Wanting to Believe But Not Quite Yet

Seriously, I really want to believe that the 17-10 August record of the Pittsburgh Pirates isn't an aberration. Even though I know all the reasons why said record must be an aberration--hitting jacks like crazy, a bullpen with an obscenely low ERA recently, etc.--I don't want the record to be an aberration. It's fun to be a fan of a team that wins far more often than it loses.

Speaking of winning brings me to tonight's games. The Pirates swept a doubleheader. Momentarily, the Pirates are out of the NL Central cellar and are closer to the Reds than they were at the start of today's games. Statistics that could easily change with a loss tomorrow? Of course. But for tonight, to the games.

Game 1 Thoughts:
First, Tracy Rant: I seriously thought Jim Tracy was trying to lose this game by sending Gorzy back out at the start of the 7th when he was clearly spent at the end of the 6th. Yes, he got out of a jam in the 6th, but as even Steve Blass could tell you, Gorzy didn't have it tonight. Instead, Tracy brings Gorzy back out, and two runners he puts on base end up scoring. Now, perhaps our bullpen would have done the same thing, or far worse, if they'd started the 7th. But beyond the fact that it was idiocy to send out a spent pitcher to start the 7th inning, Gorzy's already had arm troubles this year. Why risk damaging/straining a pitcher who ranks 17th overall in ALL of MLB--for pitchers--in VORP? Seriously, protect your assets. And in this case, pulling Gorzy after 6 would also have been about protecting a lead.

Seriously, who are these guys? This team can't be the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates leave the bases loaded; the Pirates don't hit grand slams. Jason Bay is more often slumping than mashing this season. This team get crucial hits when they need crucial hits and crucial outs when they needs outs. Tell me again, these guys are the Pittsburgh Pirates? Are you sure?

Leave it to a Jim Tracy team to turn a laugher into a nailbiter. Okay, to be fair, the Reds have been hot offensively. They have players who can mash the ball. Blaming the Pirates for turning a 5 run lead into a 2 run lead against the team Mr. Tracy (cough, I have to admit this) correctly labeled a "good offensive" team is really quite silly. Still, despite putting runners on base and doing his best impersonation of recent Bucco closers who always made an adventure out of closing out games, Matt Capps did his job. And ultimately, the end result was the Pirates won a ball game. So that's good. Seriously.

Game 2
Facing a Major League Pitcher is Challenging even for a hot Bucco team: I doubted the Pirates were ever going to get anything going off Arroyo. Say whatever you will of him, but his record and stats (even poor ones this season) leave no doubt that he is a major league pitcher. As any reader of my blog has noted, my team doesn't possess that many major league caliber/ready hitters. I was relieved when Arroyo was pulled, believing the Pirates had a better shot against pitchers who, unlike Arroyo, do not consistently pitch as though they are legitimate big league pitchers.

Who are These Guys, Part Two? I watch the second inning and am prepared to settle in for a long night with Maholm getting hit, and getting hit hard--except Maholm, in spite of being hit, still manages to induce the ground ball outs he has to get if he's to be successful. He gives up a lot of hits, but only 2 runs over 7 innings with a reasonable pitch count. Whether it's plain good luck, Cinci stupidity, or demonstrating pitching maturity, it's a sight for sore eyes.

Speaking of sights for sore eyes, I still wince whenever Shawn Chacon comes into a game. And yet, Chacon doesn't give up a run. By the end of the night, Chacon will again have a winning record. Astounding. Truly astounding.

Freddy Sanchez does what Freddy Sanchez does best--hit the ball. He legs out a triple, and Laroche hits a single to give the Pirates the winning run. And Capps, just as he'd done a few hours earlier, saves another game--not without drama, of course, and this time with a mere 1 run lead.

Overall, however, what is this? The hitters getting enough hits to win games? The infield turning efficient double plays consistently? Getting a timely hit, a RBI single, from a bench player, from a mere pinch hitter? The bullpen bending to increase my heart rate but never breaking to allow the opponent to put runs up on the scoreboard? Seriously, who is this team with the 17-10 August record? Because they surely don't look like the same group of men who stumbled out of the All-Star break with a 2-14 record.


Overall Conclusions from the Night

Limitations: Watching Tracy use three catchers in the span of the last few innings of game 2 was an adventure. The back-up but starting catcher, good defense aside, can't hit--seriously, at all. And we may as well try with Josh Phelps (he didn't get a hit) because his bat needed to be inserted into the lineup there, disregarding his total inability to throw out runners. And finally, as Matt Capps comes on to get the save, Ronny Paulino appears, presumably because he can call the game so well (that's what Tracy says, anyway). Still, the very fact that the Pirates have so many players with such limitations explains their overall record quite easily. It's just that those limitations are less likely to matter when facing another sub .500 team (which the Reds are, despite counting themselves as part of the NL Central race).

I Like Them: I'm probably delusional, but this group of Pirates feels different than other mediocre Bucco teams I've followed during the past 14 losing seasons. Aside from a few players, the team is young, and the team's "core" players are all young/inexperienced enough to be a couple of years away from free agency. While there are still too many mediocre ballplayers of every age on the team, there are a few youngsters who've shown flashes of talent that's just fun to watch--in addition to being intriguing. It's a lot easier to root for a genuinely talented young player with upside than it is to root for a bunch of on-the-downside-of-their-careers old players who were signed on the cheap when no one else wanted them. On days like today, when there are smiles in the dugout and high-fives, this team is easy to root for and fun to watch. And thus comes my confession: I like this team, especially when they play as a team and win games.

Getting What I Wanted: Gorzy didn't give me a quality start, but I blame that on Tracy more than Gorzy (see above rant). After scaring me senselessly silly, Maholm gave another quality start. Gorzy won, and Maholm got a no-decision. Both pitchers looked like big-league pitchers, and more importantly than looking like big-league pitchers, they didn't merely resemble "pitchers filled with promise and potential." In the present moment of tonight, they were good enough to give the Pirates a chance to win the games, and really, despite delusional dreams, that's all I, optimistically but realistically, truly want.


The Empty Ballpark: Too bad there weren't fireworks or a concert because PNC was empty. Count me as someone who would try to buy general admission tickets daily if the team was in a pennant race (yes, seriously). The Pirates threw two good young pitchers at the Reds, and Ken Griffey Jr., was in town, and yet the ballpark was empty. I state this firmly: If the Pirates ever develop a winning team, PNC Park will sell out--yes, even, perhaps especially, in September when the Steelers begin to play. Instead, today I got Dan Potash talking to former Pittsburgh Penguin hockey player Kevin Stevens about the upcoming Penguins season. While I adore my Penguins (see my hockey blog), there was just something sad about fans not coming out to watch two good pitchers sweep a doubleheader.

The Title of this Post: In all honesty, I want to believe that the Pirates are closer to their 17-10 August record than to their putrid 2-14 post All-Star game record. I want to believe Gorzy, Maholm, and Snell are truly who they are when they've been at their best throughout the season. I want to believe Matt Morris can be that veteran who eats innings and gets you a chance to win every game. I want to believe that in spite of the Bucco offensive challenges (in spite of their spate of run scoring in August) that players like Sanchez, Bay, and Laroche can be productive enough to score runs when the starting pitchers give quality starts and the bullpen consistently holds leads. And while I want to believe all those things, well, in spite of the 17-10 August record, I just can't. And I just don't. No way. No how. Not yet.

See, being a fan of the Pirates has me conditioned to expect that one or both of Ian Snell or Matt Morris will implode in the next two games of this series. Not because I want either pitcher to implode, but just because it's the Pirates, and after they win games, they usually don't keep winning games. At some point in time, the freaky, streaky hot bats will go cold, and at some point in time, a pitcher or the bullpen will be victimized. And for winning teams, they halt those incidents at 1 or 2 games. But look, honestly, at the Bucco record. They're many games below .500, and they're not a winning team.

Honestly, if everything had gone right for the Pirates, I think the team might be closer to .500 (probably closer to four or five games under rather than twelve games away from that magical threshold). But make no mistake: A winning record in one month does not a winning team make.

So, much as I want to believe, I'm not going to acquiesce to belief. Not yet. However, I am going to root for the team to win games. (Yeah, I know all the big picture reasons, e.g. management, coaching staff, etc, I perhaps shouldn't do that.) I'm going to root for the players who've shown flashes to have their talent show out consistently in a way that results in more wins than losses. Because, regardless of the general manager and coaches, these players are on my team, and I can't help but want my team to win. Even if I can't bring myself to believe that they are capable of consistently winning games.