Leave it to Skenes

He's done it again

Paul Skenes continues to thrill Pirates fans with his amazingness. Thursday he threw 7 no hit innings and a career high 11 strikeouts to help the Buccos whoop the Brewers 1- zip.

The should have been all-star, Holder man, whiffed 3 Brewski players and Aroldis finished them off. Skenes for President!

Gonzod

Yesterday, the Gonzalez brothers teamed up to take care of the White Sox. They had some help, but it was mostly them. Marco came back from an arm injury to start his first game since. He pitched 5 quality innings, giving up only 1 run.

Nick Gonzo had a nice RBI double, then came home to score on a Hayes RBI.

The Pirates defense also contributed three nice double plays. Welcome back to David Bednar. You were missed.

I Don't Want Him

This guy has been in the headlines of every person that has done a podcast or wrote an article about the Pittsburgh Steelers for the last couple of months. Funny thing is he's not on the Steelers and he's getting 100% more publicity than any Steeler at his position. He is the most annoying part of this off-season and now I just don't want him.

It all started when the Steelers traded Diontae Johnson to the Panthers. That gave anyone that covers the Steelers or NFL a license to name every WR in the NFL a possible candidate to be traded to the Steelers to be their number 1, 1B, or 2 Wide Receiver. They have done a fantastic job of naming all the WRs in the league. There's a couple with San Francisco, one with Seattle, one with Buffalo, one with Denver, one with Washington, and many assorted others.

One guy just keeps popping back up over and over and over again, though. Brandon Aiyuk. He apparently wants 30 million a year, and I don't think the Niners want to pay him 30 millions a year. He's caused all kind of havoc saying he wants to stay with San Fran, but at the same time saying, or making it known he wants 30 million. He is under contract for this year so he wants to extend that.

The Steelers do have salary cap space, around $16 million, but I can't see them paying a receiver that much.

Also, he may be a number one receiver, but he's not proven he can do that. Meanwhile, we have another guy already on the team that could be asking for a lot of cash next year. Pickens is still under contract this year and next, but if they want to keep him they might want to extend him before next season, because WR money is going up. Or, they can simply do what San Fran and Green Bay do and draft on or two a year. Seems like a smart thing to do with these prices. Then, at the end of the 3rd year try to find a buyer to give a draft pick or two.

I really do want Aiyuk despite the title of this article because he's a proven receiver. Maybe not a 1, but he's shown that he's at least a 2 and that's what the Steelers need. I'd really like to keep our first round pick next year and get a receiver then or a D line stud with it. Whether Cam stays after this year or not we still need a replacement soon.

Are We at Wrigley?

 If I didn't see all the PNC Park signs, I would have thought the Pirates were at Wrigley and the wind was blowing out yesterday, but only for the Pirates.  The Pirates had one of those nights where the offense was on fire.  It took a few innings before the magic started, but there was so many fireworks yesterday that they ran out of fireworks.  They literally ran out of fireworks because the Buccos had 7, count em, 7 home runs.  

Bryan Reynolds had 2, including a grand salami.  Rowdy Tellez had 2, including a grand salami. Jack Jack hopefully is getting his swing groove on, and he got one.  Yasmani Grandal figured into the mix with one.  The light hitting Michael Taylor went 4-4 and had a homer.  Yep, that is 7.   

The other part of the story is the pitcher, though.  Usually, the starter of the night is the story.  Well, and he still was as big a part of the story as the 7 Home Runs and offensive explosion, but Paul Skenes was his usual self and struck out 8 over 7 innings.  Obviously, he could have easily finished the game.  Let's do everything we can to keep those innings down as much as possible.  

Andy Van Slyke

One good thing to come from the Cardinals, Andy Van Slyke. Usually, when going to games back then I would be in the stands behind Center Field. Between innings and plays Van Slyke would always look up in the stands. I, of course, would be waving at him as if he were searching for me. He never saw me and waved back though.

Jim Leyland

Despite the fact he didn't get a great Pirates team to the World Series, he is one of the great managers in Pirates history. Wish we could find a baseball mastermind like him to coach this team.

Spring training question

 

How many pitchers will the Pirates go through in the number 4 spot after Bailey Falters.

Now

Bailey is the one to knock off the Braves. Yea, he had too many walks, but he held them off. I know Skenes should have won too, But Falter didn't falter. One reclamation project that's paying dividends. Rowdy hit a HR, but he needs a bunch of them to make up for the first 2 months. Hopefully Cruz starts putting some out regularly too.