PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The Pirates have lost 17 times through the first 27 days of June, but are they that far off?
The immediate answer is yes. You never want to lose that many games in a month.
Dig deeper into the results and would find 14 of those losses were by one or two runs. They also came against some quality teams-the Rays, Braves, Giants and Cardinals among them.
Bucs GM Ben Cherington was roasted for noting improvement hours before his team would lose to the Cardinals 18-4 last month. During his show on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network this week, he noted a couple of games in Florida that give him some cause for encouragement.
“No one feels good about being walked off two straight days in Tampa,” Cherington said. “Not fun. On the one hand difficult two days, on the other hand, we got walked off on by a very good team. We were competitive to the very last pitch.”
This is not a pennant winning roster or even playoff or likely .500 group the Pirates have assembled for 2022. That’s where close losses really drive home the point for the general manager.
“How do we keep getting better?” Cherington said. “So that when we go into those games, Shelty (Manager Derek Shelton) and our staff have a little more margin for error, a little more advantage.”
So, the reaction from Cherington is not, it’s ok to lose close games. But what can we do to give our team a better chance to win.
“We often focus on the last inning,” Cherington said of close losses. “I usually focus on earlier in the game. What if we had a couple of better matchups against this pitcher? What if we had one more option for Shelty to use out of the pen that would have been a better matchup? Those games are won as much early in the game than late.”
It’s about better talent. Also, about more veteran players on the field and not the cavalcade of rookies we’ve seen in 2022. Cherington believes in some of these young players and hopes there are lessons for them to learn as well.
“Undoubtably, it is valuable experience,” Cherington said on 93.7 The Fan. “Someone said the other day, ‘don’t you feel worse if you lose a close game than if you lose a blowout?’ I don’t think so. I feel way worse if we are losing by a bigger margin.”
“I do feel better in a close loss because what it is showing us is we got a young team who is competing and staying in games. Showing up and playing toe to toe with tough opponents. If we continue to get a little better, a little better, a little better, in time those margins will turn towards us.”
“We will start to win those close games and the wins will start piling up.”