Game 56, 2014

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Pirates at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

So what does Josh Beckett (3-1, 2.43 ERA) do for an encore? Pull a VanderMeer? It seems unlikely, but yaneverknow. His opponent will be Francisco Liriano, who’s 0-5 with a 5.06 ERA. That’s disconcerting to the Pirates since he had a 16-8 record with a 3.02 ERA last year. Oddly, Drew Butera caught Beckett’s no-hitter last week and he caught Liriano’s no-hitter when they were with the Twins in 2011.

Adrian Gonzalez gets the night off and Van Slyke plays first for him.

36 thoughts on “Game 56, 2014”

  1. The turnaround had better happen soon. I’m developing habits only old Yankees fans have. I mutter things like “We’re not payin’ you $15 Mil a year to strike out, you bum.”

    • Reminds me of my youth in Brooklyn, although the most Duke Snider ever made was “$47,000 and a Cadillac.” He was my boyhood hero.

  2. Perspective department: At the conclusion of play last May 30, we were 7 1/2 back and eight games under .500. We are now 7 1/2 games back and two games above .500. The Giants will eventually slow down and we will pick up our game. I think.

    • Wasn’t it about now when Jon shared the famous “Waffle” dream/theory? I remember my “waffle” was just reaching .500 — that’s how bad they were then.

      Thank goodness for that 7-1 run vs. AZ this year . . . or the records would be closer and the deficit worse.

      • My waffle was 86 wins, as I recall, but that wouldn’t have allowed us to advance last year. To achieve that now, they would have to go 57-49 (.538) from here on out. Doable, and might be enough to advance against underachieving Cards and Nats and overachieving Marlins and Rockies. 90 wins, which would have allowed us to advance last year, would require .575 ball. Unlikely that we have a 42- streak in us, but such heroics don’t seem necessary at this point, at least.

  4. Unfortunately, Federowicz, batting .104, as our last opportunity defines our remarkably weak bench. We miss Punto, Schumaker and Hairston (at least the first half of his 2013) a great deal.

      • I agree with you on the first two, but Ellis stopped hitting at the end of July last year. He hasn’t hit this year, but I realize he has been plagued by injuries.

  10. “Quality start.”
    Shutout bullpen.
    Anemic offense . . . SOP, unfortunately.

        • Like the first couple of months last season, we are fading in the West. But do we have something like a 42-8 run, as we did last year, in the tank?

          • In theory, I believe yes: A-gon was about the only good hitter last year until Puig came, then Hanley came off the DL.

            This year, Dee and Puig are the good ones and while A-gon started well, he’s fallen off . . . Andre hasn’t been as bad as the others, but Kemp and Hanley are just about MIA. If A-gon, HanRam, and the Bison can live up to their potential, then yes.

            But how do they do that? If they are hurting, get them healed, so a run CAN be made — better to fall back a bit while they’re out temporarily than continue at this pace. If it’s not physical, hopefully SOMEone can flip the needed switch.

  14. Hanley hasn’t been K-ing that much, until tonight, but little power and a babip of .185 over the past two weeks.

    • Purely anecdotally, I cannot recall another season in which an ostensibly strong Dodger offense was so out of synch.

  19. We had better start winning with some regularity because the Giants are showing no signs of slacking off. They lead the Cardinals tonight, 5-0, after an inning and a half.

    • The Gnats will eventually find their level, but might still finish above .500.