i usually put action in on the pirates 75% of the time, now is a great time to bet against them, this past cub series wasnt a fluke they are going to have a hard time playing as good as they are, fading the pirates now until sept is a great idea, i made alot of money off them the 1st half of the season now its time to fade away! gl all
just because they slumped a bit vs 3 pitchers who have been pitching well is no reason to fade a team for the next month. sure it was money to do that last year, but every stat this team put up last year pointed to a bigtime regression. that is really not the case this year. especially when you take into account the schedule they have in front of them right now. with how well this team had been hitting for the past month and a half they were bound to run cold at some point. they are at that point right now. I definitely like the UNDER for the next couple days until they can figure it out and get back to hitting, but staight up blindly fading them for the next month+ sounds pretty irresponsible.
I also think what happened last year is NOT likely to repeat the following year for a lot of situations in a lot of sports. The Pirates have cooled down, but every hot hitting team does. Their pitching is better this year and the younger hitters might have matured to where they slip, but don't slide. Personally, I think they'll be in the race for much longer. The Reds and Cards have issues like they do, and one injury to a key player makes a huge difference.
I'm very similar to you in regards to betting a lot on the Pirates (Except I do it in over/under form). In fact, I bet on their games more than any other team in 2011 (Haven't done my records yet with each team in 2012, which I always do at the end of the year, but I've definitely maintained a similar pace to '11). And while I respect your opinion, I must completely respectfully disagree.
This team is COMPLETELY different from last year's team. These are one of my top five teams that I follow more than just about any other, and I can absolutely assure you that this team will be in it at the very end. WORST case scenario, they finish two or three games out of first place and/or a wild card berth. Trust me, this team is much better than last year. No. 1, you have James McDonald (One of my top three sleepers coming into the year, by the way, so I couldn't have been anymore right with his performance this season) going much, much deeper into games, as last year, Clint Hurdle had a short leash on him that didn't allow him to pitch seven innings or more (Did it only once last year; done it so many times this year). While on that topic, the pitching is MUCH deeper, and doesn't appear to be on the verge of letting them down like they did last year, especially with the addition of Wandy Rodriguez. You could also make a case that their bullpen is also a bit better (How about the emergence of Jared Hughes?? I take back what I said at the beginning of the year when I said he was a scrub)
No. 2, their offense is significantly better. The 2012 Andrew McCutchen is probably going to be the National League MVP; the 2011 version of Andrew McCutchen was simply a very, very good player who had his ups and downs. Therefore, they have an MVP-type talent in 2012, which they did not have in 2011. In addition, you have a very valuable player like Pedro Alvarez, who was not only non-existant in 2011, but he was pretty much a black hole right after the heart of the order. He was the definition of a rally-killer in 2011; in 2012, he has been a very valuable source of run production. Same with the catcher position: Michael McKenry is much, much, much improved with the wood, while Rod Barajas has also provided considerable punch in his starts.
Trust me, you're making a huge mistake if you're fading the Pirates down the stretch. Big, big mistake. If you still choose to do so, I wish you luck, but realize you're fading a SURE playoff contender; not the 2011 version that was just awful over the final two months (19-42, I believe after 7/25/11). They were here last year, now they know what they have to do to compete, and with a gritty manager like Clint Hurdle (Who I believe is one of the top ten managers in ALL of baseball), they will stay in it.
Trust me. Do not fade Pittsburgh.
