Big Lead Sports Bar

10/04/2009

IT'S FINALLY OVER

The Pirates' 2009 campaign finally ended on Sunday, and they came as close to 100 losses as humanly possible, finishing with a 62-99 record.

Sunday was a virtual microcosm of the entire season: 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position, 13 men left on base, and seven pitchers, including a starter (Jeff Karstens) that went 2 1/3 innings. Those are the ingredients of a 6-0 loss at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds, who sufficiently owned the Buccos to the tune of 13 wins in 18 games this season. Sunday's pitcher, Homer Bailey, beat the Pirates four times himself this season, which is painful when you consider that he won only four other games the entire rest of the season.

This team pretty much played down to every expectation this season, but as Neil Huntington recently pointed out, at least they lost with different players in the second half. Cynical Pirate fans could have a field day with this quote from the GM:

"Obviously, nobody's happy. We were projected to lose in the high-90s before the start of the season with that team, and we ended up losing in the high-90s with a very different team that's in place, some of them for years to come. And that is a good thing."

I get where he was going, but wow, that's a Quote of the Year candidate jumping out to the front of the pack if I've ever seen one. Gotta love taking things out of context for comedy purposes.

But back to reality, here are your individual leaders for the 99-loss 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates. Call them The Best of the Worst.

BA: Garrett Jones, .293
OBP: Jones, .372
Slugging: Jones, .567
OPS: Jones, .938
HR: Jones, 21
RBI: Andy LaRoche, 64
2B: Andy LaRoche, 29
3B: Andrew McCutchen, 9
BB: McCutchen, 54

Wins: Zach Duke and Ross Ohlendorf, 11 each
Losses: Duke, 16
Saves: Matt Capps, 27
IP: Duke, 213
Strikeouts: Paul Maholm, 119
Walks: Maholm, 60
K/9: Joel Hanrahan, 10.63
ERA: Ohlendorf, 3.92
Starts: Duke, 32
Appearances: Jesse Chavez, 73

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1 comment:

The Mad Bubbler said...

There is no such thing as a cynical Pirates fan. There's either a normal Pirates fan who realizes nothing will change under Bob Nutting, or a delusional Pirates fan who thinks for some reason the Pirates are trying their hardest to win and will put winning over profit.