Pirates and Hurdle Played Russian Roulette and Lost

This exchange happened about 4 batters too late...

"Buc Nation" was ready at 5:07.  They were ready to see their Pirates take the field, and to pick up right where they left off the last time they stepped on a baseball diamond against the Reds on Tuesday night.  They were ready to see one of their staff "aces" take the mound with the swagger that only he has, and tell the Cardinals to "Sit the F--K Down!".  Oh, we were ready.  We were ready for a win and to keep this huge ball of momentum rolling.  What we got in return was pretty far from what we all expected, and that's putting it mildly.  At this point, if you follow the Pirates you know how this thing ended yesterday.  No need to re-open that wound over and over again.  What I wanted to focus on were a couple things that stood out to me throughout this game.

Although this loss was bad, it was only one game.  The Pirates have gotten shelled before and have come back stronger afterwards.  Nothing like a 9-1 beat down to give you a wake up call.  Not only was it a wake up call, but it was experience.  You have to remember that a lot of these Pirates players are NOT experienced when it comes to the postseason, not experienced on the road in the postseason, and are not used to seeing anything other than Johnny Cueto's batting practice (BP) fastball being thrown center cut.  Instead, the Pirates experienced Adam Wainwright at his best.  Wainwright took a page from Francisco Liriano's playbook and masterfully used his offspeed pitches to set up his fastball.  The Pirates batters were guessing all day, and only mustered 4 hits.  If it weren't for Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez, we could have witnessed a playoff no hitter. 

Another aspect to think about is that it is just one game.  Sure, its the best of 5, but the Pirates are no longer in a "win and you continue, lose and you go home" scenario.  They are in a best of 5 series that will be decided not by just one game, but by the team that makes the adjustments necessary to win.  Speaking of adjustments, I can't NOT mention the fact that Clint Hurdle completely mis-managed the situation with AJ Burnett yesterday.  If you were on Twitter like I was, then you saw everyone in the 3rd inning asking the same question.  "How long will AJ's leash be?"  "Why isn't anyone in the bull pen warming up?"  "What is Hurdle doing?"  "Is Hurdle drunk?", okay that last one was mine.  Still, the Pirates were let down in a big way by their manager yesterday.  This is the playoffs, not mid May where you have to think about how a long bull pen session will hurt your 'pen.  Why save them?  You need to win these games to continue your season.  When Burnett walked Wainwright, that was a red flag.  Then he allowed a hit, followed by a 3 run HR.  It was at this point that the Pirates bull pen should have been activated and someone getting ready.  Instead, AJ gives up a double plunks a batter, walks another, and eventually walks in a run.  It wasn't until then that the 'pen was called.  Situations like these can make or break a series, and Clint Hurdle gambled, and lost big time.  Hurdle showed faith in his pitcher, I get that, but at the same token you have to be cognizant of when enough is enough.  Plain and simple.

So now what?  Well at 1:07pm (EST) the Pirates throw a rookie on the mound hoping for a win.  An almost "must win" game if you ask me.  If the Pirates lose today and go limping back to PNC Park down 0-2, it would be extremely difficult to picture the team winning 3 in a row to take the series.  I don't think anyone (myself included) thought the Pirates would win the first 3 and go onto the NLCS.  No way.  So they lost game 1, lets not push the panic button yet.  If the Pirates lost game 2...its time.  Lets hope it doesn't come to that, and the Pirates will be giving the ball to Francisco Liriano back at PNC Park on Sunday with the series tied 1-1.