9-8-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter
Mitch Keller, man ya know what, sigh…..
like, he had an exceptional curveball tonight, but… he didn’t place it, often leaving it about 3 inches too high.
He had good life on his fastball tonight, but… it had no movement and doesn’t fool anyone as to whether it’s coming or not.
His changeup is really good most nights, but… tonight it was up a touch, just like the curve.
His slider was just infuriating, he painted the outside corner with it to lefties, but… to righties he couldn’t hit a single target.
That’s Mitch Keller. That’s who he’s been. A guy with great stuff, but…
Nothing matters until hitters can’t figure out if the pitch coming is off speed or his fastball. It’s hard to watch some nights, but really watch him. Really pay attention to the ball leaving his hand. He’s doing a good job with his release points, so the tunneling isn’t an issue. But, to continue the theme here, pay close attention to how early you, sitting on your couch with your dog begging for table scraps and your wife talking about her day, are able to recognize fastball or off speed.
It’s instantaneous.
Now if we can see it that fast, how fast do you think professional hitters can pick it up? I’ll be honest here, I just don’t know.
He has me grasping at straws, and if Marin can’t get through to him, maybe they need another voice. I’m not even calling for a firing here, just an assistant. If they insist on giving him another half season, and yes, I probably would too, they can’t afford to skip any chance at making it work.
Now, the game itself, really there wasn’t much more than Robbie Grossman and Miguel Cabrera each collecting 4 hits each. This was death by a thousand cuts tonight.
Another failed attempt at getting a sweep. A fairly anemic showing by the offense, which hasn’t happened an awful lot lately.
Final Tigers 5, Pirates 1.
Pirates are off tomorrow and Shelby Miller is looking for someone to golf with on Twitter. Yup.
News & Notes
- This is the 12th time the Pirates have had an opportunity to sweep and failed. The club still has no sweeps on the season.
- Another really nice outing for Luis Oviedo tonight. He’s been impressive, like first outing this season impressive.
- Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons (former Bucs GM) and Marvin Miller (Ushered in the most powerful player union in sports arguably) were all inducted into the hall of fame from 2020 today.
- 67th time this season the Pirates have allowed 5 runs or more.
Inside The Bucs Basement 