Coverage: Sloppy, slumping Pirates

This has all the makings of a lost summer.

I said this Friday. The injuries to Taillon, Cumpton and Kingham are gonna hurt this team come June and July. Neither Locke or Worley seem long for the rotation. But Morton and Sadler, and whomever else are far from better replacements. Hopefully they can tread water till the deadline and be in a position to add a decent starter.

The offense will come around. I still believe that. But the defense? Baserunning/catching, all these mental gaffes? I got nothing. It's alarming.

I still believe not paying Russell Martin 85 million dollars was a smart long term decision. But he is missed this year for sure. I took for granted what he brought defensively, especially in later innings of tight game.

Josh I get the feeling watching these games that the Cubs own the Pirates this year. Bryant is just OK vs. everyone else but looks like he's bound for Cooperstown against us. Do u think they are that much better than the Pirates?

This team has the makings of 75 wins...feels like a 'step back' type of year. Martin's loss is hurting more than people realize short term.

I take it this was a BAD loss. Need to start stacking some bad wins.

Not a lost day though. May have a Triple Crown winner this year. Horse racing, that is. That's exciting, right?

Pirates score as much as the Penguins do. Hard to watch.

It's really simple. Teams that can't come back when they are down and can't win 1 run games, let alone:
*play defense
*hit with RISP
*walk
*bunt
*sacrifice

are not winning any division.

The only reason this isn't a lost summer is because of the 2nd Wild Card. If they can right the ship at least a little bit, they have a shot at that.

But forget the division. Even if you assume STL doesn't stay on a .750 pace, even a .600 pace is going to require the Pirates to win 8 of 10 or some number like that to get back in the discussion.

Does anyone honestly think that's possible? Unless they can play the Brewers and Diamondbacks every night?

Pirates will be sellers come deadline. This team is drastically underperforming. I didn't see them winning the division. But I saw them grabbing a Wild Card spot. Let alone AT THE LEAST being over .500 and having a winning season. But that's not going to happen. Just ugly baseball being played. Can't watch at times.

We are about to hit the point where the phrase it's still early isn't going to work. This team looks like a dumpster fire right now and with the errors both physical and mental and the lack of clutch hitting its not pretty. Let's hope Hurdle rights the ship and soon.

Other than that extra inning homer vs. the Cardinals a couple of weeks ago, I can't remember any other time this season when Pedro came up with a key hit at crunch time. Another non-clutch at bat for him in the 8th inning of today's game. Let's face it. Ever since he has been in the big leagues, he has had more "valleys" than "peaks." Sure he clubbed 30 plus homers a couple of times, but his overall performance has been very disappointing. Pitchers continue to throw him off-speed stuff off the plate and he continues to chase.

I've been watching the Pirates for 25 years and I can't remember seeing a team so arrogant and unwilling to play hard on every play. I know there are 162, but every game counts.

With all the pundits declaring the Pirates as front runners and the last two seasons success clearly has them believing that they just have to show up and a W will be handed to them.

The devil is in the details as they say, and these guys aren't executing or willing to give 100% each play.

Watching BOS-SEA game.

Anyone ever hear of Felix Hernandez? Not too shabby. Would look good as our No. 4 starter.

Watch the Cubs and they abide by Maddon's "respecting the 90 ft" rule. Sad to see the Pirates have forgot that. It's not about getting hungry. It's about respecting themselves, their teammates, the team and the game. A majority of them should be ashamed. Have a little pride.

That being said, the pitching isn't going to be able to sustain this level all season and the hitting is beginning to show signs of picking up. No doubt can get back into the race. Need to tighten things up between the chalk lines.

I do like the resting of the players, I believe it will pay dividends at the end of the season while keeping the bench involved.

Would love to see Tony Sanchez up and say bye to Stewart. No hard feelings Stewie but bring up some energy and a guy that can hit.

Astros 24-13.

And they passed on Kris Bryant.

Crazy thinking here? Did every Pirate fan bite on the Locke, Worley back end of the rotation. Now Morton going to right the ship. I say hell naw. Please move Pedro NH . Not a good signing on Hart NH. Stop getting so damn arrogant NH. Give us a solid consistent team that competes. Not asking begging actually.

The Pirates really need to do something with their 4th and 5th starters. The Pirates better hope that Morton is the Morton of 2013, and not 2014. I would call up Clayton Richard, and either DFA Locke or Worley. I also think it's time to DFA Corey Hart, and call up Jose Tabata, who's batting .356 with a .831 OPS. I don't think it's time to panic quite yet, but the Pirates better start stacking wins soon, or it will be too late.

Hopefully Polanco will get better vs lefties and can play more against them allowing Rodriguez to play 1B.

Morton giving up 11 hits in Indy is not that reassuring. This team had slow starts the last two years and got it together but I'm not feeling that same vibe from this group.

Having been at the game, I didn't think Marte misjudged the Kang single to right field. If I recall, he had to wait to make sure the ball wasn't caught. Same with Harrison declining to go to second. Don't think he had enough time. No doubt there are mental miscues galore. Ask Neil Walker why he doesn't back up the throw to second on stolen base attempts. Or why cutch doesn't come forward (since he's been playing extremely deep this season).

Fundamental, that's on the coach.