Explain this: The Pirates entered the All-Star break on a 12-5 tear, putting themselves just 2.5 games out of first place in the NL Central in the process.
Since the All-Star break, the team is just 2-7. They've been swept by the Cubs — the same team they took three out of four games from just before the break — and they narrowly avoided a sweep against both the Cardinals and the Phillies by taking one game apiece in those three-game sets.
Unlike earlier in the season, the team hasn't been ravaged by new injuries. The lineups have been fairly consistent.
So how can you explain it?
Speaking before Monday's game against the Cardinals on a gloomy day at PNC Park, Jacob Stallings and Clint Hurdle attempted to shed some light on the situation.
"I think it's just baseball, honestly," Stallings was saying at his locker. "I don't know, maybe the All-Star break had something to do with it. The All-Star break didn't matter for us last year. We came back hot as could be last year, so I think it's just one of those things. It's just how baseball is."
Asked if both success and failure can be contagious in baseball, Hurdle offered the following:
"We've had this conversation about contagious ever since I've been here," Hurdle was saying inside his office during his pregame media session. "I think it's all contagious. I think it can be. The challenge you're always going to have with hitting from my perspective in baseball, in a lineup: When you can keep the pack mentality, that cohesive unit is a pack mentality and your goal is to make the guy's at-bat behind you easier than yours and hold onto that. And know that you're enough.
"You all are enough as a group. And then when either one or two or three guys fall off, you don't try and pick up your slack, his slack and somebody else's slack. That's the thing we've talked about. Since Bell's kind of trended down some, is somebody trying to overdo [it], do more than they were doing earlier when what they were doing earlier was completely enough? So sometimes I think you need to kind of revisit the pack mentality. You need to stay in your lanes, know that you are enough collectively as a group and just take care of the at-bat."
Despite the 2-7 run and the bleak outlook the Pirates currently face, 7.5 games back from the first-place Cubs, Stallings says nobody's rushing to the panic room.
"Like you said, rough stretch since the All-Star break. But I think we know what we're capable of, and I don't think anybody's really panicking," he said. "We're just going about our days in the same way as when we were doing really well. I think there's probably a little more of a sense of urgency, but we're just focused on today."
Hurdle calmly agreed. He knows what his team is capable of doing. He's seen them bounce back time and again this season. And he zeroed in on exactly what needs to change if they want to turn things around.
"I still believe we've got enough that when we just match our skills up, take care of our skills, we'd be in a better place offensively," Hurdle said. "Our runs-per-game is 2.7 [over the last] nine games. That's not going to do you real good up here at this level unless you're pitching uber-elite. So collectively, we just need to focus on the one thing; not a bunch of things, but the one thing and just owning our at-bat and having the best at-bat we can have, and letting the next guy take over."
The Pirates get their first swing at that tonight at 7:05 p.m. against the Cardinals. Our John Perrotto will have the full live game and postgame coverage there.
More from Stallings, Hurdle
• The Pirates are "working through the process" with Keone Kela. When asked exactly what that meant, Hurdle reiterated, "We're still working through the process of where we are with Keone and the roster."
Is he expecting a roster move?
"I'm not expecting anything else," Hurdle said. "I'm just working through the processes. [That's] about as clean and black and white as I can share with you. So we can keep asking questions and I can keep giving you the same answer."
Settles that.
• Hurdle attributed Trevor Williams' volatility of late to his lack of a routine. He believes getting him back in a stable groove in the rotation will go far to bring him back to his "old self." Williams has missed time this season due to injury, paternity leave and, most recently, the flu.
• Steven Brault threw a bullpen session yesterday and is scheduled for a longer, more involved bullpen session Wednesday. The likely next step from there is a sim game, potentially during the Pirates' three-game series against the Mets from Aug. 2-4.
• Do the players care whether the team buys or sells at the trade deadline? Stallings discussed:
"I think that's kind of in everyone's mind, but I don't think one way or the other it makes you, if you sell a couple guys, it doesn't make you 'out of it' by any stretch," he said. "And if you get a guy it doesn't mean you get to go to the playoffs, so I think we like our group. Whatever happens with regards to the trade deadline happens, but, I mean, we're five-and-a-half, I think, out of a Wild Card spot right now. So we're just excited to be in the hunt."
• Hurdle on Kevin Newman's success leading off: "We looked at what the best fit for us was, and Frazier had gone on some mean times or lean times in the leadoff spot and we were looking for somebody else that could possibly provide a spark. [Newman's] got some usable speed. He can steal a base. He's shown the ability to hit the ball, right field-center field-left field. He's thrown up some really good two-strike at-bats. So I have not ever looked him in the eye and said, 'Hey, man, do you like leading off?' When I brought him in here and told him we're leading him off, I told him, 'We need you to lead off. You can help the ball club leading off.'"
• Stallings has clearly developed a nice rapport with the Pirates' starting pitchers, offering sound advice and solid play for them. Joe Musgrove recently called Stallings the "brains" behind his resurgence. I asked Stallings how much that's meant for him to earn the trust of his teammates over the course of the season:
"It's obviously nice whenever guys say nice things about you, especially your teammates," Stallings told me. "I just try to come in and do a good job with them. They're some of my best friends in the world, so I want them to do well for that reason. And then it's just fun going out there and competing with all of them.
"So, yeah, whenever you go out and compete, like, with Joe the other day, we had a really good start. It's just fun because he's one of my best friends and I just love competing with him out there. I guess that's kind of what I focus on more than some of the other stuff. But when you win, it makes things a lot more fun."
• Speaking of Stallings and Musgrove, I had to follow up and ask what kind of rain dances were being summoned whenever it became No. 59's turn to pitch. He's been plagued by rain delays this season, and inquiring minds needed to know:
Dang. There goes that theory.
• Colin Moran has steadily taken over as a dependable option at third base, both in the field and at the plate. I asked Hurdle about Moran's progression this season and what he's seen from him: