The Pirates Youth Have Taken Over

Zach Duke has had his redemption. The Pirates much maligned starter went six innngs and while he was far from sharp, he was effective and located when necessary.

But the real story of the past month has been the young Pirates talent.  They have offically gone wild.  Its undeniable.  And it’s exciting to see.

The Pirates offense continues to remain Indian Summer hot and last night they lead the Bucs to victory. Surely you’re looking forward to the end of this season, but several Pirates young bats are making sure they pile up some hits in September.

The Pirates have been scoring some runs lately.  The key number for the Bucs is when they score four or more runs–the Bucs record is 39-21 when that happens.  It continued last night makng me think is there a player or two in the system that can break out next season?  It’s something to really think about this offseason.

Just look at the production Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, Neil Walker and Pedro Alvarez have provided lately.   Especially Andrew McCutchen who has now reached base safely in 20 straight games.

Some more photoshops, especially the top of the Pirates lineup and a pot of gold link.

We were thinking a lot tonight.  Yeh, it’s abnormal.  Pedro Alvarez has driven in 54 runs this season.  Quite a few of them were dramatic, high clutch situations.  But it’s gotta be the quietest 54 runs driven in I’ve witnessed.   For all of the attention given to Pedro’s strikeouts, his RBI is a number that is often ignored.

A lot of baseball fans downplay RBI.  Rightfully so we might add, but regardless of your preference on the statistic, it’s significant for one reason:

It magnifies the abilities of Cutch/Tabata/Walker and Jones to reach base in front of Alvarez.  Only one of those players is in their first full year of MLB play.

Think about this…Pedro has been on base in every game except one this month.  He continues to impress us.  A true on base machine.  What would the second half of the season looked like if there was someone producing on a similar level behind Pedro? 

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It’s actually enjoyable when a Pirates starter goes six innings.  Watching a Pirates game gets really exciting when Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan come into the game to blot the door.

Bucco fans, this lineup is starting to turn a little bit.  I don’t give a shit that it’s September.  If this team was getting crushed nightly, we would be standing on our head trying to figure it out.  But blowouts arent’t happening at the 40% clip the Bucs were running into earlier this season.

Thus, can we please solidify the pitching staff for these guys?  Get a bat to put ahead or behind Pedro?  Well….those things are actually for this Pirates fan to enjoy.  Don’t worry I share.

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