Pirates Take "Team" To the Next Level

Marlon Byrd & Co Prove That TEAM Is More
Than Just a Slogan...

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a baseball team.  Along with every other MLB team.  However, if you follow this team, you know this team is different.  Sure, they have a superstar in Andrew McCutchen, and budding stars in Starling Marte and Gerrit Cole, but this team doesn't rely on just one player.  Yesterday's NLDS game 3 was the perfect example of the Pirates being the ultimate "team".

Francisco Liriano took the mound, and all of Buc Nation expected another dominating gem.  One thing you've gotten familiar with is that sometimes Liriano doesn't have his 'A' game.  You just hope that his off days don't turn into AJ Burnett outings like Game 1 of the NLDS.  Liriano pitched 6 innings giving up 3 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 5 and walking 2 batters.  Not a bad day at the office, but Liriano struggled to get ahead of batters.  When Liriano falls behind in counts, he becomes very vulnerable when batters know he HAS to throw a strike.  Nonetheless, he was able to get out of the game with "no blood" drawn, and the Pirates should be perfectly comfortable going to the "Shark Tank".  The bullpen picked up the slack and what has turned into a 7,8,9 pitching order of Tony Watson, Mark Melancon, and Jason Grilli came in and were able to keep the Cardinals at bay (no, I didn't forget that Melancon gave up a solo HR to Carlos Beltran).  The bullpen, aided by a very clutch hitting offense, did their job and closed out the game.

Speaking of that offense.  Are these guys something or what?!  You take a look at the lineup, and you don't see many weak spots.  Some complain about Justin Morneau batting cleanup.  The man is getting on base and is hitting .294 this postseason.  He might not have the slugging, RBIs, and power numbers expected in the "clean up" spot, but he is hitting the ball hard and getting on base.  It does help that he has some great protection with McCutchen (who by the way is hitting .538 this postseason) and Marlon Byrd (who is batting .333 this postseason with 5 RBIs) behind him, but to me this team isn't about numbers.  Its about the fact that the Pirates are getting timely hits (some might say clutch) from everyone in their lineup.  Marte and Walker are non existent recently, so Cutch, Byrd, Alvarez, and Martin pick them up.  Andrew McCutchen makes a HUGE base running mistake, and Marlon Byrd and Pedro Alvarez pick him up. This team is getting the job done from all angles, and that is what makes them so dangerous.

The Pirates have been an impressive team in 3 of the 4 postseason games they've played to date.  However, in the playoffs you are only one bad throw, one booted ball, or one dropped "can of corn" away from the class of the series to the trash.  The Pirates can finish off the Cardinals today, and by all means there is NO ONE (besides St. Louis) that wants this series to go back to Busch Stadium.  Charlie Morton takes the bump for the Pirates in the biggest game of his career.  Look for a preview later previewing Game 4 of the NLDS.