DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Never normalize 16 Ks! 

J1Q: What are the odds that if Haines is fired that the replacement will be better? This is the same front office who thought Haines was the right choice freshly after being canned in Milwaukee.

Always told my girls when I coached softball, "When you strike out, the defense doesn't have to do a single thing to win. They don't have to make a play."

That game was a microcosm of the season.

Glad you expanded the blame to include Cherington and Smellston.

Not just 16ks, but 16 ks vs a bunch of 4 something ERA pitchers and the starter was under a strikeout per inning entering the game

Ahh gotta grab my coffee for this early morning episode

DK, great point , The strike outs on this level shouldn't be happening. What this tells me is that this team doesn't respond to the management. Replace the team manager and hitting coach and the bucs should catch 🔥. DK, Sheldon ship has sailed. If the same management continues I think the fan base will decline alot. I'm die hard, but enough is enough. It's hard to stay faithful when you have no faith.

"Players today strikeout and just act like it's no big deal. Some of them even have 100 strikeouts by the All-Star Break. That's not OK. What are we doing here?" - Rod Carew

Skenes is on the mound tonight!!!! Don't worry I'm sure he will have the run support to work with...LOL

Another gem of a start wasted.

Here’s my measuring stick. Most if not all the coaches to start with need to be fired. This teams roster is much better than 2-14 the last 16 games. Now factor in anyone that leaves gets better and the Hayes hitting coach stuff last year and that’s all I need to know and see

If they hadn't had Shelton, with his bonding with the players, it would have been 20 strikeouts. So, good thing they have Shelty!

I agree. It's tough to watch

They just had a 15 Strike-out game a few games ago! And I was not talking about something else! Can we please finally get rid of Da'wreck "Raygun" Shelton and Andy "no-hit" Paines!!

This statement by Shelton after the 2-1 loss to the Padres on August 13 proves your point about Haines and Shelton's hitting philosophy. It may be the most ridiculous postgame comment by Shelton during his tenure. He should have just credited Merrill with the catch but no he had to add this, “We just have to make our own break. Bryan has a not good at-bat there, swings out of the zone but squares the ball right up. [Merrill] makes a heck of a catch, and that ends up being the difference of the game."

🔥🔥🔥!!!

The answer as I've stated almost from the beginning is NO, these are not your guys. Sheltons first managing job and he has proven over and over that he is not good at it. One of the worst winning percentages in the history of baseball! Cherington with the exception of one season in Boston has had his teams finish in last place. Enough already, show them the door!

I feel the same way. It's not that rare to review a boxscore and realize that we often outhit the opponent, yet lose or barely score any runs. It's the strikeouts, infield / foul territory pop ups, double plays, being clueless on how to bunt and the ineptness to hit a freakin' sac fly. It's totally unacceptable at their rate at the MLB level. House needs to be cleaned. By the way, none of the batters are exempt from the strikeouts observation. The entire lineup whiffs.

Totally agree with DKs analysis. I don't have the stats but it seems the Ks always come with runners in scoring position. How many 1 run losses this year? I'm not a conspiracy theorist but it sure seems like Cherrington is working for the other guys. Nothing will change until Nutting cleans house. Nothing.

I can get behind elevated Ks if we were walking at an elite rate, but we're in the bottom half of the league in walks.

This is normalism in Pittsburgh

This regime can't hit the road any faster in my book. What an absolute disaster it's been. Cherington NEVER should've been hired in the 1st place. Guy had 1, just 1 winning season as a GM in his career and idc that it ended in a WS championship, he won it with Theo Epstein's team and an owner in John Henry who (at least at the time) actually cared about his team and having access to and actually spending way more money on it than Ol Bottom Line Bob ever will. Chumpington is a hack Sheltonball is a hack Haines is a hack The pitching has been solid this year but I'm not really willing to let Marin off the leash just yet either. All those vets traded away and only 1 player remains. Nearly all of the homegrown talent has been mostly busts. Skenes, Jones and Keller being the bigger exceptions except Keller had to go outside the organization for help. Hayes went to the Double-AA hitting coach for instruction and that poor guy was unceremoniously fired for no damn reason whatsoever. Oneil Cruz feels way overrated, Suwinski's a bust, Davis' is a bust. They don't have any long-term solution at 1st. Only good outfielder is Bryan Reynolds.... this rebuild has failed in every way possible

Hey DK, remember the Yu Chang experiment ? 😂

OUCH!

Can’t blame Bednar for this one. They did not score a single run!!! 16 K’s, my God! Was Nolan Ryan on the mound?

If everyone is happy with the last four to five season's I would be shocked. They have some great pitching at the top, but the bottom end needs to be better. The batting is just not there. The slumps at the beginning of the season and at the end are uncalled for. This alone has cost them a playoff position. They need a better hitting coach and system and it all starts at the top. Thank you DK, Awesome !

What is also important is that they were 0-6 with RISP. What is also important is situational hitting which this ballclub does not do. What is also important is that another outstanding starting pitching effort was wasted. What is also important is that there seems to be not one player on this team is willing to close the clubhouse door and say enough is enough and our collective effort is not cutting it. What is important is that this entire organization is to blame from top to bottom. Who ultimately suffers ??? The FANS

Then 14 strikeouts today. But they won 7-0.

How is Haines still employed???!!! It’s such a glaring hole in this team. We can’t hit

You know what would be normal DK? How about firing Andy Haines. For some reason they love doing the same thing over and over again. Might as well sign Shelton and Haines to a 10 year extension.

I wish they would get ride of owner and get someone to another who cares

Conner Joe needs to go!

Most MLB managers would love to come here and manage this starting rotation. They can and should do better than Shelton. On the other hand, the rest of the roster from rookie ball to the majors is bad. Good GM's won't be knocking down the door to fix Cherington's mess.

totally agree.....they can't hit

When's #22 coming back?

Nothing NEW for this offense. Go back and look at recent games with AZ, SD, and LA! This is RIDICULOUS!

they don't want to win. Pretty sure the White Sox have more hits then this team. Offense is absolutely atrocious and a horrible bullpen

WHERES THE HATE NOW LETS GOOOOO

Can’t blame Bernard on this one. They did not score a single run!!! 16 K’s, my God! Was Nolan Ryan on the mound? Also, I know they wear the old caps with the Stargell stars. Sorry, that’s an insult to that man and that team. This organization should be ashamed at what they’ve done to this franchise. We may have some good players but they are overshadowed by this management team on and off the field and their lack of leadership and desire to make the team better.

DK...I feel as if you're old enough to say fuck instead of bleep

It's simple, they take too many good pitches and swing at too many bad pitches.

Idk DK ; you were doing the Mon Foster show during the game . Idk if you rewatch it after . But cmon it’s all about energy . These guys go 9 down and make adjustments . I know it sucks , but when I see Bry doing simulated pitches in the dugout after his first at bat , and then he gets a hit the next play. These guys r battling . No one on ops or fans expected German to ball like he did . Shelty mismanaged , Andy idk he’s helping these guys but we’re the battling buccos , if we win yesterday , this rant is prolonged . And everyone has there finger on that red button ready to complain about the coaches

Ha!! Shelton = Tomlin..Everyone who leaves Pittsburgh ends up doing better elsewhere… They both suck and need to go

Nutting get rid of these bozos running this team. Enough of this analetic crap. Get people in here that know's talent and can develope it. I said this on here months ago about Cherington trading all the quality major leaguers he had here for exactly David Bednar. That should get someone fired immediately. The guy has drafted and traded for pitching and middle infielders his whole tenure. He has drafted some good arms and that's it. This team hasn't developed a 1st baseman since Kevin Young and an outfielder since Starling Marte. PITIFUL!!!