Bucco Report Card

Tabata and Cutch went back to back vs. the Reds


As I predicted two weeks ago, the Pirates went 4-6 over their last ten games. The ten game stand involved two rain outs, two bad series and one good series. After losing a tough game to the Rockies on their final matchup of the series, the Buccos continued to struggle losing to the Brewers on a rain-shortened two game series. Kevin Correia went into the sixth without surrendering a hit, and left the sixth inning giving up four runs. The offense was, once again, putrid and the Pirates were shutout for the first time all year. After losing 4-1 to the Brewers in the second game of the series, the Buccs took 3 of 4 games from the Reds at Great American Ballpark. Heading into Florida, the Pirates seemed to gain confidence and momentum off of their big wins.

Unfortunately, they ran into a buzz saw featuring the Marlins' ace Josh Johnson. Johnson dominated the Buccos, striking out 9 batters and giving up three base runners over seven innings en route to a 6-0 shutout. The Pirates lost 6-0 the following night when they faced Ricky Nolasco and dropped the last game of the series 9-5. Hurdle had this to say of the Florida series:

"The thing we got out of (Miami) were hotel points and fly miles. We look to do better at home"

The Pirates did better at home, beating the Nationals 7-2 on Saturday. Here are the grades for the last ten games:

Manager: B

I don't know what you can say here about Hurdle. Over the last ten games, the Pirates have been feast or famine, either winning big or losing big. The only close game came on April 17th when they won 7-6 against the Reds. I'll give Hurdle a B. He hasn't done anything to put the team in a position to win and he hasn't taken away chances to win. The best move was putting Alvarez down to the seven spot where he hit his first home run of the season.

Starting Pitching: C

Oh James...

Charlie Morton's complete game against the Reds was the highlight of the pitching staff. Then, he was destroyed against the Marlins. Maholm had a good start against the Brewers but it was wasted when Randy Wolf dominated the Bucco offense in a 10-strikeout performance. Correia, as mentioned before, started well but collapsed in the sixth inning against the Brewers. James McDonald was horrible in his previous two starts; giving up 14 earned runs in just 7.1 innings.



Relief Pitching: B

The relievers weren't used much in this stretch of games as most games weren't close. Joel Hanrahan continued to pitch well, going one for one in save opportunities.

Offense: C-

Getting shutout three times in ten games is pretty bad; especially when you consider they scored their lone run on April 14 by a wild pitch. Walker has cooled, McCutchen and Alvarez continue to struggle and Lyle Overbay has been below-average. The only consistent hitter was Jose Tabata but he is cooling off as I write this. The offense MUST produce more than it has so far since the starting pitching has started to show their true colors.


Best Player: Tabata. He went 0-13 in Florida but the offense has been so bad that he was still the bright spot over the ten game stretch.

Worst Player: Mcdonald. His ERA is now over 10; suffering from Charlie Morton syndrome of last year.

Next ten games: 3-7. The Pirates went 13-19 against the West last year and they get a heavy dose of the Giants, Rockies and Padres. They might steal a series from either the Padres or Giants, but the Rockies have been extremely good this year.

written by Jon Pennline