Before we get going with real stuff, how about my one-minute tour of Miller Park?
DK’s five pregame notes:
• The Pirates added a 32nd man to the roster by selecting the contract of infielder Pedro Florimon. from Class AAA Indianapolis. Florimon never really left. He was designated for assignment and just kind of hung around until the mandatory 10 days passed. To clear space on the 40-man roster, the team moved reliever Deolis Guerra from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day. Guerra’s season was finished by a bout of left knee inflammation. Clint Hurdle strongly suggested Guerra will be fine.
Look for one more recall still to come, that of Vance Worley.
• Aramis Ramirez and Jung Ho Kang again will make up the left side of the infield, but Hurdle warned against reading too much into this or any lineup. While he reacknowledged a wish to set up his infield based on the pitcher he’s got that night, he added that he also wants “a lineup that can perform up to the ERA.” Locke’s ERA is 4.46, so that will take quite the performance.
Hurdle also said he doesn’t “want players to feel like they’re going in and out of the lineup,” so he’ll try to cluster starts where possible. Ramirez and Kang both homered in the ninth inning Tuesday and looked plenty comfortable at the plate.
• Ramirez spent only 3 1/2 seasons here, but he’s been welcomed back like Robin Yount, at the risk of some exaggeration. Milwaukee media outlets, perhaps lacking much else to document with the Brewers miles out of contention, have conducted several interviews, including another wave of them this afternoon.
Couple that with the two warm ovations Ramirez received from the crowd Tuesday night, and it’s visibly moved him.
“I came here as a free agent because this is where I wanted to be,” he said. “We didn’t win as much as everyone wanted, but I’d make the same decision again.”
• Davies is making his big-league debut, so no one will know much about him. The Pirates’ scouting reports show a changeup specialist who works off each corner. He prefers to attack early, though strike one isn’t always hittable.
Oh, and this …
“He’s 6 feet and about 150 pounds,” Hurdle said. “Which means with him and Locke out there, it’s going to look like an American Legion game.”
• Something to consider just for fun, before this big House gets you down all over again: The Pirates are 28 games over .500, compared to 67-63 at the same point last season. Their 66-35 record since May 9 is the best in baseball.
Didn’t work?
OK, have it your way, then: The Pirates are 21-30 inside the Central, they’ve got a losing record against all four opponents, and they’re 7-19 in divisional road games.
• The Cardinals were expected to start Pittsburgh’s favorite punching bag, Lance Lynn, Friday at Busch Stadium. Nope. It’s now going to be Carlos Martinez, as of a change announced by Mike Matheny just this afternoon.
The rest remain the same: Jaime Garcia and John Lackey.
• What do baseball players do when they aren’t playing baseball?
“Uh, watch more baseball?” Jared Hughes came back to the question with that big smile.
He was joking, at least a little. Hughes is a man of many interests and talents beyond the mound. But the fact is the clubhouse TV almost always is showing other baseball, and the athletes are almost always watching.
Today, they all marveled as Joey Votto crushed a three-run home run to lift the Reds over the Cubs, a hit that helped the Pirates toward home field for the wild card. It was met with a healthy roar.
Follow the game with DK:
8:10 p.m.: First pitch, Davies to Gregory Polanco, 86 degrees, cloudy, roof open for some reason.
8:22: Brewers, 1-0, 1st. Jonathan Lucroy bounces a ball up the middle. A run scores. The heavens quake. Oh, wait, they actually don’t. This is the natural order.
8:27: Brewers, 2-0, 1st. Khris Davis crushes an RBI double to left-center.
8:47: Francisco Cervelli is struck on the right shin by a foul tip. He stays down for a bit, gets treated by Todd Tomczyk, and pops right back up.
This guy will not leave the field. It’s a real sore spot with him.
9:06: Brewers, 3-0, 3rd. Three straight singles after two outs, the last one by Adam Lind.
9:14: Tie, 3-3, 4th. Ramirez skies a three-run shot to left-center. My goodness, that thing went way high. And that’s probably just about the only way the Pirates prevail in this building, right? Former Brewer?
9:28: Wow! One of the worst third base coaching decisions you’ll see all year. Davies, who’s a good all-around athlete, easily would have scored on that Segura double, but Ed Sedar inexplicably stopped him even though there were two outs and the ball hadn’t even gotten to the Pirates’ relay guy! Awful! And the crowd lets Sedar hear it.
9:34: Brewers, 5-3, 4th. Turns out it doesn’t matter. Lucroy does what Lucroy does, fights through an 0-2 count and drops a two-run single into center. Hurdle has had it. Up to the top step promptly to lift Locke.
9:56: Brewers, 5-4, 5th. Ramirez with an RBI double.
10:04: Brewers, 6-4, 5th. Lind takes Joe Blanton deep to left-center. He’s having quite a night.
10:22: Ha! PA guy on the sausage race: ‘And they make it past the Pirates’ dugout! That always makes them a little nervous!’
Have I mentioned that I just LOVE this stuff?
10:42: Brewers, 8-4, 7th. Arquimedes Caminero has been very good of late. Not here. Two insurance runs pretty much slam the door.
Jeff Locke says it all tonight. Bucs better score alot of runs tonight. Should have not used Liz last night and started him in place of Locke. Locke could easily have twice as many losses. Hes horrible and that he os stillin the rotation shows the lack of seriousness management has about winning a division Locke is a head case unless u spot him a 7run lead he always blows up
I love posts like this. You left out that Nutting is cheap and he funnels all of his profits into seven springs.
cheygyrl030776
9-2-2015, 4:26 pm
No im happy with ownership and neal Huntington they have built us a winning ballclub again that doesn't mean that keeping a terrible starter is not off limits to get irritated about. Look at Cards rotation then ours. The cards don't have alot in thier rotation in terms of money with wainwright out and non of their starters are as bad as Jeff Locke how many starts people like yourself have to see before realizing he hurts this team badly???
If Locke was right handed hed been dfad like Liz and Worley were. Locke is a lefty James McDonald a head case. They keep him because hes cheap and a lefty. i hope next year with Cole Liriano and morton under contract either tallion or glasnow are ready and a jeff locke will no longer be needed on this team.
When has Locke been good? Look up his statistics except for that firsr half two years he made the allstar team hes not been good at all. Hes baseball version of a music one hit wander. Starts great but can never recreate it. My perspective is very Crystal clear. My comment about management is TRUE, If you want to overtake the cardinals you have to have better then locke. Better then all the errors this team has. Warts and all its a great team but Cards are fundamentally better. they hold runners dont kill themselves there is a reason with all the cards injuries they are still 6games ahead of us. Pitching fundamentals are the biggest. Locke is a AAAA pitcher like so many players weve had. I have supported this team thru 20years of losing when 99%of fans jumped ship. I love what this teams management has done to build a winner but that doesn't mean they get a pass on players holding thier team back. If thier goal is just makethe wildcard every year then they do enough if they expect a
division title or championship they have to go futher. Another number 2-3starter would have helped but then a.j. went down Happ has been very good but again Locke is still pitching every 5days. With the off day they couldve skipped him all together. Im not arguing my point is we as fans can complain without being a nutting is cheap basher u accused me of being
Sub 4 ERA for the past two years - his first two full years (more or less). He was an all star. And, his 4.46 ERA this year, while not spectacular, isn't so bad. OK, maybe it should be better.
He's the chosen whipping boy for people who can't accept this is a good team and need something to complain about.
You bring up Liz - he was DFA'd. Any team could have claimed him, yet didn't. His salary was only $1m. What do you know that 29 other GMs in baseball don't? I could say the same thing about Vance.
cheygyrl030776
9-2-2015, 5:06 pm
love how men always gamg up on the women like were stupid and your so smart. Locke and a above 4era isnt good his career is 25-27 era of 4. I dont look for things to complain about i just stated the pirates players deserve better then Locke every five days to win a division and championship. People like yourself act like anybody that doesn't tow the pirates line is complaining no were passionate fans that wish the team cared enough to not start a pitcher who barely touches 90mph picks corners and if he misses he walks the whole game. But thankfully i now realize u cant be a woman and comment here starting with the sites leader making a mockery of me. its cool twitter and Facebook are great places to let people know if your a woman with a brain this is how u will be spoken too
I wouldn't take it so personal. I think people having different opinions than you has nothing to do with you being a woman. You make some valid points, so do others. It's simple discourse and discussion. As far as DK goes he will make fun of anyone, anytime, no matter who they are, that's just kind of his thing.
Cheygyrl, correct me if I'm wrong, but I see no reference to your gender anywhere here. I appreciate your perspective, but disagreement is part of discourse.
Cardinals rotation is really good but after that their spot starter has been Gonzales and he is terrible. AJ is gonna be healthy and there's Liz, Worley and Blanton available. There's a whole month to go
Been on this site a long time and cannot say there is no "piling on," but I can say I have never seen a female ganged up on just because of her gender. Perhaps Brandi, or some of the other long term female members have more credible views about this than I can offer?
Chey, you've cited several issues holding this team back. It would take several moves to address all these areas as they relate to several position players(errors/lapses) and most of the pitching staff(holding runners). I don't care much for Locke, but he's a #5 starter with pretty much .500 record. Replacing him won't change all those other issues
We all know Locke is hit and miss and lately much more miss.
What I don't like is the idea that by keeping him in the rotation the management team lacks seriousness to win the division. So 30 over .500 isn't serious, 3rd best record in baseball isn't serious, what did I miss? Last I checked 30 over .500 is a darn good number. There are two divisions in baseball this team wouldn't be in first in and unfortunately one of them is their own. The second one they would be a measly .5 games back from the top. So I hardly consider that a lack of seriousness. They are trying to win a championship. How about instead of criticizing the management team for a doing a pretty darn good job, we just acknowledge that the Cards are basically playing an unthinkable season, especially without their best pitcher. Its not that the Pirates aren't trying to win the division, its that the Cards are just doing an insanely good job of keeping the division.
Patrick---
Loooong-time Looney here, and gender bias has NEVER been my game. I'm also OLD (chronologically, anyway). I've never subscribed to the "war on women," or felt like a victim because of my gender, or experienced any of the manufactured, politically correct tripe. I despise generalizations of any sort. No victimhood...NO EXCUSES! :)
Just wanted to throw something out there. Locke's ERA 4.46. Looking back at Pirate history. Buccos have had some pretty good pitchers. Law, Friend, Blass, Walk, etc. wait a second. Wonder what Walk's lifetime ERA was? Hmmmm interesting
Pirates Lineup:
1. Gregory Polanco (L) RF
2. Starling Marte (R) LF
3. Andrew McCutchen (R) CF
4. Aramis Ramirez (R) 3B
5. Jung Ho Kang (R) SS
6. Neil Walker (S) 2B
7. Pedro Alvarez (L) 1B
8. Francisco Cervelli (R) C
9. Jeff Locke (L) P
Marte has looked lost. Never understood how u go from seeing the ball crushing it too not hitting and not seeing the ball. Wander if his hand is still causing him issues
DK and company, most interviews on this site are male. To make cheygyrl10030776 feel at home how about an interview (with video) with the woman who sits behind home plate keeping score?
Bigger issue is shaky Locke; with the additional pitchers brought up, I would have my relievers up in the second inning and pull him the minute he starts walking people and giving up hits to this righty-heavy team which beats us mercilessly in this house!
Crazy one going on at Wrigley. Reds took a 4-2 lead into the last of the 8th but the Cubs tied it with a Kris Bryant 2 run shot off JJ Hoover. But Bryant giveth and he taketh as his 2 out 9th inning error led to a Joey Votto 3 run homer off Hector Rondon.
Worley was not to happy being sent to the pen at the beginning of the year he thought he was better than Locke hurdle saw if different, then when he was released things got even worse between them
I wasn't happy several years ago when Locke was favored over Kyle McPherson (what's happened to him, by the way?) even before McPherson went down.
They obviously see something in Locke (and who is "they"?--"they" would include Benedict and Searage, and I defy anyone here to claim superior baseball/pitching knowledge then those guys), and to be sure, at times we've all seen it too. He lacks consistency--as does Ground Chuck--but he continues to show (occasional) flashes of (do I dare use the word?) near brilliance. And he is left-handed. (He's hit 94-95 on the radar gun a couple times this year too, albeit rarely.)
Bottom line: he is an adequate 5th starter w/ potential for more.
My one gripe as to both him and Morton is they need a much quicker hook, which at this point in the season, aided by the deeper pen, I believe (and hope) we'll see.
(The "deer-in-the-headlights" complaint is unfair too: he has those big wide-open eyes all the time; that's just how he always looks.)
If this is the A team lineup, we are willing to accept an infield which is slow, has limited range and an error prone First baseman. We only have to endure the 5th starter every five days, sometimes less. This lineup will apparently the norm. That scares me(almost as terrifying as a #2 hitter going 2 for 30+).
mercer is not noticeably better than kang at short. you don't start mercer and take either the 4 or 5 hitter out of the lineup for a 8 hitter. except for alvarez if a ball his hit to an infielder they usually get the out.
Unipress if you want Kang at SS just say so but don't claim his defense is as good as Mercers. He's made 7 E's in 219 chances Mercer has 7 E's in 390 chances nearly twice as many. Kang's fld% and Rf/G are both below league average while Mercer is above avg in both. With Kang you definitely trade defense for offense. Personally I would put Kang at 3B and Mercer at SS but Hurdle seems determined to give Ramirez the majority of starts at 3B.
September 2, 2015
Final: Brewers 9, Pirates 4
466by Dejan Kovacevic • Game previews • Pirates
MILWAUKEE — Looking ahead to first pitch …
Game: Pirates (79-51) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (56-75), 8:10 p.m., Miller Park
Pitchers: LHP Jeff Locke (7-8, 4.46) vs. RHP Zach Davies (major-league debut)
TV, radio: Root Sports, 93.7 The Fan
Online: Gameday | Multimedia | Media notes
Before we get going with real stuff, how about my one-minute tour of Miller Park?
DK’s five pregame notes:
• The Pirates added a 32nd man to the roster by selecting the contract of infielder Pedro Florimon. from Class AAA Indianapolis. Florimon never really left. He was designated for assignment and just kind of hung around until the mandatory 10 days passed. To clear space on the 40-man roster, the team moved reliever Deolis Guerra from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day. Guerra’s season was finished by a bout of left knee inflammation. Clint Hurdle strongly suggested Guerra will be fine.
Look for one more recall still to come, that of Vance Worley.
• Aramis Ramirez and Jung Ho Kang again will make up the left side of the infield, but Hurdle warned against reading too much into this or any lineup. While he reacknowledged a wish to set up his infield based on the pitcher he’s got that night, he added that he also wants “a lineup that can perform up to the ERA.” Locke’s ERA is 4.46, so that will take quite the performance.
Hurdle also said he doesn’t “want players to feel like they’re going in and out of the lineup,” so he’ll try to cluster starts where possible. Ramirez and Kang both homered in the ninth inning Tuesday and looked plenty comfortable at the plate.
• Ramirez spent only 3 1/2 seasons here, but he’s been welcomed back like Robin Yount, at the risk of some exaggeration. Milwaukee media outlets, perhaps lacking much else to document with the Brewers miles out of contention, have conducted several interviews, including another wave of them this afternoon.
Couple that with the two warm ovations Ramirez received from the crowd Tuesday night, and it’s visibly moved him.
“I came here as a free agent because this is where I wanted to be,” he said. “We didn’t win as much as everyone wanted, but I’d make the same decision again.”
• Davies is making his big-league debut, so no one will know much about him. The Pirates’ scouting reports show a changeup specialist who works off each corner. He prefers to attack early, though strike one isn’t always hittable.
Oh, and this …
“He’s 6 feet and about 150 pounds,” Hurdle said. “Which means with him and Locke out there, it’s going to look like an American Legion game.”
• Something to consider just for fun, before this big House gets you down all over again: The Pirates are 28 games over .500, compared to 67-63 at the same point last season. Their 66-35 record since May 9 is the best in baseball.
Didn’t work?
OK, have it your way, then: The Pirates are 21-30 inside the Central, they’ve got a losing record against all four opponents, and they’re 7-19 in divisional road games.
• The Cardinals were expected to start Pittsburgh’s favorite punching bag, Lance Lynn, Friday at Busch Stadium. Nope. It’s now going to be Carlos Martinez, as of a change announced by Mike Matheny just this afternoon.
The rest remain the same: Jaime Garcia and John Lackey.
• What do baseball players do when they aren’t playing baseball?
“Uh, watch more baseball?” Jared Hughes came back to the question with that big smile.
He was joking, at least a little. Hughes is a man of many interests and talents beyond the mound. But the fact is the clubhouse TV almost always is showing other baseball, and the athletes are almost always watching.
Today, they all marveled as Joey Votto crushed a three-run home run to lift the Reds over the Cubs, a hit that helped the Pirates toward home field for the wild card. It was met with a healthy roar.
Follow the game with DK:
8:10 p.m.: First pitch, Davies to Gregory Polanco, 86 degrees, cloudy, roof open for some reason.
8:22: Brewers, 1-0, 1st. Jonathan Lucroy bounces a ball up the middle. A run scores. The heavens quake. Oh, wait, they actually don’t. This is the natural order.
8:27: Brewers, 2-0, 1st. Khris Davis crushes an RBI double to left-center.
8:47: Francisco Cervelli is struck on the right shin by a foul tip. He stays down for a bit, gets treated by Todd Tomczyk, and pops right back up.
This guy will not leave the field. It’s a real sore spot with him.
9:06: Brewers, 3-0, 3rd. Three straight singles after two outs, the last one by Adam Lind.
9:14: Tie, 3-3, 4th. Ramirez skies a three-run shot to left-center. My goodness, that thing went way high. And that’s probably just about the only way the Pirates prevail in this building, right? Former Brewer?
9:28: Wow! One of the worst third base coaching decisions you’ll see all year. Davies, who’s a good all-around athlete, easily would have scored on that Segura double, but Ed Sedar inexplicably stopped him even though there were two outs and the ball hadn’t even gotten to the Pirates’ relay guy! Awful! And the crowd lets Sedar hear it.
9:34: Brewers, 5-3, 4th. Turns out it doesn’t matter. Lucroy does what Lucroy does, fights through an 0-2 count and drops a two-run single into center. Hurdle has had it. Up to the top step promptly to lift Locke.
9:56: Brewers, 5-4, 5th. Ramirez with an RBI double.
10:04: Brewers, 6-4, 5th. Lind takes Joe Blanton deep to left-center. He’s having quite a night.
10:22: Ha! PA guy on the sausage race: ‘And they make it past the Pirates’ dugout! That always makes them a little nervous!’
Have I mentioned that I just LOVE this stuff?
10:42: Brewers, 8-4, 7th. Arquimedes Caminero has been very good of late. Not here. Two insurance runs pretty much slam the door.