Pittsburgh Pirates

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Neil Walker celebrates his two-run home run in the third inning with Chris Stewart Friday night. -- GETTY

Column: Who needs the little things? Go big!

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By Dejan Kovacevic
There are, by my count, three surefire ways for St. Louis’ opponents to cope with the Tony La Russa mystique, the Tom Emanski fundamentals and all else that accompanies the seemingly invincible aura of the Cardinals Being The Cardinals:

1. Throw the ball hard.

2. Hit the ball harder.

3. Revisit those first two, or be prepared to lose by a single run because someone on your side did something stupid on one small play and the Cardinals, naturally, didn’t.

Well, those first two options are easier deliberated than delivered. If everyone could pitch and hit with power, here’s guessing they probably would.

But man, tell me it didn’t feel like the Pirates finally found something resembling a formula — no, a realistic formula — to solve their first-place nemesis in flat-out overpowering St. Louis, 5-2, Friday night at PNC Park.

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Gerrit Cole pitched seven innings and allowed only Matt Carpenter's two-run home run Friday. -- GETTY

Pitching ‘gets it done’ with Cole, bullpen

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by • Coverage •

BylinesNATE-1

In the third inning of the Pirates’ 5-2 victory over the Cardinals Friday night at PNC Park, Matt Carpenter drilled a two-run home run to center field. Gerrit Cole let a backdoor slider catch too much of the plate, the kind of mistake no pitcher can afford against a hitter of that caliber. And as the ball sailed over the fence, a collective here-we-go-again sentiment undoubtedly settled over a sellout crowd.

But it dissipated almost as quickly when the offense regained the lead in the home third, and Cole gave up nothing else in seven innings — two runs, six hits three strikeouts — to improve to 13-3, the winningest record in Major League Baseball.

“He got one pitch in a hot area,” Clint Hurdle said of Cole’s lone lapse. “He rode it out of the ballpark.”

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Intrepid reporter Matt Gajtka travels to Toronto to talk to a hot dog vendor. For big news. -- MATT GAJTKA

Friday Insider: Hot dog vendor tale chewed up

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by • Friday Insider • , , ,

BylinesMATT
TORONTO — When visiting a vibrant, diverse metropolis, there’s much to see. That means plenty of walking, which can work up a hearty appetite.

Luckily, on Thursday afternoon, I happened upon a food vendor at the corner of Front and John streets, near the CN Tower and Rogers Centre, and wait … isn’t this …?

Turner's

Yes, it is! It’s the hot dog stand Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons infamously identified last week as Phil Kessel’s favorite spot for a midday snack during his time with the Maple Leafs!

All right, time for full disclosure: I didn’t haphazardly come upon the stand, unironically named Ted’s Gourmet. In fact, I planned my sightseeing day around it, even though the Leafs blog Pension Plan Puppets essentially debunked Simmons’ claim with a little bit of research. (It helped that my wife was curious, too.)

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Gregory Polanco is tagged out at home by Yadier Molina in the first inning. -- JARED WICKERHAM / GETTY

Column: Because … because … oh, you know

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by • Columns •

By Dejan Kovacevic
Because they’re the Cardinals, that’s why.

Really, it isn’t any more complicated or confounding than that. No matter how much anyone might examine all the minutiae of the Pirates’ latest defeat at the hands of their Arch nemesis, this by a 4-1 count Thursday night at PNC Park, it all still fits within that same framework up there.

They’re just the Cardinals, and the Cardinals just do what they do.

Rip Gregory Polanco all you want for inexplicably stutter-stepping off third base in the first inning — when he should have just hauled tail upon Andrew McCutchen’s bouncer to third with men at the corners and nobody out — but the fundamental fact remains that St. Louis executed perfectly: Mark Reynolds looked at Polanco, flung to second for the force, and Matt Carpenter, seeing Polanco finally break for home, fired a strike to Yadier Molina for the swift, smooth tag.

That’s 5-4-2 with the brightest of stars scratched next to it.

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Jordy Mercer's error would lead to three unearned St. Louis runs in the fifth. -- JARED WICKERHAM / GETTY

Pirates buoyed by having big three up next

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by • Coverage •

Nate-Josh
Jeff Locke started strong Thursday night in the Pirates’ 4-1 loss to the Cardinals at PNC Park, but he was derailed by a fifth inning in which St. Louis scored four runs, three of which were unearned after Jordy Mercer booted a potential double-play ball.

That was that.

But the Pirates are in still in good shape heading into the weekend: Staff ace Gerrit Cole pitches Friday, A.J. Burnett goes Saturday and Francisco Liriano closes out the first half of the season Sunday. With the team’s big three lined up against the only team in baseball with more wins, all concerned have to feel pretty good, right?

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Podcast: Kessel, Pirates on TSN 1290 Winnipeg

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by • Podcasts • , ,

By Dejan Kovacevic
Here’s the podcast of my appearance just now with my friend Andrew Paterson at Winnipeg’s TSN 1290 Radio, talking Phil Kessel trade, the resurrection of baseball in Pittsburgh and more.

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Thomas Pham goes low for a catch in the Cardinals' 6-5 win Wednesday night at Wrigley Field. -- GETTY

Analysis: Cardinals (role) model of consistency

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by • Coverage •

BylinesNATE-1
Two teams in Major League Baseball woke up Thursday with at least 50 wins. They play in the same division, and they’re playing each other this weekend. The Cardinals roll into PNC Park for four games with the Pirates in each team’s final series before the All-Star Break, St. Louis holding a a 4 1/2-game lead in the National League Central.

It’s July and neither team has even played 90 games yet. A lot can still happen and even the third-place Cubs could come back and beat both teams for the division. But with the teams’ proximity in the standings and recent history, it receives attention as the most important series in the world.

“It’s my favorite time of the year every time we get a chance to play those guys, whether it’s here or there because we always play ‘em well,” Jeff Locke, Thursday’s starter, said. “Maybe we lose one big-time, maybe we beat them big-time. But the games are always pretty good. The games are always tight.”

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Matt’s Stats: What pulled the Pirates’ plug?

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BylinesMATT
With the exception of last week’s offensive bonanza in Detroit, the Pirates have not often resembled the balanced team they were anticipated to be this season.

Matts Stats

In 2013, elite run prevention boosted the franchise to 94 regular-season wins and a long-awaited postseason trip, and this year’s Pirates are on a similar track. They rank 17th in Major League Baseball in runs scored per game at 4.01 while permitting an average of 3.32 runs against, second-best in the majors.

Record-wise, there’s not much for the Pirates to complain about. They own one of MLB’s top three winning percentages with the All-Star break less than a week away. Of course, the one team they trail in the National League also happens to be in their division, so the offensive dropoff from a promising 2014 is rendered in sharp relief.

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