In case anyone wondered after they saw Skenes set the Pirates rookie record for strikeouts since 1900, there was a higher total before 1900, so the "since 1900" works. The only rookie season with more strikeouts came way back in 1884 by Fleury Sullivan, who set an impossible to break team record with 35 losses (the 1884 team was awful, so he was only partially to blame). Sullivan finished with 189 strikeouts.
Skenes just missed breaking into the single-season top 50 for Pirates strikeouts. He is one short of that list.
Cruz's second strikeout put the 2024 Pirates into a tie for the fifth highest single-season team total. They are going to go down to the wire with that record chase. Cruz's first strikeout today put him fifth on the single-season list all alone, trailing Pedro Alvarez (2x), Craig Wilson and Jack Suwinski (last year)
Thanks John, just another reminder that this team needs to be a lot better at putting the ball in play. One of the worst K/BB rates is Alika Williams who started again last night. Averaging 7 Strikeouts for every Walk, and a slash of .207/.242/.299/.541 OPS. Why is he still at the MLB level? Add MAT, who really does not have a function any longer with this team. Let's take a look a Peguero at SS, and Yorke seeing some time in CF and 2B. His IF defense leaves much to be desired, but his bat sure plays.
Yeah, if you don't have the big power bats or high walk totals, then you need to put the ball in play a lot more than the Pirates do. You can't rank 17th in walks and 26th in homers and survive without a high average, but the Pirates rank 23rd in average too. They are also 26th in doubles, 17th in steals. The Padres have nearly 400 fewer strikeouts, so there's a lot of room for improvement just in that area.
According to Nightengale's report, the Pirates are "more likely" to make a change with Shelton or his coaching staff than with GM Ben Cherington, who appears immune from the looming organizational overhaul.
Shelton has, frankly, earned his ticket out the door. He probably gets another job and maybe even another chance to manage a team (preferably one with better offensive personnel), but it's clear that Shelton is not the man for this particular job.
Of course "more likely" could refer to a 10% chance vs. a 5% chance. I think it's much less than a 50-50 chance Ben will fire Shelton, but I think they'll make some smaller changes like replacing Haines and maybe someone like Meccage (who has always been well-regarded but might be the fall guy for the bullpen's struggles). The only way they make bigger changes is if their last three weeks are like August, but more likely they're going to get enough wins like last night that Cherington and Shelton will point to a "solid" finish to justify keeping their jobs, and we know Nutting doesn't care as long as he doesn't look too bad in the media.
raise it!
A little more excitement than I might like at the end, but good to win as always.
Booyah!! #68 in the Books!! Raise it!!!
Raise it!
🏴☠️X68
In case anyone wondered after they saw Skenes set the Pirates rookie record for strikeouts since 1900, there was a higher total before 1900, so the "since 1900" works. The only rookie season with more strikeouts came way back in 1884 by Fleury Sullivan, who set an impossible to break team record with 35 losses (the 1884 team was awful, so he was only partially to blame). Sullivan finished with 189 strikeouts.
Skenes just missed breaking into the single-season top 50 for Pirates strikeouts. He is one short of that list.
Cruz's second strikeout put the 2024 Pirates into a tie for the fifth highest single-season team total. They are going to go down to the wire with that record chase. Cruz's first strikeout today put him fifth on the single-season list all alone, trailing Pedro Alvarez (2x), Craig Wilson and Jack Suwinski (last year)
Pirates pitchers reached 1,200 strikeouts for the 11th time tonight. All 11 of those seasons are 2013-24, with 2020 obviously being the one outlier
Thanks John, just another reminder that this team needs to be a lot better at putting the ball in play. One of the worst K/BB rates is Alika Williams who started again last night. Averaging 7 Strikeouts for every Walk, and a slash of .207/.242/.299/.541 OPS. Why is he still at the MLB level? Add MAT, who really does not have a function any longer with this team. Let's take a look a Peguero at SS, and Yorke seeing some time in CF and 2B. His IF defense leaves much to be desired, but his bat sure plays.
Yeah, if you don't have the big power bats or high walk totals, then you need to put the ball in play a lot more than the Pirates do. You can't rank 17th in walks and 26th in homers and survive without a high average, but the Pirates rank 23rd in average too. They are also 26th in doubles, 17th in steals. The Padres have nearly 400 fewer strikeouts, so there's a lot of room for improvement just in that area.
Read this earlier, thought I shared;
According to Nightengale's report, the Pirates are "more likely" to make a change with Shelton or his coaching staff than with GM Ben Cherington, who appears immune from the looming organizational overhaul.
Shelton has, frankly, earned his ticket out the door. He probably gets another job and maybe even another chance to manage a team (preferably one with better offensive personnel), but it's clear that Shelton is not the man for this particular job.
Of course "more likely" could refer to a 10% chance vs. a 5% chance. I think it's much less than a 50-50 chance Ben will fire Shelton, but I think they'll make some smaller changes like replacing Haines and maybe someone like Meccage (who has always been well-regarded but might be the fall guy for the bullpen's struggles). The only way they make bigger changes is if their last three weeks are like August, but more likely they're going to get enough wins like last night that Cherington and Shelton will point to a "solid" finish to justify keeping their jobs, and we know Nutting doesn't care as long as he doesn't look too bad in the media.
As a UConn guy myself, I'd love to see Ryan Fuller, co-hitting coach for Orioles, get an interview for Haines' job.
Good job Holderman, from one of your critics!
Sale had another very good outing yesterday. Still Skenes ERA 2.10 vs Sale 2.38. Skenes .99 WHIP,
Sale 1.00.
I give the CY Young to Sale for pitching a lot more innings than Skenes. Skenes will get his eventually.
Yeah Sale has earned it up to this point. Pitching in meaningful WC games too.
I don't know man, this Skenes kid is a bit too hittable.
Yeah, WHIP went up tonight. 1.17 for tonight's game gonna blow up that 0.98 for the season. Might even go all the way up to 1.00.
Kevin Newman is the base line of light hitting SS and Alika isn't anywhere near his bat.
Well that was a pathetic half-inning!
We need more runs..,
That pretty much summarized the 2024 Pirates' season.
....the last 30 Pirates' seasons.
Fixed it for ya ; )
Nice DP. Heads up play by by both Triolo and NickG
And Alika for covering 3rd
I didn't like the Termarr trot either, but come on Sportsnet and Brownie. You didn't have to go there right after his interview.
That has to be a little embarrassing. The count is on the scoreboard.