Game 107 : Pirates vs. Cubs : 08.1.11 : Live Game Thread!

[Kipper]

McKenry with a weak grounder, Pena bobbles the grounder, almost falls over and Mckenry is still out.

1 Out

bottom of 9

[Kipper]

Paul with an easy ground out to 2B

2 outs

Bottom of 9

[BlackNGoldRules]

Question of the day.... Should Hurdle have pitched Hanrahan in the 9th?

Hmmm. He has been criticized for not bringing him in, in situations other than the closer's roll. I say yes because with this mediocre offense, a 2 run deficit is huge compared to a 1 run deficit. And it's not like hammer has been overworked lately either. The rest of the bullpen has.

[Kipper]

Cutch with a terrible game ending Strike Out

5-3 Cubs

Wasted a hell of a game by the Cubs

Now just ONE game over .500.

Woulda been nice to see the O do more but, aren't going to win many games no matter the Offense when your pitching staff allows 5 runs

[BlackNGoldRules]

Well, doesn't matter now. Couldn't even get a baserunner. Fading fast it looks like.

[Kipper]

Hmmm. He has been criticized for not bringing him in, in situations other than the closer's roll. I say yes because with this mediocre offense, a 2 run deficit is huge compared to a 1 run deficit. And it's not like hammer has been overworked lately either. The rest of the bullpen has.

I was thinking about it myself. Felt that we might have had a chance in a 1 run game. Mccutchen blew it but perhaps Hurdle too by not bringing in the Hammer

[Kipper]

Well, doesn't matter now. Couldn't even get a baserunner. Fading fast it looks like.

That Cards/Braves/Phillies trip hurt us in the standings. 3-7 hurts. Getting swept by the Phillies hurt most but we can't be losing games to the Cubs

[BlackNGoldRules]

Cutch with a terrible game ending Strike Out

5-3 Cubs

Wasted a hell of a game by the Cubs

Now just ONE game over .500.

Woulda been nice to see the O do more but, aren't going to win many games no matter the Offense when your pitching staff allows 5 runs

You just get the feeling that after all that has happened this year, this team may still end up having a losing season at the end. Just not as bad as we're accustomed to. Still a lot of season left, just used to the "swoon" happening every year. May have just taken longer than usual this year. Pitching carried this team to a winning record, but now that the pitching is coming back to earth, and the hitting is still struggling, this could be the part of the season when reality starts to hit.

[Kipper]

You just get the feeling that after all that has happened this year, this team may still end up having a losing season at the end. Just not as bad as we're accustomed to. Still a lot of season left, just used to the "swoon" happening every year. May have just taken longer than usual this year. Pitching carried this team to a winning record, but now that the pitching is coming back to earth, and the hitting is still struggling, this could be the part of the season when reality starts to hit.

I have been predicting 77 wins for a good 5 seasons now so my happiness for once could come true but yeah, I do get that feeling we could finish sub .500.

I don't even think it's reality either. I think that the Pirates 1st half was legit for this season, the reality that could be happening is fatigued arms and pitchers all together

[vandelay industries]

Just got home from the game.

Vomit.

I can sum up the game with this description:

This was a "classic Maholm" game.

He kinda cruises, but has one inning where he blows up.

[BlackNGoldRules]

I have been predicting 77 wins for a good 5 seasons now so my happiness for once could come true but yeah, I do get that feeling we could finish sub .500.

I don't even think it's reality either. I think that the Pirates 1st half was legit for this season, the reality that could be happening is fatigued arms and pitchers all together

When you rely so heavily on your pitching, it eventually takes its toll during a long season.

The reality I mentioned is that when you don't have a balanced team, it can evetually catch up to you when the part of your team that is carrying the rest of the team starts to wear down. That may be happening now.

Unless this team turns into the lumber company soon, they'll have trouble overcoming a tired pitching staff, in particular the bullpen. That 19 inning game, with no days off after, hasn't helped matters either.

[Bigtime]

I thought that the Pirates would have come out with a little bounce in their step after adding Lee and Ludwick and returning home but they looked pretty flat tonight and deflated from the Phillies sweep after we had the Phils on the ropes in game three and couldn't finish late. One thing the team has managed to do well this year is avoid the long losing streak (I beleive that six games was our longest this year) so let's hope that Correia can give us a QS tomorrow and stop the bleeding before the Brewers begin to run away with this thing.