More Tough Matchups On The Horizon

The Pirates have scored 11 runs in six games. An average of 1.83 runs/game. The team batting average is .199. What do you expect when a team of average (at best) bats faces some of the best pitchers in the league? Here are the opponents’ starting pitchers for the Pirates’ first twelve games.

vs. Roy Halladay, 1-0 L

vs. Cliff Lee, 2-1 W

vs. Vance Worley, 5-4 W

vs. Clayton Kershaw, 2-1 L

vs. Chad Billingsley, 4-1 L

vs. Chris Capuano, 3-2 L

vs. Matt Cain

vs. Barry Zito

vs. Ryan Vogelsong

vs. Joe Saunders

vs. Ian Kennedy
vs. Daniel Hudson (*not announced yet, my projection.)

And here are the results of last year’s NL Cy Young award voting (from baseball reference):

Rank		Tm	Vote Pts	1st Place	Share	WAR	W	L	ERA	SV	IP	ER	BB	SO	WHIP
1	Clayton Kershaw	LAD	207.0	27.0	92%	7.0	21	5	2.28	0	233.1	59	54	248	0.977
2	Roy Halladay	PHI	133.0	4.0	59%	7.4	19	6	2.35	0	233.2	61	35	220	1.040
3	Cliff Lee	PHI	90.0	0.0	40%	6.9	17	8	2.40	0	232.2	62	42	238	1.027
4	Ian Kennedy	ARI	76.0	1.0	34%	5.5	21	4	2.88	0	222.0	71	55	198	1.086
5	Cole Hamels	PHI	17.0	0.0	8%	5.4	14	9	2.79	0	216.0	67	44	194	0.986
6	Tim Lincecum	SFG	7.0	0.0	3%	4.4	13	14	2.74	0	217.0	66	86	220	1.207
7	Yovani Gallardo	MIL	5.0	0.0	2%	2.7	17	10	3.52	0	207.1	81	59	207	1.215
8	Matt Cain	SFG	3.0	0.0	1%	3.9	12	11	2.88	0	221.2	71	63	179	1.083
9	John Axford	MIL	2.0	0.0	1%	2.7	2	2	1.95	46	73.2	16	25	86	1.140
9	Craig Kimbrel	ATL	2.0	0.0	1%	3.0	4	3	2.10	46	77.0	18	32	127	1.039
11	Madison Bumgarner	SFG	1.0	0.0	0%	2.8	13	13	3.21	0	204.2	73	46	191	1.212
11	Ryan Vogelsong	SFG	1.0	0.0	0%	3.7	13	7	2.71	0	179.2	54	61	139	1.252

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/11/2012.

The Pirates face six of the ten starting pitchers to get votes as the best pitcher in the National League last year. When does it get easier? Matt Cain‘s one of the best pitchers in the league, Daniel Hudson has nasty stuff. Ian Kennedy broke out in a big way. Last year Ryan Vogelsong struck out 8 in 5.2 innings against the Pirates in the first start of his comeback year. The much-maligned Barry Zito threw a complete game shutout in Colorado in his  last start. Joe Saunders threw seven shutout innings in his first start of the year.

Seriously, the Pirates could easilty be looking at a 4-8 record when this stretch is over. If they want to be better, then:

1) Their own pitching needs to keep up the good work. Allowing only 2.5 runs/game has kept the Pirates in every game so far.
2) The bats need to find a way to string some hits together. Also, take some more walks. You can be selective while still being aggressive. Seven walks in six games is woeful.

Let’s hope they pick it up this weekend in San Francisco. The Pirates starters are slated to be James McDonald, Charlie Morton (season debut) and Kevin Correia. I’ll see you Monday with the Weekend Wrapup.