Pitching is Fundamental, Official Demarcation of 15 Consecutive Losing Sesaons

Oh, the sweet irony of the veteran pitcher acquired by former GM David Littlefield having a one-inning implosion (aided, of course, by defensive miscues and apparently a sore hand as well) that turned a 5-0 Bucco lead into a 7-5 Houston lead. Seriously, the sweet, sweet, obvious irony of the final 9-7 loss officially marking the fifteenth consecutive losing season for the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise.

And about the game: Pitching is fundamental. Tonight reminded me that it's probably somewhat silly of me to fuss about "too many walks" or "too many baserunners" (granted, these statistics still matter) when one of my team's starting pitchers gives the team a quality start. At least in terms of comparison to giving up many, many runs in one inning, really, starting pitchers who give the team a quality start should not really be at the top of my priority list of worries/things about which to fuss.

Except here's the thing that leads to my internal argument with myself about fussing over "too many walks, "too many baserunners," etc, and that's this: Pitching is fundamental. If any of those starting pitchers can somehow and consistently go beyond the expectation of merely giving you a quality start and actually, truly and consistently maintain a good WHIP and K to BB rates while typically going six innings but more often than not being able to pitch into the seventh or eighth inning, well, put it this way--Doesn't having those starting pitchers do exactly that turn losses like today's demarcation loss into easy wins?

My hope for the starting pitchers to morph first into starters who can be relied upon to give a quality start each time out and then develop into pitchers who can exceed that expectation is for pitchers who, unlike Matt Morris, aren't past their prime, haven't already won 20 games in the majors, and who, due to their age, I can still hold out hope for "growth" and "development." As such, given that Zach Duke has won games in the majors and had a few dominant outings in 2005, his appearance in tonight's game was about the only thing (after the fourth inning debacle) that held much intrigue for me. (Okay, the Paulino/Wilson mashing was entertaining, but not at all intriguing.) Unfortunately, aside from inducing a couple of ground ball outs, Duke didn't appear to resemble the pitcher who--seriously, the statistics bear me out on this--struck out lots of batters in his rookie season. Sure, he was coming off rehabilitation starts and an injury, and the idealistic optimist would note that Duke at least got outs, while the cynical realist would note that he didn't fool anyone and that Ty Wigginton homered off him.

In any case, if your number seven and eight hitters mash home runs against one of the worst teams in the majors and you put up 7 runs, you really should win that ball game. And with quality starting pitching, you've got a much better shot to win the games you have to win in order to have even a mediocre .500 record. And truth told, even good pitchers do have occasional games where they "lose it," and in order to assuage myself (as I have in the past) when the trio of young Bucco starting pitchers have had less-than-stellar-outings, I must remind myself that even a horrific outing or two doesn't necessarily mean a pitcher is "bad" despite a bad outing.

But in the case of tonight's game, which clinched the PBC's fifteenth consecutive losing season, one lesson stands out: Pitching is fundamental. When the top three guys in the starting rotation reach the point where a quality start is the norm but a realistic expectation is beyond a mere quality start and when the last two guys in that rotation can consistently offer the PBC quality starts, that's when I expect the Pirates to win more games than they lose in a season.

As for this season, well, another losing season is officially on the books now, but I'll watch until the end of September with interest. Just to see if maybe, just maybe, there are hopes that the saying "Pitching is fundamental" could, someday soon, result in smiles for Bucco fans not only on days when certain pitchers are pitching, but on every single day, due to an expectation that the team's pitching gives it a chance to win every night. A tall order and tall task? Impossible? Ridiculous to imagine? Ludicrous?

Whatever you think about the impossibility and improbability of rejoicing in the saying that "Pitching is fundamental," that's what it is going to take for the losing seasons to come to an end (in addition, of course, to other fundamentals which will also be addressed at some future point).