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 in Atlanta: Braves 6, Pirates 2 140
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS ATLANTA — Getting ready for the first pitch … Game: Pirates (86-71) vs. Atlanta Braves (76-81), 7:10 p.m., Turner Field Pitchers: LHP Jeff Locke (7-5, 3.60) vs. RHP Julio Teheran (13-12, 2.88) TV, radio: Root Sports, 93.7 The Fan Online: Live box score / Multimedia / Official media notes
Everybody must still be hung over from last night. Sure is quiet in here.
A let-down would be so easy tonight——and even understandable.
.
Yet, Buccos, you have worked so so so hard to get to being ONLY ONE GAME DOWN in the loss column.
.
Keep plowing ahead! If you catch the Cards, you can beat them in St. Louie for the Division Crown!!
.
GO BUCS
Dejan,
I CAN’T WAIT to read your next column from Atlanta!
Kind of bouncing back and forth with what to write and, since I have no editors, I’ll share here: One is an extensive, anecdotal piece about player instruction. The other is a straight newspaper-style column discussing playoffs and the starting rotation. Leaning toward the latter
I’d favor the latter DK. Great job on the website. I’ll be getting all of my out of town friends and relatives signed up!
Something about the bucs version of moneyball would be interesting too. Or should i say…nuttingball?!?!?!
Mwuahahahaha…mwuahahahaha.
If Bucs win tonight and Cardinals lose, the rotation piece in the A #1 story that will capture attention/need to be told.
.
However, your presentation of anecdotes is always appreciated.
One vote for the later.
I vote for the latter, DK. Of course, the game may change your aim. You never know.
Since you asked (or left an opening), latter.
Thanks to all! Yeah, pitching it is.
It would be nice to relax and put the Indy team out there. But with Homefield in the WC and maybe a divisional title up for grabs, gotta leap their foot on the accelerator and just win
Interesting. Yankees have missed successive postseasons since 92-93. Whereas, doing it on the cheap, small market Pittsburgh has made cosecutive playoffs for first time in 20+ years.
Bud hangs his legacy hat on stuff like that.
Oshkosh b’Gosh,
.
It doesn’t matter how much money a team spends if they spend it stupidly.
.
Yankees spent their money on OLD players and had poor pitching beyond megabuy and weak-armed Tanaka.
.
Yankees incompetence does NOT mean a team should NOT spend $$$.
The Bucs have not been totally immune to the stupid deals – see Wandy R, Rod Barajas, Brandon Inge, James McDonald, Jose Contreras, Jonathan Sanchez, Eric Bedard and Casey McGhee and Barmes.
At the time Wandy seemed like a great move. The injuries are what killed him. And McGehe was an integral part of a team that started the turn around in Pittsburgh. Also while I am certain Barmes was over paid he played a vital role. Overall point though is valid.
Twins righty Phil Hughes missed out on a $500,000 bonus today because of some divine intervention. A rain delay in the 8th inning left Hughes season inning total at 209.2, with his bonus kicking in at 210. He wasn’t brought back after the 1 hour 5 minute delay.
It was Hughes final start of the season (he did notch his 16th win) with no plans to pitch him in relief with the Twins being out of it. As of now, he’s one out short. What will the Twins do ?
“Thus saith the Lord . . . . “
The classy thing to do would be to let him start Sunday and get one out
Wow mother nutting is über powerful.
A historical side note to the Hughes story, he finished the season with 186 strikeouts & only 16 walks. The best strikeout to walk ratio in big league history 11.6-1.
I was one of the idiots who spoke against signing Phil Hughes for the Pirates. Bleh!
Me too. Strongly.
I say pay the man….
Pirates lineup:
1. Josh Harrison (R) 3B
2. Starling Marte (R) LF
3. Andrew McCutchen (R) CF
4. Travis Snider (L) RF
5. Russell Martin (R) C
6. Ike Davis (L) 1B
7. Jordy Mercer (R) SS
8. Clint Barmes (R) 2B
9. Jeff Locke (L) P
Good move sitting Walker.
.
I notice an absence of those clambering for Barmes to be at short and putting Jordy at 2B, like some loved to bellow early in the season. Hurdle just doesn’t see the light!
.
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!
glad they aren’t playing the “b” team….
Braves lineup:
1. Emilio Bonifacio (S) 2B
2. Andrelton Simmons (R) SS
3. Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
4. Justin Upton (R) LF
5. Jason Heyward (L) RF
6. Chris Johnson (R) 3B
7. Christian Bethancourt (R) C
8. B.J. Upton (R) CF
9. Julio Teheran (R) P
So,
Walker out of lineup– good move– he is really struggling and seems very frustrated.
Good night for Walker to get a breather – would not be surprised if we learn that he has been having back issues during this slump – thought this would also be a good time to test out Lambo at ist for a couple of games – he can’t do any worse than Ike – .548 OPS the last 4 weeks
They wont be testing anyone out anywhere right now with a chance at the division crown. Walker being out has less to do with his 1 for 21 and more to do with his injury prone back needing rest.
Pittsburgh’s skyline is MUCH nicer! No comparison.
I live near Atlanta and every time I go into the city I’m so glad to be a yinzer…
You call that a skyline? Pfffft.
.
Pittsburgh, NYC, Rio, SF, Paris. In that order.
When the Braves beat the Pirates on August 19th it put them 2 games ahead of the Buccos. It was the Pirates 7th straight loss. Just a little over a month later, the Pirates are 10 games ahead of the Braves.
Drew and Cracker
.
Come Back!!!!!!!!!!!!
DK, tell me how much fun you had last night. How cool was it being in the locker room and with the guys? Please don’t try to tell us how detached and professional you are. I’m not buying it. You grew up in the Burgh and that looked like fun. You had to enjoy yourself!
Careful!
You’re asking me to lie to you. I’m not going to do that. Sorry. I was there to do a job, and my only concern about how you feel is whether or not I did that job well. We. Are. Not. Fans.
So you didn’t enjoy going to work yesterday ?
DK: A follow-up question to Milo’s — did you not enjoy leaving work yesterday?
Lets be honest if you were told at start of seaon Worley would be starting, Harrison would be starting 3B man / leadoff hitter , Grilli was with the Angels and 1B was Gaby sanchez you would think the Pirates season was over and they were sellers at deadline
Does anyone have a link to the podcast for the Madden/DK conversation today? I missed it live and I tried searching but my google machine couldn’t seem to find anything.
Answering my own question here – it is linked on the site now, but in case anyone else was interested – http://www.1059thex.com/media/podcast-mark-madden-MarkMadden/madden-september-24-hour-3-seg-25340469/
What’s with all the gun ads? Woman pointing a gun finger selling t-shirts. Some type of gun safe, which presumes you own a gun. Hate guns.
.
OK, back to the Bucs.
Don’t look like guns she is pointing.
Touche´ Patrick.
Someone is going to gun related websites from your computer. All my ads are for car dealerships or manufactuer websites. I was researching new cars recently. Your ads are history driven.
At work I was looking up land rovers for my boss and now every ad is for land rovers or high end autos. It’s a shame since I will never be able to afford half of one of those cars. Frickin Google machine.
Nah. The “Own it? Respect it. Secure it.” is permanent, not history-driven.
If there’s a game in St. Louis Monday, it sure looks like Jeff Locke will be your pitcher.
Not good.
I have to think Volquez pitches on short rest in that situation. But a loss in that game means Locke with an extra day rest or vanimal on time for the wc assuming Frankie pitches Saturday.
Good to be here. Wanting the guys to work hard and take the division. The WS in October will be the cherry on top!
Cards are facing a pretty tough pitcher, tonight. Added pressure on the cards in that they still have something to lose.
Let ‘em lose!
Absolutely. The Pirates are playing with house money, until they catch the Cardinals. But they have proven over the last 2 years when all the money is on the table, they can’t win in St. Louis. 1-8 at Busch Stadium from September 1st on the last 2 years.
Will Locke find the Hidden Vigorish?
Marte completely froze on that Chris Johnson liner. Bank of lights to right of press box here might — or might not — have gotten him.
“And now BJ Upton who could write a book about striking out.” – Vin Scully
Little league baseball at its finest.
Get Locke out of there!!!!
Big fun for Locke: Marte freezes, Ike freezes, and Barmes was shifted away from easy double-play ball. It’s 2-0 Braves in the second.
You know Clint and his shifts–Milo loves em.
Where is aj to tell barmes to play his f&^!n a&$ right there.
Susan Baierl > Debbie Flaherty and Corinna Diehl combined.
Older, but at least her voice doesn’t break glass!
Not sure I know the Baierl girl, but Debbie Flaherty is decent. Corinna Diehl scares me. Seriously. Scary.
Google machine worked for that right quick. And I humbly agree.
I get that the pitcher was on deck but I think I pitch to BJ with 2 outs. You dont need a dp ball and he is a strikeout waiting to happen.
And tehran is now 2 for 2. Totally should have pitched to upton. Is tjere at least action in the pen? Following the game cast so cant tell.
Dangerous Ike Davis!!!
And Locke hits for himself with a 20 man bullpen.
I was going to say, watch him get knocked out next half inning, but tried not to be negative.
Looks like Locke partied a little hard last night.
Are we trying to win this game–Clint??
Russ out of the game. Bad hammy?!
Uh oh Martin is out is this precautionary? Have the sound down on the tv doing homework with my daughter.
They really got to teach these guys how to slide
What happens to Locke in the playoffs? Bullpen?
He pitches Monday if there’s a playoff for the division. No other choice.
What if the Pirates move on though I meant.
Volquez on short rest is an option. Bur as of right now I really thought the bucs had to win out for tjat to matter. Not looking likely.
Maybe he should try underhand, please send him to the showers.
Ouch. I had forgotten what a bad start looks Locke, er like
Leave him in –Clint, I don’t care what he has done the last few times–you CANNOT count on Jeff Locke.
Braves haven’t hit for bleep lately, and Locke is leaving it on a tee…when he’s not walking guys
Captain Obvious: “This does not appear to be Jeff Locke’s night.”
Locke = buzzkill.
“I sure hope that Locke pitches that one game playoff for the division title,” said all Cardinals (self-proclaimed “Best Fans”) fans.
Cutch apparently still wants to be MVP
And the franchise gets them on the board, good thing we left Locke in there after the 3rd when he was clearly off.
Oh, yeah. forgot we had Gomez
Addams?
Frotting him back out there for the 5th means Clint thinks this one is out of reach. I can almost let last inning slide but this is obsurd with all those indy arms in the pen.
Oops. App was slow to update. Ignore the rant.
Gomez for Locke hmmmmm is Cumpton unavailable?
So the Braves are building a new stadium? What’s this one 18 years old? They must have a lot of money in Georgia.
So, quick hook for Gomez, but not for Locke?
Now be fair. There’s a big difference between 4-0 & 6-2.
Later in the game less room for error.
I have to think Cumpton is ticketed to make a start if the division becomes out of reach and they want to say pitch him saturday and save frankie for tuesday. Throw him out of the pen tonight and that may not be possible. And down 6-2 you play the odds of not winning and saving the arm.
You have to secure the home game before you start skipping over guys.
Yeah, there’s kind of a big difference between playing in SF and PNC.
I somewhat agree. But if you pitch Liriano and Cole just to secure a home game tjat leaves Volquez for the wc. You like Volquez at home over Frankie or Cole in SF?
Last year they had a chance to pitch Frankie on the last day of the season to secure a home game but saved him.
They secured the home game on Saturday rendering Sunday moot. They skipped Cole on Sunday & pitched Cumpton.
You are right. I dont know how i forgot that.
AJS: Because you’re a mere mortal like the rest of us, except Milo, who remembers absolutely everything.
Clint obviously concedimg this one now and giving his main guys a break. Sending up Joggin Joey there. Cmon.
In the good news department cubs up 2-0
Jake Arrieta triples in a pair for a 2-0 lead. So, it is possible to have pitchers who can hit.
Not the Pirates.
I’ve got an idea to speed up the pace of games. How about the umpires get the obvious calls right in the first place.
Clint needs to start sending a proxy out when he’s challenging calls. It hurts just watching him walk out there.
He needs one of those Segway scooters
I’ve had interuptions so when I left it was 6-0, now we have 2 runs. I don’t know how they scored. I’ve been saying Locke is not a September crunch time pitcher. yes he had a tough outing last time that was not his fault. But this is on him. I understand Morton is done.
Cutch happened.
(cont.) So with no Morton, and no Locke, I will be interested to see Dk’s next article on the rotation.
Looks like our boys do not collectively have it tonight. Possibly hangover?
On the plus side…
Check out Axford and Simpson (70’s style).
That was a great effort by Snider. But, Polanco may have caught it standing up.
If having an avg that is barely over .200 isn’t enough to get you to hustle out a grounder in the hole at SS, there’s no hope for you.
What the hell happened to Martin?
Tight hammy. Fingers crossed.
Hamstring. Better to rest him.
Turned an ankle.
Apology. Braves radio got Martin injury wrong. Now I’m concerned.
Arrieta is through 7, with 2 hits, 1 BB, 10 K, leading 2-1. He’s only thrown 97 pitches, so he could go back out for the 8th.
I guess you knew that the Pirates would have a difficult time getting geared up for tonight, but with the Cubs winning (at least they were last time I saw in bottom of 7th), Man, it would have been great to be a half game out going into tomorrow. Missed opportunity.
Hopefully, Kershaw gets his 21st (or whatever number it is) tonight.
The offense or lack there of is becoming concerning. I know the cubs have a good staff but the guys they will see in the playoffs wont be any easier. And the offenses will be a lot mote potent. Gotta find a way to post a few more runs.
Cubs trying to be all cubby. 1st and 3rd top 9 2 out. The 27th is always the hardest they say.
Cubs win 3-1.
Dodgers defense imploding in 3rd inning. 1-0 Giants, w 2 on & 1 out vs Kershaw.
Posey hits into a DP w the bases loaded & Kershaw escapes down only 1-0.
Cubs win again taking 2 of 3 from cards. Man this loss really hurts. Could have been half a game back witb cards off tomorrow. Need some help from la now.
Pirates are real lucky. Cubs best Cards. Hurdle gave up on this one. Pirates have 10 guys in pen and he sticks with marginal Jeff Locke. Cannot win with him.
I didn’t get it, either. He had poor control coupled with being hit hard. Might have been a different game if he wasn’t pitching to Upton when he made it 6-2.
The last two nights, at least three balls have deflected off Gordon’s glove in Dodgers-Giants game.
Yeager obviously not behind plate for Dodgers either.
Puig … gone. 2-1 Blue.
Dodgers 5-1 bottom 7
The Pirates have been getting top draft picks for a long time and many of them, never panned out.They also made bad acquisitions,getting washed up players.The Tampa Bay Rays have been competitive every year in tougher division.Our hitting needs to pick up,pitching has been gt