Ordinary, Typical Losing

--The Pirates are one game closer to ensuring themselves their fifteenth consecutive losing season. While this season's edition of the Pirates can't be blamed for the previous fourteen years of losing, there comes a time when enough is enough.

--In any case, about tonight's game: the 2007 Pirates do what the 2007 Pirates do when they lose games. They pitch just poorly enough to lose the game. They scatter some hits but strand lots and lots of runners. They "tip their hats" to the opposing team's pitcher. Oh, and they lose the game. On some days, the Pirates pitch really poorly and don't hit at all and are on the losing end of one-sided blowouts. On days like today, the Pirates had chances. Yet the Buccos still did what losing teams do--they lose. And today they lost by a score of 6-1.

--Normally I try to find something "encouraging" even in the midst of a loss (it's typical for a fan of a losing team). I hope Bullington will end up making me eat my words, and I can't argue that today's result was much better than his first big league start, but I'm just not able to see anything "encouraging" when he pitches. Torres apparently returned and gave up hits and runs, also not good. And nobody really got hits when hits were needed. While I'm not saying a healthy Jason Bay (who's been in almost a season-long slump) or a healthy Xavier Nady would have gotten hits against the Brewers' pitcher today, I still think you're more likely to get hits when you have real, live, established, solid MLB players in your lineup. Dismiss it as one of my moods, perhaps, but unlike some losses this season, I couldn't really find anything good in this loss to make me feel that I shouldn't accurately label today's game "just another loss for a perennially losing team."

--I hate losing. At some point in time, I wish the Pirates would reel off a winning streak of several consecutive games. Just so I can remember what it feels like to root for a "winning" baseball team--if only for a period of four or five days, it would be nice.