Rock On, Bucaroos

Ho-hum. Another night, another blowout win. The Pirates, behind the sluggin' Jose Castillo, who hit, yes, his fifth homer in five games, blasted the Milwaukee Brewers for the third night in a row, 6-1, running their current home stand record to 5-1. No more comments about the one they lost. The team put that one behind them with a vengeance.

Poor Brewers. The Bucco buzz saw has outscored them 32-5 in the first three games of this series. Their hitters tonight were dominated by Ian Snell, who finally earned a win worthy of the name, going six innings while yielding just one run.

So the Pirates wind up May with a 12-15 record. Nothing to write home about until you take a gander at their April record of 7-19. At 19-34, they are still on pace to lose 100 games, but they now need to go just 44-65 the rest of the way to avoid it. In other words, just play .400 ball from now until the end of the season, and the ignominy of hitting the century loss mark is avoided.

The 1985 Pirates were the last squad in team history to loss more than 100 games, going 57-104. They were 15-29 at the end of May, one-half game ahead of this year's edition. However, we can hope that the 2006 team does better than the 25-55 mark compiled by the 1985 Pirates between June 1 and September 1. That dreadful stretch left the club at 40-84. Can the 2006 Bucs do better than 21-50 over the next three months and surpass that lofty standard? Let us say a silent prayer to an answer in the affirmative.

If offense is any indication, the current team is far ahead of its 1985 predecessor. That team scored only 568 runs the entire season, or barely 3.5 per game. This year's team has already scored 236, about a run per game better. Yes, the difference in eras accounts for a bit of that, but the '85 team had no player that would match up with Jason Bay. The team leader, "Home Run" Jason Thompson, launched a staggering 12 round trippers, and the RBI leader, second baseman Johnny Ray, knocked home a modest 70 runs. His 2006 counterpart, Jose Castillo, by comparison, is on pace to drive in around 90.

The '85 team was the worst Pirates team since the 1952 squad that went an incredible 42-112. And the mid-'80s version was not on a rebuilding course. Only Sid Bream and Bob Walk played on any of the division championship teams of '90-'92, and the roster was littered with players whose best days were far behind them, including George Hendrick, Steve Kemp, Lee Mazzilli, Rick Rhoden and Sixto Lezcano. The team leader in saves was none other than John Candelaria, with nine.

None of these sorry statistics should make the pain of the present year go away, but perhaps it gives some reason for greater hope than existed two decades ago. Let's leave it on this note: Freddie Sanchez, with three more hits tonight, is hitting .352 as the Pirates' third baseman. The '85 team's hot corner man was Bill Madlock, ending his excellent career by struggling to a .251 finish.

Is there brightness in the dark of '06? A bit. Remember '85!