Despite Loss, Locke Pitches Well

Jeff Locke made his first start since being named to the 2013 All-Star team and did not disappoint. Unfortunately for the Pittsburgh Pirates, neither did Oakland Athletics All-Star Bartolo Colon, also making his first start since being named to team.

Pin-pointing a mixture of 91 MPH fastballs along with 82 MPH curveballs and change-ups, the second-year player went toe-to-toe with the 15-year veteran Colon, only to come out on the short end of 2-1 Athletics’ victory. Locke, who if not for one extra inning pitched last season, would be eligible for the Rookie of the Year award this season, allowed just three hits and two earned runs, in losing his first game since April 10. It was the 15th start in a row the New Hampshire native has not allowed more than three earned runs in a ballgame.

Locke, whose Twitter icon is Robin, has had a close relationship with AJ Burnett (aka Batman) all season long; the 14-year veteran no doubt mentoring the 25-year-old lefty on the fine art of getting major league hitters out. Locke has absorbed the teaching like a sponge, prompting Pirate manager Clint Hurdle to give him another nickname, The Intern. Whatever Burnett has been saying, he should bottle it and put it in a book, because no one, not even the Pirates, expected Locke’s performance this year. It was questionable whether or not he’d even make the team back in March, let alone become the staff ace and an All-Star selection.

The quality-pitching performance went to waste though, as the Bucs bats remained silent once again in losing their third in a row, the first time that’s happened in over a month. Dropping five of their last seven now, the Pirates’ ship appears to be taking on some water to start the month of July.

The two teams will go at it again tomorrow evening in Game 2 of their three game series, as the Pirates try to defeat the A’s for first time ever; their all-time mark against them standing at 0-10.

Pirates Need Good Homestand Before Break

The Pittsburgh Pirates vs. the Oakland A’s. Now there’s a matchup you don’t see too often.

In fact, the last time these two teams met was over three years ago back in 2010, when the A’s swept the visiting Pirates in their three-game series, outscoring them 22-6. That pretty much equates to a “F” on any grading scale. Pirate fans can only hope to see a better grade from their team this time around, but if the first week of July is any indication, the Pirates might be headed for a little summer school.

After going 2-4 against two sub .500 teams last week, the Bucs will need to pick it up this three-game series against the visiting A’s or risk falling out of first place in the NL Central. The Athletics come into town at 52-37 and will send Bartolo Colon to the mound against the Pirates’ Jeff Locke in a battle of All-Star pitchers.

Hopefully PNC Park will provide some much-needed tail winds for the sails of a Pirate ship that has been pretty much flaccid over the past week. Losing two of three to both the sub .500 Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs, some home cooking might be just want the doctor ordered before the Pirates head into the four-day All-Star break.

Another sub .500 team, the New York Mets, follows Oakland into town, and the Pirates need to make some hay against a Mets’ club that’s next to last in NL team batting, slugging and on-base percentage. But before that, they’ll have to take on the first-place AL West A’s, a more than formidable opponent.

The spark has been missing in the first week of July for the Pirates, as the timely hitting and lockdown pitching just hasn’t quite been there. In truth, the pitching’s still been acceptable, but the with the Pirates’ mediocre offense to date, it just hasn’t been enough to carry them.

The MO for the Bucs this season has been 3-2 and 4-3-type victories, not 7-6 and 6-5 ones. Still, with All-Stars’ Andrew McCutchen yet to get hot and Pedro Alvarez now coming into his own, the team is capable of scoring runs more than they have been and hopes to yet regain some of the batting prowess that put them fourth in NL homers last season.

Anything less than a 4-2 homestand this week will not get a passing grade though, as previous concerns about second-half meltdowns no doubt will arise.

Maybe that’s just because the Pirates have been playing such good baseball so far this year. Or maybe it’s because it’s hard to erase the memory of 20-consecutive losing seasons. Either way, a winning homestand will put the team back on track and raise their record to equal their season-high of 21 games over .500.

 

Pirates Need To Step It Up

Playing just so-so baseball over the last few games is not going to cut it for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates need to step it up in the last week or so before the All-Star Break. Going 2-3 against the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs is not so hot. Let’s hope the Pirates aren’t putting it on the ol’ cruise control as they head in for a much-deserved four-day rest.

Sans the four All-Stars, of course. There will be no rest for the All-Stars — or at least not as much as everyone else gets to enjoy. The price of success? Eh, if they’d just play the game instead of all these other circus events, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. I mean, is the home run hitting contest really that interesting? (Gotta market the game, I know.)

Today’s Game 3 against the Cubs may say a lot about the coming end of the first half, but it won’t say much about the beginning of the second, despite my initial contention. The four days off kind of erases any momentum coming in as most players head for the hills to forget about baseball, if only for a short while.

In most cases, the break can only help. A six-month season is basically half over, if not mathematically, at least symbolically. Players know this coming in and no doubt look forward to the break, one way or the other.

The Pirates need to step it up, however, because the Phillies, Cubs, and upcoming Oakland Athletics and  New York Mets are teams they should be beating more often than not, not just playing .500 baseball against. After disposing of the likes of the Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers in their recent nine-game winning streak, they should be disposing of these aforementioned baseball clubs just as easily.

With the exception of maybe Oakland, who always seem to have a scrappy club, the Pirates should be winning more than losing. These games count in the standings just as much as the ones in September.

Tabata's Gets Chance To Start

It appears Jose Nicolas Tabata‘s chance has come. The 5-foot-11, 210-pounder from El Tigre, Anzoategui, Venezuela is going to get every opportunity to win the starting job for the Pittsburgh Pirates in right field and become an everyday player.

With no else really stepping up to do the job, Pirates’ manager Clint Hurdle has indicated Tabata will get ample playing time after returning from an oblique injury that had him sidelined since the end of May.

The Pirates, who thought enough of Tabata to sign him to a six-year deal last year, are hoping the once-and-still promising prospect will live up to the potential they envisioned when they first acquired Tabata in a trade from the New York Yankees back in July of 2008. Back then, Tabata was rated as a top-Yankee prospect who could do it all. At the age of just 17 and in his first year of professional ball, Tabata led the Yankees farm system in batting average when he hit .314 for the Gulf Coast Yankees in 2005. Since his acquisition by the Pirates though, injuries and “unsatisfactory” play have dotted the 24-year-old’s play. Last summer, Tabata was sent back to Triple-A Indianapolis to “find a way to help him reignite his game”.

Since returning from his recent oblique injury, Tabata has batted .357 with a double and a triple in 14 at-bats. With up-and-coming rookie prospect Josh Bell projected to be a starting outfield soon enough, Tabata may be running out of opportunities and needs to take advantage of this current one the Pirates are giving him.

Pirates Falter As 4 All-Stars Selected

The Pittsburgh Pirates fell flat in Chicago this afternoon, losing 4-1 to the Chicago Cubs as they learned four of their team members were selected to represent the National League in this year’s 2013 MLB All-Star Game on July 16 in New York. Should they make it all the way to the World Series, perhaps one of their selections will have a say in them obtaining home-field advantage.

It’s understandable that over the course of a 162 games a team is going to come out flat once in a while and without the proper mojo needed to win a game; that was exactly the case today as the Pirates could only muster four sorry singles to go along with newly selected All-Star Pedro Alvarez‘s 22nd home run, a solo shot in the fourth inning, which was the only sign of life by the Pirates in this one. The loss broke the team’s six-game road winning streak.

The Bucs will try to rebound in tomorrow’s Game 3 rubber match as AJ Burnett returns to the mound for the team after being out for nearly a month with a torn calf muscle. The 15-year veteran Burnett refused a minor-league rehab assignment, so the added pressure of stepping in without seeing a professional hitter over the last four weeks should get the second-guessers going should Burnett falter.

Andrew McCutchen, Jeff Locke, Jason Grilli and Alvarez were all selected by San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy to this year’s All-Star team, making it the first time since 1981 the Pirates have sent four players to the mid-summer classic. Only Mark Melancon could be argued to have deserved a spot along with these four, but, as a set-up man, appears to be the odd man odd. With the exception of McCutchen, who will be appearing in his third All-Star Game, all will be experiencing the game for the first time.

Neil Walker Handles Hometown Pressures

Neil Walker. Born and raised in the ‘Burg.

The Pittsburgh Pirates‘ 2004 first-round draft pick must feel great to be playing his baseball before for his hometown, especially at the professional level. To be paid to do something you love, and in front of thousands of people who love you, well, it just wouldn’t seem to get much better than that for a “job”.

Still, I can’t help but wonder if the home-grown product of Pine-Richland HS in Gibsonia, PA, just 16 miles north of “dawntawn” Pittsburgh doesn’t secretly enjoy a good road trip now and then. There has to be a lot of “interactions” with friends and family that a player from out of town doesn’t necessarily get exposed to in the same way Walker does on a daily basis.

“Neil, you’re Cousin Ginny called and wants to know if you can get her those same seats for the game?… No?!…Well why not?!”

“Neil, you’re parents called and can’t make the game tonight. You’re mom’s not feeling up to it. Can you stop there before the game?”

“Neil, you’re Uncle Joe says you’re pulling off the ball too much, keep that front shoulder in there!”

Mind you, the stats don’t necessarily bear it. Walker’s career .272 batting average on the road is almost identical to his .278 home BA, and his home run and RBI production on the road (25/117) vs. his home numbers (19/127) pretty much match each other.

Still, maybe he’d be hitting .300 at home and knocking the ball out of the ballpark more often if he wasn’t born on the banks of the Monongahela? (I know your son wasn’t really born on the banks of the Monongahela River, Mrs. Walker, but I’m just trying to be creative. Hopefully you’ll forgive the poetic license.)

I guess there's no way to know for certain the effects of being a “local guy done good”. Real good.

In any case, the guy certainly seems to handle the demands of being a hometown hero, whatever they may be. Walker always seems affable and in good spirits around the ballpark. He’s certainly one of the quiet leaders on the team and it’s obvious that the team just isn’t the same without him in there on a nightly basis. He’s an integral part of their current winning formula.

Kudos to Neil Walker for not cracking under the pressure of Uncle Joe’s batting tips. 

Andrew McCutchen Has The Look

Andrew McCutchen has the look.

Much has been said, written, videoed, blogged, tweeted and whatever other social media is out there these days about the Pittsburgh Pirates‘ 1st-round pick back in 2005. Yet, I’m not sure any of it quite captures how good McCutchen is. Still, at just 26 years old, the native from Ford Mead, FL is one of the top five players in the MLB, at least as far as the complete package goes. The proverbial five-tool player “Cutch” can do it all. Hit for average? Check. Hit for power? Check. Throw? Check. Defense? None better. Run like the wind? Check.

But this isn’t about how good McCutchen is or isn’t, right now anyway. This is about how good he will be. And he will be good enough to be in the Hall of Fame. Unless injury or some other unnecessary set of circumstances prevents him from doing so, he will be there. You can mark your calendar 7/6/2013 as the date I wrote it.

In truth, it’s really not that bold of a prediction; akin to maybe saying Apple computers will still be in business 20 years from now.

Still, how can I be so confident in my prediction, especially without firing off a bunch of numbers that will prove my point?

McCutchen has the look. Exactly what do I mean by the look?

Perhaps a better words is focus. And his, as with all the great ones, appears to be laser-like. But more than that, consistent and constant. Unrelenting. Like a shark that never stops seeking it’s prey.

Every MLB player knows what it’s like to be “in the zone” out there on the field, when everything you do just works, but what separates the best from the not-so-best are the one’s who can maintain it over the long and grueling MLB baseball season. The average fan does not see (or feel for that matter) the wear and tear on the body a professional baseball player must endure, at least the starters who play 90 percent or more of the games. And anyone who’s played a little basketball, or any sport for that matter, knows that when you get tired you loose focus. The same easy 10-foot jump shot in the first quarter is not the same easy 10-foot jump-shot in the fourth quarter. Same principal applies to baseball.

So maintaining focus is the real challenge at the professional level. And just when you think you “got it”, the other guy has it “more” and beats you.

But not Andrew McCutchen. More often than not, at least in terms relative to baseball, he beats you. So that’s why, without listing a bunch of stats and extrapolating the numbers over a 20-some-year career, as long as Andrew McCutchen remains Andrew McCutchen, I can confidently predict success and the numbers will take care of themselves.

McCutchen has the look.