Pittsburgh Pirates road trip report card for 8/9 – 8/16

Overall

The Pirates began this road trip with a big opportunity to gain some ground. They were facing two sub-.500 teams and a club that came into the series having lost six of its past eight. The Bucs had a lot going for them but ended the trip with a horrendous mark of 1-5.

It’s hard to say anything unique about this team as a whole. I’ll bet that nobody has referenced Katy Perry on Rum Bunter in a while, so here it goes:

They’re hot then they’re cold. They’re yes then they’re no. They’re in then they’re out. They’re up then they’re down. On this road trip, the Pirates were cold, no, out and down.

The Bucs are 5.5 games out of first place and are playing awful baseball. So, it would be hard to blame fans for losing hope at this point. This is not a good baseball team and not one that is easy to get excited about. At the same time, it seems that whenever the 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates are on life support, they fight back, and give us fans reason to care. This is both exciting, and frustrating.

On the one hand, meaningful baseball late in the season is fun. At the same time, weeks like this make me want to hibernate until next April.

Next: The Bucs Need New Approach Offensively

Things look horrible. They’re not hitting well, the starting pitching comes and goes and the bullpen hasn’t been trustworthy all year. As we’ve seen in 2017, however, things look the darkest right before the dawn. We’ll see how much longer this holds true.

Overall grade: F