Pirates-Cards: Series Sparknotes

What’s this? Could the Pittsburgh Pirates be putting together a decent start to the season? It looks like that could be the case, as sweeping the defending NL Central Champions in the opening series of the is somewhat promising. If so, that would certainly be a far cry from the past two seasons. We can only hope that this three-game sweep of the dreaded Redbirds will be a sign of things to come, and we only have six more months to wait and find out. Here is the Cliff Notes version of what went right and/or wrong during this set. Easy to write, and easy to read.

Starting with the rotation, Juan Nicasio and Francisco Liriano physically resemble each other, and this week, that resemblance carried over to the mound. Combined, Juan and Frank pitched 12 innings, gave up two earned runs, five hits, and struck out 17 batters. Liriano being dominant is nothing unusual, but Nicasio made a statement Wednesday night that his spring training success was not a fluke, and that Clint Hurdle got it right when by putting him in the mix.
John Jaso has been a mixed bag. As a rather unconventional leadoff hitter, Jaso had some clutch hits that helped the Bucs take the game on Sunday and Wednesday, but at the same time, Jaso is just 3 for 12 with an OBP of .250. Bonus points for the dreadlocks, though.
You can miss Neil Walker all you want, but Josh Harrison is making plays at second base that the Pittsburgh Kid would not have been able to make. Harrison is quicker than Walker and just as slick with the glove. While J-Hay can not replace Walker’s bat, the Pirates did not lose much defensively, if anything, when they sent the Pittsburgh kid to Queens.
Speaking of the Walker trade, there is no need to be up in arms about Jon Niese’s performance on Tuesday night. While his outing wasn’t exactly reminiscent of Harvey Haddix at County Stadium, Niese was let down by piss poor defense that inflated his final score line.
Jordy Mercer has started similar to John Jaso. Both have 3 hits on the young season. What separates Mercer is his walk-off heroics on Tuesday night. However, aside from his game-winning hit, Mercer has had two softly hit singles and has looked horrific against breaking balls. Not to mention, Mercer has already been charged with an error in the field and could have been hit with another. I think Jordy will return to his typical slick fielding, average hitting self, and the first three games are nothing to lose sleep over.
Over at the hot corner, David Freese is already endearing himself to the Bucco faithful with his timely hitting and slick fielding. It’s a shame that Freese will likely be relegated to the bench when Jung-Ho Kang returns from injury, but if nothing else, he will be a solid bat off the bench, which is something that every contending team needs.
Freese and Neftali Feliz are now teammates in Pittsburgh. Leave a comment if you know how those two are linked forever in baseball history.
On Sunday and Tuesday, Clint Hurdle went against the grain and used Tony Watson in the 7th inning and Feliz in the 8th, when one would think it would be the other way around. This is an intriguing idea, as having Feliz pitch the 8th inning is a sign that Hurdle has faith in him, and Feliz is a man needs all the confidence he can obtain after hitting a wall in his career. However, I would like to see Watson take over the 8th full-time again sometime soon. Tony is one of the premier setup men in the game, and the only times where I would want to see him pitch the 7th is when there are two or more lefties due up in the order.
Although it will have no effect on anything. I thought it was strange that Hurdle felt the need to turn to Mark Melancon with two outs in the 9th on Wednesday night. Yes, there were two men on base and Melancon was able to get his precious first save, but the Bucs were comfortably ahead at 5-1, and Cory Lebuke, a left-hander, would have been facing a man who cannot hit left-handed pitching in Kolten Wong. Nonetheless, the Bucs got the win, and that’s what matters.
I’m not sure how successful Kyle Lobstein will be as a middle reliever, but he proved on Tuesday night that he has guts. It would have been real easy for things to get ugly after Lobstein walked the first man he faced on four pitches and proceeded to go 2-0 on the next hitter. Francisco Cervelli did a great job of calming him down, and Lobstein got through the 10th and 11th innings without allowing a run and earned his first win in a Bucco uniform. Maybe now he will have the confidence to hit 90 on the radar gun.
Rick Sofield needs to learn how to put on the brakes. The 3rd base coach’s consistency in sending runners home too often has been a theme over the last year, and it has to be tamed. Had the Pirates lost on Tuesday night, Sofield sending Andrew McCutchen home early in a one-run game with nobody out would have been a big reason. Had Cutch been held, the Pirates would have had runners at the corners with 0 outs and a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 3rd, and God knows what the could have led too. Luckily, Sofield’s poor perception did not matter, but one of these days, it might.
Gregory Polanco is living large thanks to his new contract, and he is playing largely as well. Through 3 games, Greg is batting .429 and has an unearthly OPS of .1481. Hopefully, this is a sign of the player that Polanco will be over at least the next five years.

Now, it’s on to Cincinnati. May the beat go on. Thanks for reading, and Let’s go Bucs!