Coverage: Pirates have a sleight problem

Interesting. Hurdle and Mercer said Jungmann's delivery was deceptive. Let me try to understand this. Minor leaguers lit this guy up for a 6-plus ERA yet he was able to fool major league batters. Huh? Give me a break. Just a sorry excuse for a poor performance by Pirates' batters.

Once again, this team plays down to the level of their competition. One run in 18 innings against a mediocre (at best) division rival, at home, after a successful 10-game trip? Simply pathetic and totally unacceptable.

Taken at face value, that was a thoughtful quote by Jungmann about winning against Liriano

Just another in a long line of call up potchers to make the Bucs look foolish. If I were managing against them Id be begging the gm to call me up an arm. Insane how these guys cant hit fresh meat and aoft tossers.

Cards lost again tonight as well. Two missed opportunities the last 2 days to pick up ground on the Cards.

Its one thing to tip your cap, but to be on bended knee about how a AAA pitcher with a 6+ ERA's delivery was just too damn mystifying for your supposedly contending Major League roster to handle - well that takes the cake in the excuse-making department. "Recency bias", whatever. Rright now these guys look a hell of a lot more like pretenders than contenders. From execution to postgame shrugs.

I wonder what the Pirates record has been against pitchers with a 4.50+ ERA during the past five years. They seem to lose to those guys every time!

I don't remember in which thread it was, but it was mentioned that the Pirates are about to face a string of last-place teams. That reminded me of comments from a year or two ago about the Pirates having an advantage in the playoff race because they were about to face the "soft underbelly" of their schedule. I hope this series of games works out better than that did.

Jungmann was the 12th overall pick in 2011. Taken BEFORE Jose Fernandez and Sonny Gray. I don't know what type of career he's gonna have, but this a guy with at least some talent. Too many people looking at inflated ERA at Colorado Springs and calling him a scrub.

Can someone please contact the airline the Bucs flew back home from Atlanta on. It looks like they sent their bats and offense to another airport thinking the road trip had one more city to go to. Geez - only 1 run in 2 games against a horrible Milwaukee team.

I believe the Pirates have a better chance in beating Kershaw then any pitcher making his debut. It's unreal how the Pirates continue to struggle against these types of pitchers!

I realize this game and the last one are only two of 70 losses for this year but this team and especially this offense are puzzling this year with their inconsistency. Questions that I don't have answers to:
- Are they too loose? Fun to watch but watch but are they lacking just a bit in intensity?
- Mix and match batting order? The versatility is great on this team but is a consistent batting order more important than we think?
- Pick a starting 8 and stick with it? Just when a player gets hot, he sits, does that hurt?

There's no excuse for dropping 2 in a row against a terrible baseball team. They could have gained 2 games on the Cards. Unacceptable.

Quoting Yohe:
"The home schedule looks especially appealing. Their next six home series — Brewers, Phillies, White Sox, Braves, Indians and Reds — are all against losing teams. The next team with a record over .500 to visit PNC Park will be the Cardinals, in a showdown right before the All-Star break."

THATS WHY!

Pirates supposedly have major league hitters, first time through the lineup you figure the pitcher out then adjust in future at bats and hit him.

Great quote from Rogers of the Brewers re: the slider. haha. Great reporting. Thanks for extracting that.

Just wondering......any reason other than money to explain why the Bucs didn't pursue Soriano to shore up the bullpen?

Just wondering......any reason other than money to explain why the Bucs didn't pursue Soriano to shore up the bullpen?

This team needs a 5th starter! Remember that being "the problem" way back on Monday?

As much credit as some people gave to Russell Martin making pitchers around here better the last two years, maybe some credit should be giving to Lucroy for knowing Pirate hitters well. Just a thought.

Did we lose last night's pre-game notes? Can't seem to find them on the site or the app. I like reading them even after the fact...

They seem to have no approach at the plate. They are a bunch of free swingers that rarely get into deep counts. McCutcheon is the one exception to this. Time to go get a quality hitting coach that will demand quality at-bats. It's a shame to see young talent like this that are so undisciplined at the plate. they need to spend some money on a new hitting coach.

Excuses, excuses is all we get from Hurdle. He thinks everyone is Sandy Koufax. And, Mercer commenting on hitting-- a high school pitcher could get him out!!!

Loved the quote about the two different Liriano sliders from Jason Rogers. Nice seeing you at the park last nite, too.

I think the one guy that's been the biggest problem this season has been Neil. He hasn't been able to get into any sort of grove. Not getting on base or setting the table enough to justify 2 hole. Not hitting well enough with RISP to be cleanup. Everyone else is at or above expectations. Jordy, yes, is struggling, but Kang has picked up the slack out of the SS position. Harrison carried us for 2-3 week. Pedro, for all the gripe he gets, is putting up solid power numbers. Cutch is... well, Cutch. Catchers are exceeding expectations. This team will not win a division unless Neil can return to form.