RECAP - Pirates - 5 / Cardinals - 1

"Frank the Tank" and his Unorthodox Style is a
Breath of Fresh Air in today's MLB

Pittsburgh Pirates - 5
St. Louis Cardinals - 1

WP - Francisco Liriano
LP - Miller

Pittsburgh Pirates fans like me were sitting there nervously awaiting the 8:00pm EST hour last night.  Why?  I think everyone was a little nervous about what was going to happen as the Pirates and Cardinals squared off for the 2nd of 3 games.  Would the loss in 14 innings that was spurred by Starling Marte's error in LF linger?  Would Francisco Liriano bounce back from possibly his worst start of his career against the Rockies?  Will the Pirates offense be able to actually produce against a stellar Cardinals pitching staff?  Will the Pirates bull pen be exhausted yet again?  All of these questions remained unanswered, but like I said on Twitter (follow me - @BnGBlitz), only Father Time will be able to give us these answers...and he didn't get Buc Nation down.

To recap the game, the Pirates have been making it a common occurrence for them to jump out to an early lead in hopes that the pitching staff will be able to control that lead for the win.  The Pirates wasted no time going to the long ball as Pedro Alvarez launched a 434 foot BOMB to deep center field.  Follow that up with a Garrett Jones HR and the Pirates had a 2-0 lead that would be plenty for Francisco Liriano.  However, the Pirates bats weren't done there.  Tony Sanchez came through with a big RBI single, and the Starling Marte had a great 2 RBI "hustle" double that finished the Pirates scoring at 5-1.  The Pirates batters, after a frantic top of the first inning, were very patient at the plate.  They worked the count against Miller and forced him to throw pitches 112 pitches in 6 innings of work, and the Pirates roughed him up in those 6 innings, but even putting up 5 runs...the offense wasn't the story.  No, the story was Francisco "Frank the Tank" Liriano.  If you didn't watch the game that was nationally televised on ESPN, you missed a true gem on the mound.  I don't get to watch all the games, but I must say, I've gotten to watch Liriano pitch twice now on TV and its a pleasure every time.  His unorthodox throwing mechanics, his ability to throw any pitch at any time, and his reckless nature is something that is just fun to watch. 

Liriano ended up throwing a complete game (the 3rd for the Pirates this season and the 2nd for Liriano) and almost had a shutout till surrendering a run in the bottom of the 9th inning.  AJ Burnett now gets a chance to rebound from his poor start in Colorado as he takes the mound in the final game of this 3 game set at 1:30 today.  Something that is noteworthy is the hitting of some players on the Pirates' roster.  Andrew McCutchen...well, he is good at baseball.  Another 2-4 night boosts his BA to .316.  Neil Walker continues to stay hot also going 2-4, and Garrett Jones HOPEFULLY is snapping out of his funk as he went 1-3 and scored 2 runs.  This is the Pirates team that can contend.  This is the Pirates team that can win the division.  This is the Pirates team that can make a playoff push.  The only question that remains now, is how do we see THIS team more than the team that went to Denver and got swept by the Rockies?  Only Father Time will deliver that answer...

8/15/13 - Pirates @ Cardinals - 1:45pm - Burnett vs. Lynn - MLB Network
8/16/13 - Pirates vs. Diamondbacks - 7:05pm - Cole vs. McCarthy
8/17/13 - Pirates vs. Diamondbacks - 4:05pm - Locke vs. Cahill - FOX