How can you not love the Pirates? I have family that are big Red fans - and it’s really fun to watch Cincinnati too – but this Pirates team is just amazing to watch. They’re pumped, the fans are pumped, and I’m pumped.
The Pirates have been the best story in baseball this year. I have talked about them since day one, and, to be
honest, I didn’t expect them to be in the playoffs. To be honest, I expected
the Nationals to do much better, and the Pirates would be the runner up to them
and the Reds. I expected them to have an above .500 record, but they have made
some great acquisitions and managing decisions to get to here. Clint Hurdle
should be the Manager of the Year, but I’ll talk about that another time.
They have went 21 years before
seeing any playoff games. One sign last night said “I’ve waited my whole life
for this” – literally. And what a night back it was.
The Pirates were all over in this
game. The team was calm, and everyone did their fair share, while the fans took
the job of rattling the Reds.
I want to start at the very
beginning of this game, the first at-bat with Shin-Soo Choo and Francisco
Liriano. Liriano dominated this duel. Pitch after pitch, he was throwing
devastating changeups and sliders that made batters just look bad. The Reds did
not get a single ball out of the infield until the fourth inning.
In the second inning, after pitcher
Johnny Cueto gave up a home run to Marlon Byrd (who came to the Pirates this
year in an acquisition), the fans started cheering “Cueeeeetto… Cueeeeeeeetto,”
and it got into his head. The very next batter, Cueto drops the ball when
trying to get in stance, and two batters later, Russell Martin hits one out.
Cueto looked bad. He only went 3.1
innings, giving up four runs, and he could not bring the ball down. He left
some high breaking balls that the Pirates were just taking advantage of. Mat
Latos was scheduled to start, but he’s been secretly injured since June, so
Cueto got the ball. Looks like he shouldn’t have kept that a secret after all.
Russel Martin, however, looked
great. His homer in the second inning was just the first of two home runs that
he had in the game. Hurdle said that he wanted Martin, who is in his first year
with the Pirates, in the lineup for his defensive capabilities, but he was
showing his offensive power last night.
He is the first catcher to hit a home
run on three different teams in the postseason. I talked about Martin two months ago and how he’s the most important catcher in baseball – I’d just like
to reinforce that :)
The Reds hitting struggled, with a
few bright spots here and there. Ryan Ludwick and Todd Frazier looked good,
Ludwick going 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and Frazier having an amazing catch in foul
territory to end what looked like a jam for Cueto. He also almost hit a ball
out that would have made the Reds go up 4-3, but it just barely went foul. He
ended up striking out that at-bat, and would finish 1-for-4 with an RBI on the
night.
The Pirates were getting it done
offensively and defensively. Clint Barmes had an underrated night, as he
snagged some tough plays at short to get out of innings. Pedro Alvarez, who
committed 27 errors at third base
this year, played perfect defense tonight. Andrew McCutchen, the MVP candidate,
almost had an amazing catch to what would look like it would be a sure double,
and, of course, the bullpen got it done. Liriano went seven innings, giving up
one run, and striking out five. Jason Grilli would close it out.
The Pirates would go on to win 6 to 2. They had 13 hits, and each
player, except for Alvarez, who would have a sacrifice fly anyways, would have
one, even Liriano.
If the Pirates keep playing like
that in the postseason, they won’t be stopped. Unfortunately, I don’t think
that will happen. I really want this team to go far because they’ve been so fun
to watch, but they have a tough matchup against the St. Louis Cardinals coming
up. It’s all about pitching for the Pirates, as they had the 3rd best
ERA in the MLB (3.26), and the 2nd best BAA (.238).
The first game will be Adam
Wainwright against A.J. Burnett tomorrow. Wainwright was amazing this season,
going back to his pre-Tommy John surgery years. He went 19-9 with a 2.94 ERA and an amazing 6.26 K/BB ratio. That’s no 10.2
that Cliff Lee had three years ago, but it’s still the 40th best
ratio of all time, which is actually quite an accomplishment. 
AJ Burnett has been quite a story too. At 36 years old, Burnett went 10-11 with a 3.30 ERA, striking out 209, and having an NL best 9.8 k/9 ratio. Don’t let that record fool you- he’s had a lot of games where the offense would just not support him.
It should be an amazing game, and
it’ll be a battle of the NL Central. This season, the Pirates have the advantage,
but not by much. When the Pirates took four of five in a series against the
Cardinals, St. Louis came back and swept them later in the season.
The series is honestly a toss-up. I want the
Pirates, but I probably have to say the Cardinals are going to win, particularly
because of their amazing ability to perform in the playoffs, and their ability
to hit with runners-in-scoring-position. This series will be a battle between
players, but also between managers. Clint Hurdle and Mike Matheny have arguably
done the best job with their teams in the NL, and it’ll all come down to this
season.
One team will move on, and one team
will pack their bags. It’ll all start Thursday. Remember that the Rays-Indians
game is on tonight too, and I’ll be talking about the winner tomorrow.
Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any
questions/comments/concerns.
-Evan Boyd
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