Series: Pirates vs. Tigers & Braves, PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA
TV, radio: Root Sports, WPGB-FM (104.7).
Facts/Reaction: Because I will be leaving for the Bahamas on Saturday morning I am going to try to preview the entire upcoming homestand in one entry. I haven't done a traditional entry for about a week and for that I am sorry. However, with the Pirates getting swept in Milwaukee (surprising, I know) and having one of their games rained out in Washington, I guess a traditional blog post isn't exactly what was needed.
Pitching Probables:
Friday, May 20 - Jeff Karstens (2-2, 3.19 ERA) vs. Brad Penny (4-3, 3.88 ERA)
Saturday, May 21 - Kevin Correia (5-4, 3.97 ERA) vs. Max Scherzer (6-0, 2.81 ERA)
Sunday, May 22 - Paul Maholm (1-6, 3.67 ERA) vs. Rick Porcello (3-2, 3.67 ERA)
Tuesday, May 24 - Charlie Morton (5-1, 2.62 ERA) vs. Jair Jurrjens (5-1, 1.80 ERA)
Wednesday, May 25 - James McDonald (3-3, 5.51 ERA) vs. Tim Hudson (4-3, 3.03 ERA)
Stats and Matchup: The Pirates begin the home stand with interleague play as the Detroit Tigers come into town. Detroit is currently a game over .500 and has been playing much better as of late, winning 10 of their last 14. It is always good to see the Tigers come into town since their entire coaching staff have connections to the Pirates. Jim Leyland, Gene Lamont, Lloyd McClenden and my personal favorite Andy Van Slyke round out their Pittsburgh biased staff. In addition to some good coaching the Buccos will also see some pretty good starting pitchers throughout the series, led by AL wins leader Max Scherzer (who is on my fantasy team). As you probably know, it doesn't matter who the Pirates play in interleague, they just flat out stink. Since interleague play began, the Pirates have the worst record of any team in Major League Baseball. Obviously a stat like that and the fact that the Tigers are a hot team right now does not bode well for your Pittsburgh Baseball Club.
In addition to the Tigers visiting PNC Park this week, the Buccos will also face off against the Atlanta Braves. The Braves enter the series with the Pirates with the best pitching staff in Major League baseball. The Braves staff is 2nd in ERA at 2.91, 3rd in quality starts with 29 and 1st in WHIP and batting average against with numbers of 1.10 and .221 respectively. During the series the Pirates will fortunately miss Derek Lowe and Tommy Hanson (who is also on my fantasy team) who are both having solid years. However, the Pirates will face Tim Hudson and Jair Jurrjens which won't make things any easier. The marquee matchup of the series has to be Tuesday night's contest when Charlie Morton will take the bump against Jair Jurrjens. Both Morton and Jurrjens are 5-1 with sub 3.00 ERA's (Jurrjens is under 2.00). This game should be low scoring and one would have to believe that it may just come down to which team can score on the other teams bullpen since neither of the starters will yield many runs.
Prediction: The Pirates look to continue their winning ways after sweeping the Reds in a 2 game series during the week in Cincinnati. Taking into account the Pirates utter lack of success in interleague play and Detroit's recent success, I think the Pirates will only be able to win 1 of the 3 games against the Tigers. In addition, neither of the matchups against the Braves really favor the Pirates since our best pitcher will be opposed by the Braves best pitcher. So I think that it looks like a 2-3 homestand is right about where the Pirates should fall. Obviously, anytime that you play sub .500 baseball at home there is reason for concern, but this is the Pirates and their upcoming opponents are 2 strong ball clubs who currently have more talent and experience than this year's Buccos. In the end, that is what will keep the Pirates a team who is looking up at a .500 record.
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