Here's some reaction from Pirates pundits on the Tigers' Justin Verlander getting within two outs of a no-hitter against the Bucs last night.
↵↵↵↵↵I never cease being amazed at the number of #Pirates fans who find NO FAULT with Neal Huntington's work, who go to any extreme to defend even the most indefensible results. I get that the sabermetricians like him. That makes sense to me. Neal's very much in that mold. But the very scope of sabermetrics demands real objectivity in analysis. There's no point to be proven in advance. Look at this lineup. Dissect the numbers. Forecast the future. Then tell it like it is.
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↵↵I suppose it's nice for morale and general fan self-esteem and all, but a lucky Josh Harrison swing on a pitch way out of the strike zone shouldn't really make anyone forget just how bad the Pirate offense was tonight. Verlander is the best in the sport, sure, but pretty much every Pirate I saw (and I'll admit that I didn't start watching until the fourth inning or so) looked like a high school hitter facing a big leaguer.
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And finally, here's me at Bucs Dugout:
↵↵↵The game felt like it was over almost as soon as it had begun. Andy Dirks singled off Charlie Morton with one out in the first, and then Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder followed with RBI doubles. A two-run lead for Justin Verlander against the Pirates ... I hate to keep returning to the same point, but that's really what it comes down to.
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Nationally, of course, the story here is Verlander. But among Pirates fans, the story continues to be the Pirates' terrible offense. As one Bucs Dugout commenter pointed out last night, the Pirates have been one-hit once, two-hit once, three-hit once, and four-hit three times so far this year.
↵The Pirates' 111 runs this year are less than half the number the Texas Rangers have. The Bucs are last in the majors in runs scored. The home ballpark of the next-closest team, the Padres, is impossible to hit in, and the Friars have 16 more runs than the Pirates do. The next-closest team after that, the Nationals, has 30 more runs than the Bucs. Around Pittsburgh, that's what people are worried about, as they should be.