come on that topic in the post season wrap up.
The Pirates are the lowest scoring team in MLB. In the past 32 games, Rocco said the Bucs have averaged 3.06 runs per game. Awful.
Paul Maholm was effective again tonight. His ERA is below 3.oo in his past seven starts. (2.89 and a 1.41 WHIP)
Daniel McCutchen will try to get his first win today [Pirates]
Lastings Milledge had an outfield assist tonight on a sparkling throw. The 45th outfield assist is tops in the majors. The oppposition isn’t afraid to run on our outfield arms. 45 assists is an improvement of 27 over last year.
Andrew McCutchen had his 54th RBI tonight. And a sparkling catch in CF. [Video from Pirates.com]
Funny: Tonight as I was listening to the game, I heard Steve Pearce come to the plate and the famous song from Foreigner played. Greg Brown said, “Steve had to agree to play this song…..”
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