Baseball is a funny game. There are almost no limits to what players will do to maintain a streak or get out of a funk.
The Pirates exploded on the Nationals Monday night at PNC Park, beating them by a score of 10-3. Those 10 runs were a season-high for the Pirates, as were their 14 hits. All of that is a much needed breath of fresh air since the club has been dwelling in the basement of virtually every offensive statistic throughout the first 16 games of the season.
The reason for the sudden offensive output? Andrew McCutchen provided Phiten necklaces for the whole team, and nearly everyone wore them. Even Bryan Reynolds participated, and legitimately had fun doing so:
"Yeah, I was fired up," Reynolds said after the game. "Everybody wore Phitens in middle school or high school. I think it took us all back to that. Yeah, we were just a little out of sync, out of balance. We just had to put on our Phitens and get locked in."
Phiten necklaces haven't been popular in baseball for at least a decade. When they first came out, there was a mystique about them -- that they somehow enhanced athletic ability, despite scientists vehemently scoffing at any such claim.
No, the Pirates didn't turn to the dark arts or buy into some 2010s hokum to solve their problems. McCutchen did what good leaders do, and that's do something to lighten things up and manifest actual joy after a dreadful series in Cincinnati.
"When it comes to baseball, you'll do whatever it takes to turn things around," McCutchen said after the game. "It's just kind of cool that we were able to do something as a team, then it translated into the game and we had the game that we did today. You could say coincidence, I guess. But I think it's more just these are the things that you need to do as a team sometimes to win ballgames. Sometimes it takes buying in just to do something. We just all bought in on it and ran with it. It worked out for us."
McCutchen's been part of something similar before. In 2012, his breakout season, the Zoltan phenomenon spread like wildfire and became insanely popular around a team on the rise. At the bare minimum, it was a catalyst for a fun, energetic team that became easy to root for. And, since Monday night's win improved the team to 6-11 on the season, this Pirates group has needed all the positive energy it can get.
"We ran with it. It grew to what it did," McCutchen said, recalling the Zoltan fad. "I'm not saying Phitens is the new Zoltan, but it gives us something to cheer about, something to laugh about. You just have to do that in this game. I guess that was my way of doing it."
Just for one night, it worked. The Pirates looked like a different team than they did in their first 16 contests. Monday night was the first time all season they recorded two or more hits in four separate innings. They put up five runs in the eighth inning, doing it the old school way of just racking up hit after hit after hit. They went a ridiculous 8-for-10 with runners in scoring position, a figure that's nowhere close to sustainable. They also raised their team batting average from .184 to .199 in just one game.
"Yea, I’ll sign up for that every night. I’m just happy that we had eight at-bats with runners in scoring position coming off this weekend," Derek Shelton said after the game. "I was very pleased and I think it’s a credit to our players. They stuck with the approach the entire night."
What might be more important for the big picture is this looked like a team that legitimately had fun. That's something that's been missing so far, even going back to spring training.
The problem is this is just one of 162 games. In the grand scheme of things, it's a blip on the radar, and it's far from a new normal. Even amid an impressive offensive showing -- against a team who now owns a major-league worst 5.50 ERA -- there were several examples of the same old issues we witnessed through the first 16 games.
The Pirates could have had a larger advantage than the 5-3 lead they had ahead of their five-run eighth inning. However, while they recorded season highs in runs and hits, they also recorded a season-high four errors. The Nationals took an extra six bases on those errors, three of which off two pickoff attempts that Enmanuel Valdez failed to catch:
An error by Ke'Bryan Hayes was part of the same sixth inning as that second pickoff attempt, in which the Nationals cut the Pirates' lead to 5-2. Oneil Cruz also mishandled Nathaniel Lowe's RBI single in the same inning, allowing him to advance into scoring position.
In addition to the defensive issues, the offense gave away outs. Both Hayes and Valdez drove in three runs apiece, but they also ended innings prematurely with baserunning blunders:
"We have to clean it up because in a close game, that doesn’t play," Shelton said. "The base running stuff, we have to clean up. Those are things, we can’t give away outs. We can’t give away outs."
This very well could have been a close game. It was a 5-3 game until the five-run eighth. Unfortunately for this ballclub, five-spots aren't all that frequent in baseball and sound fundamentals are always needed.
The Pirates deserve credit for starting off a seven-game homestand with this kind of performance. They needed it. Badly. And, this is why McCutchen is still playing baseball. Not only can he still hit and make the occasional web gem ...
... but he's also a much needed leader in that clubhouse.
That being said, even the team's best offensive performance of the season couldn't mask their outstanding issues. Until those are solved, it's hard to buy into anything -- not even the Phiten necklaces.
THE ASYLUM
McCutchen hopes necklaces do more than snap slump
Baseball is a funny game. There are almost no limits to what players will do to maintain a streak or get out of a funk.
The Pirates exploded on the Nationals Monday night at PNC Park, beating them by a score of 10-3. Those 10 runs were a season-high for the Pirates, as were their 14 hits. All of that is a much needed breath of fresh air since the club has been dwelling in the basement of virtually every offensive statistic throughout the first 16 games of the season.
The reason for the sudden offensive output? Andrew McCutchen provided Phiten necklaces for the whole team, and nearly everyone wore them. Even Bryan Reynolds participated, and legitimately had fun doing so:
"Yeah, I was fired up," Reynolds said after the game. "Everybody wore Phitens in middle school or high school. I think it took us all back to that. Yeah, we were just a little out of sync, out of balance. We just had to put on our Phitens and get locked in."
Phiten necklaces haven't been popular in baseball for at least a decade. When they first came out, there was a mystique about them -- that they somehow enhanced athletic ability, despite scientists vehemently scoffing at any such claim.
No, the Pirates didn't turn to the dark arts or buy into some 2010s hokum to solve their problems. McCutchen did what good leaders do, and that's do something to lighten things up and manifest actual joy after a dreadful series in Cincinnati.
"When it comes to baseball, you'll do whatever it takes to turn things around," McCutchen said after the game. "It's just kind of cool that we were able to do something as a team, then it translated into the game and we had the game that we did today. You could say coincidence, I guess. But I think it's more just these are the things that you need to do as a team sometimes to win ballgames. Sometimes it takes buying in just to do something. We just all bought in on it and ran with it. It worked out for us."
McCutchen's been part of something similar before. In 2012, his breakout season, the Zoltan phenomenon spread like wildfire and became insanely popular around a team on the rise. At the bare minimum, it was a catalyst for a fun, energetic team that became easy to root for. And, since Monday night's win improved the team to 6-11 on the season, this Pirates group has needed all the positive energy it can get.
"We ran with it. It grew to what it did," McCutchen said, recalling the Zoltan fad. "I'm not saying Phitens is the new Zoltan, but it gives us something to cheer about, something to laugh about. You just have to do that in this game. I guess that was my way of doing it."
Just for one night, it worked. The Pirates looked like a different team than they did in their first 16 contests. Monday night was the first time all season they recorded two or more hits in four separate innings. They put up five runs in the eighth inning, doing it the old school way of just racking up hit after hit after hit. They went a ridiculous 8-for-10 with runners in scoring position, a figure that's nowhere close to sustainable. They also raised their team batting average from .184 to .199 in just one game.
"Yea, I’ll sign up for that every night. I’m just happy that we had eight at-bats with runners in scoring position coming off this weekend," Derek Shelton said after the game. "I was very pleased and I think it’s a credit to our players. They stuck with the approach the entire night."
What might be more important for the big picture is this looked like a team that legitimately had fun. That's something that's been missing so far, even going back to spring training.
The problem is this is just one of 162 games. In the grand scheme of things, it's a blip on the radar, and it's far from a new normal. Even amid an impressive offensive showing -- against a team who now owns a major-league worst 5.50 ERA -- there were several examples of the same old issues we witnessed through the first 16 games.
The Pirates could have had a larger advantage than the 5-3 lead they had ahead of their five-run eighth inning. However, while they recorded season highs in runs and hits, they also recorded a season-high four errors. The Nationals took an extra six bases on those errors, three of which off two pickoff attempts that Enmanuel Valdez failed to catch:
An error by Ke'Bryan Hayes was part of the same sixth inning as that second pickoff attempt, in which the Nationals cut the Pirates' lead to 5-2. Oneil Cruz also mishandled Nathaniel Lowe's RBI single in the same inning, allowing him to advance into scoring position.
In addition to the defensive issues, the offense gave away outs. Both Hayes and Valdez drove in three runs apiece, but they also ended innings prematurely with baserunning blunders:
"We have to clean it up because in a close game, that doesn’t play," Shelton said. "The base running stuff, we have to clean up. Those are things, we can’t give away outs. We can’t give away outs."
This very well could have been a close game. It was a 5-3 game until the five-run eighth. Unfortunately for this ballclub, five-spots aren't all that frequent in baseball and sound fundamentals are always needed.
The Pirates deserve credit for starting off a seven-game homestand with this kind of performance. They needed it. Badly. And, this is why McCutchen is still playing baseball. Not only can he still hit and make the occasional web gem ...
... but he's also a much needed leader in that clubhouse.
That being said, even the team's best offensive performance of the season couldn't mask their outstanding issues. Until those are solved, it's hard to buy into anything -- not even the Phiten necklaces.
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