Subscribe or log in to read the rest of this column and all that's offered on DK on Pittsburgh Sports. It's available for as little as $1.50/month.
On location: Pirates 5, Cardinals 2 257
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS Getting ready for the first pitch … Game: Pirates (67-64) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (71-59), 7:05 p.m., PNC Park Pitchers: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-4, 3.69) vs. RHP Lance Lynn (14-8, 2.78) TV, radio: Root Sports, 93.7 The Fan Online: Live box score / Multimedia / Official media notes
Cardinals Lineup
1. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B
2. Kolten Wong (L) 2B
3. Matt Holliday (R) LF
4. Matt Adams (L) 1B
5. Jhonny Peralta (R) SS
6. Jon Jay (L) CF
7. A.J. Pierzynski (L) C
8. Oscar Taveras (L) RF
9. Lance Lynn (R) P
Pirates Lineup
1. Josh Harrison (R) 3B
2. Travis Snider (L) RF
3. Andrew McCutchen (R) CF
4. Neil Walker (S) 2B
5. Russell Martin (R) C
6. Pedro Alvarez (L) 1B
7. Starling Marte (R) LF
8. Clint Barmes (R) SS
9. Gerrit Cole (R) P
Last night was one of those ’54’ every team loses.
Striking the ball by both teams would have pointed to the Pirates winning. Lost anyway.
.
Tonight must be one of the “Winning 54″ or one of the “Middle 54″ in which Bucs steal the victory.
Hope you’re right. Then DK can come back to our locker room.
I couldn’t watch the game last night but followed on the ESPN App. Could not help but notice the Bucs got 7 hits early & then that was the end of it. 1 or 2 runs is not going to beat the Cards very often. Bullpen gave up runs but that guy is human. Can’t put up a zero every day.
FWIW here’s my opening day lineup for 2015:
1. McCutcheon LF
2. Polanco RF
3. Walker 3B
4. Marte CF
5. Mercer SS
6. Pedro 1B
7. Free Agent C
8. Barmes or Hanson 2B
9. Cole, Taillon, Locke, Vanimal, Cholley
Super Sub J-Hay
Stu
7.
I want Marte in cleanup as soon as possible. He looks like he is nearly ready. Do not agree with most of the rest of your lineup.
NO Barmes as a starter…Hansen likely won’t be ready due to being a head case (attitude!). Maybe you move Walker to 3B, but Harrison MUST be a starter, either there or at 2B until he proves he isn’t – he absolutely deserves that! OH, and – SIGN RUSSELL MARTIN!!!
“Super Subs”, a la Ben Zobrist, start just as much as most regular starters, Karen.
.
I see absolutely no reason to remove flexibility from a player’s game. That’s what makes Josh Harrison Josh Harrison.
Lovely Karen,
.
I’d go a little light on the attitude or “head case” rumors. Remember: Neil Walker was said by BMTIB to need “an attitude adjustment” and suspended by team for 3 games in AAA for not running out an “infield fly rule” pop-up.
.
No one ever questions Neil here
Lovely Groat :),
Don’t know the circumstances, but Hansen’s been benched multiple times this year for “attitude” issues. And he IS still in AA, so doubt if he’ll be in the picture out of spring training. I do hope he develops, though.
Something or someone needs to break Hanson down to bring him back. Mmmm Bop.
Taillion not likely to be ready in April.. that will be a year from his surgery which took place on April 10 this year
Big Stu,
.
You be dreaming’!!!
.
The only time McCutch will play Left Field in PNC Park will be as a member of another team.
.
Shoot, McCutch started in Centerfield over Gomez in the All Star Game.
.
This is not Fantasy Baseball. McCutch is not moving!
.
Dreamin’!!
Has Hanson bee in AAA? I know he just got injured.
No, Dom, I think he’s been in AA for the past two years
And Hanson has played 2B for less than a month, where he has made as many errors as he did at Short. (2 the 1st game!)
.
Way, way ahead of yourself to discuss advancing him to be a starter in the Majors.
When did I miss the winter meetings? Unless you don’t expect the Pirates to do anything there.
Maybe we will hear that “the best move was no move” in the offseason as well?
Short of amazing that the Pirates are still in the hunt. Another season like this one and MLB can be understood to mean the Mediocre Baseball League.
It IS amazing. But we’ve got to make a move…the time is NOW!!
Cards seem to have a good mix of prudence and win now, but every year it’s win now. I want to see more of that.
Holy crap, Brandie is that really you? Where you been? You back bringin the funny?!?!?
Good to see you Brandie!
So I looked at low scoring for the Bucs, Cards and Brewers.
Score 3 Runs or less
Cards- 67
Bucs-63
Brewers-53
Games won scoring 3 or less
Brewers-25
Cards-20
Bucs-14
BTW the Cards have 18 shut outs-Bucs 3.
Propping up relief corp would be nice-but Bucs need an Ace!
Ike Davis vs Lance Lynn –
.
7 for 12 with 5 walks. He’s reached base 12 times in 17 plate appearances with an OPS of 1.607.
.
This is 1st guessing.
Pedro vs LL
6 for 27 with 4 walks 1 HR
Where did I say anything about Pedro ?
Milo,
.
Pedro Alvarez:
.
2 line drive hits last night, including Homerun 3 Homeruns in last 3 games. If he is finally breaking out, he can carry a team. Has a darn good record of hitting against Cardinals.
.
Ike Davis and his walks can carry nobody!
Look above you.
My bad!
.
You obviously had Ike at 1B and Pedro back at 3rd.
.
I jumped to conclusions!!
.
Ike can walk and Pedro drive him in with a Homerun!
As much as I would rather not play Pedro at 3rd, that’s what I’d do. You know I think Ike stinks but I can’t ignore those #’s. Here’s hoping Pedro takes off from here & we can non tender Ike this winter.
Milo,
.
I wouldn’t normally say something like this, but . . .
You are a beautiful man!!!
Thanks Groat … I think.
I wouldn’t think much of it Milo. Groat also is sweet on disco.
Obviously kidding Groat.
Wait a sec, just strolled thru and realized i may have inadvertently insulted milo there. Oops.
CH is channeling Tanner, hoping for a Jon Milner moment.
It would be useful to win this one, with staring at Wainwright tomorrow. His era against us is 0.82.
Agree with Karen above: burn Josh Harrison’s name into the the infield around 3rd base and leave it to him. No more farting around with this “super sub” stuff. Josh has earned it. Knowing he’ll play in the same spot everyday will only make him better. Bouncing him around will no.
Tell ‘em Ghostavo!
We got our Muppet back!!!!!!!!
My take on what the Bucs need to do to the Cards tonight…as they say in the Godfather: Leave the gun and take the Canoli!
Uh oh…just saw the lineup. No Ike. Tina, err Lynn relieved.
That looked like it really hurt.
Methinks home-plate ump Sean Barber has never seen a back-door pitch before in his career. Wow. A little respect for execution there, eh? Martin set up back door, and Cole nailed it.
Tell ‘em DK!
Good evening all! Need to fight like we’re fighting over the last pork chop on the plate!!!
Hey you wacky muppet you. Good to see you.
Meye low!
Mmmmm. Pork chops. Sorry, been watching too much of The Simpsons marathon.
Loving that marathon.
Caught the fighting hellfish episode a few days back. Great episode. And great avatar billy.
Bring it, Brandie!
Team needs to let last night go, rub some dirt in the wound, hitch up the big boy britches and bring it. Ain’t no time for woulda, shoulda, coulda!
Untamed William!
What is up with the lack of offense? J Hay can part the Mon up hill, both ways, but he should not have to carry the entire team!
Go Buccos.
DK – go tell Root Sports there is a game on!
I have nothing to do with them. Moreover, I don’t know what you’re referencing. There’s no audio of any kind in the press box. Just silent TV monitors.
A brief Mike Johnston interview. Don’t worry, someone will complain this December when Potash interviews Hurdle at a Penguins game. It all evens out.
Interview with the Penguins coach – ended just in time for Martin’s double…
They do this stuff all the time and it is most annoying – I guess I am an old fart, but the game should be the focus.
Root knows where they make their money. It ain’t on baseball.
They should, they don’t pay the Pirates anything.
Hi Frank.
I didn’t think Root covered the Steelers.
I would take an interview of a pittsburgh sports figure over the superfluous fan shots any day of the week.
There’s no regional TV money to made on the Steelers because they don’t have regionally aired games.
C’mon Dejan, let’s not ruin a perfectly good thread …
“Root knows where they make their money. It ain’t on baseball”
LOL
Cole gets his first Grand Slam?
In your dreams :/
I can dream ;-(
Yes, LL, you can…
And what twisted dreams they are!
I like the way you think L L Cool J!
Ike should’ve pinch hit for Cole.
Ahhh….sure is great to see Sistah in DaHouse tonight
Too many left on base already, C’mon Bucs play ball!!!!!
Yeah, let’s move Cutch to left.
or not…
One play does not a center fielder make
Has a lot more than one, LL.
I sure hope Cutch didn’t hurt his back out there.
That couldn’t have felt good for cutch with his rib injury still healing.
Though concerning, Cutch is a gamer. I would take a team full of his, J Hay’s, and Hustle Martin’s like any day!
Agreed. I would have gone on short term disability with that injury. And I sit at a desk all day. It might have made typing difficult though.
Cutch goes hard to CF fence to rob Matt Carpenter, appears to wince on his way down. He’s acknowledged that rib still hurts. It shows.
I’m a noted hater of the 2 days in a row off garbage. I think I would make an exception for Cutch tomorrow. He looks like he could use it.
Nice…
Have to say, I’m very pleasantly surprised Cole has (1) returned to pitch in the bigs and (2) looks very very good in so doing. Was concerned with the injury and poor rehab that he might have been done for the year.
Right there with you, Cmat.
Pirates brass secretly hoping the Cardinals get a hit here soon. We have pitch count issues.
Dang Migh low Silver!!!
Hustle put all of his #55 into that swing!
I can’t drive…
#55!!!!
How was that a strike if the earlier calls didn’t go Cole’s way?
Ah, the dreaded bases loaded.
It would be useful to occasionally score some more of those Before the pitcher bats.
wisdom!
Guys on base were the 4, 5 and 7 hitters.
Blame Pedro, the #6 hitter?
woop woop!!
At least Barmes put the bat on the ball.
What is amazing is how rarely that seems to happen. Good for Barmes!
WTH? that’s just wrong
Hope next time that guy comes up, they drill him in the kohanas
Is that a science term? I was never good at biology.
does cajone work for you? lol
Ah, Nuts, I was never that good at spelling things I normally don’t have to
I got the idea, I was just busting balls. Get it?
ya’ll are killing me lol
Too many pitches, 6 innings max.
Cole’s pitch count is pretty high, hope for 6 solid
JHay, who saw this coming?
A couple more runs would be nice…and the JHay bomb is the start.
JHAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Watson & Melancon have to be prepared to cover the 7th, 8th & 9th tonight.
Snider is 1 for his last 18. Guess he’ll be headed back to Indy soon.
followed by Petey?
Pedro….
Maybe they should just play Pedro on the road.
I like it better when we forgot Pedro was on the team
Yeah, Andrew winced on that swing after the catch. Done for the night.
Did you catch my e-mail, AW?
OH,CRAP, Cutch is out of the game
saw that coming..
K #8
Left rib discomfort on McCutchen and will be re-evaluated in the morning
Cutch officially labeled left rib ‘discomfort.’ Treatment tonight, re-evaluated tomorrow. I’d think he’d skip game, have two days off.
Yeah, Dejan, thats the best scenario, lets hope for the best
I know everyone reacts differently, but is this an injury that will probably take the offseason to heal 100%?
yes completely.
Another reason to be all in with the guys on the field
Was leaning toward wanting Clint to give Cutch tomorrow off anyway.. hopefully the 2day break cures what ails…. The Reds are now the breather on the schedule also, so hopefully Cutch can be back at it at least by St Louis on Monday.
Never shake off Martin!
Pitch count has completely sapped all the fun out of a potential no hitter.
Sigh…
Good in a way – he has been great – but now no need to send him out for the seventh.
Still hitting 97/98 on the gun
I’d bet Boros was frantically calling Coonelly right about then.
That’s just WONG. Kolten the first hit for the Redbirds.
Personally, I’d send Cole out for the 7th, and have Watson up and ready if needed. I think Cole has gone 110+ before, he’s still very strong and our best option IMHO to get a few more outs. Just a thought.
Unless they bust it open, Watson & Melancon are your only 2 relievers tonight.
Tempting – see if Marte can steal-if Barmes gets him to third I would let Cole bat…
Cole is definitely fired up…adrenaline could help.
You got your wish.
And I hope bringing him out to start the 7th doesn’t cost this team the win tonight. He pitched his butt off tonight
Tony Watson has pitched 1 inning in the last 9 days. No reason to wait.
Josh Bell playing 1b in the fall league – http://www.chatsports.com/pittsburgh-pirates/a/Touted-trio-among-eight-Bucs-set-for-Fall-League-1-10301979
I don’t like this.
NOPE.
IMO, Cole should not have come out to start this inning
But I like his fire. I think CH should have known better. This is a big win, especially with Cutch dicey
I was surprised too, biz. Figured he was done after last inning. Hope it doesn’t come back to bite them.
easy hindsight, but the way he was pitching, to me it was a no brainer to have him start the 7th. Yes, you can go to Watson, but worth the try to squeeze one more inning out of an amped-up Cole.
Too many pitches, coming off the DL, no I try not to do hindsight that much.
CH has not very much in the bullpen, that is the root cause
Totally agree, Biz. I think sometimes Coke gets so pumped up he loses focus a bit. Pitched great tonight, though.
Yes he did, Cole is a warrior
Pirates have got to find a way to score more than 2…
This does not feel good – and Cole did his part.
Right now it doesn’t matter what the score is or what’s happened before. You have a 2 run lead in the 7th inning, you have to win that game. Just like last night. You have a 1 run lead with 2 outs in the 7th, you have to win that game.
This is the guy you hit in the, OH NUTS,
Or you strike him out
This result was better for the team. As much as I would enjoy your response Biz!
Only AJ Pierzynski could possibly think he didn’t swing on that.
And there is no way the ump gives him a break – he knows AJ stole first.
LL your name is a clickable link but it says the page can’t be found. Is there a working link? Or is that a mistake?
Dayum
%$@*&!!!!
Crap,
slip sliding away…
The flares are killing us. 2 nights in a row. Neither one of those rookies hit the ball well, and we’re tied.
Well DK how many blown leads is that for the bull pen? Damn shame Cole gets a no-decision after that.
That’ll be #23 in the blown saves department. Hey, at least we lead the league in something.
I wonder if Carpenter ever met Mike Hargrove. He’s Human Rain Delay II.
absolute BS the way carpenter delays in his at bats. Exhibit one of many on what is wrong with the game. Get his ASS in the box and play ball already. And Pierzynski is a douche.
Anyone wonder why the games are taking longer?!
What is up with this team? The ghosts of Moms Mabley and Redd Foxx generate more offense.
Bullpen, what has Dejan been saying?
Mr Watson is being worn out
1 inning in 10 days Biz.
thats why i had no issue with cole to start the inning, just saying.
I can see your point Chris, but that result for Watson is the exception, not the norm.
Again, just saying, far too many pitches, especially just coming off the DL
i know we needed to win this game, but going with Watson for 30 pitches, and not seeing if you can get 10-12 more out of Cole, to me defies logic. Sorry, maybe I’m just obtuse on this.
Are they gonna send Snyder down so he gets his confidence back? When’s the last time he’s had a hit?
When you have scored as few runs as the Bucs it is easy to point to your favorite scapegoat… It takes a team effort to score so few runs for so many games.
In the last 15 games they’ve scored 11,4,4,2,4,3,5,3,3,3,8,10,3,2,5(in progress) that’s 4 1/2 per game, just saying.
Amazing
Cannot expect Cutch, Hustle, and J Hay to do it all night after night. Time for the others to n*t up or shut up!
Send Cole back out at 103 pitches (with a lot for balls) and go with Watson, and Melancon (the 2 man bullpen) again? Their kingdom for some bullpen help please!
Mone Davis anyone?
Gaby!!!
I can’t really fault Watson for the 7th. Taveras and Grichuk both got bloop hits. If a pitcher induces soft contact, hasn’t he done his job? Sometimes, soft ones fall in.
Case in point…Jose Tabata… Sofffff.
Oops…wrong thread for a Michel Therrien reference.
Marte!!!!
Part-ay!
Marte is pretty locked in. Not swinging at as many bad pitches. Even drawing the occasional walk. Plenty of solid contact.
Right after Cole coming back to form, Marte’s return from injury and malaise is a big good news story for this team.
Oh Lord
Is that an Eek Davis reference?
lol
You should pinch run for Gaby here.
No need to pinch run when the ball goes over the wall like it did.
What are the odds something positive happens?
Good vibes, Reading
Says me. Ike with the massive facial of my comment!!
Anyone that thought that Snider was going to help this team long term was living in Pirate la-la land.
WE LIKE IKE!!!!!!
Should call him Eek more often.
It’s a good thing Ike didn’t start tonight.
Well, Ike could have maken this all a moot point
Davis with a CANNON BALL A COMING! 5-2 good guys! This should be Cole’s win
Ike got a whole lot of that pitch. With apologies to my friend, Lucky – Mercy!
Jim is the sweetest poster on the blog :*
You’re spoiling the new bad*ss image I’ve been carefully crafting, Jandy!
Thank you Mike Matheny for not bringing in the lefty. D U M B!
LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDD
NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
Don’t do it. I admire your consistency.
That was supposed to be for LL, down there.
BRANDIEEEEEEEEEEE! I have missed you. How are you Muppet?
Cool Lad Cool! Livin’ the dream!
Right back at yinz!
Hey, Brandie!
I am tempted to take back all of the things I have said about Ike – tempted…
How about just for tonight?
BIGGGGGGGGGGGGG BANGER by IKE…. huge HR…. Matheny leaves Choate in the pen to watch the HR fly out.
Chris, just curious, is there a reason you alternate between your real name and cmat0829?
no, other than sometimes I log in on my PC, sometimes my ipad and sometimes my iphone. I’m just glad I can get on the site and join in the fun. I’d prefer cmat0829 but I’m not smart enough to make it so.
Cool man, no worries, not bustin chops, just wanted to make sure you knew they were showing differently. Always appreciate your comments and insight. Hope you are doing well and blog with you soon.
Bernie Miklasz is currently writing a column from the Pirates perspective.
Zing!!!!
Good one, Milo. Definite upvote on that one.
POTD, Milo.
Better hold on to win this or I will be forced to change my avatar to Weezie Jefferson.
Brandie Darlin’ I just made my way to blog and saw that you came back. I am so glad to see you and also that the Buccos finally won the game.
Bodacious!!!!
Well, AJ never walks. Melancon almost never walks anyone.
he is coming close to Gomez and Braun as my most hated MLBers…. AJ is a tool.
Lets count the outs, before we get too cocky
I posted that after the walk, for the record.
Thats two
Ike’s not bad when he’s annoyed with the umpire.
RAISE IT!
RAISE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now its time for a nice deep breath and a sigh of relief
RAISE IT!!! A well-earned MUST WIN for this team. Kudos to Cole who wears it on his sleeve, such a young leader on this team. TO Watson for hanging a scoreless 8th, and for Ike for ‘swinging like he meant it’ on a big HR. And Matheny is not as smart as everyone says he is.
Glad we won. Tomorrow could be very tough if Cutch can’t go. Pedro may be out as well. Wainwright has been struggling, but what are the odds he pitches poorly again?
You know, I think even without the injuries it was probably time to throw something different at Wainwright and see what happens. The ol’ Leyland lineup. But I can see Ike starting at 1B, Mercer back in there, and Tabby in for Cutch. Locke will need to be all he can be.
Night, Loonies!!!
Night Jandy
Sweet dreams Jandilion.
Later, Jandy.
Good thing that the Jolly Roger is raised. Now I won’t have to change my avatar to Weezie Jefferson…for now.
And Braves lose.
Sweet!
Tomorrow will be the rubber match for the 2 managers that have completely mangled their bullpens the first 2 nights. Hurdle last night & Matheny tonight.
I really did not know that Cole had a no-no, but ok after the first hit, time to pull him
Whatever happened to Paul Alexander?
According to Dan Zangrilli, pedro left the park in a walking boot tonight. That doesnt sound good.
Oh no, not the dreaded Liz Frank injury ?