Pirates Keep Finding Ways to Lose Winnable Games

0:00This is Belie, one network, every topic, everywhere. So yesterday's show, I opened with the Bill Cower quote of, so what if we want ugly? Well, the pirates lost ugly on Wednesday night. And if you want to keep looking at postseason odds, go for it. I'm not going to stop you, but that was another indicator of just how this team isn't there. Good morning. Welcome to Offbeat. You're on North Shore 9, presented by Fandall. My name is Alex Dump, and this is a daily look at your Pittsburgh pirates who let a winnable game slip through their fingers. Yet again, there are a lot of ways that could have turned out differently.

1:03Maybe if Jacob Gonzalez's fly ball traveled two feet further, and that's a walkoff homer. Maybe if Brian Reynolds lined dry with two outs in the ninth was two feet shorter. And it drops in for a single instead of a sliding catch. Maybe if they let Carmen Maginski go out for a fourth inning. Carmen Maginski was outstanding. That was the best he's looked in a month, not just because it was three perfect innings, but the way he was falling off the mound, where he was locating his pitches, he was hitting the glove. He looked great. And I will admit, I raised an eyebrow whenever I saw Camilla DeVal go out in the tenth inning. I asked on Kelly about a post game, and he brought up that they basically use Carmen in three inning rolls lately. They liked the DeVal matchup. They went to him. Then pan out.

2:06He allows two runs in the tenth. The pirates end up losing in 10, 5 to 4. After the game, Carmen Maginski was asked if he could have pitched a fourth inning. And he said, quote, probably if needed, I think just based off the rest I had from that last outing going 3.1, I think it was Saturday. I think probably asking for there might have been a little bit too much, but probably could have gone one more just with how efficient I was. End quote. He probably, I think he probably could have gone a fourth. I don't know if it would have been another 1, 2, 3 inning. It's tougher and herring a runner on base. That's something that, you know, a traditional reliever is more used to. There are long list of reasons I get that. I also say it shouldn't have gotten to that point.

3:09There are so many little moments in that game. Only getting one run in whenever you have second and third and only one out. A run coming in whenever O'Neill Cruz loses a ball in the twilight. That ball in the right center where he and his Merlin Valdes don't really communicate. You want to see your center field or just take charge on that play. And he didn't and it, I mean, this is just my vantage point. It looked like Valdez was playing the ball instead of playing back up there. And maybe if he was just playing back up, Cruz catches it, but I think Valdez is going after that ball because it wasn't clear that it was Cruz's ball. There are a lot of little small moments like that that define that game and it's those little small moments that define a team that is 68 and 72.

4:11And is five and a half games out of a wild card could have been four and a half had they won. And I really feel it's not serious postseason contention in my opinion if you're winning percentage starts with a four. It needs to start with a five or six. And there's just so little time left for the pirates to make up ground. Every one of these games is valuable if they want to become serious contenders. Their postseason odds have been 1% 2% for weeks now. 1% 2% I call it the milk range because the playoff odds are skim. They need to win games like this.

5:13That's September schedule. We've looked at it for a while. It's not that daunting. There's that road trip in Chicago. You know that seven game or I get it. That'll be tough. But like they're winnable games here. This is a quality team with Rafael Devers. And Devers is homering back to back nights off of the starting picture. This seems very preventable. This seemed winnable. And there have been so many times this year where I have sat here in section 32 and talked about how that was a winnable game. And losing those games is the difference between being four games below 500 or maybe four games above 500. But that four game swing would mean where they would be in that postseason spot. Where they'd be able to realize that goal of the postseason period full stop.

6:13I really don't know how much to say about what's left to say about this club anymore. They're just not there. Because if they were there, we would have seen it. This team is not won three straight series all year. And they've got a rubber match against an NL bottom dweller on Thursday. And they're going to be throwing another bullpen game without their best longer lever. Yeah, they can win it. Yeah, they could win a third straight series. They're in a position where they have to rack up wins fast. And every time you let a game like this go, you have to make it up with two wins. And there's just not a lot of calendar left to do that. We're going to pause here for a little bit. I want to give a shout out to today's sponsor, Lorinco.

7:17We all know nicotine patches are popular. And part of it isn't so much the nicotine as it is the routine. Lorin just launched a pouch that keeps the routine believes the nicotine out. Lorinco pouches swap out the nicotine and give you clean focus and support your enamel the whole time they're in. It looks like the pouches you've seen before. Tuck one in and go about your day. Each pouch has 50 milligrams of caffeine, basically a half cup of coffee, plus three, plus, alpha, theanine, and alpha gPC for a smooth steady focus with no energy crash. It gives your teeth daily enamel support in between brushes too. It comes in mint, cinnamon, and mango, and it's nicotine free always. It's doing something good for your teeth and it gives you smooth energy and focus without those jitters. Every other pouch out there makes you pick between something that helps you focus and something that's actually good for your teeth. This is the only one designed to do both. And it comes from a brand that's leading the way at supporting your oral health.

8:20Give Lorin a try. Right now, Lorinco is offering our listeners up to 50% off at bilorin.com slash norshore. That's bilorin.laarion.com slash norshore for up to 50% off. I didn't hate the decision to go to deval for a couple of reasons, like the runner on second base shore. That's tougher. That's what you have traditional relievers for. And we talked in a podcast earlier this week. You have to find out if he has the juice. If he has the sauce, if he could actually be part of this bullpen in 2027 because he ain't going to come cheap. He's at 6.1 million in salary this year. He's going to get a raise off of that even after a pretty pedestrian year.

9:20It's a big spot. What do you do? He was immediately given a free out with a sacrifice fund to move the manfrid runner up to third base. And he just didn't execute. He wasn't hitting his spots. Balls are being hit hard. It's one of those outings where it's like, what is your role here? I know people are going to clamor for Mason Montgomery and Luke Weaver, but they had pitched three out of four. They can't pitch every single day. At some point you have to look at your B team and be like, win it. Help this club win. That's why they traded for you. And it didn't come to fruition. On the offense, find ways to win. Find ways to get that one extra hit.

10:23Didn't happen. Make a play. It just comes down to a team that has as much talent as we've seen in recent Pirates history. And it hasn't resulted in anything. I don't know what the rest of this season holds. There are still 22 games left. It's not out of the row of possibility that the Pirates could rattle off. Some sort of win streak. But they haven't done it all year. And at some point, this is the analytics guy saying this, at some point, you are what the back of the baseball card says you are. And all year we have seen a team that has been with an arms length of 500 one way or the other. Maybe they could finish on the right side of 500.

11:26You know, with this lighter September schedule. But that was an ugly game. And I know people are starving, you know, just to make this some sort of postseason hopes. They just want a reason to believe in this club. They want to believe you got to believe. No, right now, the performance they had on the field. I think is more indicative of what this club is. The NL doesn't have a clear sixth postseason team. But I think it will eventually go to the Padres just because they find ways to win games like this. They don't throw away series against bad teams. We said before this last road trip, how if there is any hope they have to show now. They have to rev up now and they are five and six since then.

12:30That's not a September stretch run. This is a team that has talent, has players, but has underachieved drastically. And it's not just one bullpen decision that decides a game like this. It's a thousand little paper cuts. That has been the case over and over and over again. Maybe it went on Thursday changes, some things. That would be three straight series wins. You get a bottom feeder in the Angels, America's team coming to town. Sweep them. They are 500, go into Chicago. It's not out of the realm of possibility, but it just, it's the milk range. One or two percent is not serious.

13:30And it's unfortunate that it's been a decade since they've even been playing in that milk range in September. This is a game they needed to win. And I'm not going to declare a season over or anything like that because I think you have to be a 500 club to have the season declared over. And they have their four games under right now. Period full stop. Thank you so much for listening to Offbeat here on North Shore 9 presented by Fandall. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe wherever you find podcasts or check us out on YouTube to see my smiley face. Thank you so much for listening. We'll talk again tomorrow. All right, that wraps up this episode of North Shore 9. Thanks so much for tuning in whether you're listening on the podcast or catching us on YouTube. If you enjoyed the show, please give this video a thumbs up and don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you haven't already.

14:31It really helps us grow. And if you're listening on the podcast, a quick review goes a long way in helping others find the show. Plus, be sure to tell a friend about us. There's always room for more here in the NS9 community. And for those looking to support us a little more, consider joining our Patreon. Become an MVP member and get exclusive perks while helping us continue to bring you more of the pirates content you love. Thanks again for all your support and let's go bucks. Pittsburgh Sports Fans, it's Tim Benz reminding you that the Breakfast of Benz podcast is now available on the believe platform.

15:32It's new to believe, but certainly not to Pittsburgh sports. I'm bringing my 25 years of Pittsburgh broadcasting and running experience to believe with breakfast and Benz podcasts at Trip Live. You'll get opinions, insight, analysis predictions, guest interviews and more Steelers, penguins, pirates, local college sports and more money through Friday at breakfast, Benz. Download, listen and subscribe today available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and wherever you get your podcast.