Despite the fact that I have not blogged in a few days, it does not mean I have given up on the idea of writing about my pathetic Buccos. With plenty of work to keep me busy, it's been difficult to find the time to make it here every day. But I promise I will make a better effort these last ten games of the season. With that said, lets take a walk down memory lane and look at what's been plaguing the Pirates the past few days.
And walking is exactly that. The Pirates have been issuing free passes the past few days at an alarming rate. By allowing 19 walks their last 21 innings. If you want to find a reason the Pirates have lost those two games, look no further than that. By issuing such rediculous amounts of walks, the Pirates are running up the pitch counts of their starters, limiting their effectiveness. They are also stressing out an overworked bullpen, forcing them to throw more innings than they should ever have to.
By allowing so many baserunners, you also put yourself in danger of having simple bloop hits cause you problems, as evidenced by the loss in extra innings to the Dodgers where Craig Hanson walked 3 batters, one of whom scored on a single by James Loney to give the Dodgers the lead and ultimately the win.
The Pirates, in that same time, have only walked 8 times in 21 innings. This creates far fewer baserunners to be worried about by opposing pitchers and generally allows them to go further into games. If the Pirates ever want to learn to win, they will have to learn to take a walk and not allow their opponents to do the same.
