The Pittsburgh Pirates have exceeded many people's expectations thus far into the season. Aside from a few that still remain optimistic after 15-straight years of losing, this season has been a big surprise for many.
Recent events bring up questions on whether this team will continue to exceed those expectations or will they fall back into the depths of last place?
With the recent injuries to both the disappointing Ian Snell and the surprising Phil Dumatrait, two starters in the five-man rotation have gone down in the past two days.
This could spell disaster for the Bucs as they desperately hold on in inter-league play. With games coming up against the surging Yankees and the exciting Rays, things look bleak for the Pirates.
They are a meager 36-40 and 12 games back within the NL Central. If you want that spelled out it essentially spells, “No Playoffs”.
People laugh at the fact that the fans or organization may be thinking that but, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility the way they were playing well and with the hopes of that young pitching staff.
Though with the worst ERA in MLB and two starters going down in two days, this spells disaster for the Pirates who will have to turn to the unproven pitchers that will be brought up to try and salvage a mediocre season.
John Van Benschoten and Ty Taubenheim are on top of the list to fill in for Snell and replace Dumatrait, which does not bode well for the Pirates.
Van Benschoten has made a few major league appearances in his career, all of which has been nothing but a miserable experience for him and fans alike.
He has shown that he can get hitters out with his above average fastball in the minors but, against major league hitters is a different story. Even though Snell is not going on the DL and has had a bad season, most would rather have Snell out there.
Dumatrait is eligible to come off the DL as soon as he can, which should be when they travel to Milwaukee. Hopefully the rest will restore Dumatrait as endurance issues has always been a concern.
The Pirates seemed doomed heading into the interleague stretch with or without their pitching in order.
The best series to take advantage of this interleague play was against Baltimore and Chicago.
They in essence squandered three games away in Baltimore by giving up three leads. One was the starter and the other two were the closer. Losing two out of three against Baltimore was not what the team was looking for.
Going into the series against the White Sox they were hopefully going to turn things around against a team that was struggling to hit the ball. The Sox have lost five in a row heading into the set with the Pirates but fixed that quickly against a vulnerable pitching staff.
The Pirates were left watching run-after-run be scored against the pitching staff as they got swept.
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