Too Wet Even for the Fish - Rain Day Notes Before Redbird Trip

Today: The game was banged early (9:20 AM), with both clubs scheduled to travel and the rain coming down in buckets. It's supposed to be replayed after the regular season on October 1st - the two teams' off-days in September didn't match - but as it will have no post-season implications, we'll see if it stands. Kinda sneaky way to squeeze the Pirates into Buctober. On the other hand, after watching Pitt and the Steelers, the Buccos were no doubt this best team in town, at least this weekend.

Notes:

• The Pirates have won five straight and are at .500 (71-71). The next game is tomorrow night against the Cardinals. Three days there, and then a three-gamer at Milwaukee as the Bucs begin their "September Spoiler" tour (they get the Brew Crew and Cubs later). The Brewers pulled within 2-1/2 games of the first-place Cubs in the NL Central, and are 2-1/2 games ahead of the Cards in the Wild Card chase (3-1/2 games up overall in the WC) coming into today.
• The pitchers were pushed back a day. The Cards will face Trevor Williams, Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon; Chris Archer, Ivan Nova & Willy are in line to go against the Brewskis, though that series' hurlers haven't been announced yet.
• Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald looks at what he considers the worst trade ever made by the Fish - Trevor Williams for Jim Benedict.
• Gregory Polanco, done for the year, posted some personal-best numbers this season while slashing .254/.340/.499 (123 wRC+) with 23 home runs, a .245 ISO, 81 RBI and an 11.4 percent walk rate in 534 plate appearances. He also stole 12 bases on 14 attempts. His glove remains a mystery as he put up a -5 DRS, but he did post a solid 2.5 fWAR. Hard to remember sometimes that he's just 26.
• Josh Harrison, who may also be done for the year, had the opposite kind of season. His line was .255/.298/.360 (78 wRC+) with seven HR, a .106 ISO and 17.7% K rate after 351 PA's. His DRS was -2 and he had a fWAR of  0.4 in his age 31 campaign.
• Tickets for today's rain out can be exchanged for any remaining home game of the 2018 regular season or any April/May game in 2019 (excluding the Home Opener on April 1st v St. Louis).The Pirates scheduled Starling Marte jersey giveaway is still on; it's been moved to Friday, September 21st, when the Pirates host the Brewers at PNC Park, just for 14-and-under fans.
• Altoona was eliminated from the Eastern League playoffs yesterday with a no-doubt-about-it 9-0 spanking by Akron.
• Baseball trivia: per Chris Landers of Cut 4, here's how "walk off" became a bit of baseball jargon: The first reference to 'walk-off,' came in a July 30, 1988, story in the Gannett News Service: "In Dennis Eckersley's colorful vocabulary, a walk-off piece is a home run that wins the game and the pitcher walks off the mound." Landers added that  "It was only intended to describe a pitcher's dejected walk off the field after giving up a game-losing home run, but it soon grew into its own phenomenon."