No team in the NL Central has had the hitting performance that the Pirates have seen the last three weeks.
Jack Wilson (0.373 / 0.397 / 0.520), Craig Wilson (0.358 / 0.469 / 0.701), Daryle Ward (0.377 / 0.413 / 0.739), Rob Mackowiak (0.333 / 0.380 / 0.742), and Jason Kendall (0.417 / 0.493 / 0.483) lead the team in PAs over that period. Jason Bay (0.302 / 0.392 / 0.535) has been worked more slowly into the flow of things as he comes off that surgery. For Lloyd McClendon, it has paid to play the hot hand. Anecdotal reports suggest the team has bought into this philosophy, too. An egotist or two in the clubhouse is the main reason this strategy often fails. As long as the team keeps winning, I doubt we'll see any complaining as Mac mixes it up night after night.
Tike Redman is looking better (0.277 / 0.321 / 0.404). He's two-for-four in steal attempts over this period but his speed has paid off as he has crossed the plate ten times. The difference between him and Scott Podsednik - besides the steals - has been twenty points of OBP. With the quality of his defensive play in center, he's looking like a plus as a guy who hits in the bottom third of the lineup.
Jose Castillo (0.275 / 0.326 / 0.300) has not done much at the plate, and Bobby Hill (0.278 / 0.333 / 0.417) is doing about what we hoped from him going into the season.
Chris Stynes (0.156 / 0.206 / 0.188) continues to sink like the Titanic at the plate. The only thing saving his job is the fact that the Bucs have been winning. He should buy Daryle Ward a watch with his next paycheck. His defense is outstanding, but this isn't the Houston Astros and bench space is too valuable on this team. If the Pirates had a starting eight that played every single night, maybe then we'd have room for a no-hitting defensive specialist at third.
Randall Simon (6-for-12), Humberto Cota (4-for-10), and Ruben Mateo (2-for-9, HR), have contributed in minor roles.
The immortal Josh Fogg has been the Pirates' best starter these past few weeks, limiting the bad guys to 0.265 / 0.315 / 0.338 in seventeen innings with his usual strikeout and walk rates. Kudos to Spin and Mac for sticking with him while sillier people called for his release, demotion to the minors, or move to the bullpen. Fogg has three of the Pirates' eleven wins.
Oliver Perez and Kip Wells have been contributors. Perez is walking too many guys again and they have to stamp that out right away. Kip Wells has been a rock, but his recent numbers are not exactly rotation-anchor Superman-type stuff.
The bad guys have torched Kris Benson (0.358 / 0.391 / 0.580), who has no trade value today I'm sure, and Ryan Vogelsong (0.322 / 0.427 / 0.525), who has poor strikeout and walk rates to boot. Those numbers suggest he's not exactly turning things around.
The bullpen's recent run does not look good on paper. Mesa has been solid but average overall. Abe Nunez was spectacular (on paper) in his one appearance. Mike Gonzalez was perfect while he was with the team. In descending order of magnitude, Jason Boyd (now gone, thankfully), Mike Johnston, Brian Meadows, John Grabow, and Brian Boehringer have been far too generous with the opposing hitters if we look at the last three weeks all at once.
It's pretty amazing that the Pirates managed to go 11-6 during this stretch. The starting pitching has been decent. The hitting has been unbelievably and unsustainably good, and the relief pitching has been uncharacteristically bad. Obviously they aren't going to play .650 ball the rest of the way, but .500 is manageable provided that the Pirates continue to manage the roster and the lineup as well as they have this past month.
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