Jason Mackey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Columnist

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Minimum $10 per order additional terms apply. Jason, thank you for taking the time to join us. Of course, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. No doubt. Well, first of all, how was the experience out in Arlington?

Not bad. They did a good job. It was fun covering Skeens and watching him pitch. That was my favorite part of it.

But yeah, these All-Star games are busy and crazy and fun and a lot of stuff to write and a lot of intrigue. Very much enjoyed them. So it was an experience and they did an excellent job as a host, as you would expect for Arlington. Well, I'm going to ask you about Skeens in a second.

Did you get a chance and help me? Maybe they changed the carpet. Is it still a pink carpet? Is it still pink? For walking in or what do you think? Yeah, T-Mobile pink carpet with all the athletes, the All-Stars walking in.

No? No, I can very much confirm that the carpet was red. I was standing right on it as Shohei Ohtani walked in and Paul Skeens walked in and ended up tracking down Libby Dunn to talk a little bit about Pittsburgh and those guys getting acclimated to our city. I was on the red carpet yesterday, can't confirm it is red.

Okay, no longer sponsored by that phone company then. Jason Mackey is joining us on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. You talk about Paul Skeens. He was the guy that everybody wanted to see last night.

We even got the matchup with Aaron Judge as he decided to hit the ball at third base. Is Paul Skeens a human being? He seems so relaxed, so chill.

I'd have to imagine when the microphone's off and he's hanging out with his girlfriend. He's a goofball, right? He has to have a personality. Paul is a great dude and he's very much human, yes. I should ask him that on Friday.

Be like, are you human? But he's got a fun personality. He's a really, really, really good kid. I've known Paul from the time they drafted him, the very first starting affiliated ball. I've had a pretty good relationship with him.

I think the world of him. But yeah, get on the mound and he's a machine. Put him in settings like the All-Star game and he handles himself extremely well. I had a couple national people say to me, I can't believe how mature he is. He comes off as somebody 10 years older.

I would completely agree with that. And we in Pittsburgh see him prepare a lot and how much he puts into studying the other team's lineup. I go back to spring training. You see a 22-year-old kid, not often, a day he's not pitching, he's got a laptop out and going through spreadsheets and scouting reports. He's a very mature, very intentional kid.

But yeah, he's got a fun side to him. Jason Mackey is here with us from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. There's been a lot said about the games that he's been pulled from, throwing no hitters. Obviously, we all want to see him pitching for the next decade plus.

What are your thoughts on what we might see the rest of the season? Are they going to hold the reins tight? Are we going to see him pitch through the year? Are they going to slow him down?

What do you think? So they went at this a specific way to try to avoid a shutdown like Strasburg in 2010. They started him extremely slow, started him in the minor leagues.

I mean, he was like two, three innings a start. And the goal, honestly, JR, is to keep him pitching the entire season. That's a win for the Pirates if that happens because that means they're contending and they want to keep schemes going. They need to have enough of a pitching staff to make that happen. They'll probably go to a six-man rotation. But that's the plan, is to keep him pitching. Now, if they lose and tumble out of contention, yeah, they'll probably shut him down. And they have been very conservative with them on pitch counts.

And I understand why. I don't love them pulling him out of the no-hitter. People are going to have negative opinions about that, and I certainly get it.

I hate the overall climate of baseball where you're pulling a guy out 99 pitches in the seventh inning. I mean, they hardly would be the only ones that did that. But, yeah, I mean, they're going to try to get all the way through with Paul. When you think about the team in whole, right now they're sitting at.500,.48 and.48. You think about the expansion of the playoffs. What are your thoughts on the Pirates as a whole actually ending up with one of those spots?

Yeah, I mean, I think they have a chance. They've put themselves in a pretty cool spot with their starting pitching. And Mitch Keller, you've probably heard that name.

Jared Jones, the other young guy along with schemes. Even Bailey Falter has been really good for them. And their bullpen has gotten a lot better as the year has gone on. So, to me, if you're keeping the runs against total down, which they largely have, it gives them a chance. Now, the question I have with the Pirates is their offense. It's been too inconsistent, and that's why they've lost a lot of games. They haven't been able to score enough runs.

So, that's the big chatter, the big talking point here. Are they going to add to the offense? Are they going to bring in a bat?

I mean, I think it's there. I think it's an opportunity that we haven't had a lot in Pittsburgh to see the Pirates playing meaningful baseball late in the season. That's what certainly Pirates fans want. They want the team to, you know, add a bat or two and try to make a push.

So, yeah, I think it's certainly possible. Jason Mackie is here with us at the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast. You know, I've been out to Pittsburgh.

I love it. I've walked by, you know, the stadium when they've been in the doldrums. And the place is still filled with fans full of enthusiasm, and I have to go, man, these people are coming to be punished. But there's some real diehards. How has the attitude towards the team changed, if any, over the past month or so?

Has the electricity jumped up just a little bit? It's an awesome place to live and work, man. And I was born here. I've lived here for basically all my life.

I'm 40 years old. It's crazy. You know, people just want the Pirates to be good.

They want them to be competitive. It's a great baseball market. You know, over the past one or two months, it's been an interesting place, because the Pirates, for the longest time, they couldn't win or lose more than, you know, about two in a row. And so, you know, they'd win two, and everybody's all excited, saying, we're back! Go to the playoffs! You know, and then they lose two, and everybody freaks out and says, you know, fire everybody and sell the team.

So, I mean, you're like very, very opposite ends of the spectrum. And it's coming from a place of emotion. You want to see the team do well. And it has been unexplainable to a degree how they can look really, really good and then really, really bad the next day. And a lot of times that happens at the plate. So, I mean, you know, I think there's a recognition here, JR, of just what the Pirates have in front of them. People, you know, want to see them reach their potential. You know, you could encapsulate the Pirates in one player if you look at O'Neal Cruz.

Like, he's so exciting, so fun, can do so many freakish things, and then he does things that make you want to throw your remote control, too. So, I mean, that's kind of where the Pirates have been. Yeah, well, I mean, for a team that's sitting at.500 right now, sounds plenty of reasonable. Jason Mackey is joining us from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I know you're still on your way back from Dallas, Arlington, DFW. I'm trying.

What does that mean? So, I flew into Atlanta today, and I was there for about three and a half hours before they canceled my connecting flight. And then I just said to heck with it, and I got a flight tomorrow morning, so I'm going to spend an extra night in Atlanta. You're staying out here? Oh, you're my neighbor. Good for you. We're neighbors. We're neighbors for a night. Do you need a suggestion where to, like, lose money tonight? You need a suggestion? I think I'm good on the money-losing part.

I've done my share. I think I'm just going to grab some dinner, go to sleep, and make my flight in the morning. But maybe another… Oh, I hear that, Jason. Hey, did Hickey, did someone steal his phone?

I guess, yeah, not only is he not going to spend money, he's not going to spend any more time with us. That's it. Oh, man. What happened? Did a stripper kidnap him? He came to Atlanta. He got jacked by a stripper.

Oh, my goodness. Smart man hung up before he could incriminate himself. Marco, did you just hear what happened? You scared him, man. That's what that was.

I said, do you want to lose money in Atlanta? And next thing you know, Jason just disappeared off the face of the earth. He freaked out. He was like, you know what? I'm not dealing with this. The hell with you, JR. You're not getting me in trouble. I thought my next question was going to be about Livvy Dunn.

Oh, here he is. Hey, Jason, what happened? I thought you got kidnapped by a stripper. I can assure you that I did not. You invited me to Atlanta, and then it probably seemed like I hung up on you.

I did not. I'm sorry. Listen, that is a very Atlanta thing to do. People call me, they say, I'm here, what do you think I do?

I go click, too, so don't worry about it. Anyway, you did say, speaking of Pittsburgh, forget the city that I live in, talking about Pittsburgh, you said you were talking to both Skeans and Livvy Dunn about the city. How have they embraced the city? Have they been to, like, Primanti's yet? Are they sick of it?

What's going on? I think so. I think they've been to Primanti's. It was kind of a cool thing whenever Paul was selected to the All-Star Game, Livvy got, like, balloons and Primanti's sandwiches from Primanti's. I don't know if they actually ate them, I should ask. With her shape, if she ate one, would she, like, live? I don't know.

That's a lot of miles on the treadmill to knock that off, I don't know, but I do love my Primanti's. But no, in all seriousness, they both have genuinely loved it, and I was asking Livvy about that on the red carpet. And, like, I'd like to think that Pittsburgh's a pretty respectful city if we see people out, you know, you can, you know, give them their space, maybe acknowledge, wave, et cetera, but don't be an idiot.

And we try not to be that. You know, Paul was out with Jared Jones at a concert and people were kind of disrespectful, hanging out with them. I mean, they're absolutely, you know, celebrities and then some. Here, you know, there was a picture of them on a boat cruising the Allegheny River with the Roberto Clemente Bridge in the background, like, you know, he's living his best life in Pittsburgh. But yeah, they've found it extremely cool.

Livvy talked about that, Paul has talked about that a bunch. They're having the time of their lives and really enjoying themselves. That's a beautiful thing. Beautiful thing. Well, listen, I'm gonna let you get some rest, Jason. I wish you nothing but the best on your way from the wonderful airport we have here back up to Pittsburgh.

And then we'll catch you on down the line and talk some more schemes. Where can people follow you and all your work with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette? All right.

Post-Gazette.com. We'll get you to our content and then the at jmackiepg on Twitter. And thank you so much for having me. It's my pleasure.

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