No Glory Blog: Let's Go 2014 Texas Rangers!

We appear to be in agreement on something. The Pirates are hitting and running and stealing in the 9th inning of a game they are leading 4-0. Brown commented that he'd like to see a game where the Pirates run away with it because it seems like their wins are always tight affairs. He's totally reading this blog! I'm like the guy from Total Education Hour, a fantasist who believes that this low-band public affairs show on WRCT has a massive national audience. (Holy cow, that dude tweets like 10 times an hour!) Anyway, I love that they're doing that. If they seal this win, they move into first place. Jeff Locke is locked in. If we can just bury Jonathan Sanchez somewhere and get Charlie Morton back, that is a pretty solid second-tier rotation! Burnett, MacDonald, Rodriguez, Morton, and Locke are all capable of turning in solid but probably non All-Star seasons. I kind of love that. A lot better than one superstar and four days of hoping to get lucky. Actually, that's not too different from the Cardinals' rotation other than Wainwright. Pirates have definitely had the more dependable bullpen though so I think their pitching staffs match up well in tote. Mike Matheny is a kind of ridiculous manager, I'm learning. Yesterday, he pinch hit a guy (Jermaine Curtis) for his first major league at-bat in the 9th inning against Grilli with a chance to set up the tying run. He didn't pinch hit for the pitcher or anything. No, he pinch hit for his #2 hitter, third baseman Matt Carpenter, who's hit pretty well. Curtis had not had a spectacular career in the minors. He has shown good bat control but no power and he's 26. Looking into it, it turns out Carpenter was feeling a little tightness from a swing previously in the game. I don't see much excuse for tonight. Ninth inning, his pitcher Jason Motte has been struggling with some bad luck. A bloop, a broken-bat hit-and-run, a steal, a strikeout, a walk, a groundout bringing in 1 run and then with two outs and second and third, Matheny brings in a lefty (Czhrysim[psinkski) to face Pedro. Pedro promptly singles in two, going opposite way. Then Martin cracks another homer. Suck it, Matheny. Way to blow two of your guys' confidences in a meaningless gesture and get blown out anyway. STATEMENT! 9-0 lead.