A Nice First Half, but the Pirates Know They Can Do Better

By TYLER KEPNER

http://www.nytimes.com

July 10, 2013

Jeff Locke #49 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the bottom of the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on May 25, 2013 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

(Source: Mike McGinnis/Getty Images North America)

PITTSBURGH — Jeff Locke was a Class A pitcher with a 5.52 earned run average when the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired him with Charlie Morton from the Atlanta Braves in June 2009. The Pirates traded outfielder Nate McLouth, an All-Star the previous summer, and were roundly criticized. They had earned the doubts.

Decades of poor decisions have bred skepticism, but this deal was inspired. McLouth struggled in Atlanta, and now Locke and Morton are starting for a team with a 3.12 E.R.A., the best in the major leagues through Tuesday.

When Locke, who is headed to the All-Star Game next week, considers the Pirates’ success, he thinks of his first organization.

“All we talk about is just competing all the time,” Locke said Tuesday before a game at PNC Park. “I came up in the Atlanta system, where John Smoltz would come talk to us in spring training. He would talk about Maddux, Glavine and Avery, and say that when one of those guys would go seven innings with two hits, he wanted to go seven with one. He always wanted to do a little bit better, and that’s how they stayed so sharp over the years, by always competing — obviously to beat the other team, but also the competition within the competition.”

The Braves of Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Steve Avery beat Pittsburgh twice in the playoffs, in 1991 and 1992, touching off a streak of 20 consecutive losing seasons. The Pirates, who host the Mets this weekend, finally seem poised for a breakthrough, with a 53-36 record through Tuesday. But they had lost six of eight.

After wilting in the second half in each of the last two seasons, the Pirates understand that their fans may be nervous.

“I think it’s natural, from the past here; it’s part of it,” starter A. J. Burnett said. “But we’re in a good spot, and everybody in this locker room believes that. Until this locker room loses faith, then I’ll worry. There’s no need to panic.”

Burnett, 36, is a sage presence in the clubhouse, a mentor for Locke and the other young pitchers. When Locke left Monday’s game after seven innings and just two runs, Burnett met him on the bench for an instant review.

“Great game,” he said. “Could’ve been better, though. Right, Cole?”

Gerrit Cole, the rookie right-hander seated nearby, heartily agreed. The three shared a laugh but understood the point.

“That’s what I just try to instill,” Burnett said. “Don’t be content.”

Cole, the first pick in the 2011 draft, gave up two runs in seven innings in Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Oakland. It was the 23rd time in 24 games that a Pirates starter allowed no more than three earned runs.

The bullpen has logged the most innings in the National League but also has the second-best E.R.A. The All-Star closer Jason Grilli and the setup man Mark Melancon anchor a group that calls itself the Shark Tank and has lockers near a 150-gallon saltwater tank. A banded cat shark and a coral cat shark are among its ruthless residents, a season-ticket holder’s tribute to the predatory pitchers.

“It’s impressive how many arms we have and how well they compete in the heat of the moment,” catcher Russell Martin said. “It’s been a pleasure for me, man — a luxury.”

Last season, the Pirates’ pitchers — Burnett in particular — thrived for a while with Rod Barajas, a strong defensive catcher with a commanding presence. The Pirates’ general manager, Neal Huntington, said he wanted a catcher with the same leadership and game-calling skills as Barajas, but a better bat.

The Pirates struck quickly, luring Martin with a two-year, $17 million offer before the winter meetings. The Yankees did not match.

“We evaluated the catchers and realized pretty quickly that Russ had the chance to make the biggest impact of any move that we could make,” Huntington said. “That was when we decided to aggressively pursue him. Had he not been ready to commit to us, we were ready to go to target No. 2 because we were going to get a catcher to make us better.”

Martin has worked out just as Huntington hoped, like Francisco Liriano, the former Minnesota left-hander who signed for a guarantee of only $1 million after an off-season injury. It was a nearly flawless off-season for the Pirates, who moved Grilli to the closer’s role and traded Joel Hanrahan for Melancon, but a subtler decision has also helped. The Pirates determined that they would more fully embrace a statistics-based approach to defense.

According to Baseball Info Solutions, the Pirates employed the most shifts on balls in play in the major leagues through July 1. Partly as a consequence, they led the majors in defensive efficiency through Monday, according to Baseball-Reference.com, meaning that they had turned the most balls in play into outs.

Burnett said he was not fully sold on the philosophy, which places fielders where batters most often hit the ball. He questioned the logic of shifting for a hitter he has never faced, based on how that hitter handles the rest of the league.

“C’mon, man,” Burnett said. “The rest of the league ain’t me, the rest of the league ain’t Charlie, the rest of the league ain’t Locke. But we’re making plays with the shift more often than not, so I guess that’s why we do it. We’ve got an infield, if you put the ball on the ground, they can make a play anywhere.”

A more pressing concern for the Pirates is their offense, which ranked 24th in the majors in runs per game before Tuesday. The Pirates scored just one run in four of their first eight games this month, and only Pedro Alvarez, who has 23 home runs, has been much of a power threat. Even Andrew McCutchen, the team’s best player, has only nine homers.

In the ninth inning Tuesday, with Pittsburgh trailing by a run, Oakland’s Grant Balfour struck out McCutchen and Alvarez, then ended the game with a weak groundout by Martin. It wasted Cole’s strong start and doomed the Pirates to another loss, but Manager Clint Hurdle was confident.

“I just love the fact this is part of the road you’re on during the season,” he said. “It’s got every opportunity to challenge you, but also to make you better.”