The 14ers

If it is tough for the Buccin' Ear to write a blog entry following the Pirates' lost weekend against the Houston Astros, imagine how the players must feel as they face the last month of the season.

The Bucs' modest run of success that included three straight wins against the Braves and Astros came to a crashing end Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Astros crushed the Pirates by a combined 28-6, and put an exclaimation point on their dominance Sunday with a 13-1 shellacking that sent Shawn Chacon to another early shower. On Saturday, Zach Duke was cuffed around in a 7-4 loss, and Friday, Victor Santos had the misfortune of facing Roger Clemens. Santos pitched credibly, but Clemens pitched better, and the Astros won 5-1.

As a result of all this, the Astros, winners of six of the past seven contests with the Pirates, left town with their playoff hopes still alive, although they undoubtedly had hoped for a sweep. As for the Pirates, they are 50-81, one game away from a 14th consecutive losing season. Loss Number 82 could come as early as tonight against the Chicago Cubs.

The 1985 Watch: The 1985 Pirates fell to the Braves in Atlanta 7-6 on August 27, bringing their record to 39-83. The team went 18-21 the rest of the way to finish 57-104. The '06 edition (50-81) must finish at least 8-23 to reach the magic win total of 58.

Tracyism of the Week: Thanks to regular reader bern1 for bringing this one to the Buccin' Ear's attention:

Following Paul Maholm's victory over the Astros on Thursday, RG said, according to the Post-Gazette:

“He battled like crazy and hung in there. Early in the game, he pitched, but he wasn't pitching.”

Move over Yogi.

Little Laugh of the Week:

Dave Littlefield remarked in today's Post-Gazette that the Pirates should have "plenty of dollars" to spend over the winter to beef up the roster. He then contributed this howler:

"We've had plenty of fan support this year, and I know Kevin and Bob are committed to investing that money in baseball operations for more resources to go in whatever direction we want, so that the product on the field keeps improving."

"The product keeps on improving"? The team has lost at least 87 games every year since 2000. The total climbed from 87 in 2003 to 89 in 2004, 95 in 2005, and is on course to reach 100 this year. If the product is improving, why aren't the results?

Also, the self-serving comment about the commitment "to investing that money in baseball operations" is especially inane. The revenue-sharing arrangement that governs Major League Baseball at this time requires that the money clubs like the Pirates receive from the wealthier teams be put into baseball operations. What can't be required is that the recipient teams invest the money wisely. Pirate fans aren't about to assume that the Brainless Trust will do that with the extra moolah.

Pirate Past: Second baseman Jose ("Chico") Lind made his Major League debut August 28, 1987. Lind went on to bat .322 in 35 games that year and became a regular the following year, holding the position through 1992. A solid fielder, Lind unfortunately was one of the players at the center of the seventh-game loss to the Braves in the '92 playoffs, as he made a crucial error in the bottom of the ninth that helped Atlanta to rally for the win.

Even more unfortunately, Lind's life took a big downturn after he left baseball at the conclusion of the 1995 season. In 1997, he was arrested for drunk driving and was found to be behind the wheel sans britches.

From Wikipedia:

"On November 21, 1997, highway police in Tampa, Florida stopped Lind for leaving the scene of an accident. They discovered that he was visibly intoxicated, and that he had been driving while naked from the waist down. A search of his car revealed seven cans of beer and one gram of cocaine. Lind ended up spending a year in jail."

Bad things can happen when you leave Pittsburgh.