I’m not sure where the Pittsburgh Pirates get the audacity.
To beat the Cubs, two days in a row, in a way that the Cubs would normally beat the Pirates?
Quite frankly, it feels inappropriate in today’s Major League Baseball.
The Pirates have combined to thrash the Cubs 19-2 over the last two games, with newcomers Oneil Cruz and Bligh Madris pitching in during both games.
The two teams meet tonight for game three of the four game series at 7:05 PM EST. We will post the starter and lineups when they are available.
Lineups
Wednesday in the Burgh#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/0JcrmbDIAS
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 22, 2022
Here is tonight’s #Cubs starting lineup. pic.twitter.com/VI1bStVHWl
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 22, 2022
Cruz and Madris with 6 rbi’s apiece in three games. That’s unacceptable.
Does Shelton dare pitch Eickhoff again on Monday or does he go back to Byrce Wilson… or call up Cody Bolton?
De Jong continuing a strong season and making a case to be a fixture in the pen at least
Good thing they brought up Icough instead of starting De Jong. Otherwise, De Jong might have had to throw four innings.
The stoopid is suffocating.
I asked nicely to start DeJong and I got the finger
Chang finally makes contact.
Tomorrow’s headline will read Pirates add Eickhoff to little league roster because that’s where he belongs.
Too bad it won’t mean much to the outcome but that was a nice play by Chang to save Cruz an error and completed the double play to end the 6th.
gee who could’ve guessed starting eickoff could’ve gone badly
Well, anybody with his bubble gum card at least. He was good with the Phillies in 2016, but he’s been plagued by injuries ever since, and he’s been bad when he’s pitched. He wasn’t pitching well at Indy, but that wouldn’t bother GMBS. Classic eff the fans move from him.
it’s a mystery why they even signed him
Yeah, he’s really been bad since 2016. Just another bad decision by GMBS. They knew they needed starting depth and this is what he came up with.
this shit will happen when they don’t care about winning games sadly. someday they’ll want to win games. i hope!
The only time winning has gotten on their radar screen has been when they’ve had an especially long and excruciating losing streak and something idiotic has happened, like GMBS’s stupid “encouraging” comment. Then they get concerned that Nickels will notice and emerge from the bunker for a few minutes.
yep.
ahh that comment. that was truly one for the ages. cherington is a true spin master for that comment
Well, at least he can clear a space on the 40 soon.
Can’t wait to see the umps scorecard on this game. His strike zone is all over the place for the Pirate hitters, lol.
And that’s how chase de Jong says “why the F didn’t you start me“? I feel sorry for Eickhoff but it was a numb nuts decision to bring him up to start. He was the 14th most qualified person in the organization to start. The same could be said for gutting the lineup because heaven forbid you try for a four game winning streak. Not frustrated at all…
Just when It was starting to get exciting watching the Pirates again, they call up a bumb to pitch and have a Sunday starting lineup. It’s as if this organization just doesn’t care about their fans or wants to win.
Hey, it’s not every day you get to experience a guy putting on a major league uniform for the last time.
Dumbo giving the fans the finger every couple minutes.
Ben & Derry showing a genius for killing fan enthusiasm. And Dumbo makes it worse by leaving Icough in to intensify the embarrassment. They have an 8-man pen because . . . ????
It’s a lot easier to manage when fans’ expectations are low. They must have worried that expectations were starting to rise.
Hard to believe they are so short of pitchers that they have to leave Eickoff in to take this kind of punishment.
Shelton heard your plea…..
Eickoff is at least semi-efficient. Only 71 pitches through 4. I mean Roansy and Bru threw more than that giving up 0-1 runs. They could learn something from Eickhoff 😱
This strike zone is wide
Next stop for Tim is ESPN Sunday night Baseball Tonight to talk about Cruz.
Tim! Greg Brown just shouted you out personally! Saying you do a great job at Pirates Prospects! Ayyoooo
^3rd w/ 1 out AB
Did he mention that Tim thinks Cruz should get traded? 😀
Greg Brown just mentioned Tim on the broadcast. 😀. Said he “does a good job with the Pirates prospects” at Baseball America.
Hes famous!
Famous or Infamous??
If Burrows had stuck with UConn, they’d have been in Omaha last year.
Chang has that good warning track power that will buy him a ticket home.
Diego!
Six more to go!
Only need 13 in the bottom of the ninth!!
Make that 9…….
Is this the game we see Cruz pitch?
Eickhoff is a jagoff.
No, Nickles is the jagoff. No respectable owner who wants his team to win would put the organization in the position of having to constantly scrape the bottom of the barrel.
This is not the year to win.
I’m not talking about winning. I’m talking about being responsible enough to make sure there’s enough money in salaries to put a respectable product on the field. He’s a negligent owner who fills his own pockets at the expense of running a respectable organization. He’s a jagoff,
Well you said “wants to win”. No reason he’d want to this year. Next year, sure.
Need probably ~8+ viable starters going into next year if we want a shot at improving, think we got 4 on the roster plus Burrows by mid season and maybe bolton, so a vet or two and we should be a decent shape i would think
I’ve been predicting that Nutting is gonna splurge on Musgrove!
That would be a dream! Definitely think he will be priced well well above our spending desire/abilities
I have a theory that Bob wants the window to start in earnest next year while nobody of value is close to pre-arb. Thus, he may well splurge on a front-loaded multi-year contract where he can easily afford the first three years and still be well under $100M, allowing him to add one or two other decent pieces to the kids making nothing.
I would love this but Ill believe it when I see it
My sense is that Nutting’s finances have gotten much better and less risky. He already authorized the Hayes extension. More to come?
I dont think this guy is gonna stick around
Probably not beyond next year, no.
Eickhoff is making me long for Bryce Wilson.
Eeeek-off. Need to just release this guy after the game.
Yikes. 2 pitches. 2 HB’s. 1 run.
This guy has been in AAA? I have not heard of him.
Journeyman that should continue his journey
Another ump forcing Robo umps into the game
I was afraid he got hurt until he rounded second
I was thinking the same
Hey, we actually have a nice bench tonite. Hoping Shelty optimizes some key PH situations. Or another blow-out would be fine to limit his strategery.
I’d prefer Suwinski at DH on a rest day, but glad to see Mitchell back in the lineup (Castillo too).
And tonight, judging by the lineup, the offense has been euthanized.
Glad the weather is clearing. Really wanna see this game tonight.
I thought I saw Toto go by my office window about an hour ago….
Injury updates:
Gamel to Indy to start tomorrow.
Peters to throw live BP this weekend, so I assume he won’t be out long.
Pirates optimistic Thompson will miss the minimum 15 days.
Mears had forearm tightness after pitching yesterday, being reevaluated. Crappity.
Nick G has a “plantar fascia issue,” walking boot for 2-4 weeks. Apparently not a Dr. Joe diagnosis. Sounds like he may miss the rest of the MiL season except the last few weeks.
Now the Freddy Sanchez comp makes sense.
“Apparently not a Dr. Joe diagnosis”
Thanks for getting that incident back into my head again……………
Line up is more about tomorrow, than tonight. Day game tomorrow. OK to give Suwinski and Hayes a rest. Neither pitcher has big R/L splits. Chang or Chavis have to play first with Cruz throwing 90+ in the dirt to first base, neither hit well against right-handers, but would rather have Chavis tomorrow against the lefty. Also would rather have Hayes against the lefty tomorrow than Park, so rest Hayes tonight, and play Castillo tomorrow at second.
Over thinking it just like that fellow who tries to act like a manager. Baseball players are supposed to play every day with the occasional day off and not all at the same time. No Suwinski, Hayes or Chavis on the same day because there’s another game tomorrow? Seriously? Rest one tonight and one tomorrow maybe but not playing all three in the same game is not the way to do it.
Chavis is hitting .211 against right-handers this year, OPS of .591. Hayes is batting .235 with an OPS of .647 against right-handers. I don’t have the stats on rested players versus players that rarely rest.
Dude, they aren’t benching Stargell, Parker, and Oliver. Not a fan of Chang, but I don’t have an issue with rest of lineup. Moving Cruz to lead off and Captain to 3rd is worth whatever they lose benching Hayes and Jack.
Perez, Chang and Park hitting in front of Cruz. It’s like Shelton wants to limit the RBI opportunities. Yo no entiendo. Maybe I’m just not smart enough to understand.
I love Cruz batting first, you don’t want to walk the lead-off hitter in the first inning, especially one that is a threat to steal second. It means Cruz should see strikes if he can lay off the balls, and Cruz can crush strikes.
I saw that lineup and no Suwinski and immediately felt bad for Eickhoff. The guy is going to be nervous as it is and Shelton handcuffs the offense again. But what can you expect, Shelton thinks he’s the reason they won the last 3 games and the offense has exploded.
If he is that nervous at age 32 (as of the 2nd) and having started 80 games in the league so far, he would put himself in trouble. I do feel bad that he is missing a couple of bats but the bats that are there should be able to score him some runs.
I guarantee you he couldn’t care less who is batting for Pirates, but he definitely should care Hayes’ glove isn’t on the field.
Very good point.
Holy cow, lol. Need to do my homework since I thought he was a young rookie. I realize now I use to see him pitch for Philly, lol.
The memory is the first thing to go!
I’m sorry, I forgot what you wrote😁
LOL! The fog has cleared
LOL
So Shelton decided to wait a day before screwing up a good thing. A good RHP and no Suwinski, no Hayes, but we got Chang. What possible reason could there be for playing him, other than veteran tenure?
You can’t play Chavis at first every game, and who else are you going to play at first, with Cruz throwing 90+ in the dirt, on this roster?
Madris
FG says he has 3 games and 2 errors in AAA this year at first base.
He played a lot there in college.
And this is pretty funny anyway. This is a team that made Yoshi its starting 1B and that routinely plays infielders in the outfield even though they’ve never played there before. Now, when it’s a matter of getting a .120 hitter on the field, suddenly experience at a position is everything. Yeah, sure.
Oh, and yes, you can play Chavis at first every game.
Madris was in college, like 5 years ago? You are not going to put him in that position in his third major league game. Tsutsugo played 19 games for the Dodgers at first base, not like the Dodgers are a joke. Not saying Tsutsugo should be playing there for these Pirates. Chang is not playing well and will likely be put on waivers when Gamel comes off the injured list, maybe before that. Gamel gives the Pirates a decent left handed bat that can also play first, assuming they don’t want to bring up Martin. I’m actually glad that Cruz at short will put a stop to the Pirates trying just anybody at first. My only point is, you can’t really fault Shelton for seeing Chang as his second option for a first baseman, given the roster he has. With a day game tomorrow and with Chavis not hitting right-handers very well, then Chang at first is understandable, if not desirable.
Bligh has had more experience at first base in his baseball life than VanMeter and Shelton had no problem putting him there.
VanMeter played a lot of 2nd, 3rd, and outfield in the minors, same in the majors. He also played 19 games at first base for the Reds, making 1 error. I think I would have confidence in his glove at first base. Madris played 34 games at first base for Mesa State (NCAA) in 2015-2017. Then in the minors Madris played a total of 3 games at first base. I would not be confident in his glove at first base, just going off those stats.
Messing with a streak? Bad karma
Know he’s been gone for a while, but I think NH should be getting some recognition for at least recognizing some talent, as this current team’s best offensive talents are his acquisitions: Reynolds & Oneil, plus Bligh looks pretty good. I’m also a fan of Brubaker. NH’s decisions still rippling thru this team
History seems to be showing he had an eye for talent, and I think he put in place some decent structure for finding talent and holding scouts accountable (can’t remember when I read that article). But, I think the knock against all of that was the development of that talent was not very good.
So maybe he should be head of scouting somewhere.
https://twitter.com/JMackeyPG/status/1539685396094803969
If true, I done did call that yesterday when were guessing what they would do. Glad they kept Vieux up if so.
it’s the right move. he’s just not a good pitcher
Yep. Could have been Fletcher too because they just picked up Stout to be the new emergency lefty but this accomplishes the both the active and the 40 man. Stout and/or Fletcher are soon to be next depending on how many spots are needed.
Tonight probably won’t be no disco like the last couple, three games where the Pirates have had either the beginnings of a good run or they’ve been blessed with greatness and immortality. Thompson can pitch, unlike the last two mere mortals who were unworthy of facing gods. We’re going to find out tonight if a good pitcher can stop a team blessed by fortune. Because that’s what we’ve witnessed the last couple nights. A lineup sprinkled with a few solid players has become a lineup blessed by the baseball gods. Cruz steps into the lineup and I believe even players like Vogelbach and Perez become transformed. Bligh Madris has already started praying daily that he gets to hit behind Cruz for say, the next 5,000 AB’s.
I know this is baseball and it can all turn around from day to day to inning to inning and even pitch to pitch. Injuries can overwhelm you. Your pitching can suck or these young guys can’t compete against TOR pitchers. But, gentlemen, I don’t think I’m being deceived by what I’ve witnessed the last couple nights. This guy is blessed by the gods and guys like that can make everyone around him better. Just ask all those old guys what happened when Joe Morgan showed up in Cincinnati.
Me a the thought of Michael Perez being transformed………………
Tell that Hal Smith
I’m thinking of some of the moves that need to happen with guys coming of IL. I’m thinking Gamel for Mitchell, VanMeter for Park, Newman for Castillo, Yoshi for Chang. I think Marisnick is DFA’d. I’m hoping Yoshi only gets a week or 2 then is DFA’d. I think Gamel and Newman need to play then be traded at deadline. VanMeter not sure what to do with him because I can’t see them DFA’ing him and I doubt by they can trade him.
I am hoping Swaggerty comes up for good at some point in the 2nd half as well.
If VanMeter had not gotten hurt and continued on his streak of hitting .333 with a little pop he might have looked useful to another team and they might have been able to move him. Prolly not so much now.
Yeah I agree. I’m curious to see what they do with him. I’d hate him to block let’s say a Marcano or Castillo.
Or a Bae…
Still waiting for the other Eickhoff shoe to drop………………
goodbye hembree
Hardy knew ye…….
Supposedly Gamel starts rehab tomorrow.
If nothing else, he provides a taller option to play 1B.
I’m hoping he plays first during his rehab. He, Chavis and Bligh can cover first. Yoshi and Chang 👋
Would think maybe he will get a few weeks in the major as he earned it and showing that he is healthy will allow us to get something in a trade
Unlike most of the other veterans, he should actually have trade value.
Not as much as Quintana.
As long as Quintana does not regress. He is still good but not quite as good as he was a month ago. Hope they can trade while still good.
I’m hoping Q is just seeing some normal regression. If he can more or less keep his performance similar to the year to date, I’d rather keep him and try to re-up him.
But that would make so much sense and costs money.
I’ve always like Quintana and he’s having a pretty solid if unspectacular season so far but I hope that Cherington aims a bit higher for the annual free agent starter to round out the rotation this winter than where Quintana is at in his career. There’s a lot of mileage on that arm.
It’d be great if they’d go out and get a serious starter, but I don’t see that and Q as mutually exclusive.
Of course, with Nickels, either one is probably hoping for too much.
That’s a fair assessment. I’m still holding out hope that the team pulls their version of the Cubs’ signing of Jon Lester a year before they’re really expecting to contend. Don’t worry about my emotions or mindset though because my years of fandom for this franchise has properly prepared me for my inevitable disappointment.
It is my general belief that these guys will all pitch better with some run support. It has to be tough to go out there with the mindset that you can’t afford to make a mistake and then a guy doesn’t make a play behind you or you walk a guy and the pressure goes up. There’s only a small percentage of major league pitchers that are able to handle that game after game or not everyone can be 1972 Steve Carlton, lol.
Actually, was just thinking the grind with Quintana and the league having seen how he has been attacking hitters as the season goes. To be honest was not even thinking about him trying to be too fine because of run support or the lack thereof.
Maybe that’s why he was seen celebrating in the dugout two nights ago when the Buc’s scored 12. He was thinking ‘give me some of that love’, lol.
LOL!
i’ve reached the rare point in time where i’m more excited to watch the pirates offense than the pitching
In two games with Cruz and Captain Bligh on the roster, as they should’ve been on Opening Day, the Pirates runs/game has increased from approximately 3.4 to 3.6.
Can’t help but wonder what could’ve been. But all we can do now is truly believe there are brighter days ahead. Much brighter!
You’re not using sample size the appropriate internet message board way. You should have said:
Pirates runs/game without Cruz/Madris = 3.4
Pirates runs/game with Cruz/Madris = 9.5
My bad. If Pirates had broke camp w Cruz & Captain Bligh, MLB talking heads would be debating who has the better offense, 2022 Pirates or 1927 Yankees.
Talent does that…improves all aspects of the team.