I'm sorry, but this was just such a stupid outcome.
What's that mean?
Well, in summation, on this Saturday evening at Citi Field, the Pirates put forth six scoreless innings from Mitch Keller, a follow-up of fine relief, a defensive performance that ranged from fine to fantastic, an offensive output of 12 hits and four walks ... and still lost to the Mets, 4-2, in 12 innings.
No, for real.
Listen, anyone familiar with my coverage of this franchise over the past quarter-century or so can attest I've hardly made my living offering up excuses for the endless failure. In fact, I'm on record for two consecutive years that, quite literally, everyone atop baseball operations should be fired and, in the same motion, the team should be sold.
But this loss ... nah, this was stupid.
Let's begin with the end:
Hunter Barco, the rookie lefty summoned in relief because Oneil Cruz ensured in the opener that the bullpen would be depleted by Game 2, kept his 1-1 slider so far down that it actually dropped out of the strike zone ...
MLB
... but Luis Robert golfed it out anyway for a three-run walkoff.
That, my friends, isn't a misfire, much less a mistake.
I mean, what's the kid supposed to do? Roll it up there?
I asked Barco:
"Executed slider, down and in over the plate" he'd respond. "And he put a really good swing on it."
He couldn't be more correct. See the concrete evidence above.
Heck, Robert himself acknowledged that even the pitch selection surprised him.
"I was looking for a fastball there," he'd say on the New York side. "I was just trying to make contact there to at least tie the game. Turned out to be a homer."
Turned out to be, indeed.
So, what's Barco do with an event like this?
"Obviously, you don’t want it to happen," he'd say to that, "but just tip your cap to them and get back after it."
Good for him. He'll be stronger for it. Bona fide bright future ahead. And besides, he's the sole reason the game even got to the 12th, having stranded based loaded in the 11th by bringing about a bunch of soft contact for some forceouts at the plate.
"It’s a tough spot on the road, extra innings, coming in, and I think he’ll learn a lot," Don Kelly would say of Barco. "You saw he’s a fierce competitor out there, doesn’t back down, and he found a way to push it to the 11th inning. That’s what we love about him."
Keller's line was obviously strong with three hits, three strikeouts and zero walks in those six scoreless innings. But this came with a stupid component, as well, in that the pride of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, wasn't about to be affected by temps here dipping into the 30s -- "I love it, to be honest," as he'd tell me after this -- while hitters went ice-cold on both sides.
Good for Mitch. He's who he is. I'd fully expected him to bring his best after what befell Paul Skenes in the opener, and he did exactly that.
Taking this further, the way everyone pitched in this one -- also Justin Lawrence, Gregory Soto and Dennis Santana -- was encouraging after that erratic nine-walk opener.
"We have to throw strikes," Kelly would say to that. "It’s something they know, something we were really good at last year, and we’re going to be really good at it this year."
Starting to see what I mean now?
As for the defense:
Any number of plays could be illustrated as examples, but "everyone made really good plays out there," as Keller would put it, none prettier than the one above by Jake Mangum in the sixth to rob Francisco Lindor of extra bases, that Spider-Man climb up the wall sold separately.
Mangum also had two hits, reminding everyone for a night what it's like to have competency in center field. And this, too, isn't a bad thing.
As for the offense ...
(Deep breath here.)
Much as everyone, including the participants themselves, should hate stranding 17 runners and going 2 for 18 at the plate with runners in scoring position, the summer-long math will be oh so very kind to the Pirates if they can replicate having 16 hits/walks on a regular basis. Because they'll be putting people aboard, which is only about 99% of the battle.
And in the same breath, I'll attest that, had Bryan Reynolds won this thing with the body-language-of-the-decade swinging bunt in the 12th ...
... it would've been no less hollow. Because he wasn't being clutch there.
At least I don't think so.
"No, that's what I was trying to do," Reynolds would tell me through a wry smile. "Really."
It's not about clutchiness. It's not about choking. When it comes to stranding so many over such a short span, as countless studies have shown, it's nothing more than dumb luck.
It's stupid.
Sunday's another day. Get a strong start from Carmen Mlodzinski, put 16 more guys on base, and check with me on how that unfolds.
• Thanks for reading my baseball coverage. One more here tomorrow, and then it's down the road for Penguins vs. Islanders the next day in Elmont, N.Y.
THE ASYLUM
DK: Just a stupid kinda loss
I'm sorry, but this was just such a stupid outcome.
What's that mean?
Well, in summation, on this Saturday evening at Citi Field, the Pirates put forth six scoreless innings from Mitch Keller, a follow-up of fine relief, a defensive performance that ranged from fine to fantastic, an offensive output of 12 hits and four walks ... and still lost to the Mets, 4-2, in 12 innings.
No, for real.
Listen, anyone familiar with my coverage of this franchise over the past quarter-century or so can attest I've hardly made my living offering up excuses for the endless failure. In fact, I'm on record for two consecutive years that, quite literally, everyone atop baseball operations should be fired and, in the same motion, the team should be sold.
But this loss ... nah, this was stupid.
Let's begin with the end:
Hunter Barco, the rookie lefty summoned in relief because Oneil Cruz ensured in the opener that the bullpen would be depleted by Game 2, kept his 1-1 slider so far down that it actually dropped out of the strike zone ...
MLB
... but Luis Robert golfed it out anyway for a three-run walkoff.
That, my friends, isn't a misfire, much less a mistake.
I mean, what's the kid supposed to do? Roll it up there?
I asked Barco:
"Executed slider, down and in over the plate" he'd respond. "And he put a really good swing on it."
He couldn't be more correct. See the concrete evidence above.
Heck, Robert himself acknowledged that even the pitch selection surprised him.
"I was looking for a fastball there," he'd say on the New York side. "I was just trying to make contact there to at least tie the game. Turned out to be a homer."
Turned out to be, indeed.
So, what's Barco do with an event like this?
"Obviously, you don’t want it to happen," he'd say to that, "but just tip your cap to them and get back after it."
Good for him. He'll be stronger for it. Bona fide bright future ahead. And besides, he's the sole reason the game even got to the 12th, having stranded based loaded in the 11th by bringing about a bunch of soft contact for some forceouts at the plate.
"It’s a tough spot on the road, extra innings, coming in, and I think he’ll learn a lot," Don Kelly would say of Barco. "You saw he’s a fierce competitor out there, doesn’t back down, and he found a way to push it to the 11th inning. That’s what we love about him."
Keller's line was obviously strong with three hits, three strikeouts and zero walks in those six scoreless innings. But this came with a stupid component, as well, in that the pride of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, wasn't about to be affected by temps here dipping into the 30s -- "I love it, to be honest," as he'd tell me after this -- while hitters went ice-cold on both sides.
Good for Mitch. He's who he is. I'd fully expected him to bring his best after what befell Paul Skenes in the opener, and he did exactly that.
Taking this further, the way everyone pitched in this one -- also Justin Lawrence, Gregory Soto and Dennis Santana -- was encouraging after that erratic nine-walk opener.
"We have to throw strikes," Kelly would say to that. "It’s something they know, something we were really good at last year, and we’re going to be really good at it this year."
Starting to see what I mean now?
As for the defense:
Any number of plays could be illustrated as examples, but "everyone made really good plays out there," as Keller would put it, none prettier than the one above by Jake Mangum in the sixth to rob Francisco Lindor of extra bases, that Spider-Man climb up the wall sold separately.
Mangum also had two hits, reminding everyone for a night what it's like to have competency in center field. And this, too, isn't a bad thing.
As for the offense ...
(Deep breath here.)
Much as everyone, including the participants themselves, should hate stranding 17 runners and going 2 for 18 at the plate with runners in scoring position, the summer-long math will be oh so very kind to the Pirates if they can replicate having 16 hits/walks on a regular basis. Because they'll be putting people aboard, which is only about 99% of the battle.
And in the same breath, I'll attest that, had Bryan Reynolds won this thing with the body-language-of-the-decade swinging bunt in the 12th ...
... it would've been no less hollow. Because he wasn't being clutch there.
At least I don't think so.
"No, that's what I was trying to do," Reynolds would tell me through a wry smile. "Really."
It's not about clutchiness. It's not about choking. When it comes to stranding so many over such a short span, as countless studies have shown, it's nothing more than dumb luck.
It's stupid.
Sunday's another day. Get a strong start from Carmen Mlodzinski, put 16 more guys on base, and check with me on how that unfolds.
• Thanks for reading my baseball coverage. One more here tomorrow, and then it's down the road for Penguins vs. Islanders the next day in Elmont, N.Y.
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