U mad, bro?: Pirates fans are still inflamed about the lineup ruining Paul Skenes' start on Tuesday

How good is Pittsburgh Pirates rookie pitcher Paul Skenes?

He’s so good that, on the eve of the Steelers reporting to training camp, he had all of Pittsburgh buzzing about baseball for a change.

How bad is the Pirates lineup, though?

It’s so bad that it couldn’t muster more than one run against the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday night, thus ruining perhaps Skenes’ best home start so far.

And that’s all anyone is griping about in this week’s “U mad, bro?”

After the Pirates lost Skenes’ start 2-1 on Tuesday, I (half) jokingly suggested that manager Derek Shelton should just let Skenes hit for himself.

That got Harry’s gears turning.

“ When I read the headline for your article, I immediately thought of “The Simpsons” episode where Nelson Muntz was the quarterback and he threw a deep pass to himself for a touchdown. ”

Let’s not mix metaphors, Harry. Obviously, that’s what Russell Wilson will be doing for the Steelers this year.

I was thinking more along the lines of Bugs Bunny vs. the Gashouse Gorillas.

Speaking of movie and TV references, Marc would like to sum up the Pirates lineup with a movie homage as well.

Marc, if we are going to go with “Major League” as a way to sum up the Pirates roster, I think you know which clip I need to include.

“OrangemanWM” was expecting the PNC Park fans to be harder on Skenes after he allowed the winning run in the ninth.

In the words of immortal future Pirates Hall of Famer Rowdy Tellez, “This is Pittsburgh. We don’t do that here.”

Unless you are an offensive coordinator, of course. Or a hockey general manager who used to be a Flyer.

Then it’s fine. Jussssst fine.

Rich and Phil were underwhelmed by the Pirates’ lack of pushback in the bottom of the ninth when Josh Palacios, Jared Triolo and Connor Joe all struck out 1-2-3 against Ryan Helsley.

Can we invite Jack Suwinski and Yasmani Grandal to make it a five-piece group?

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Ray thinks my criticism of the Pirates in the wake of Skenes’ start is a little too generic.

“ Your frustration with the Pirates losing a winnable game last night to the Cardinals is understandable given Paul Skenes near heroic effort on the mound. But your proposed solution — ‘Get Skenes some help’ — lacked important specificity and context, without which the sentiment is little more than a bar stool rant. This shortcoming in your commentary is perhaps excusable and understandable given years of fan frustration and the oft-repeated trope that the owner is a skinflint (another bar stool rant). … So, given the exigencies — numerous teams looking to “get a bat,” few obvious such “bats” available in the trade market, and stiff competition to ‘get’ them — what exactly would you propose to do if you were GM for a day spending someone else’s money? It is easy to say ‘fix the problem’ (especially when rooting for the Bucs), but quite another to identify a specific solution, like trade these three players for that one in the hope the new addition will accomplish what Cutch failed to last night. ”

First of all, Ray, I do all my best thinking on a barstool.

Secondly, since you want specifics, if I’m Ben Cherington, I’m making sure my bid for a competitive bat is good enough that I land at least one — if not two — of the following players: Luis Robert, Brent Rooker, Vlad Guerrero, Jazz Chisholm or Taylor Ward.

None of them are great, but they are all better than what the Pirates currently have. And I wouldn’t be too clingy with perceived “high value” prospects in the Pirates system either. Because I tend to think most of those prospects are overrated by the Pirates anyway.

That specific enough for you?

Generally, I get your point. I’m not a fan of the “all our bad players for all their good players” sports talk radio trade proposals this time of year, either.

In this case, though, with the Pirates, telling them to go out and get a bat … any bat … may seem like a generic request.

But with a lineup as generic as the one the Pirates currently have, any addition they make is likely to be an upgrade.

Finally, “Alldayrayray” has a different take on Tuesday’s result.

You’re right. He should’ve gotten the Cardinals out four times per inning instead of only three.

Then again, they would’ve just lost 1-0 in the seventh at that point, instead of 2-1 in the ninth, I guess.

You’re right, Skenes stinks. Trade him for prospects now.

Maybe Ray, from the comment above, will see that as a specific enough suggestion.