Indians 5, Pirates 4: Bucs Comeback Falls Short

by Charlie Wilmoth on Jun 23, 2009 10:29 PM EDT

Until the ninth inning, the Pirates had done practically nothing in this game, as yet another no-name starter, David Huff, racked up scoreless inning after scoreless inning. The Bucs hit a number of deep fly balls, and Huff benefited greatly from the outfield defense behind him, but almost scoring off a struggling, inexperienced pitcher like David Huff surely is nothing to be too proud of.

After a very weak, walk-filled start by Ian Snell and some decent mop-up work by the Pirates' bullpen, the Bucs trailed 5-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Adam LaRoche led off with a massive homer off Matt Herges, and then the Pirates rode a series of singles, doubles and walks--Jack Wilson and Brandon Moss had RBI doubles, and Andrew McCutchen had an RBI single and a stolen base. Finally, the bases were loaded with two outs and a score of 5-4, and Kerry Wood had entered the game. Wood had obvious trouble finding the strike zone, and I hoped that LaRoche, who had ended up coming to bat for the second time that inning, might be able to force Wood to walk in the winning run, but instead LaRoche flied out to right to end the game.

There was one thing in this game that I'd never seen before. With Grady Sizemore on first in the first inning, the Pirates used an extreme defensive shift on Victor Martinez, who was batting left-handed. The Bucs had Freddy Sanchez move toward first base so that Adam LaRoche could cover the bag, then had Andy LaRoche move to where Sanchez would normally be. Jack Wilson, meanwhile, stood about where he usually does. So Andy LaRoche was actually between Sanchez and Wilson, basically positioned as a second baseman. Martinez grounded out to firstand Sizemore was safe at second, but neither Sizemore nor the Pirates' defenders (I assume this would have been Snell's responsibility) seemed to realize that no one was covering third. So there was a bizarre situation in which pretty much everyone in the infield on both teams ended up looking ridiculous. This is what happens when two last-place teams play each other, I suppose.

Indians vs Pirates boxscore

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Comments

Huff

His numbers obviously stink, but he’s not a scrub. I think he’ll have a pretty good career.

by bolton on Jun 23, 2009 11:01 PM EDT reply actions

I wasn’t too impressed with him and he isn’t terribly young, but looking over his minor league numbers, you’re right, “scrub” might have been a little premature.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Jun 23, 2009 11:05 PM EDT up reply actions

So if Martinez

had grounded to Andy for a double play, would they score that 5-6-3 or 6-5-3 or rover-6-3 or …

by bucdaddy on Jun 23, 2009 11:28 PM EDT reply actions

Bob Walk was wondering about that on the broadcast. They thought LaRoche would be considered a shortstop, which would make it 6-5-3, I guess. But they weren’t sure.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Jun 23, 2009 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions

No, it's the position you are playing....

by David Todd on Jun 24, 2009 12:41 AM EDT up reply actions

Small Rant....

I was going to write about this after the Tigers game on Sunday, but I didn’t get to it. But, about five things are blowing my mind right now and they all focus on the in game coaching.

Too late for a full blown one right now. But, how does Steve Pearce swing at the first pitch on Sunday in Colorado in the first inning with the bases loaded and one out? He has done a bunch of interviews about concentrating on a pitches to hit in Indianapolis and in his second at bat in the majors this year he is hacking on the first pitch after De la Rossa has hit Young three batters ago and walked Andy LaRoche on the previous at bat. Then all time swinger and personal favorite R. Diaz swings at the first pitch and grounds out to the pitcher. Is NOBODY suggesting to these guys that they look at a pitch.

I might let this pass except last Sunday against the Tigers at PNC, basically the EXACT same thing happened agains Dontrelle f…..g Willis. When Sanchez came up with two on and no out in the FIRST inning, I said if he bunts I’m leaving. I was comfortable because there was NO chance he would bunt against Willis. Needless to say he bunted and I had to argue that he was bunting for a hit so i was allowed to stay.

The inning, which Dejan nicely documents culminates in some runs, but no thanks to our approach at the plate and Diaz and Jack Wilson go up hacking with the bases loaded and one out and Willis clearly stuggling.

It’s late, lots more to say, but why can’t we pay attention to this on the field. Why is Freddy hacking at Kerry Wood’s 2-0 with guys on first and second and two outs when it’s clear Wood is all over the place? Why?

by David Todd on Jun 24, 2009 1:00 AM EDT reply actions

Great points, dtoddwin. It’s just baffling, it really is. To go up there and help pitchers that are struggling to even keep the ball in the opposite side batter’s box is just….I….there’s no explanation. In those situations, it looked like the Pirates didn’t want to win. It was like Wilson, Diaz, and Pearce were saying, “I feel terrible for you. We don’t want to score. Here, just throw the ball and I’ll swing at it no matter where it is so you can get out of this mess.” You can guarantee that if I were the manager of the team on those days (the Sunday games against the Rockies and Tigers), Diaz, Wilson and Pearce would have all been pulled out of the game. There’s no excuse and no reasoning behind swinging at the first pitch of an at-bat when a guy has just walked the previous two or three batters in front of you. We should’ve scored at least 10-12 runs against the Tigers that day, and the game against the Rockies on Sunday….just don’t even get me started. These players are getting paid millions to play the game of baseball for a living and sometimes they look like they’ve never played the game before. I feel your pain man. But JR and Don Long sit there and act like they couldn’t care less about what’s going on.

by mspirate on Jun 24, 2009 2:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Reactionary bullshit

Those players are what they are. They are free swingers, always have been always will be no matter what the manger or coaches do. Patience as a hitter is something that must be instilled at a young age and consequences at the lower minor league levels will have results as they will develop or not advance. College hitters that are drafted must have that skill set because they will always revert to what was successful for them in the past. It is not something that you find among many college or high school hitters because the aluminum bat is so forgiving, but with wood there is very little room for error. If you start pulling players at the MLB level for something that they are not capable of you might as well trade them. No manager or hitting are going to drastically change MLB hitters. You can suggest small corrections that may benefit them but players are always going to instinctively revert to their learned skill set.

by buccoben on Jun 24, 2009 8:01 AM EDT up reply actions

That is BS.

First off, low level minor leagues is not a “young age” for a baseball player. They’ve been playing since 5 or 6 so 18, 19, 20 is too late if what you say is true. Second, you are wrong anyways because I guarantee that if you tell your players, “If he walks the guy in front of you on 4 pitches, you take til he throws a strike or you are benched” they WILL get the point soon enough. These players are not complete idiots and should not be treated as such.

by Mr. E on Jun 24, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Exactly....

which is why I put a lot of this on Russell and Long. Give them the damn take sign if you don’t actually walk up and grab them by the arm and tell them not to swing until he throws a strike. How can this not be discussed in the clubhouse all the time. My nephew’s 11 year old little league team completely gets this.

by David Todd on Jun 24, 2009 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Struggling Starters

I knew as soon as I hear Walk talking about Huff at the beginning of the game that we were in trouble. He was saying that Huff has been struggling and that the Pirates should have the advantage in he pitching matchup. I had a feeling they would probably struggle offensively cause I have seen it so many times against below average pitchers. I had to leave for a couple hours and when I came back sure enough it was the 8th inning and it was 5-0. I just don’t understand where the offense goes on certain nights. It seems like its either an 8 run outburst or absolutely nothing…

by biglar33 on Jun 24, 2009 10:21 AM EDT reply actions

I'm surprised...

…that nobody’s showed up yet to whine about LaRoche making the final out with the bases loaded.

by Vlad on Jun 24, 2009 11:10 AM EDT reply actions

It was....

a good at bat. I was so damn scared Nyjer and Freddy were going to swing at ball four and end the game—but they didn’t. Adam had a good at bat, I was just begging for Wood to throw one more slider in the dirt.

by David Todd on Jun 24, 2009 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions

As usual, about an hour and a half after the fact:

Loaded for Mario…

is that good or bad?

by Slick1 on Jun 23, 2009 9:02 PM CDT

bad in every way

by mspirate on Jun 23, 2009 10:35 PM CDT

Actually, I think most of us in the gamethread last night were just encouraged by the comeback. Personally, I had hoped that Freddy would get a hit to at least tie it.

Free your ass and your mind will follow.

by cocktailsfor2 on Jun 24, 2009 11:30 AM EDT up reply actions

Yep, was hoping the same thing

I was a bit upset that Mario didn’t get a hit, because even a single would’ve been enough with ’Cutch! on 3rd and NyjMo on 2nd.

But the comeback gives me hope for the rest of the series… we just need to get to their pen earlier.

True Blue Jazz
Bucco Ball
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RIP Nick Adenhart. 4/9/09

by UtesFan89 on Jun 24, 2009 11:34 AM EDT up reply actions

Guess he figured...

…one HR in the inning was enough.

by Vlad on Jun 24, 2009 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions

encouraged?

Are you kidding….they have had many “comebacks” like this over the last 16 years…..the taste has gotten pretty bland. They need to WIN these games…not lose…..nor even tie-just to lose in extras.
The beat goes on…the names change…the team is the same. We’ll soon be DOUBLE digits between wins and losses again! Please Bucs…PROVE ME WRONG!!!!

by Bucco44 on Jun 24, 2009 5:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Holy Christ.....

Why do you even bother coming and posting on the board? This is supposed to be a forum for discussion of the team and the game.

You think they suck, they have sucked for a long time and they are going to suck forever or at least as long as Nutting is the owner. Have I encapsulated your sentiments and those of ten others who post here well enough? If so, stop posting the same stuff.

If you have something insightful to add, great, we are all for hearing it.

by David Todd on Jun 24, 2009 7:15 PM EDT up reply actions

whatever

I guess your personal rant was “insightful”……I’d LOVE to make positive posts…..THEY need to make it happen. I got a 22 year old son who never recalls seeing a winning baseball team in Pittsburgh. Heck we aren’t even asking for a pennant in Pittsburgh, just a .500 team and some consistancy…then go from there. Lets see what they do against Lee and Meche the next two days. Also think Duke should make the all-star team. Freddy too, but two Bucs aren’t likely to be picked.

by Bucco44 on Jun 25, 2009 6:19 PM EDT reply actions