--Today was a lovely day on and off the baseball field for the Pirates. Off the baseball field, obviously, because David Littlefield is no longer the team's general manager. But on the baseball field, the Pirates did something they surely didn't do in yesterday's atrocious loss.
--Today's starting lineup featured Freddy Sanchez, Adam Laroche, Jason Bay, and a very hot Jack Wilson--all of whom are legitimate big league players. When you can field a lineup with real live hitters who belong in the major leagues, well, to put it mildly, you're a lot more likely to win games with good big league hitters than without their presence.
--The Bucco hitters combining to score 6 runs would have been nil and void, however, without good MLB pitching. Gorzy went 7 strong innings, didn't give up the only run he would give up until the seventh, made a couple of nice catches on balls that were smoked to him, and basically showed why a team that wants to win games would want Gorzy to start games. Again, it's obvious, but if your starting pitcher is only going to give up 1 earned run in seven innings and your bullpen manages to get out of jams without giving up runs, the team's going to win more games than it loses.
--Random Notes: I am not a fan of the Chicago Cubs, but if I were, I suspect I'd have a strong love/hate relationship with Alfonso Soriano. He brings obvious attributes to a team and certain drawbacks that I would find highly ingratiating if my team were losing to a team as far below .500 as the Pirates are.
--Speaking of which: The fact that the Pirates have a decent record against the Cubs irritates me. Clearly, as the respective records of each club show, the Cubs are clearly a superior team to the Pirates. Yet when the Pirates field a legitimate MLB lineup, headlined by a good starting pitcher, the Pirates have shown themselves to be capable of beating the Cubs. I know baseball is a game where so many games get played that even really bad teams can occasionally beat really good teams, but the fact that the Pirates really can beat the Cubs on certain days is just highly exasperating. I suppose former GM Littlefield was exasperated by this fact as well, but truth told, the Pirates are still unable to field a legitimate MLB lineup headlined by a good starting pitcher day each and every day. And while the players are responsible for their performance on the field, it's the job of the organization to ensure that the best, or in the case of the sad-sack Pirates, legit MLB players, are in the lineup for all 162 games of a season.
--Random Thoughts: I like the hot-hitting version of Jack Wilson. While I think it's silly to talk about "upside" of established players, Wilson's hot streak does reveal something I'd like to make Jim Tracy aware of: Wilson is a superior shortstop to Cesar Iztirus. In addition to Jack getting hits, I also like when rookies get hits, the players who are supposed to hit the ball hit the ball, the starting pitcher pitches well enough to earn his 14th win, the bullpen holds a lead, and the Pirates win a game. I like winning.
--Well, At Least That's Not Us Moment of the Day: No Pirates have been linked to steroids or HGH (by the way, just an ugh to all of that stuff--it does spoil the sport in some sense for me--but that's a whole other post). While I'd love to believe it's because the players on my baseball team, even if they're not very good, don't bother with steroids or HGH, I wonder if there's another reason Pirates really haven't been linked to steroid or HGH usage. Seriously, the Pirates have been irrelevant for so long that who, really, is going to care (outside of PBC fans and the organization itself) if a Pirate were to be linked to steroids and/or HGH? While of course it's better if your players are clean, the fact that no one has even sniffed around to dig up dirt on any of your players does, I think, reveal just how putrid and pathetic the Pittsburgh Pirates have become in what will soon be their fifteenth consecutive year of losing baseball.
(Reflection on last piece: Wow, despite the Littlefield firing, I remain a cynical pessimist. Even when a bad story could sort of reflect somewhat decently on the Pirates, I turn it into a negative. It's going to take awhile, Mr. Nutting, before I believe your words today about "restoring a culture of pride" and expecting "excellence on and off the baseball field." Don't get me wrong; I like the words, but I need to see some concrete actions to back up such words before this cynical pessimism will become merely pessimistic rather than completely cynical and ridiculously jaded.)
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