Liberated from a weekend under house arrest in the nation’s capital, the ostensible Pirates offense figured to be champing at the bit for the start of an eight-game homestand against pitchers of a more standard variety.
Yeah, it’s “champing at the bit,” which is preferred to “chomping at the bit,” although either is technically correct, but it doesn’t matter because the best version is in the form once delivered by semi-famous Steelers running back Duce Staley, who gave us, “bitin’ at the chops.”
In any case, meaning whether the Pirates were champin’, chompin’, or bitin’ to put a barrage of lined drives into the struggling Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday night, they looked every bit the anemic entity that generated three runs across 36 innings against the Nationals.