The 2011 Pittsburgh Pirates Through 40 Games

The Pittsburgh Pirates are struggling right now. They have lost 5 games in a row, their longest skid of the season. All of this came directly after a 3-game winning streak and a stretch where the club won 7 of 10 games. It seems that this team is going to be a peek and valley team all year long, but for right now I want to take a look at the big picture, what they have done so far this year collectively. Before we do that, let's take a quick look at the ugliness of these last 5 games.

Here are the numbers for these last 5 games based on the information I've been collecting all season:


This team had been battling right around the .500 mark all season, and even got up over it last weekend when they reached 18-17, and they did all that largely through the success of the starting pitchers. However, the starters have been struggling quite a bit in this 5 game skid. Keep in mind that Charlie Morton hasn't made an official start in these 5 games, because of Thursday's postponed game. That said, the last 5 Pirates starters have compiled an ERA of 6.75 in 25.2 innings pitched. They have given up 6 home runs, an average of 6.8 hits per game, and struck out only 3.6 batters per game during the skid. The main culprit has been Kevin Correia, who has gotten roughed up in his last two outings, giving up 10 earned runs in 10.1 innings and taking 2 losses because of it. That's not going to win you many ballgames, and in this case it hasn't won the Pirates any.

The offense has continued to be poor through this stretch, scoring only 2.6 runs per game on 7 hits per game in these last 5 games. They are hitting .215 as a team, even lower than their ugly season average of .233, this also isn't going to help you win ballgames, especially when your starters are struggling at the same time.

The Pirates will try to put this subject to bed with a win tonight over the Washington Nationals, who they are 2-1 against this year.

Now here's the updated stats for the entire season:



As we mentioned before, the offense has been very bad all year long. They are hitting .234 and scoring only 3.5 runs per game. Strikeouts have been a continued problem, as they are averaging 8.2 a game. Opposing pitchers are averaging 6 innings pitched per start, which means the Pirates aren't getting into the other teams bullpens nearly as much as you would like.

The pitching as a whole has been solid, although these numbers have started looking worse and worse every day over the last week. The 4.29 staff ERA is something we'll take every time. They're going almost 6 innings per start and allowing just 2.8 earned runs in those starts, which is nearly averaging a quality start, certainly a big positive. The team just hasn't been able to put good pitching and good hitting together frequently enough to have a winning record right now, and they have become very susceptible to these losing streaks.

The Pirates will continue to battle and try to work out some of the kinks, and I'm not going to say that a .500 season isn't possible with this team, it's just going to take some fast progression and a good amount of luck. Until next time, Let's Go Bucs.