BUCN Perfect : Game 1 Vs Cards Sets the Tone for Series

Before Monday’s Pirates game, I told @notartvandelay that I felt like the game was going to set the tone for the rest of the series…

In the first inning, the Pirates came out guns (ok, bats LOL) blazing. They made it to the 8^th batter in the lineup before the inning was over. There was a walk, HBP, single, HR, and a double ALL IN THE FIRST INNING. Frankie and company retired the first 9 of their batters over 3 innings. PNC Park was eating it up. The Cards didn’t score until the 6^th inning, and then the Buccos’ bats struck again in the 7^th and added five more runs.

I truly felt that this game was going to set the tone for the remainder of the 5 game series. Strike fast and strike hard was what I was thinking our Buccos needed to do. I get the impression that there are team in MLB that don’t take the Pirates seriously, even after their success thus far this year. St. Louis is one of those teams. Seems like they weren’t as prepared as we were yesterday, and we delivered a stunner 9-2 loss.

This game was important from a momentum standpoint also. We just dropped 2/3 to the Marlins, and many were displeased with the team’s performance. Of course, everyone starts with the collapse nonsense. Anyone talking collapse had to have been pleasantly surprised at the show the Bucs put on last night. Clint Barmes even got the post-game interview for hitting so well. (Imagine that)

Last night, the energy inside PNC Park was close to that of Cole’s debut. Last night, we watched our playoff caliber team pick apart one of our biggest rivals bit by bit. Frankie struck out all of their big name guys, and batters are .118 against his slider. Cutch made a beautiful sliding catch. Barmes’ defense was on point all night. The Cards struggled: their starting pitcher hit 3 of our batters, and they slid to a season high 4 game losing streak.

Today we have AJ Burnett pitching the first game of the double header, and I’m guessing Cumpton pitching the second game. Hopefully our offense can get some run support for AJ and continue the momentum from yesterday throughout the rest of the series. AJ has been on twitter getting fans hyped up for this week, calling for them to #PackPNC. Last night’s attendance was 32K+, and for a Monday night game, that was pretty impressive to see.

This game should be considered a building block for this 5 game home stand against our divisional rivals. Yesterday was a perfect example of how to beat the Cards, or #DeckTheCards as everyone has been saying on twitter this week. AJ is more than due for a great game full of #STFDs, and I have faith that today could be that day.

What do you guys think about this series? Was last night a defining moment in this series? Are we gonna be able to maintain our level of play for all 5 games?




**Side Note: I was surprised to see the crowd was probably 85% Buccos fans and 15% Cards fans. We know the Cards have a huge following and travel to see their team. Of course we saw the idiots in other teams jerseys, and the even bigger idiots in other sports jerseys. We saw a Dolphin’s Ricky Williams jersey, a KC Royals jersey, multiple Steeler jerseys, Buffalo Bills and Sabres gear, and a Padres jersey.