Whining in the Midst of Winning

Okay, the Pirates won. Again. This winning thing is becoming habitual. It's somewhat frightening, though I'm certainly confident Mr. Tony Armas has the magical prowess to end a winning streak.

That being said, I have some "whining" to do. It's not the typical whining about minor league baseball players playing on an ostensibly major league team (that whining, I'm confident, shall return as soon as the Pirates resume losing). Rather, I just have some smart-alecky commentary that, I can guarantee, would not see the light of day in the local paper. So, without further adieu, here's the whining in the midst of winning.

--After one of Bautista's homers tonight, Greg Brown was checking to see how many home runs the Yankees have scored thus far this month. And Mr. "Raise the Jolly Roger" Brown was so excited that the Pirates, to that point, were still leading the majors in home runs in August. Of course, my thought was that the Yankees were concerned both with the Boston Red Sox and the AL Wild Card race--and about how the home runs they've hit this month will help them to capture a playoff berth. Somehow I'm absolutely assured the Yankees don't give a flying fig about how their monthly run output compares to that of the perennial sub. 500 Buccos. But, you know, at least Brown could mention the Yankees and the Pirates in the same breath for some apparently similar, if August only, statistic without inducing giggles. Except, oops, I still giggled. The Pirates and the Yanks should not be mentioned in the same breath, similar August run scoring output aside--but I must thank Mr. Brown for endlessly amusing me.

--Usually I mute commercials when watching television, but I was too freaking lazy to mute the commercials today (well, that and I don't actually know where my remote control is, so that made hitting the mute button a more difficult exercise than it typically is). And, as such, I was repeatedly forced to watch an advertisement for a September 29th Pirates-Cardinals game. The game itself wasn't being advertised so much as was the Clarks concert that will follow the game. But seeing that commercial just made me wonder what it would be like to be playing a meaningful game--with playoff implications for both teams--that late in the season. Alas, I get the Clarks concert and not a meaningful baseball game, as I don't believe in miracles when it comes to the Pirates.

--Speaking of not believing in miracles, however, what the heck was going on today? The veteran pitcher just did his job and only gave up one run. But more than that, Jose Bautista hit two home runs in a game? Tracy's love affair with Bautista's "tools" aside, I would've counted those 2 jacks as a miracle--if I didn't see, with my own eyes, one Ronny Paulino on base after every at bat. Okay, so it wasn't exactly a miracle (c'mon, we were playing the team with whom we're competing for cellar dwelling in the NL Central), but it was surely peculiar.

--Crown Josh Phelps as Captain Obvious. Still, I did enjoy Phelps' post-game interview, when pointed out that perhaps the Pirates were playing so well in August (well for the Pirates means a record a few games over five hundred, which tells you all you need to know about what "well" means for this team) because they played so terribly in July. Law of averages, anyone?

--Speaking of Phelps, and of interviews in general, does someone give every television interviewer a standardized list of ridiculous questions to ask? How would one ever expect to get answers that aren't trite, cliche, and boring, if all you ever ask are seriously stupid (or at least stunningly obvious) questions? At least ask about approach to a batter or a pitcher and not just the, "Wow, you're doing well lately, aren't you?" Seriously, however, if all I have to complain about is interviewers asking silly questions, I should probably just shut up (but I have a blog, so I don't).

--Did you hear Jim Tracy's quotes after last night's (oops, this morning's) 15 inning win over the Astros? Tracy beamed with pride and said he was so "proud" of "all" his players. Okay, fine and dandy, I'm happy Tracy got a moment to beam and exalt in his team's win (it surely hasn't happened all that frequently in his Pittsburgh managerial career). But Tracy reminds me of the guidance counselor of a failing student who gets tremendously excited when the kid with F's suddenly pulls one of his F's up to a barely passing D. Sure, a D is better than a flat-out F, but only just. I understand that Tracy's dealing with a team of limited talent and that most of his talented players (e.g. a few pitchers) are young and inexperienced, but the overall Pittsburgh record still warrants a failing grade. Sure, you can offer encouragement that the D is better than the F, just as a win is better than a loss, but in the midst of saying the D is better than the F, you'd dang well better save being proud for when that kid has at least C's--or, in Pittsburgh's case, a .500 record. Really, however, I think this long-winded education analogy is just my way of saying that while there are times when I think Mr. Tracy's emotional enthusiasm and encouragement can be good (especially when it came to developing young pitchers) there has to come a point when you save being proud for consistent production and not just one-time production. Or, of course, it's just my way of saying Tracy still gets on my nerves even in the midst of winning. (Forgive me. I'm a Pirates fan. I'm confused as to how I'm supposed to react when my team wins more games than they lose for almost a month. I'd solicit advice from fans of winning teams, but I just don't think I'm going to need that advice for any length of time.)