Misery Loves Company

After the Pirates beat the Phillies last night and again today, I couldn't resist taking a gander at some Philadelphia message boards and blogs. Among the interesting tidbits I read were that the Philadelphia manager is a moron, the Philadelphia fans get mad at their bullpen when it blows leads, and perhaps most interestingly, that reigning NL MVP Ryan Howard needs to be banished to the minor leagues and is the worst hitter in the league. Fans who were less harsh on Howard said that he needed, at minimum, a two-game benching.

In any case, I am a twenty-five-year-old Pirate fan. The last time my team had a winning season was 1992. The last time my club sniffed of a pennant race was the "Freak Show" team of 1997 that still finished below .500 and only managed to "contend" due to the pathetic competition in the NL Central Division. (The fact that my team could be .500 and in a pennant race this season, too, stings, but will sting less if Mr. Nutting finally banishes Mr. Littlefield and Mr. Tracy at season's end.) In the short-term of the 2007 season, I have watched my team lose many more games than they have won. I have seen my bullpen blow leads too many times to count. I have seen a former NL ROY (albeit never even a MVP candidate) endure a horrific slump. Aside from Freddy Sanchez, Xavier Nady, Adam Laroche, and Jason Bay, I have watched players who would not be in the offensive starting lineup or the major league roster for a majority of MLB teams. I have watched an inept and anemic offense. Prior to the All-Star break, I watched two pitchers who were at that point in the top ten in NL ERA fail to win games because their offense couldn't manufacture the three or four total runs necessary to win the baseball game (yes, seriously). And, of course, I no longer bother to call Jim Tracy names, as it's not worth the effort; I rather choose to expend my time and energy making snarky comments after one of Tracy's annoying frequent post-loss (not post-game, post-loss) press conferences.

In any case, Phillies fans, on some level, I felt your pain today, because I surely know what it's like to be ready to fire the manager, send your formerly best player somewhere to fix him magically, and to be ready to wring the neck of a pitcher who pitched well for most of the game and then made stupid mistakes which your bullpen just compounded into a horrific loss. Except, of course, on a whole other level, I don't know your pain. I haven't known your pain, really, legitimately, since 1992--the last time my team was truly in contention for a pennant.

See, as a Pirates fan, it's nice when my team functions like a MLB team and wins 2 out of 3 every once in awhile. But for fans of the Phils, well, yikes when you're losing 2 out of 3 to the Pirates. In my team's defense, I'd like to point that you faced three of our pitchers who are maddeningly inconsistent (for my taste) but who have shown flashes, and sometimes more than that, of big-time major league talent. And, of course, my team does have 3 to 4 legitimate major league hitters. But 33% to 40% of the lineup being able to hit at a major league level perfectly explains Pittsburgh's winning percentage, doesn't it?

In any case, to fans of the Phillies distraught about your team: Don't be. Seriously, you have some issues. But you're in a pennant race. Enjoy the pennant race. Enjoy the wild card race. Have some fun.

As for me, well, I would love to enjoy the race for the number one draft pick, but the Pirates don't draft like the local hockey team does, so all I really have are the occasional days like today--when my team somehow gets the chance to make another team's fan base as miserable as my team consistently makes the passionate-for-baseball-and-not-fireworks fan base of my own team. Because, after all, misery does, indeed, love company.

But don't fret. Soon enough, I won't have your company, and until major changes happen, my team, too, is hurtling in a hurry toward 10,000 overall losses.
Remind me, again, why it is that misery so relishes company?