Pirates lose 9-2 in latest depressing blowout

The Pirates fell 9-2 Sunday in yet another depressing blowout, getting swept in a series that was crucial to their chances of winning the division. Two of those losses were blowouts, and the other one wasn't as close as the 12-8 score indicated. Those three games followed a 9-3 blowout by the Brewers. As much as I suggested last month that people stop worrying about a collapse that wasn't inevitable and might never come, this series made me nervous in a way that I haven't been this season before now. I'm not sure how reasonable that is, but it's hard not to feel disappointed here.

The Cards seem to have ... well, whatever the Charlie Morton equivalent of kryptonite is, and they used it this afternoon, tagging him for two runs in the first and three in the second. Morton then left the game with "left foot discomfort." Like the three games before this one, that led to a string of random Triple-A and big-league relievers pitching irrelevant innings, as if it were a spring training game. Meanwhile, the Pirates managed just two hits in seven innings off Michael Wacha before finally picking up two meaningless runs in the ninth.