Kovacevic: This is Hurdle's finest hour

Brief and to the Point ...

If a manager is only as smart as his bullpen usage, as the baseball adage goes, then Clint Hurdle is trekking into Stephen Hawking territory this summer.

Really, there's no way the Pirates should be three games over .500 and right smack in the playoff race with a starting rotation that's failed to last as long as six innings in 48 of their 89 games, never mind winning 18 of those 48 lousy starts, never mind needing to come from behind for 16 of their wins, including all eight leading into the All-Star break.

 

Much of that originates from the resilient offense, obviously, but the two most telling numbers for me are these: The Pirates' bullpen has logged 314 innings, second-most in Major League Baseball only to the rancid Reds, and yet their 1.35 WHIP -- walks and hits per inning pitched, the signature relief statistic -- somehow ranks a middle-of-the-road 17th.



That's just astonishing. It almost doesn't compute when stacked against this:



All of this is very much to Hurdle's credit.

He actually let out a hearty chuckle when asked Sunday about his season-long challenges: "You definitely get more creative. You go to some guys in some different situations."

He then flipped credit to the relievers, first citing how Arquimedes Caminero retired all five batters he faced Saturday night in the victory over the Cubs, only to be summoned again Sunday afternoon to bail out Jon Niese for the final out of the fourth -- yes, fourth -- inning.

With runners at the corners and Wilson Contreras at the plate, Hurdle offered Caminero one suggestion before handing him the ball.

"Just blow," Hurdle recalled telling him. "You have one hitter to finish off this inning."

Caminero took the hint.

"Just gas," he'd say later with a broad smile.

It was 97-mph gas, that one pitch that got Contreras to fly out.

Hurdle then tried to patchwork his way the rest of the day, squeezing 2 1/3 out of Jeff Locke in his first non-start in 105 appearances, then 2/3 from Neftali Feliz before Tony Watson had a rare hiccup and Chicago prevailed.

Hey, four consecutive fractions in a team's pitching line is no formula for success. Especially when those relievers are being shoved into the fire day after day.

"When you look at the track record of the guys the last few weeks and the ways we used them, we pushed them to just about a red line knowing we had four days," Hurdle said, referring to the recovery period from one of those lousy starts. "There’s also going to be a time where you push them past the red line, and it doesn’t matter if you have five days. We’ve been cognizant of that. I don’t think we’ve overused them, but we’ve definitely kept their pockets full of innings and opportunities."

He mentioned his experience at Coors Field, where fractions are the norm.

"Many, many years there. And to get a short start, to be more creative with the bullpen, to take a starter on a day when he’s not throwing his pen and holding him back, mixing and matching, double-switching more just to get length from some guys. Fortunately in this stretch, one of the things our guys in the bullpen have done — gosh, Caminero, Jared Hughes, A.J. Schugel — I think three or four have shown the ability to pitch multiple innings, which is the only way we’ve been able to get through it."

The guy with the hook has been the guide.

• This would be my rotation coming out of the break: Jeff Locke, Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano for the series in Washington, then the day off Monday, then Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon to open the home set against the Brewers. That keeps Locke on regular rest, Cole with an extra day to recover from the rehab start Sunday, and Taillon is bumped to the back to buy time for the shoulder. Plus, the two kids pitch at PNC Park against a theoretically lesser opponent.

Niese can sip martinis on Matt Morris' yacht.

• Anyone who thinks there's no such thing as a window in professional sports, take heed: The Pirates just made it to the All-Star break with a winning record for a sixth consecutive season. Never before in their 130 years had they enjoyed a streak longer than five.

It should never be taken for granted. Or bridged.

• How is it, in this era where professional sports are erupting in every sense all around us, that all-star games are shrinking in significance with each passing year?

Baseball has the best, I don't think anyone could argue, given that the sport doesn't demand the wear and tear of the rest. Players can perform at their peak without risking damage. But even this event has been needlessly muddied by Bud Selig's absurd inclusion of World Series home-field advantage. As if participants and fans alike needed to be scolded, "Hey, this is important ... or else!"

That's a massive turnoff. And it's also a tune-out, apparently, seeing Fox's 6.6 rating last year, the worst in the history of the event.

Meanwhile, the Pro Bowl, which gets the highest ratings, still somehow feels like the least of all of them in spite of the NFL's massive popularity.

And the NHL thought so little of its own event that it reduced its All-Star Game to a Southpointe three-on-three scrimmage. All that's missing are the nets going face-down.

Not complaining about these, mind you. Just find it all ironic.

• Here's wondering, by the way, if the Padres will put up some hideous All-Star Game sign in the Petco Park outfield, then inexplicably leave it up for a decade or longer.

• This is intended with zero disrespect to Matt Cullen, but it surely would help the Penguins if he made his choice -- which apparently is between staying or leaving for his native Minnesota -- sooner rather than later.

Sentimentality aside, the Penguins' greater need between Cullen and another defenseman isn't close. It's the latter. Oskar Sundqvist is more than ready for the NHL and, even if he won't immediately perform at Cullen's 2015-16 level, he could conceivably grow into it in short order. By contrast, the need for help on the blue line, including the continuing possibility of bringing back Justin Schultz, is a significant one. Jim Rutherford can state that he and the coaching staff will give Derrick Pouliot a chance, but crossed fingers don't win Stanley Cups. Hoping that Pouliot comes around is exactly that: It's hope.

Cullen was all that and then some. But he isn't worth the wait if it means hurting the depth chart at not one but two positions.

• This just might be the most uplifting news the Penguins get all summer.

I've never known anyone in any walk of life who could use a spell more than Olli Maatta could use one right now. Even with Gary Bettman's Fake Olympics beckoning and NHL training camps opening in mid-September, he'll still probably arrive dragging. A couple of months would do a world of good.

• Although the Flyers have very much remained the Flyers under Ron Hextall's watch -- no Cups, no morals, generally no clue at roster-building -- they certainly haven't lost their focus, judging by this remark about the Penguins winning it all from top goal-scorer Wayne Simmonds this week to Canada's TSN: “I think when you have a rival to the height that Pittsburgh is for Philadelphia, it stings a little bit. I think it just gives you that much more want to win the Stanley Cup when you see your cross-state rivals holding the Cup up. It’s a little disturbing. But good for them. They did a good job and they had a heck of team and they played really well going down the stretch.”

If that sounds familiar, it should. It's the way the Capitals have looked longingly at the Penguins for decades. And it's the way the Bengals have long looked at the Steelers.

The only Pittsburgh rival that's figured out how to do it right is the Ravens. Focus on yourself. Find your own identity. That began in Baltimore with Brian Billick, then blossomed under John Harbaugh, much as some will hate to hear that. They still hate the Steelers as much as the reverse, but it didn't blind them from getting better in their own way.

Fixating on someone else's success, or being embittered by it, that's the stuff of losers.

• I feel almost irrationally amped to see the Steelers in Latrobe, now only 16 days away. And not for the obvious: We all know the offense will be explosive. I'm much more interested in seeing the defense decisively turn the corner, as so many of the players sound so genuinely convinced it's about to do.

And yeah, say what you will of cornerback in the short term, especially if Russ Cockrell is the safe and right choice to start opposite Willie Gay, but I'll take the position now with legit depth in Senquez Golson and Artie Burns over anywhere it's been in a long time.

Imagine an actual battle at the position.

Not easy, is it?

• I leave you this week with a special Tuesday Take from Taylor Haase, our social media director who evidently has far too much time her hands: