A Few Quick Takes From The Game Last Night
by Charlie Wilmoth on Jun 26, 2010 1:53 PM EDT
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PrintBetween some traveling I've been doing, the house where I've been staying in Morgantown not having FSN Pittsburgh, and the fact that I'm blacked out of MLB.tv, last night's game was the first I've been able to actually watch in a while, beyond just the highlights. Anytime I miss a few games in a row, which hadn't happened in quite a while before this month, I feel bewildered, because I'm unaware of what people are angry about at that particular time. Anyway, a couple observations.
-P- I hope Neil Walker is ok. He took a nasty hit on the back of his head when he collided with Ryan Church. He was chewing gum vigorously when he stood up, which is good, but he still had to head to the hospital.
-P- Ben Sheets and the other A's pitchers burned Pedro Alvarez again and again on pitches low and away.
-P- Despite one really nice play by Alvarez, the Bucs' defense last night was pretty bad, what with Neil Walker's error in the bottom of the first, D.J. Carrasco's inability to outrace a catcher to first, Ryan Doumit's inability to block the plate, and so on. Brad Lincoln might be an acceptable pitcher with a good defense behind him, but I worry that his fastball isn't nearly good enough to be much of a strikeout guy right now, so he's going to depend very heavily on his defense.
-P- After Lincoln left, the seventh inning was interminable. Despite scoring 14 runs, the A's really didn't hit a lot of balls hard. It was just one bleeder or bloop after another. As badly as the Pirates played last night, at least their pitchers weren't getting destroyed.
-P- Church has played in 50 games now. 50! Akinori Iwamura only got 54 games, during which he actually hit better than Church has. I know this is hardly a new observation here, but let me repeat it - Lastings Milledge is hitting well. Between Milledge, Tabata and Garrett Jones, the Pirates already have three palatable corner outfield and first base options, and there's a fourth in the minors - there is really no reason to keep playing Church and let Steve Pearce linger at Class AAA. Again: Church has hit worse than Aki Iwamura.
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I had this discussion with
another on this site about Lincoln. I was saying we have nothing resembling a ace/stopper with high velocity; he or she said Lincoln had plenty at 94 and Lincoln is the Pirates future ace/stopper. Right now, unless the Pirates pick one up in a trade/fa, there is no top of the line pitcher in the Piraes’ near future, which means no pitching, no respectable win/lost ratio.
Tom Specht
And I’m interpreting top of the line to mean ace/2nd starter. I feel Morris can be a good second starter, which would make him the best pitcher Pittsburgh has seen since Drabek.
Bryan Morris should have dominated high A ball earlier this year with all the experience he had had in the low minors.
Although the extent that he dominated was pretty impressive by any standards, let’s see him actually stay healthy and get to the majors next year, let alone start touting him as a front-line starter.
In 7 games so far at AA, he is 4-2 with a 3.72 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP with 38 hits allowed in 38 IP.
At 23, and with all the injuries he’s had, I’m cautiously optimistic.
Morris
I saw Morris pitch this past Wednesday night in Altoona. He looked good after getting knocked around in the first, but his fastball only sat at 92 for the 7 innings he pitched. I am not saying he can not be in the rotation and effective—-just don’t believe he has the makings of an ace. 92 is pretty ordinary in the majors as we all know.
(Just my thought)
by Wee Willie Wallace on Jun 26, 2010 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions
Altoona's gun is slow.
92 @ Altoona = 94 on most other guns. Even if his fastball sits at 92, thats just fine in my opinion. Is he going to be an ace? Probably not. But I think he can still be a very good pitcher.
Altoona's gun is Slow?
How do you know that? Is is positioned to measure the speed at which the pitch leaves his hand or when it crosses the plate?
by Wee Willie Wallace on Jun 26, 2010 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions
I saw Lincoln consistently at 91/92 last night.
I didn’t see anything about the velocity or movement on his FB that said other than a slightly-above-average pitch.
I did like the quality of some of his breaking pitches, although the control was iffy.
Obviously he needs time to make adjustments at the MLB level, if he can, to be successful over the long haul.
But as Charlie points out, he must have better “D” behind him.
Church probably won’t get 5 more games to pass Iwamura in their games played race. I can’t see how the team will do anything other than give Church the boot when Pearce is done with his rehab, whenever it is in the next week.
But yeah…the thing about Lincoln is it looks like he is improving over time. Better curve ball command, and throwing it in better situations. Velocity at a consistent 92 (which is crazy, since it tops out at 89).
All of our prospects are starting to adjust (except Pedro, but I’m still clinging to his ‘slow start’-arhea as an excuse), which is refreshing to see. Tabata is making great contact and finally getting some results. Walker’s power is starting to show. Lincoln knows he can throw the curve more than just in the dirt. It’s nice to see.
Pedro needs to get closer to the plate.....
They were throwing fastball away, curve underneath his hands.
If he continues to line up that far away from the plate, they are going to murder him on fast stuff at the knees and away.
Last nights game, in my opinion, was the first game where he looked totally overmatched and made no adjustments. Frustrating….to say the least.
Church shouldn’t be playing yesterday, today, or tomorrow. He is awful, he isn’t close to getting back to ‘the Ryan Church Bob Walk remembers’, and he needs to be sitting on the bench. There is no excuse for playing him anymore, he won’t field a prospect, and he is killing us in the order. At least Russel put him in the 7 hole, as opposed to the five. Pretty soon he will be benched (hopefully)….
Please…..no more Brendan Donnelly, Steven Jackson, or Javier Lopez. I know that isn’t realistic, but all three are bad, despite some on here thinking that Lopez is serviceable.
by CabreraKilledMyChildhood on Jun 26, 2010 3:40 PM EDT reply actions
They were throwing fastball away, curve underneath his hands.
I was watching the game with Bucdaddy yesterday and saying exactly the same thing.
by Charlie Wilmoth on Jun 26, 2010 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Agree
I agree completely. Cleveland did the same thing all weekend (threw the bak foot curve) with two strikes and he continuously swung over top of pitches that were not strikes. That is not a criticsm—just an observation. He’ll be fine (hopefully).
by Wee Willie Wallace on Jun 26, 2010 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions
I've seen the same thing in with Pedro.
His pitch selection is horrible. I think he also needs to be more agressive early in the count. He looks at two strikes in probably half of his at bats. Often one or both strikes being decent pitches to hit, then he usually swings at off-speed pitches way out of the strike zone, but sometimes he chases a high fastball for strike three.
To me it seems like he is trying to show he has patience just for the sake of doing so. His approach at the plate needs a major change and soon.
Lincoln looked like a back rotation sp
Or good reliever to me. How this guy got picked ahead of of lincecum is surprising
Thats hindsight
Lots of people were worried about Lincecum’s size and strange delivery. Anything that is different or unconventional scares the establishment.
Defense has been awful thus far this year, with the main culprits being Iwamura, Doumit, Young, Crosby, LaRoche.
Other possible poor defensive players (with conflicting UZR and DRS numbers) are McCutchen, Milledge, and Jones at first base. On top of that, Walker and Alvarez don’t grade out particularly well in the very early returns, either. Although, there’s not enough sample size for Alvarez, and Walker is still learning the second base position to some extent.
The pitchers haven’t been particularly good defensively, either, with Carrasco’s terrible non-play at first just being the tip of the iceberg.
Nitwits like Ohlendorf take huge leg kicks with runners on base, which doesn’t make Doumit’s job any easier (although there is little doubt Doumit is terrible behind the plate to begin with because of his glacier-slow release).
Ohlie's Leg Kick
When is Russell going to have Kerrigan get these guys straightened out? Teams run at will on the Pirates. Meek did it as well last night.
Teams run in obvious running situations (two out—runner on first), and the Pirates almost always seem caught off guard. (Varsho calls the pitch-outs which is ridiculously to me when you have an ex-catcher as a manager).
The whole thing stinks from top to bottom and they continue to make the same mistakes over and over. NH has to go; then JR along with the staff.
by Wee Willie Wallace on Jun 26, 2010 4:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Nah, NH can stay. Of course, a bad major league team means the GM for three and a half years of it is the direct cause.
by ryebr3ad on Jun 26, 2010 5:52 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I agree with NH...
he at least deserves an opportunity to let some of his draft propects reach the majors.
Neal Huntington might be gone during or after next season,
but he could still be a guy we all look back at in a few years and say that he got the job done pretty well.
The most important thing in my mind is that the team gets the priority guys signed from this draft to add to what we all hope were good ones in ’08 and ’09, and that the renewed commitment to Latin American from ’08 starts to pay off in the next couple years.
Time will tell if enough of the right players were picked and developed properly.
Just a question:
I’ve heard mention that you don’t want TOO many prospects at any one level in your system because then they just get in the way of and take P.T. from each other. Is there any reason why, if we’re going to spend real money in development, we can’t field another low A and high A team, another AA team, etc., as long as there’s a town with a stadium willing to have it?
You know what they'll say...
Nutting.
Money.
You know, the usual.
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
I blame it on Netrader.com spam bots
Players who should be in the Hall of Fame: Pat TIllman, Dwight White, Donnie Shell, L.C. Greenwood, Ray Guy, Steve Tasker, Greg Llyod, Andy Russel, Cris Carter, Kevin Greene and Jerry Kramer
"You Don't mess with the USA" Landon Donavan
Canal Street Chronicles resident Steelers Fan
by WVPiratesfan on Jun 27, 2010 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions
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