Pirates fall short in ninth again, begin season 0-3
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MILWAUKEE -- The clubhouse chatter, the palpable enthusiasm, is still there.
So are the upbeat pronouncements from management and players that, yes, really, honestly, this pack of Pirates will be different from its many miserable predecessors.
But until there is something tangible to support that, something more than should-haves and could-haves, such talk will remain as hollow as the team's 0-3 record after a 3-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers last night at Miller Park.
Somewhere along the line, as all concerned will concede, a victory is needed.
"We felt like we were in all three games, and we understand that's important," third baseman Joe Randa said. "On the other hand, each day you don't win a game, you've got to come out and push a little more. Not to put too much pressure on ourselves, but the next game is a big one for us."
That will come tonight in Cincinnati, where, no matter how the game plays out, the outcome could not be much more difficult to absorb than the final two of this opening series.
On Tuesday, the Pirates had the tying runs on base against closer Derrick Turnbow, but he caught a screamer off the bat of Freddy Sanchez.
This time, they entered the ninth inning down by one against Turnbow and applied even more heat.
Jeromy Burnitz ripped a shot to right but directly at Geoff Jenkins. Randa singled and was replaced by pinch-runner Nate McLouth. Jose Castillo struck out looking. Pinch-hitter Craig Wilson worked a nine-pitch walk, and pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit followed suit on six pitches to load the bases.
"Battling at-bats," manager Jim Tracy called them.
But Chris Duffy, despite the two walks before him, hacked at Turnbow's first pitch and popped up to shallow left to end it.
"I'm not going to sit there and second-guess my players," Tracy said. "It's a youthful player. Let's be honest."
The Pirates have received little from the leadoff position. Duffy went 0 for 5, and neither he nor McLouth has a hit or walk from that slot in 13 consecutive plate appearances.
But that hardly was the lone reason the team fell to 0-3 for the 13th time since 1900 and the second year in a row. None of the starting pitching, bullpen, offense or defense was adequate last night.
Starter Zach Duke showed scant traces of his dominant rookie form.
He did last six innings and was charged with two runs, one earned. Those came in the fifth inning, one on a J.J. Hardy home run to left off an elevated 2-1 fastball, before which Duke retired eight in a row.
But he also ran up 46 pitches in the first two innings while leaving bases loaded in each, offered a first-pitch ball to 16 of his 26 batters and walked three.
"Zach Duke did a good job," Tracy said. "He had to battle, obviously."
Duke struggled through the spring, in part because of his adjustment to an alteration in the weight transfer of his delivery. Pitching coach Jim Colborn downplayed the change as "just a cleaning of the windshield," and Duke referred to it as "a little thing."
Even so, Duke acknowledged it slowed him some last night.
"I couldn't really find a rhythm early on," he said. "Later on, I had the command I wanted, and I was being the kind of pitcher I really am instead of falling behind."
The bullpen was scored upon for a third game.
The score was tied, 2-2, in the eighth when Damaso Marte walked Jenkins to open it. Roberto Hernandez replaced Marte and, after a Carlos Lee flyout, walked Bill Hall.
The fire nearly was extinguished when Hernandez fanned Rickie Weeks for the second out. But Prince Fielder, Milwaukee's 21-year-old gem of a power-hitting prospect, snapped an 0-for-11 start by plopping a broken-bat bloop into shallow left to bring home Jenkins.
Hernandez tried to saw off Fielder and nailed his spot.
"Right pitch, right situation, bad result," Hernandez said. "When you lose two, it's one thing. When you lose on a flair like that ..."
The Pirates' offense mustered seven hits and showed little pulse until the ninth, save Jason Bay's 440-foot home run to center off a belt-high Tomo Ohka fastball in the sixth. That tied the score, 2-2.
The defense let down, too. Milwaukee's second run in the fifth came when shortstop Jack Wilson fielded a Hall bouncer and threw into the dirt, allowing Lee to come around from second.
"That's completely unacceptable," Wilson said. "If I make that play, I believe we win that game."
A victory by any method would be welcomed by the Pirates.
"Obviously, we're being tested early," Tracy said. "You know, we were in a position to win all three games. We didn't get any of them, but the effort is there. It's part of the challenge of the game. You've got to get over it, get beyond it."
Peter Zuzga, Associated PressMilwaukee right fielder Geoff Jenkins misplays a ball hit by Jason Bay in the second inning last night in Milwaukee.
Click photo for larger image.
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Provided by Forecaster
The Pirates have started 0-3 for the 13th time since 1900. The first 12 times it happened, they ended up with seven winning seasons, five losing seasons:
YearStartFinish19120-467-5919170-351-10319220-385-6919280-385-6719440-390-6319550-860-9419590-578-7619740-688-7419770-396-6619940-453-6119950-358-8620050-367-95
First Published April 6, 2006 12:00 am
