2008 Pittsburgh Pirates Season - Season

Season

On November 5, 2007, John Russell was introduced as the Pirates manager, replacing Jim Tracy. Team management cited three areas that the franchise hoped to improve: "refocused emphasis on fundamentals", holding players to a higher standard, and signing younger players. The Pirates won their season opener against the Atlanta Braves, by the score of 12–11, in 12 innings. The Pirates played their home opener against the division-rival Chicago Cubs on April 7, losing 10–8, also in 12 innings. The Pirates started out the season with a 7–7 record after the first half-month; however, after a five-game losing streak they began to struggle, finishing out April with a 11–16 record. The Pirates losing continued as they dropped three of four to the Washington Nationals to begin May. The team fought back, winning six straight games—the most consecutive since 2004, to bring their record within one victory of a .500 record. Throughout the remainder of May the team struggled, but never fell more than four games under .500. Throughout the early months of the season closer Matt Capps was perfect, getting saves in 15 consecutive opportunities. However, on June 10, Capps gave up a two-run home run to the Nationals, losing his first decision of the season. In addition, Capps would blow saves in two of his next three appearances; however, he achieved his first win of the season after an extra-inning victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Pittsburgh went 6–9 in interleague play, including two wins against the New York Yankees who returned to Pittsburgh for the first time since the 1960 World Series. On July 12, in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pirates came back to win a game that they trailed by six runs in the seventh inning. It was only the second time in the past 25 years that the Pirates won at home after scoring runs in the seventh, eighth, ninth, and extra innings. The Pirates finished out the remainder of July with a 6–9 record—50–58 overall. On the final day of July, the Pirates made a deal with the Yankees to send outfielder Xavier Nady and pitcher Dámaso Marté in return for Jeff Karstens, Daniel McCutchen, Ross Ohlendorf and José Tábata. Later in the day the team became involved in a three-team deal in which the Pirates sent Jason Bay to the Boston Red Sox in return for four players from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Pirates won seven of the first 18 games in August before dropping ten consecutive games to close out the month. Pittsburgh entered the final month of the season 21 games below the .500 mark. On September 7, the Pirates lost their 82nd game of the season, tying them with the Philadelphia Phillies as the only two franchises in professional sports history to have losing records in 16 consecutive seasons. The Pirates concluded their season on September 28 with a victory against the San Diego Padres. The team became the second in the Pirates' 122-year history to have no pitchers to win 10 games. The performance of the pitchers lead the team to fire pitching coach Jeff Andrews after the season.