So yesterday I tried my best at a "grounding" type post in order to play devil's advocate with all the jubilation over the Pirates clinching a playoff spot for the first time in 20+ years. I do that because, like anything else in life, you have to take the good with the bad. And let's face it, the Bucs have not been playing their best baseball in the last couple months. Definitely not the type of play that will propel them deep into October.
But alas, the Pirates proved me wrong yesterday by bringing out the whoopin' sticks in Chicago, winning 8-2 and bumping themselves a game ahead of the Reds in the Wild Card Game hosting sweepstakes. While the Cubs set another loss record for their franchise with the 50th home loss this season, the Pirates managed to pull out 8 runs, 2 of which were knocked in by Gerrit Cole himself. Not only did he have to work through a bunch of tight innings but he helped out at the plate. That was his 10th win of the season and the first time a Pirate rookie pitcher has won 10 games since 2002.
Jobu must be a Pirates fan because the bats were suddenly awakened after my rant. I'm not taking credit for that or anything but as I mentioned in the beginning of my last post, usually when I post about the Pirates, I end up jinxing them. It happens all the time. Alvarez hit an RBI double, Cole hit a two-run single, and all of a sudden it was 3-0 in the second. Mercer hit his 7th HR to make it 4-0 and in the fifth, with bases loaded, Alvarez doubled, driving in two more. Marte and McCutchen both picked up a couple RBIs in the 8th inning and it was all over.
Cole said after the game,
"I may not have gotten all the results I wanted tonight, but the bottom line is that we won the game. It doesn't really matter how you get it done, it's just that you get it done."That's exactly the attitude I want to hear with the postseason on the horizon. Beautiful or ugly, a win is a win.
So I half-heartedly apologize to the Bucs for my rant yesterday. Keep it up, boys.
