Thursday, September 27, 2012

Lineup, Notes, News - Dickey Looking For #20

RHP Kevin Correia (11-10, 4.11 ERA) will have his work cut out today against the Mets RHP R.A. Dickey (19-6, 2.66 ERA). KC is going for his 12th win, and has been throwing some nice ball in September, with a 2.59 ERA, but will have his hands full this afternoon. The Mets juggled Dickey's schedule so that he faced Pittsburgh today rather than Atlanta tomorrow, both because the Pirates are easier pickings and to try to get #20 at home. The knuckleballer can become the first Mets pitcher to win 20 games since Frank Viola in 1990, has a shot at the pitching Triple Crown (wins, Ks, ERA) and is on the short list for the Cy Young. The game starts at 1:10 and will be aired by Root Sports.

One guy to watch today is David Wright. He's hitting .339 in his last 15 games against the Pirates, with five hits (one homer) and four RBIs so far in this series. Even worse, he's 11 for 14 (.786) with three doubles and two homers off Kevin Correia.

The lineup: Starling Marte LF, Josh Harrison 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones 1B, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Travis Snider RF, Rod Barajas C, Jordy Mercer SS, Kevein Correia P.

The Kid is down; hopefully he'll be put on ice now that the playoff race has officially ended. And my goodness, a Jordy Mercer sighting!

  • Pedro Alvarez had his seventh four+ RBI game of the year in Tuesday's 10-6 victory. That's tied with Texas' Josh Hamilton for the most in MLB.
  • One place the Pirates didn't improve: The Buccos have gone 34-46 away from PNC Park this season after posting a 36-45 road record last year. Today's their last road game of the season.
  • Starling Marte has swiped 10 bases since being called up on July 26. It’s the fourth straight season a Pirates rookie has stolen at least 10 bags in a season. Chase d’Arnaud pilfered 12 last season, Jose Tabata had 19 steals in 2010 and Andrew McCutchen committed larceny 22 times in 2009.
  • Pittsburgh is 13-32 (.288) over their last 45 games.
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2 comments:

  1. WilliamJPellasSeptember 27, 2012 at 4:42 PM

    Completely unacceptable to be THAT bad for THAT long after being much better than that. That is embarrassing. Is this really the same team? Good grief.


    As for Mercer, he is clearly in the same category as Pedro Ciriaco was---except that Pedro is a better player than Mercer will ever be. But the point here is that Mercer is simply not "one of Hurdle's guys". I dunno, Ron. The longer this goes on, the more I'm thinking this team needs a clean sweep of its front office and coaching staff. I think I'd have gone Steinbrenner on them for a second consecutive season-ending collapse, and this one worse in many ways than last year's, if that's even possible.

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  2. Ron IeraciSeptember 27, 2012 at 6:56 PM

    Yah Will, ol' Clint Barmes is the only glove-first SS the skipper has any love for, it seems.

    My theory on the FO is that the Pirate timetable was to be a good club next year and compete for the playoffs in 2014, so that's why the ride for the brass. The last two years, to them, were just outliers. But if 2013 goes down like a rock, so do the bossmen.

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