DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Getting ready for the first pitch …
Game: Pirates (83-71) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (80-75), 1:35 p.m., PNC Park
Pitchers: RHP Vance Worley (7-4, 3.27) vs. RHP Wily Peralta (16-10, 3.70)
TV, radio: Root Sports, 93.7 The Fan
Online: Live box score / Multimedia / Official media notes
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. Starling Marte (R) LF
7. Ike Davis (L) 1B
8. Jordy Mercer (R) SS
9. Vance Worley (R) P
Brewers Lineup:
Carlos Gomez(R) CF
Scooter Gennett(L) 2B
Jonathan Lucroy(R) C
Aramis Ramirez(R) 3B
Ryan Braun(R) RF
Gerardo Parra(L) LF
Lyle Overbay(L) 1B
Jean Segura(R) SS
Wily Peralta(R) P
Bucs need to hammer Peralta, just as they did the last time they faced him. They also need Worley to pitch much better than he has been lately. I’m thinking if we are going to win, it may be in the 7-5 range.
So much for my prediction of a high scoring game.
Add Matt Garza to the long list of Brewers that I absolutely hate. Today’s home finale is a must win… 4.5 games with 6 to play would silence that bunch of a-holes in Milwaukee.
Only team I can think of who hits a guy in the side of the head (Stanton), then hits another immediately & nearly in the head also & thinks they are innocent. Then, they hit Cutch twice in a game, and even after pre-warning are outraged their guy was tossed for the 2nd one.
I hate the Brewers. That is all.
1 CBS Sports
Milwaukee at Pittsburgh Game Preview
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/preview/MLB_20140921_MIL@PIT/brewers-pirates-preview
2 Just a Bit Outside
THE PLAYOFF TEAM YOU COULD’VE BUILT FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/replacement-players-best-mlb-2014-available-091914
3—Pirates Prospects
First Pitch: Will Pedro Alvarez Have Any Trade Value This Off-Season?
http://www.piratesprospects.com/2014/09/first-pitch-will-pedro-alvarez-have-any-trade-value-this-off-season.html
Great article by John Dreker (Pirates Prospects) several mo ago regarding Bucs org. teaching art of throwing inside. Result is we have more HBP at nearly every level. Even though I feel we tend to do it safely, I think other teams are taking offense. Food for thought.
Pirate fans get all out of sorts at Arizona for hitting Cutch after breaking the hand of their best player the night before . . . .
. . . . . yet angry at Pirate pitchers for not hitting Braun.
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Pirates lead league in Pitchers hitting batters.
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Chill Greg Brown, and rest!
Let’s focus not on revenge but on winning the pennant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I partially agree. I felt there is a difference here though. Goldschmidt was not hit with malice and the retaliation was over the top. Garza obviously ontended to hit cutch. Twice in 3 innings. That is targeting. That requires retaliation.
As I said last night, Garza is a punk. His reaction after each HBP was childish, even for him. Bucs (especially Cutch) have to keep things in check today. Kick the snot out of these guys, knock ‘em out for the year, and, then, maybe drill Braun.
Yep, the only idiot there is Garza. The Brewers only chance this year would be if something happened to Cutch and we lose our last 7 games. So yea, he hit him on purpose. Of course he did. The better question is why wouldn’t he hit Cutch?
What a great day to stick a fork in the Brewers. It doesn’t get much better than that!
Fork… stuck!
Like Groaty said, let’s win and forget all the sideshows. That’s what the Brewers want. Distraction. Forget that and play ball. We’re the better team and we need to show it.
Exactly. I don’t think the Bucs handle their emotions particularly well when tensions rise during a game. So, the Brewers may attempt to rile them up again today. We don’t need guys getting injured. We especially don’t need guys getting suspended. We need wins, period.
BTW, the columnist/entrepreneur/airline hater has Volquez record for Worley. Worley is 7-4.
What did Matt Garza say last night about the the Pirates TV crew?
He said they were idiots if they thought he was throwing at Cutch.
Jim your comments about the Bucs pitching inside is something I raised the last time a few bucs got plunked. The Reds even came out and said last year they were hitting pirates on purpose because the bucs tend to hit so many guys with their approach. But to take to the next level and target just the superstar is childish at best.
Or, throw at someone’s head, which we’ve seen from Cincy, Philly, etc. Train your pitchers to throw inside properly, or don’t do it.
As someone noted , we have only scored in two innings this series. Lucky to be 1-1. Jump on this guy.
Make that 1 inning. Wishful thinking.
Not jumping so far.
Wyle E. Coyote needs to be lit up today.
On the radio side, Brown & Blass are ripping Garza for calling them idiots last night. I understand the anger, but, consider the source, and let it go. Although I did like when Blass said, “Let’s just say I doubt Garza will be headed to Harvard for continuing ed this winter.”
The manager of the Brewers affirmed the comments of Garza. Both, of course, ignored that Brown admitted he was incorrect and retracted his comments long before they ever knew he made them.
It has to be difficult to be a teammate of Gomez. Every time he makes an out, or something doesn’t go his way, you have to be concerned he might do something crazy in the dugout.
Agreed Jim. The guy is a time bomb. He proved what a piece of work he is with his right at PNC in April.
fight…not right
Where the heck has our offense gone?
Who knows? Probably more important than usual to get ahead (psychologically for us and to deflate the Brewers).
The Brewers know they have a shot if they win today. The only thing standing between them and running the table is Cueto.
I dunno when the bucs go on offensive tears i wonder where did this offense come from. It is like the entire offense gets hot at once and then cold all at once. The Brewers are a good team. Gotta have your best against them.
GET VANIMAL SOME RUNS, DAMMIT!!
Vance leading off. Maybe Jordy could have taken a pitch or two in the last inning.
This is so unBuc-like. They are really making Peralta’s job easier.
Pop ups and weak grounders. Been lousy this whole series. Or the Brewers pitching has been absolutely Cy Youngish (Broxton excepted).
It’s time. The middle of the order is up.
Too early. They only roll out of bed for the 8th.
I have a friend in Philly who is with Vance’s Mom right now at a bar, watching Vance pitch his brains out. She just posted a photo of Mrs. Worley in front of the flatscreen. Pirates’ karma in Philly today!! LET”S GO!!!
A single for Vance & his mom!
That’s a neat story, Karen.
I <3 Russ Martin.
Russ just being Russ. Now, let’s add on.
Six outs to go.
Put our shorter 1bman in again! (Just kidding)
Assuming the score stays the same, who closes for the Pirates? Melancon has pitched the last three nights. Watson? Holdzkom? Let Worley finish?
Well, the Pirates did not pick Door No. 3 (Let Worley finish), which is OK with me.
I think Worley has earned a shot.
Let Worley finish!
Has he averaged only ten pitches per inning? Brilliant game for VW – his mom must be buying rounds!
No doubt! Been Facebooking back & forth the last few innings…the ladies at the bar are ecstatic, as am I!! He just pitched the game of his life!
Good gravy Vanimal!
Nice play by Parra. That’s a double against a lot of LF. Holliday would still be chasing it.
First 5 batters in the Brewers batting order all hitting above .275. This won’t be easy.
No inside pitches to this guy!
Dugout alert. Something’s about to get broken!
What a hothead!
Damn; that’s not the payback I was looking for
Buccos win!!! The wild card race is essentially over!
Good, it just allowed that #%^@& Braun to make the last out. Huge win.
Very satisfying win today.
Puts Milwaukee further in the rear-view mirror.
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Now, On to Atlanta and cincy, who appear to have mailed it in.
One game at a time!
Oh brewers are done. No doubt about it either.
Glad it worked out. I thought Worley could not have had things more under control. Only 81 pitches. But, maybe he was a little gassed after 8 innings. I’ll trust the skipper.
Not gassed – we were only up by a run, so you knew he was going to be pinch-hit for. He was amazing today!
Magic number for the playoffs is 3.
Raise it! Woo hoo!
Raise what?
I kid, I kid !!
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Just keep chugging along.
It says a lot to win 2 of 3 against a good team, who pitched tremendously. This series showed me more about this team than any other this year. Won’t be the last game at PNC this year,either
Raise it. The brewers are done. Bunch of losers. And how sweet it is. Get out of PNC a-holes.
I dont care for the Brewers either cmat but you take the vitrol to a whole new level. I LOVE IT!
Huge win today. Good to see them come back and win a tight game
The longer I stay off these game threads, the better we do. See yunz in the WS!
What an irascible Reverend you are.
Mercy.
In that case, can you make it after the WS, Lucky?
If I thought that would make the difference, you bet I would, Jim.
Hot dang!!!!
Dang, airline tickets to San Francisco for October 1 are expensive. Ahhh, the price of being a Pirates fan!
Hope those tickets are refundable. Bucs could easilly catch the Giants with the Giants struggling against the Padres and a series left with LA.
And WE have the tiebreaker (6-4 against the Giants) if we end in a tie – PNC home game for the Wild Card.
Is that really the tiebreaker, Karen? Not doubting, just want to be sure.
We actually won the season series by 4-3, Karen.
Pirates are 4-2 vs Giants this year and the first tiebreaker for 2 teams in WC is head to head
WOW-Somewhere along the line during the TV game broadcast, the guys in the booth said we own the tiebreaker at 6-4 head-to-head. I didn’t check it-just assumed they knew what they were talking about. So now I’ve seen 3 different results. Regardless, I do believe the Bucs have it?
I’ve been so focused on the Brewers series that I didn’t even notice the Giants lost two straight to the Padres.
We’re 1/2 game behind them, we own the tiebreaker and they play 3 vs the Dodgers. That game might very well be played in PNC.
Had to be a very painful loss for Roenicke & Co. They had a semi-rally in the 9th, with the 1 legit hit, 1 cheap hit & the odd HBP. But, alas, Gomez went all Gomez & screwed it up. We’re not quite there, but we’re close to Ron being able to set up tee times in early Buctober!
Let us not forget that the Pittsburgh Russell Martins took two of three from the Brauns. SIGN RUSSELL MARTIN!!!!!!
Give you credit Karen–you have been calling this all year–way before most on the blog.
It’s been a no-brainer…ALL YEAR.
You said no-brainer.
Someone call me?
Imfield single passed ball wild pitch rbi single. Thats one way to win a one run game. Oh and throw in a botched defensive play that turns into a base running gaffe to keep it from gett8ng too interesting.
I only saw the replay of Gaby’s throw to Neil once, but it sure looked like he had to make a nice grab to keep it from going into left center. Little things went against the home team last night & very much for them today. Baseball.
“Imfield single passed ball wild pitch rbi single. Thats one way to win a one run game.” Also the way to rip out your opponent’s heart and feed it to L’il Audrey, the carnivorous plant in “Little Shop of Horrors.”
Meanwhile: SF lost again and STL is tied and not out of reach…
Martin again the guy is a gamer!
I’m really surprised Braun couldn’t “inject” a little more life into his team this weekend. He just needed a little more “juice” on that last fly ball. I can’t think of any reason why his numbers have dropped off a bit this year. He’s usually such a Huge Game Hero (HGH).
HAHAHAHAHA!! Excellent!
Remember just 2 yrs ago when Braun was still a superstar power hitter? I guess we know why he cheated now – as if we didn’t know at the time.
Perfect ending in 9th with Gomez…Brewer clown # 2…making the boneheaded baserunning error and Braun…Brewer clown#1…flying out to throw a little more dirt on their dying season.
Two years ago, I attended the final home game of the season to witness a record 20th consecutive losing season. Today, I was part of a crowd that broke the single season record for attendance at PNC Park, in an absolutely thrilling game that all but guaranteed the playoffs again.
Good for you, emoneypitt. I can remember being there for a Friday night game in late September during which there could no have been 10,000 people there. Now, it seems there are that many on the rotunda
I was there, too, emoney, and it struck me how the last game used to be a big deal,because it was all we had. This was more “see you later.”
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Great game.
It’s been a highly entertaining and successful season so far. I hate to admit that Neil Huntington made the right call by not making crazy last second deals (reference the Oakland A’s). I am concerned about ownership but I can’t wait to see how far the Buccos can go this season.
Kip, while not making any panic moves was correct, not getting any bullpen help was a very bad move. That said, we’ll see about ownership when it comes to Russ. Again, anything less of an offer than 4 years, $60M is an insult, to Russ, to the team, and to us.
the $9M left over from 2014 just has to wind up in the Martin offer, right?? regardless, there is no doubt the Pirates are going to make ‘their absolute best’ offer to sign Russ. Nothing to talk about until then and lost more to talk about with this team.
If you don’t think we should talk about it don’t say stuff like “there is no doubt the Pirates are going to make ‘their absolute best’ offer to sign Russ.”
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That kind of stacks the deck, and their “absolute best offer” will be where the discussion is. Sheesh.
Well, they eventually added Axford in late Aug. And, they knew along they had Holdzkom coming on Sept 1. But, the delay until they got them was costly, as the bullpen was imploding in early Aug.
Not sure if anyone is still checking this thread, but the Pirates now lead the Wild Card race by virtue of winning the tiebreaker with the Giants. Magic number to host the Wild Card game is 7.
YES!! Giants SWEPT by the Padres, outscored 16-4. If season ended today Bucs host Giants at PNC!! Giants 3 at LA (including Kershaw) and then 4 at home vs. the tough Padres. Obviously Bucs wanna win out, but good chance 5-2 or even 4-3 week gets the WC at PNC.
Cmat, you were right about the Braves. Not many people anticipated that these last 7 road games would be against sub .500 teams.
I agree. Let’s shoot for a 5-2 week. That would force SF to go 6-1. I don’t see that happening. The Dodgers will want to wrap up the division in the next few days.
Will be interesting to see how our rotation shapes out. Right now, we’re looking at Liriano and Cole to start our last two games. Hoping we don’t need to win either of those two so that we can save them for the wild card and NLDS games.
The rotation is set perfectly. These 7 road games (Bucs weak point) will have four games started by cole and liriano. If last 2 games mean nothing then skip them both. But having home wild card is at least as important as the actual wild card game.
Home would be nice, but chasing Central and WC home game but not having Cole or Liriano to pitch would be less than ideal. Hope it all works out perfectly.
Reds take 6-2 lead in the 8th. Matheny brought in September call up to face Mesoroco and the 95 center cut went about 15rows deep in a hurry.