By Tim Clark / / Column, Tim's Two Cents
Two

Two Pennsylvania rivals met on the diamond at PNC Park in Pittsburgh this past weekend.

Pirates.

Phillies.

Same state. Same league. Same sport.

Totally different directions.

It didn’t start that way. The Phillies got off to such a bad start this season they fired manager Rob Thomson. The Pirates got off to one of their better starts in the past 20 years. Both teams came into the series feeling pretty good about their recent play. The Pirates were 8-4 in their previous 12 games. The Phillies have been even hotter, going 14-4 since Don Mattingly took over as manager.

Three games later these teams have the same record(24-23), but they couldn’t be headed in more opposite directions.

The Phillies are climbing out of that hole they dug themselves. They are still 7 games out of first place, but are positioning themselves for a wildcard at bare minimum. The Pirates, on the other hand, are headed towards their usual spot in the standings. Last place.

The course change for both teams happened around 9:00 Friday night. The Pirates jumped on Aaron Nolan for 6 runs. Even after Braxton Ashcraft gave up a couple runs, the score was 8-3 and the Pirates were looking good. Enter the Pirates beleagured bullpen. Nobody out of the pen went unscathed, turning an 8-3 lead after 6 innings into an 11-9 loss.

Two 6-0 losses and 33 Pirate strikeouts later, and the Phillies look like a playoff team again and the Pirates look like a bottom feeder again.

Phillies going up

Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are a brutal one-two punch for opposing pitchers to deal with. Schwarber is currently on pace to hit one billion home runs. I’m pretty sure his bat is corked. Harper follows Schwarber in the lineup, and he is putting up MVP type numbers of late. This is the production the Phillies paid for when they signed Harper to his huge contract.

Brandon Marsh is hitting .329, Trea Turner is doing better at setting the table, and even though Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott aren’t hitting much, they have combined for 41 RBI.

Cristopher Sanchez is a star on the mound, while Zach Wheeler is Zach Wheeler. The rest of the rotation isn’t great, which could derail the Phillies at some point.

This is a veteran team that you just knew would start to put it together. The three game series in Pittsburgh could propel the Phillies even higher in the standings. This is a team that’s “win now” window is slowly closing, so there was no time to wallow in the slow start. The Phillies are on the rise and playing like expected.

The Pirates are going down

The Pirates added bats in the offseason to go along with a potent starting rotation. Unfortunately, GM Ben Cherington brought in basically the same players. Pop in the bat but suspect defense better suited to DH. He also failed to address a questionable bullpen.

At the risk of beating my favorite dead horse this season, I told you so.

I said as early as spring training that the defense would be dreadful.

 It is all that and more.

Bryan Reynolds gets worse on defense every year. Ryan O’Hearn is an excellent first baseman. Unfortunately he has been forced to play right field. He tries really hard, but is substandard. Now, thanks to playing out of place, he is hurt and out at least a month. O’Neil Cruz is actually getting better —far better— in center field, but lapses still occur. Nick Gonzalez won’t remind Pirates fans of Ke’Bryan Hayes at third base. On the positive flip side, he won’t remind fans of Hayes at the plate either. Last but not least, Brandon Lowe won’t be in the gold glove conversation at second base any time soon.

I told you the Marcel Ozuna signing was a mistake. As below average as Andrew McCutchen has been in his meager 59 at bats in Texas his WAR is still .7 better than Ozuna. Ozuna is older than his age and can’t play defense. Literally. As in you can’t put him on the field to play defense anywhere. It is a totally wasted roster spot.

Lastly, I warned you the bullpen wasn’t going to cut it. Dennis Santana is simply not a closer, yet the Pirates stood pat on finding a closer. They picked up Gregory Soto to add to the back end of the bullpen. In all years but one, Soto was average at best. Rather than me droning on, take a look at the bullpen and where they came from.

 


Not great.

In addition to my “I told you so” list, add these factors in. Bryan Reynolds simply isn’t a good hitter anymore. Henry Davis still can’t hit. Jared Triolo still can’t hit but manager Don Kelly seems to love squeezing him in the lineup. Bubba Chandler rarely finds the strike zone. Jared Jones still isn’t back from injury.

Konnor Griffin is a phenom 20 year old rookie who may just become an honest to goodness phenom. But for now he is going to make some rookie mistakes.

Add all of that up, recall the horror that was the Phillies series, and you get a team trending towards their usual position in the standings.

Recent history tells me the Phillies will be good, and it appears they have finally received that memo.

Recent history tells me the Pirates will be bad, and unfortunately it appears they have finally received that memo.

Two teams.

Same state.

Same sport.

As usual, two different directions.

Tweet of the Week

The Pirates last quality highlight and possibly Marcel Ozuna’s best moment as a Pirate makes the tweet of the week. Hoist the cone.


The Weekly Shiny Penny

Through all of the goofing around and jabs back and forth, these guys always get it right. They did it here once again.

 


A Penny For My Final Thoughts…

Lets go rando this week…

  • Aaron Rai won the PGA Championship, and it turns out he is the nicest guy on tour. So,etimes nice guys don’t finish last.
  • Aronimink in Newton Square, PA, made life miserable for the players. Par was a solid score on any given hole.
  •  Aaron Rodgers is signed, sealed, and still really old. The Steelers look completely lame for letting Rodgers fiddle them around again.
  • Now the question is does Will Howard get cut or do they try to trade Mason Rudolph?
  • I guess the Pistons weren’t quite ready for prime time. Who cares? The NBA is a bad product.
  • The Sixers axed team president Daryl Morey, but as long as they are saddled with Joel Embiid it really doesn’t matter.
  • Hey Big Ten hoops fans, don’t sleep on a revitalized USC team. That roster is officially loaded. Maybe somebody will actually come to watch them play in the Gaken Center. I mean other than fans of the other teams.
  • A 24 team playoff is gaining traction in college football. Such a ridiculously bad idea.
  • Oh, Lane Kiffin. You know you are the douchiest of the douchy when LSU —L-S-U— tells you to shut down your social media. Ironically, this time Kiffin’s was most likely telling the truth.
  • I will end with this one, and it will be my rant this week on my Musings podcast.

 

What in the world are we doing?

Just my two cents…