Seriously John Russell

Major League managers are paid to do a number of things.  Everyone knows what is happening in Pittsburgh is downright embarassing.  It’s been a long time since a winning club has been on the field.  But last night was especially embarassing.  It is upsetting because these Pittsburgh Pirates had a shot at beating one of the best pitchers in the NL. 

But the manager didn’t

do what he is paid to do.   He got greedy.  Again.

JR can’t play the game any longer, but he has every ability to control how it is played out.

We could look up the stats on Jeff Karstens fading, but why?  Everyone reading this knows that it occurs.  Why not get what you can get from Karstens and try to win that game?  Instead the Pirates were down 4-2  by the time the final out was made in the sixth.

Someone doesn’t have the courage to simply tell Ryan Church it’s over.  Heh, you are a nice guy and all Church, but it’s simply not working.  Tim from BuccoFans had an idea, let Brandon Moss get any of the playing time that Church is getting.  Hell, why not.

But again Sean Gallagher was brought into the game, after pitching 26 pitches the game prior, and he is left on the mound to:

a. prove a point to someone in the Pirates organization that his command is not good.

b. load the bases and then balk because he can’t understand why he is still on the mound.

c. die on the vine in front of a full house.

c. because the leadership and critical thinking suck from John Russell.

It never ceases to amaze me how the Pirates make moves that seem more directed at something like proving a point, motivating a player, or some other nonsense rather than focusing on simply winning a ball game. We surmise that when your job is not in danger one loses their edge. Maybe the regime is buying into the mantra, “it’s not all about winning and losing.”

Pirates fans still like to win. The Pirates had a shot last night. It was blown in the sixth.

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But heh, Octavio Dotel got all three left handed batters out in the ninth. Did you see that Colorado?

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Interesting Tweet

My favorite video regarding Brandon Moss. I can’t get enough of it.