Rocky start puzzles Pirates’ Matt Morris

“A bull, a stud, a tiger, a bulldog, a stallion--a whole zoo in one pitcher! Our Matty, always a Cardinal in our hearts.” ( hilaripusiness from the Matt Morris page)

Every time Matt Morris takes the mound, he’s hoping to discover why he has struggled so much this year. Three starts into the season, and all he and the Pirates’ coaching staff have are more questions.

..."It’s not puzzling. It doesn’t matter what pitch you throw, it’s just location and how sharp it is,” Morris said. “The second time around and the third time around, my location has been off, so that’s where the trouble has been.”

..."You’ve just got to continue with what you’re doing in the first,” Morris said. “I don’t know why I’m not as sharp later on, but obviously them seeing more pitches as the game goes on gives them an advantage, so the location’s really important at that point.”

Morris and pitching coach Jeff Andrews have gone over every possible scenario and perused hours of video, to no avail.  “It’s something that you don’t want to stop looking for answers and stop looking for solutions and keep analyzing,” Andrews said. “He remained aggressive and was very efficient through the first three innings (Tuesday). He went back out and had the same attitude and approach he had the first three innings. It just didn’t work.”