House of Horrors!?

[jjgott]

I don't think this should be viewed as a vent, but why has PNC been such a House of Horrors for the Brewers. It is almost like clockwork that the Crew will have difficulty against the Pirates. I don't think there is any statistical way to prove either way, but emotionally it just seems like no matter how hot we enter a series in PNC, the Crew seem to stumble.

[DougJones43]

It seems like every stadium other than Miller Park is a house of horrors for the Brewers.

[jason21nl]

its winning on the road that the Brewers year in and year out can't seem to do. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but PNC seems to be a pitchers park. The Brewers rely on the HR ball. The only time they scored today was on a 3 run shot and you don't get many of those at PNC. The ball weeks hit to end the game might have gone at MP. I don't think the park plays well for the crew.

 

of course I could totally be way off, but i think it has something to do with it

[sbrylski]

They steal signs!

[lumberrule]

Yesterday's game was just poorly played, but I kinda figured going in that today's game was probably gonna be a loss...Ian Snell is a highly underrated pitcher for Pittsburgh and their ace, and Vargas is our #5. #1 pitchers are gonna beat #5 pitchers most of the time. The fact that the Brewers got 3 runs early just makes this loss a bit more disappointing.

[pitchleague]

jason, your argument works very, very well for this year, and, to a point, last year too.

 

But how about 2004 (2-6 in PITT), 2002 (3-6 in PITT), and 2001 (1-9 in PITT)? Granted, those were COMPLETELY different teams back then (even 2004) but still. . . .

 

As my wife just said, it's like the Packers in the 90s traveling to Dallas. Even though Green Bay was the better team on occasion, they just couldn't win there. Same thing with the Metrodome and Favre. It's semi-mental.

[jason21nl]

But how about 2004 (2-6 in PITT), 2002 (3-6 in PITT), and 2001 (1-9 in PITT)? Granted, those were COMPLETELY different teams back then (even 2004) but still

 

those were just all around bad Brewers teams playing bad Pirates teams. How horrible was that to watch? yikes

[pitchleague]

but still, just a little bit of history HAS to play a part in the back of the mind, no matter how good they are now.

 

for instance, I enjoy teaching and am very good at it. However, once or twice a year, there is always a lesson or a class that no matter how much effort I put into it to do my best, I know in the back of my head that some student (my Pirates) will ruin it and make me tread lightly whenever I teach that lesson/class. I can be good all year round but when I teach that lesson/class, something always seems to go wrong and I know it going in.

 

Probably a bad example but it's late.

[rluzinski]

but still, just a little bit of history HAS to play a part in the back of the mind, no matter how good they are now.

 

Perhaps, but I think fans get hung up on stuff like that more than the actual players do. Do you think Prince cares that the Pirates owned the Crew in 2004?

[jason21nl]

Perhaps, but I think fans get hung up on stuff like that more than the actual players do. Do you think Prince cares that the Pirates owned the Crew in 2004?

 

probably not, but I'm sure he has heard all about the Brewers not being able to win there. He hit a ball that he thought was gone and it ended up not even being close to going out. Then he took it out on the water coolers. I think that plays in the players mind a little.

[RU Rah Rah]

It seems like every stadium other than Miller Park is a house of horrors for the Brewers.

 

No kidding. The Brewers (at 18-23) are actually worse than the Royals (18-22) on the road. I suppose the good news is that the Cubs are the only .500+ road team in the NL Central.

[davego]

If Sheets pulls the 'Crew thru today (warning, must win alert), then we split the series. Not bad on the road. As mentioned before, kind of thought you might lose V Shell yesterday, same way we sort of expect to win everytime Ben takes the mound.

[JohnBriggs12]

It's not who you play or where you play, it's when you play them.

 

This series follows the huge Cub weekend series (hasn't that always been the case before heading to Pittsburgh). Furthermore, from watching the Pittsburgh feed, they've been talking all week about the emphasis that the Pirates have placed upon this week. This is a huge series for the Pirates, not because they are contenders but because they need to show progress as a franchise and beating the two top teams in division heading into the break is a way to show they are not that far off.

[DougJones43]

It's not who you play or where you play, it's when you play them.

 

Seems to me that it is about where you play. I can't find the MLB average home/road splits, but I know that it consistently favors the home team by a pretty decent margin. I don't think that's a coincidence.

 

By the way, if anybody could find and post what the historical average home/road record splits are, it'd be appreciated.

[Invader3K]

It's just like every other sport, basically. The home team is going to play better in the venue they're more familiar and comfortable with. Not always, but generally.

[thablingster]

Just over three years to the day Junior Spivey was lost for the season in Pittsburgh (7/2/04), Hall goes down today for what we can expect to be a decent amount of time. That '04 team went on to one of the most wrenched second half records in team history. Granted, this team is light years more talented than that team, but it makes me wonder if there is any credence to this PNC curse other than our 19-40 record.

 

I really didn't want to buy into the house of horrors thing, even though as a fan I personally believe in it, but just thinking about all of the weird things that have happened to us and our players related to PNC kind of cements it. Capuano and Turnbow came back from PNC last year and were never the same. Pittsburgh stopped us from finally finishing over .500 in 2005. There was the 2004 season debacle. It is just all circumstance, but it is really weird, haha.