Heading Toward Home

The Pirates and Brewers played a doubleheader Wednesday, a classic late-season affair between two teams long-since out of the race and existing for the most part only at the fringes of public consciousness. Both teams play second fiddle to their pro football counterparts anyway; the real object of passion in Wisconsin lies to the north on a frozen tundra, even in a year like this, when the Packers are giving every sign of playing like a bunch of guys with rigor mortis setting in. The Pirates? Well, they played second fiddle to the Steelers even in the halcyon days of the '70s. The Buccin' Ear doubts that one could count the fiddles the Pirates are behind their football counterparts these days.

Still, the two clubs laced them up for a pair before tiny crowds for both games. Fittingly, they split the twin bill, and for those who cared, there was some decent baseball played, particularly on the pitching side. Ian Snell threw one of those dominating games he has given the team from time to time this year, going seven innings, striking out 10, and even thanking pitching coach Jim Colborn, whom he had berated a week ago, for helping him to pitch inside consistently and effectively. Chris Duffy continued to offer hope for next year with a three-hit game, and Freddie Sanchez regained the batting lead in the 6-3 win.

The Brewers' talented but oft-injured Ben Sheets went Snell one better in the nightcap, flirting with a perfect game (Duffy broke it up) and carrying a shutout in the eighth (Ryan Doumit hit a solo homer to end that) en route to 2-1 victory in which the Pirates registered only those two hits and left no men on base (Duffy was picked off after his single). Despite the loss, there was a bright spot: a solid performance from Shawn Chacon, who displayed good control for the first time in a Pirate uniform.

The Pirates reached the 60-win mark with the victory in the opener, hardly cause for celebration, but worthy of note in that it provides a measure of their second-half improvement, however modest. For the record, here are the dates that the Pirates secured their 1oth, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th and 60th wins, with the number of days they required to get to each in parentheses:

• 10: May 9 (36)
• 20: June 1 (23)
• 30: July 7 (36)
• 40: July 30 (23)
• 50 August 24 (25)
• 60 September 13 (20)

Getting from 0 to 10 and 20 to 30 took an astonishing 72 days, summing up the futility of the Pirates' first half and showing why the season was over, in many ways, before it had even begun.

Similarly, here is the team's month-by-month record:

• April: 7-19
• May: 12-15
• June: 8-20
• July: 13-12
• August: 13-15
• September: 7-6

The team has gone 33-33 since July 1. We wish they could have posted a record within shouting distance of that in April, May and June instead of the abysmal 27-54 they actually posted, but at least second-half improvement gives some reason for hope. Not much, but some.

So on to the final 15 games. 68 wins for the over/under, anyone?