16 Games in and The Pirates are Heating Up

Remember that article back on April 6.  It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again.  Well that’s in the rearview mirror now.  The Pirates are on an upswing and most of the hitting questions are behind them.  Their lineup is producing and one of the last holdouts in the hitting slump, Pedro Alvarez, doesn’t quite have anyone wanting for his batting average, but after hitting two home runs, including one that left the building, the power is arriving just as the rest as the team is coming around.  Did someone say Adam LaRoche?  How did it all turn around.  First of all, it doesn’t hurt to have two starting pitchers that compete with anyone in the league.  If you go to Wikipedia and look up Staff Ace you’ll find a picture of A.J. Burnett there. 

Staff Ace:  

A.J. Burnett – The best pitcher on the staff who can shut down anything the opponent can throw at him.  He will begin and perpetuate winning streaks, sometimes with no help at all, and will stop any losing streak by the home team.

Staff Ace 2:  Wandy Rodriguez – Dominant in the World Baseball Classic and leads his team the Championship.  Returns to MLB and continues his dominance.  Three games and an ERA .056.

On offense one player started hot and has propelled the ship.  Normally, who would you think that player is when you’re talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Andrew McCutchen, right?  Yeah that’s who my choice would be, but in this case that player is Starling Marte.  Marte in the leadoff position has been the sparkplug that has ignited the team.  He has already had an extended hitting streak early in the season, he’s getting on base each game, he has the speed that can kill, and he is armed and dangerous in left field.  This is not to say that McCutchen is not the star of the team still.  I fully expect Andrew to continue the performance he has given since coming to the Pirates and the MVP type performance that he had through most of last season.  There is room on the team for at least 2 guys that can do it all and I for one can’t wait to see it on a nightly basis.

The rest of the team is coming around too.  Those batting averages after 4 games are history and the future looks bright.  Maybe Jay Bell could step in there and  play some shortstop to get the batting average at that position up to be where it should be too.