Know Your Foe #9: Pirates Make Their Way to the Rockies; Likely Won't Find Buried Treasure

by Bryan Kilpatrick on Apr 29, 2011 10:45 AM MDT in Know Your Foe

Pittsburgh Pirates (11-14, 4th in the NL Central)

2011 Record vs. Colorado: 1-3

Last Series vs. Rockies: April 7-10, 2011 (L 1-3 at PNC Park)

The Pirates were able to steal a victory from the Rockies in the second game of the series, pretty much entirely because of Jose Tabata. First, he ended a pretty long string of dominance by Jorge De La Rosa by blasting a home run to centerfield. Then, he doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the 14th. Despite racking up five hits (including a couple of homers), Tabata and the Pirates couldn't stop the Rockies from taking the other three games. No other Pirate had more than three hits in the series - though the two catchers, Ryan Doumit and Jason Jaramillo (who is no longer with the big league club), combined for six.

On the mound, the Pirates weren't all that effective aside from a very strong relief effort by now-starter Jeff Karstens, who went 3.1 scoreless innings in game two in relief of Ross Ohlendorf, who left in the third inning with an injury. Karstens struck out five batters (although he did allow five baserunners). I'm sure the Rockies and their fans are thrilled they won't likely see him in the upcoming series - on the mound and in general. In the finale, the Rox were finally able to get to James McDonald (five runs on six hits and three walks in 6.2 innings), who had experienced tremendous success against them prior to then.

Latest Series Results: W 2-1 vs. Washington, L 1-2 vs. San Francisco

Neil Walker has hit the ball very well over the past couple of series (11 for his last 24 at the plate), but just about everybody else on the team has been colder than a witch's you-know-what. Still, don't sleep on Andrew McCutchen (who I'd like to see wait a few days before inevitably figuring things out) or Jose Tabata (.976 career OPS vs. Colorado).

Even with the struggling offense, the Bucs have held serve over the past week due to strong pitching (2.29 combined ERA). That may change this weekend, however, as their staff has a tendency to walk a lot of batters and, outside of McDonald, are mostly pitch-to-contact guys. There are some good arms in the bullpen, though, with Joel Hanrahan, Chris Resop and especially Jose Veras (14.4 K/9) all posting above-average strikeout rates in a fairly significant amount of work.

See what the Pirates' SBN community, Bucs Dugout, has to say about the upcoming series.

Pitching matchups and other pertinent information after the jump...

Friday through Sunday: 3-game series at Coors Field

Expected Pitching Matchups

Friday, April 29, 2011 @ 6:40 PM MT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2011 - Kevin Correia	3-2	6	5	1	0	0	0	33.2	32	17	13	4	8	14	3.48	1.19

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2011 - Jhoulys Chacin	3-1	4	4	1	1	0	0	27.0	25	9	8	2	9	18	2.67	1.26

Saturday, April 30, 2011 @ 6:10 PM MT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2011 - Paul Maholm	1-3	5	5	0	0	0	0	30.0	28	15	13	1	10	22	3.90	1.27

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2011 - Jason Hammel	2-1	4	4	0	0	0	0	23.2	26	12	10	3	6	14	3.80	1.35

Sunday, May 1, 2011 @ 1:10 PM MT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2011 - Charlie Morton	2-1	5	5	1	0	0	0	33.0	27	12	11	2	18	18	3.00	1.36

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2011 - Ubaldo Jimenez	0-1	3	3	0	0	0	0	16.0	14	13	12	3	7	14	6.75	1.31

Expected Lineup

Player	Pos	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+	HR	RBI
Andrew McCutchen	CF	.202	.317	.348	.298	82	3	10
Jose Tabata	LF	.255	.349	.404	.353	118	3	6
Lyle Overbay	1B	.244	.337	.337	.309	89	1	11
Neil Walker	2B	.305	.377	.463	.375	132	3	14
Garrett Jones	RF	.250	.375	.467	.373	131	4	6
Chris Snyder	C	.323	.371	.387	.337	108	0	8
Pedro Alvarez	3B	.202	.264	.286	.254	54	1	7
Brandon Wood	SS	.160	.222	.240	.194	18	0	2

Bench

Player	Pos	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+	HR	RBI
Ryan Doumit	C	.255	.300	.383	.293	79	1	5
Ronny Cedeno	SS	.179	.216	.224	.184	9	0	6
Steve Pearce	Util	.292	.346	.333	.309	90	0	2
Matt Diaz	OF	.222	.255	.267	.242	46	0	4
Xavier Paul	OF	.250	.250	.250	.223	42	0	0

Closer

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2011 - Joel Hanrahan	0-1	12	0	0	0	7	0	13.0	14	4	3	0	4	11	2.08	1.38

Injuries

Pittsburgh Pirates Injuries

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Jose Ascanio	elbow	03/22/2011
Ross Ohlendorf	shoulder	04/09/2011
Brad Lincoln	forearm	03/22/2011

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Scott Olsen	shoulder	03/22/2011
Kevin Hart	shoulder	03/18/2011

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Comments

I can't believe Charlie Morton only has an ERA of 3.00 with that walk rate

I wasn't alive during the dead ball era; but thanks to the Padres, I know what baseball was like back then.

by RhodeIslandRoxfan on Apr 29, 2011 10:57 AM MDT reply actions

That will change soon enough.

Just an average guy with exceptional hair. Nothing more, nothing less.
Bear Naked - My thoughts on sports, music, and life.

by Bryan Kilpatrick on Apr 29, 2011 11:09 AM MDT up reply actions

I rather like the job he's done.

All things considered.

"Why are they outlawin' the spit pitch? The curveball is a cheap 'n easy pitch; the spitter aint" Ty Cobb
"When I was pitching 90's in the seventies; I never thought I'd be pitching 70's in the nineties!" Frank Tanana

by Oldfoagie on Apr 29, 2011 11:11 AM MDT up reply actions

It sure helps to have a 68% ground ball rate

But still, that will go up

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

by Andrew T. Fisher on Apr 29, 2011 11:54 AM MDT up reply actions

He does have some really good infield support.

Our Starting Rotation >>> Your Starting Rotation

by Thnikkaman on Apr 29, 2011 2:01 PM MDT up reply actions

His stuff is filthy.

@CentralCaliRox

by CentralCaliRox on Apr 29, 2011 3:22 PM MDT up reply actions

I can't believe McCutchen is hiiting .202

by Oldfoagie on Apr 29, 2011 11:13 AM MDT reply actions

Gorillakilla34 at Bucs Dugout wrote about this.

I wasn't alive during the dead ball era; but thanks to the Padres, I know what baseball was like back then.

by RhodeIslandRoxfan on Apr 29, 2011 12:30 PM MDT up reply actions

I...can't believe we're likely in for a snow-out tomorrow night?

by Chrysicat on Apr 29, 2011 11:31 AM MDT reply actions

and Sunday isn't looking much better...

Some magicians can walk on water. Joe Sakic can swim through land.
Todd Helton was once bitten by a rattle snake... After 3 days of pain and suffering... The snake died.

by Lost Winter on Apr 29, 2011 11:55 AM MDT up reply actions

It's going to be light though. This is not a big system.

Weather will be bad for both the players and the fans (cold and damp) but I bet they get these games in.

I wasn't alive during the dead ball era; but thanks to the Padres, I know what baseball was like back then.

by RhodeIslandRoxfan on Apr 29, 2011 12:33 PM MDT up reply actions

were already what? 2 Games behind everyone else? One with Cubs and 1 with D-Backs?

by Roxman4ever on Apr 29, 2011 12:35 PM MDT up reply actions

Well all teams have played between 23 and 26 games (Marlins and Rockies are the only two to have only played 23)

We have the two games you mention to make up because of rain/snow outs but we also had a game against the Mets rained out that has already been made up as well.

I wasn't alive during the dead ball era; but thanks to the Padres, I know what baseball was like back then.

by RhodeIslandRoxfan on Apr 29, 2011 12:57 PM MDT up reply actions

I knew about the double dip with the Mets. That was a good day to be a Rockies fan. Tulo showed them what they can't have.

by Roxman4ever on Apr 29, 2011 1:13 PM MDT up reply actions

I learned a new phrase this week.

“no jinx no jinx no jinx”

But there are more things in heaven and earth, ~~Horatio~~ Ubaldo,
than are dreamt of in your ~~philosophy~~ FIP.

I ~~cannot~~ will not argue with two out of three.
Ergo…

Nomadic baseball fan, with no agenda other than observation/conversation/mass confusion/mass consumption.

Prosecutor: "Jesus Christ, did ANYBODY tell the truth to the grand jury?"
Barry Bonds: "I did."
Prosecutor: "GAH!"

by victor frankenstein on Apr 29, 2011 2:13 PM MDT reply actions

hahaha pretty funny.

@CentralCaliRox

by CentralCaliRox on Apr 29, 2011 3:23 PM MDT up reply actions

You have to hand it to the Pirate faithful.

The Giants are playing terrible baseball.
But it is not the terriblest baseball.
Can I say that, “terriblest”? Apparently so!

Nomadic baseball fan, with no agenda other than observation/conversation/mass confusion/mass consumption.

Prosecutor: "Jesus Christ, did ANYBODY tell the truth to the grand jury?"
Barry Bonds: "I did."
Prosecutor: "GAH!"

by victor frankenstein on Apr 29, 2011 3:30 PM MDT up reply actions

This Series

Is one that I think will show a lot about the current Rockies. A team that is struggling overall and really has a dearth of talent coming into Coors. Two of our three starters struggled in their most recent start. Injury to a “starter” right before the series for the Rockies.

All of this in past years (outside of our amazing runs) would make me worry. As it is, I am buying it. This team doesn’t do that anymore. We win when we should. If we do lose it is either 1. A very good opposing starter or 2. A tough fought game we still have chances to win throughout.

If this is the way that this team is then a home series against this level of competition should be 2 wins with a legit shot at a sweep. I know if we go into Sunday with a chance at a sweep I feel good with what Ubaldo has shown the last two starts. Now, DO IT ROCKIES!

I want to say how awesome a particular Rockies player is and that he will be the MVP, but the last time I mentioned it in my sig he went out with an injury, so, GO PLAYER WHO IS SO AWESOME!

by Arimaris on Apr 29, 2011 3:57 PM MDT reply actions