Marlins Complete Sweep, Pirates Get Wood.

First things first.  The pirates just got swept by the Marlins.  Hats off to the Marlins for a well played series.  The Pirates, not so much.  Nice to see Pedro get going a little bit.  Hope he keeps it up.

The Pirates have also gone and claimed infielder Brandon Wood off of waivers.  If anything, this should create some competition for Cedeno at short.  Not going to expect too much here, as Wood was the Angels opening day starter last year, and did so well that he was designated for assignment this year.  Good move for the Pirates, in my opinion though.

Series against the Nationals starts tonight.  Time to get some more wins.

Go Bucs.

Muggle Maholm: Bucs Lose

By all accounts, Paul Maholm was not very magical last night.  In fact, he wasn't even ordinary for most of  the game.  Any time you are pulled in the 4th inning as a starter, you know it's not a good day at the office.  Maholm definitely knows it, tweeting, "Obviously not a good game.  I sucked. Now let's move on and take the series."

To be fair, it's not like it would have mattered if Maholm would have come out and only given up 1 run, since the offense couldn't get it going.  Josh Johnson is pretty good, after all.  All in all, it was a fairly ugly game for the Pirates, and I look for them to bounce back with a win tonight.  A series win puts the Bucs back above .500 for the season, which is something to look forward to, even if it's only temporary.

Charlie's Got "Electric Stuff"

If you've followed the Pirates for any length of time in the past couple years, you've probably heard of the fabled "Electric Stuff" possessed by one, Charlie Morton. Due to his seemingly inability to control said, "Electric Stuff", it became kind of a running joke to refer to Charlie's "Electric Stuff" after he just got shelled for 6 or so runs.

Well, so far this season, it seems as though Charlie may finally have harnessed this stuff, and has been using it to dominate opposing hitters. Let's take a look at his stats through his first 3 starts this season:


Those are some pretty impressive numbers for a guy who has been mediocre at best when given the chance to throw in the big leagues.

I realize that it is only 3 starts into the season, but this is a very encouraging sign from Charlie.

Here's to hoping he has finally turned a corner and continues to show off his "Electric Stuff" for the rest of the season. God knows the Pirates could use it.

Boom

I called it. Pirates suck again. Mwahahahah.

Correia Throws No Hitter!..... Through 5

So for the first 5 innings of last night's game, I was thinking, "Man, Correia is throwing the ball really well tonight. What a great pickup this guy was!" Well... The Fat Prince just couldn't let us enjoy the rest of the evening. Things went south after that, and the Brewers didn't look back.

A 6-0 stings, but it stings even worse when the game was going so well and the Pirates just imploded. Credit to Fat, but I see the loss more as a Pirates' implosion than a Brewers win. Oh well, it's in the past now, and the Pirates are officially under .500.

Now we get to play the fun game of "Will the Pirates get back to .500 this year. I'm going to guess yes, still too early to say they won't get back to .500, but it's not fun. So welcome back to earth, Pirates. Here's hoping this year won't be as bad as last.

The Ace Takes Flight

Kevin Correia is 2-0, with a 1.29 ERA. I bet that he loses tonight. That's all that I have to say.

Pessimism FTW!

Ah...here it goes.

Well, well, well. If the old Pirates haven't begun their usual exercise in futility. In truth, I am so used to watching losing baseball that I was beginning to become uncomfortable with a winning record; I am glad my Buccos could accommodate me. Seriously though, what the fuck. It is like someone reminded the locker room that they should be a shitty team on record, or that they were winning accidentally until they found their stride. Our beloved Buccos sit at 5-5. I cannot say that I am disappointed; after all, they are exactly on pace for the 81-81 that I so desperately want. The only problem is that this would require a team of misfits to go .500 the rest of the way. If I were a betting man...well, let's say that the odds of getting hit by lightning and landing on Jimmy Hoffa are probably about the same as the Pirates winning as many games as they lose from here on out.

I realize that this blog was supposed to represent unyielding (and often foolish) optimism. To that I say "Fuck that." I am a realist. There is no chance in hell that the Pirates go .500. Any thoughts to the contrary are simply unrealistic pipe dreams. From this point forward (I probably could make this statement retroactive) I will be the resident pessimist on the Pie Trainers team. I will seek to curmudgeon any pleasant thoughts and hope. You have been warned.