Bizarre Endy Rodriguez, Joey Bart collision nearly marred Pirates' escape job

Even the most optimistic of Pittsburgh Pirates fans (or those that choose to lie to themselves) have to see that the on field product leaves a lot to be desired. The starting pitching staff is a strength, but the offense looks like something you would find at Triple-A most of the time, and the bullpen is a constant adventure.

On Wednesday, the Pirates' matchup against the Cardinals was a reminder that even when things go their way, this team finds a way to make it more interesting than it needs to be.

In the top half of the eighth inning, the two squads were in tight 0-0 deadlock, thanks mostly to strong starting efforts from both Mitch Keller and Erick Fedde. St. Louis was threatening with runners on second and third with two outs, but Caleb Ferguson got what looked like a routine pop-up to get out of trouble.

Instead, absolute chaos ensued and Endy Rodriguez was on the wrong end of a collision near home plate.

Endy Rodriguez ended up laid out on the field after Pirates nearly botch routine play

We'll focus on the good news here first, in the spirit of positivity. One, Ferguson made a really nice heads up play to recover the baseball and get the tag at the plate to prevent a run from scoring and get out of the inning. Second, everyone seemed okay after the play, even though Rodriguez was pretty shaken up.

With that out of the way, what the hell was Rodriguez thinking here? Yes, the ball was clearly swirling high up in the wind, but the first baseman was fully sending himself towards home with little regard for what others were doing here. Even if Joey Bart was struggling to find the baseball, launching oneself into the fray only ensured the ball wouldn't be caught, and it put a lot of players in peril.

Unfortunately, these are the kinds of things that happen when you have a grifter of an owner that refuses to invest in actual baseball players in the spirit of maximizing profitability. Rodriguez didn't mean anything by his actions and everyone was trying to make a play. These are just the sorts of things that happen when you employ less than desirable players to be big leaguers, then move them out of their ideal positions.

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