Hour 3 - Burgh Blues

Pirates ace Paul Skenes carried a 1.96 career ERA into this season. Since May 17, his ERA is 5.05, he has nearly taken his 10th loss in 13 decisions, and the team line out of Pittsburgh is that it is "just a slump." Ben Maller is not buying it.

The Skenes problem: more than a slump

Maller frames Skenes' struggles not as turbulence but as "the Delta Airlines plane dropping 8,000 feet in about 30 seconds." The standard checklist for a struggling star pitcher—tipping pitches, dead arm, a phantom injury—has already started circulating. Maller dismisses the idea that Skenes' "dad body" is to blame, noting he had the same build when he won the Cy Young. The more telling issue is command: Skenes walked a season-high-tying four batters in his latest start, throwing only 46 of 81 pitches for strikes. The Pirates gave him extra rest, which Maller calls "baseball's version of a mechanic saying, just leave the car overnight." He argues that the velocity has been erratic but that the command problems are the bigger signal. Maller's conclusion is blunt: stop calling it a slump, call it a problem. The generational pitcher has been passed by Milwaukee's Miz as the face of young pitching in baseball.

The billionaire two-step in Queens