Our 3 Takeaways From the Nightly Pirates Humiliation Ritual

What is going on, everyone? Welcome to the North Shore Nine podcast, brought to you by FanDuel.

This is the North Shore Nine postgame show, brought to you by Comanche Brothers. I'm Neil. With me, live, in Miami, is Jim. Jim, it continues. The pain continues. It keeps going.

Yeah, this one was rough, Neil. 8-2 loss to the Marlins tonight. Nothing was going well. Offense stunk. Pitching stunk. Everything stunk.

Yeah, I don't know what you felt like when you were in the stadium or anything like that, but it felt like the Pirates were about as lifeless as the crowd in Miami tonight.

it looked like there was no one really there. And the Pirates certainly, again, once again, did not show up again.

It wasn't even close. The Pirates fall behind really early. And I think that's just what hurts most is the team is not fighting.

The team is not keeping the games close. And you go in expecting a big loss.

And you're not, I don't know, like, I wasn't surprised at all by today's result at all.

You know what? For some reason, I had a feeling they were going to, they were going to, like, do something today.

Because, like, they just, they needed to. Like, they absolutely had to do something.

And to just roll over and die like they did is just another extremely disappointing game.

And, DiNardo and I talked about on Bucco Brew on Monday, we said, every series going forward here is a playoff series.

Like, you have to win every series in order to advance to the next one in order to have a shot at this still.

Neil, they're down 0-2.

I'm here to say the season's over.

This season is over.

Yeah.

I know that's what they said last night.

But it remains true.

The season is over.

It is not, I don't know how it's salvageable at this point.

You have to go on some Red Sox level run of, like, 27 wins out of 30 in order to salvage this.

And I don't see where that's going to be.

Here, Neil, you're going to have to take this for a second.

All right.

Yeah.

Technical difficulties.

Don Kelly came and snatched Jim's camera away.

But, no, the season is over.

I held on for a long time.

I really felt like this could have been a special season.

But the team has lost all fight, all ability to win games, all ability to play good baseball.

Because every single aspect of this team is bad.

Because every single aspect of this team is bad.

The pitching is bad.

The offense is bad.

The defense is bad.

The base running is bad.

There is no redeeming qualities with this team right now.

Everyone sucks.

No one escapes blame.

And it's just a shame.

And while we wait for Jim to come back with his technical difficulties, one person really tonight, if we're going to tie this back to the game, really sums up this whole loser-dom for me.

And that is Carmen Mijinsky.

Carmen Mijinsky, who threw a tantrum and tried to quit on this team earlier because he got taken out of the rotation, has gotten another chance to come back into this rotation with Mitch Keller's injury.

And he sucks.

He sucked last time he was out.

Today, he doesn't even make it through three innings.

Only two and a third innings tonight from Carmen Mijinsky.

Five hits, three walks, four earned runs.

What an embarrassment.

Only one strikeout.

And he spent all that time talking about what his agent and him were going to do as next steps because he wasn't a starter.

How this guy threatened the organization with retirement if they didn't let him start.

And this is what we get paid when we give him a chance again.

He's terrible.

He should not be a major league starter.

When he is a reliever, he is one of the best relievers on this team, bar none.

When he's a starter, this is what we get.

You get maybe a nice month at the beginning of the season where he looks okay.

But this is who he is.

When you ask him to go more than two innings, he inevitably falls apart.

And that's exactly what he does tonight.

Miserable performance.

He could not throw strikes.

He could not locate.

And the Marlins kept teeing off of him repeatedly.

And so, I'm done with Carmen Mlodzinski on this baseball team.

I am completely done with him.

You can't trade him.

I don't want to see him again.

Like, there is zero reasons to let him pitch for this team again where he feels like he gets to decide when he pitches, how he pitches.

And this is how he rewards all that trust, all the chances he's gotten that any normal organization would have told him either just retire already or fall in line.

So, I don't want to see him again.

He was terrible.

And, sure, the person who came in after him, Sisk, was also terrible.

But, like, he's supposed to be a starter and couldn't make it past three innings.

That's unacceptable.

It's not an acceptable thing for someone to demand all of this from an organization and then give all this garbage in return.

So, that was my big thing taken away from tonight is that Mlodzinski, sorry, DFA him, trade him in the offseason.

I don't care what, but I'm done.

I don't want to watch him on this team anymore.

I don't care that he could be a really good 7th or 8th inning option for this team.

I don't want him around.

No longer.

And then, because that really sets up the rest of the team for failure, because then you have to go to Evan Sisk, who Evan Sisk was also bad.

the Pirates do score first, but the Marlins then tally five off the Pirates after that, mostly in that third inning, where after Mlodzinski leaves, Evan Sisk cannot find a strike zone.

He walks two.

He is an absolute mess.

I think he even hit a batter.

I honestly don't even.

Yeah, he does hit a batter.

And there's a cascade of runs coming.

And by that point, it's 5-1.

Everyone knew the game was over at that rate.

Everyone knew the game was over.

Everyone knew that the Pirates simply weren't going to come back from that.

Because again, the fight that this team might have had two or three weeks ago is gone.

The fight's gone.

The injuries caught up.

The talent regressed to the mean.

it just, it can't keep up with what this team needs.

And even when you're looking around the lineup, like a lot of the guys who would OPSs early on in the year in the 800s have now fallen down into the 700s.

We're talking about Brandon Lowe is under 800 now.

Spencer Horwitz is under 800 now.

Nick, Jacob Gonzalez, 662.

Henry Davis, sub 600.

This offense has just regressed in such a horrible way where everyone has regressed at the same time.

The only one who really had, the only two people had commendable days at the plate today were Nick Gonzales and Ronny Simon.

And that's just not good enough.

It's simply not good enough to have Ronny Simon and Nick Gonzales be your best hitters recently.

And that's what it's been like.

Brandon Lowe gets a hit, I guess.

But, they only tally six hits tonight.

They only score two runs.

They managed to score two runs off of Junis Junk, who is not that great of a starting pitcher.

He's really not.

But he goes six innings and gives only one earned run.

And then they can't touch the bullpen.

But really, this game ended in the third inning because the team simply was never going to come back from this deficit.

They don't have the talent right now.

You know.

So, it was just a really disappointing day that cascades over to really disappointing, are we at three weeks now?

Ever since the trade deadline.

Or ever since the All-Star break, really.

Ever since the All-Star break, it's just been one embarrassment, one humiliation after the other.

To the point that I'm still surprised anyone is still watching the games.

Because this is not an enjoyable project.

It's not a product.

It's not enjoyable to watch.

And you can accept that when the team's like a 100-loss team.

When there are young guys that you want to tune in for.

Like, maybe there's an intriguing pitcher or there's an intriguing hitter, like a rookie that you want to watch.

But this was supposed to be a playoff team.

This looked like a playoff team.

For so long.

It really just looked like they needed to put the pieces together in the bullpen.

And instead, what we get is just garbage.

Ever since the All-Star break.

because like, Cruz, Griffin, and O'Hearn could technically come back.

But I still don't think that's enough to save the team with how they're performing right now.

It would help.

It would help a lot to have those three guys back.

But the team is just, it's pathetic right now.

And it goes back to that starting pitching.

And obviously, Mlodzinski was terrible tonight.

But this is a recurring theme with this team.

Is that the starting pitching has not been up to standard, up to par.

Ashcraft, regressed.

Skenes, regressed.

Mlodzinski is in the starting pitcher.

Keller, terrible all year.

So, even though they fixed.

Even though they fixed the bullpen.

They did not get a starter in.

They did not get a right-handed bat in.

And I think those decisions at the deadline have got us to where we are right now.

Where they are losing 8-2 against the Miami Marlins.

A team that they should be fighting for a wild card spot with.

But instead we are getting embarrassed.

They are now scoring 10-2 in these two games.

You let Junis Junk look like an ace tonight.

You let the Marlins bullpen look elite.

It's just, it's a shame.

This could have been a really special year.

I see a lot.

I don't know.

You can fire Don Kelly, I guess.

But I don't know what that'll do.

I don't know who you replace him with.

But I can see, I can see the problem.

I can see why people would say that.

So, I guess to sprinkle a little praise in here.

Nick Gonzales had a very good game.

Nick Gonzales has been quite the polarizing character over the last couple of weeks.

A lot of bad defensive plays.

But to his credit, he reaches base three times tonight.

He scores both the Pirates runs.

He has two hits a walk.

He reaches three times.

And he was the only, him and Ronny Simon were the only guys who looked remotely comfortable out there.

Mangum was not good at the plate.

Brandon Lowe got a hit, wasn't good.

Reynolds really continues to struggle.

I think Reynolds really needs better lineup protection, as weird as it sounds.

I know he's got Brandon Lowe in front of him and Horwitz behind him.

But I think he really thrives when he doesn't have to be the guy.

And right now, Bryan Reynolds is being relied on to be the guy.

And I think Reynolds is a great third or fourth option in an offense.

But right now, he's pressing.

I think Reynolds is really pressing at the plate.

Struck out there in the ninth.

And I think it feels like he, whatever relaxed nature that he was able to have early on this year that allowed him to be such a great hitter has come back to earth.

He cannot be the main guy.

And that's not a fault of his.

I know he's paid a lot of money.

But Bryan Reynolds, as a third or fourth option, is a great asset for any team.

He is, I feel like he is now pressing and the whiffs are up, the strikeouts are up.

And I think that's what we saw last year, where he felt like he had to make things happen all the time as the rest of the offense slumps.

So, after Mlodzinski leaves, there you have Sisk.

And then you have Backer.

I might be just pronouncing his name.

But for against his former team, Lake comes in.

Gives up three earned runs over the course of three innings, which wasn't great.

But at that point, the game was over.

Quite frankly, the game was over.

So, it was just making it to the ninth inning healthy.

Which they did.

They do make it all the way.

But, it's hard to get mad at the relief pitching in this instance when the offense only has four hits with runners in scoring position.

It's, the Pirates not only didn't get hits.

They just didn't get on base.

They didn't create any offense.

They were lucky to score two runs today, to be quite honest.

Jacob Gonzalez basically should have grounded into a double play on that first run.

But, luckily, we don't get that.

Jacob Gonzalez goes 0 for 3.

He does walk.

Yeah, 0 for 3.

No, he does not walk.

But, yeah, just bad defense that allows them to get a run in.

And you're like, okay.

So, we haven't had a whole lot of breaks.

Maybe this is a way to get us a break.

And so, we can go on this.

This is like our new renewal.

We're going to score a bunch of runs.

We're going to win the game.

And instead, the Pirates just laid over and died again.

This entire offense laid over and died to the point that when I look up and down this OPS list, I can't believe how many of them have an above average hit.

They've been bad for so long that it boggles the mind.

So, Jacob Gonzalez, again, hitless day.

Hitless day.

Really disappointed so far since he got acquired.

We're going to go to SteelDog8883.

Thank you for the $10, man.

They can fire Kelly if they want, but I can't blame him for the bullpen.

That's on Cherington.

But some of the decisions and lacking to be able to motivate this team, I can see him getting canned.

Yeah, there's one thing as chief managers don't matter guy.

it's hard to really blame him for, like, the baseball players playing on the field.

He is there, mostly, in my opinion, to keep the vibes high.

And at this moment, the vibes are extremely low.

Now, obviously, the vibes are extremely low because they can't stop losing games.

They keep losing.

They keep, it is, it keeps a cascading effect.

I just, what does, what does promoting the bench coach do?

like, that's my whole thing.

Like, do you think, like, if you were going to do that, you do it, what, like, before the wheels come off?

you don't do it now because now the season's lost.

I know technically in the clubhouse, they can't act like the season is lost.

But those are the type of urgent moves that you make, like, two weeks ago.

Ultimately, though, I don't know what Don Kelly is supposed to do about the offense.

If you have issues with the bullpen now, the bullpen's fixed.

I think that's fair.

If you don't like how he's handled the bullpen, like, if you wouldn't have gone to Evan Sisk, sure.

But you also have six and a third innings to cover with running Marlins all over the base paths.

So, I don't really blame going to a guy with a sub-3 ERA in that position.

But I understand if you're upset about that.

But, like, the biggest thing that's really sunk this team is this continued offensive slump.

Since the All-Star break, the Pirates, let's just say the month of August.

In the month of August, the Pirates have scored more than four runs once, and that was on the 8th against the Mets.

Since the All-Star break, they have scored more than four runs three times.

And they lost one of those games.

So, like, the offense has been too bad to win you all these games.

Because the offense has been carrying.

And so, what is Don Kelly supposed to do about the offense?

Like, that's my whole thing.

So, it is funny, Paul, because I always find it as a disappointment that if I'm talking about Steelers preseason football, the Pirates have failed.

And at this point, yeah, I'm talking Steelers preseason football.

I'm having debates about Aaron Rodgers.

Because this team is not worth watching right now.

Thank you, Tyler Rooks, for the 1,000 jewels.

Go, trophy.

Yeah, that's the thing.

Like, they aren't hitting for power or extra base hits, Ryan.

I think you're absolutely right.

Like, there's no fun in the offense.

There's no extra base hits.

It's all singles.

It's very reminiscent of this 2,025 Pirates.

And it's really a shame because we could have been much more than this.

So, the Pirates dropped another series.

The Pirates have not won a series since, I want to say, the Cleveland.

Yeah, they have not won a series since Cleveland.

And that was July 19th.

So, we are approaching a month of baseball where the Pirates have lost every single series.

And you know what?

That would have been okay.

The Pirates could have withheld a stretch like this.

Unfortunately, John, I do not know if Jim is still alive.

We do not have confirmation.

But hopefully, he did not get physically thrown out by Marlon's staff.

But yeah, it's just, you can withstand a bad month of baseball.

The Dodgers right now are going through a bad month of baseball the same time the Pirates are.

The Yankees had an atrocious June.

But when you go 500 for all that time, and you keep throwing games away, you can't weather the storm.

If we were 10 games over 500 coming into the All-Star Blake like we should have been, it's a different story.

Where you can withstand this.

It sucks, and you're falling back into that wild card mix.

But you can withstand it, because every team has this.

The Pirates did not allow themselves to do this, and they are suffering the consequences because of it.

Because now, we're 58-64.

And we look dead in the water, and the team looks dead in the water.

Because they can tell.

it's hard to fight back.

They are now six games out of a wild card spot.

Still dog, thank you for the $2.

Shelton has a better record with the Twins irony.

it makes a lot of sense when you remember that Derek Shelton is the best manager in baseball.

But, no, that should be like the whole managers don't matter thing, right?

Because Derek Shelton went to a tanking team and has a better record.

It is about the talent around them.

So, the Pirates drop another one.

They can go out tomorrow and salvage at least one game of the series tomorrow with Braxton Ashcraft taking the mound.

and even though, prove me wrong is what I will say to the Pirates team that closed this out.

I have been talking for 20 minutes by myself about why I think that the season's over.

And Tyler had similar messaging last night about how the season was over.

But, they can claw their way back into this.

It is possible.

But, you cannot be in year seven of a regime buying at the deadline and being fifth in the NL Central behind the Cardinals and Reds who are objectively worse teams than you.

They should be in the thick of a wild card spot, and they can technically claw their way back.

I don't see it happening, though, not with how this team is performing.

So, hopefully, they come in and win tomorrow.

However, they have fallen so far down on FanDuel.

There are now plus 70,000 to win the World Series.

So, if you're feeling lucky, if you want to make a bold bet, maybe you're feeling optimistic for some reason, like I'm not.

Maybe you can bet a little bit on the Pirates to win tomorrow and win the World Series.

One dollar is probably.

It's only one dollar.

But, anyway, barring a 2009 race, I think it's 2009, yeah, it's just, it's not looking good.

It's not looking good, but we will be here tomorrow, and we will be here tomorrow with coverage of every single game in the rain in the season for all of you who are still watching.

For all of you who are going to watch the Pirates tomorrow instead of the Steelers, we thank you, and we'll be back tomorrow.

But, thank you all for tuning in.

Thank you to all our donations, and we will see you tomorrow.

Let's go, Bucs.

All right, that wraps up this episode of North Shore Nine.

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