It has been two days since the Pittsburgh Pirates’ wild card debacle. After 48 hours, I thought the horror would subside. I thought perhaps it would be like waking up from a nightmare in movies and realizing it was all just a hilarious joke. But I was wrong. The embarrassing loss was in fact reality.
On Wednesday, October 1, 2014, the Pirates played against the San Francisco Giants and lost 8-0. There is no graceful to characterize the loss. The Pirates got humiliated at home in front of thousands of fans.
We came. We Saw. They conquered.
There are two names that are going to forever be sketched in the history books. Madison Bumgarner and Brandon Crawford.
Unfortunately, neither of them play for the Pirates.
Let me give you a quick recap of the highlights, or more aptly put – lowlights. Everything was going fairly well for the Pirates in a scoreless game until the fourth inning. Giant’s Sandoval and Hunter Pence opened the inning by each hitting singles. Next, Edinson Volquez, Pirates pitcher, walked Belt on a full count. So, at this point, the bases were loaded and Brandon Crawford walked up to the plate.
I remember thinking, he doesn’t look scared and frankly, that scares me. It didn’t take long, on a 1-2 count, Brandon Crawford hit a home run. Grand slam. Giants 4-0.
For the record, the shortstop had been the only position without a slam in postseason play.
“The last thing on my mind was probably hitting a home run,” Crawford said. “I was just trying to hit something good enough to get Pablo home, and I figured that would probably be good enough for Madison.”
Bumgarner walked one and threw 79 of 109 pitches for strikes. He had 10 strikeouts. He allowed only four singles. He played like he understood the magnitude of the moment and he conquered the moment. But what should we have expected? He has thrown 15 scoreless innings in two World Series starts. He is no novice who is simply excited to be starting the game.
The Grand Slam or shall I say, Not-So-Grand Slam silenced the crowd. Literally. It was like thousands of fans were sitting there as if Drogo had ripped out their tongues on Game of Thrones. Utterly speechless. I was not impressed by the crowd’s response. Sure it’s 4 runs. But that is no reason to look and act defeated.
The players cannot hear or feel the energy of their fans watching the game on television. Instead, the Pirates are affected by their home crowd’s energy.
“We got outplayed tonight,” Pittsburgh second baseman Neil Walker said. “Bumgarner went out there, he did what he wanted to do… when they got up early on us we were trying to scratch and claw our way back.” Don’t you believe it! After that grand slam, the game was over.
The Pirates could feel the utter defeat in the air. They could smell the stench of fear and dismay. And you know what? The Pittsburgh Pirates played like it was over. This loss falls on the entire Pirates’ dugout, bullpen, coaching staff and fans.
But only the Pirates fans that attended the game. Fans, you are supposed to rally. You are supposed to scream out, “That’s okay! We are coming back!” You are not supposed to sit there with shocked expressions too devastated to even tweet. That is not appropriate fan etiquette.
At PNC Park, the crowd was collectively wearing black trying to show solidarity with a “Black Out”. This game was not fun. This game was not entertaining. This game was an awful display from a team that had narrowly missed winning the NL Central. In retrospect, the crowd was dressed appropriately to mourn the premature death of another postseason.
Alexis Sara Cobb may be reached at: alexiscobb@ascexec.com or (724) 561-8082 Follow her on Twitter: @alexissara
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