The Chase for October
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Today’s Pirates stories from the Post-Gazette:
Locke roughed up early, lose in home finale 11-3
Pirates Notebook: GM says club wants Burnett back
Ron Cook column: Looking ahead after bad day for Locke, Pirates
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Last night
Cardinals lost to the Mariners 6-4
Reds beat the Pirates 11-3
Nationals lost to the Marlins 5-4
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Standings
NL Central standings
- St. Louis 91-65 --
- Cincinnati 89-67 – 2 GB
- Pirates 89-67 – 2 GB
Wild Card standings
- Cincinnati 89-67 --
- Pirates 89-67 –
- Washington 84-72 – 5GB
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Magic number to get a playoff spot: 3
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Relevant ink from around the NL:
On the Cards
Cards clinch, but tumble to BrewersCards notebook: Holliday out with back spasms
Bird bytes: Cards have good closing options
On the Reds
Reds pummel Pirates in rubber match
Reds remaining rotation is up in the air
On the Nationals
Nationals split doubleheader, hurting slim playoff chances
Home schedule ends quietly, with disappointment
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Thought of the day
PITTSBURGH -- Jeff Locke's start Sunday could immediately kick the Pirates into that four-man rotation that Neal Huntington said before the game would be reserved for the postseason, though manager Clint Hurdle has not said so yet.
Hurdle said the club will begin discussions today about how to utilize Locke for the remainder of the regular season and into the postseason. The option of not using him at all of course exists.
Charlie Morton, Gerrit Cole, and Francisco Liriano will go in order in Chicago. An off day falls in Cincinnati, which could allow the club to skip Locke's start and still line up with Liriano going into the wild-card game.
Locke was quite candid with reporters, as always, not shirking from answering questions about his rough start.
He said: "I'm not going to say (I've) completely (fallen) apart because I don't feel like I have. I know the results are not the same, but I don't mentally feel like I'm under construction, and physically I don't feel like I'm dragging. What it is is completely frustrating."
He also said the most frustrating part for him is that he feels physically and mentally like the same player who dominated earlier this season. Locke: "It's like I'm looking for something in the dark. you don't know what it is you're looking for or where it is, but you know it's in there. I have just as much fire in me as I have all season."
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Tweet of the day from Trenni Kusnierek of CSN New England, during the Steelers game last night. Twitter handle: @trenni
Trenni Kusnierek @trenni: Never thought I'd say this, but at least Pittsburgh has the Pirates this fall.
First Published: March 24, 2016, 5:12 p.m.
