Brad Lincoln is on this team right? (26-52)

First, I think we should all stop and appreciate what an asset James McDonald is going to be. I am not sure how comfortable I am in his lower velocity (93 instead of 96), but he did go deep into the game and did not give up any runs. It cuts his strike outs in half. Still, a great performance by McDonald. The offense was shut down, but that is not unusual.

The not-so-good goes again to JR. Why does he put in Chan Ho Park? Park is not good at this point in his career. Park had just pitched last night, and Brad Lincoln is sitting in the pen rotting. Lincoln not only can throw many, many innings, but was hittings something like .300 in his brief major league career saving pinch hitters. Yet, JR goes to Park, and the game is soon over. Pirates lose their 3rd extra inning game in the last 4 games. That says the Pirates are close, but not there yet.

The problem for JR is that he may be the reason they are not there. In the top half of the 10th, Andrew McCutchen hits a double. Just what you expect from your super star. Tabata, who is hitting .307, is next. They try to bunt McCutchen over. Now, some think bunting itself was silly. It is hard to argue that with your two best hitters and then your two biggest power threats coming up, bunting seems unneccessary. A base hit scores McCutchen. Even if they gun down McCutchen at home, it ends up with a runner on second and one out, as Tabata has the speed to take second on a throw home. But, since I am usually a fan of the bunt, I don't think it is a completely boneheaded call. A runner on third and one out ought to be automatic run scored. But, Tabata failed and McCutchen is thrown out at third. Basically that ended the threat. Even if we say the bunt is the right call, whose fault is it that a bunt cannot be executed well. JR's of course. If this were the only stupid fundamental the Pirates screwed up all year, maybe you could write it off as a fluke, but it is not. JR does not have this team mentally ready to play.